East Wenatchee Signs

It is nice not to see any political signs up yet- This year there is 4 positions up for election this fall in East Wenatchee. The current sign ordinance exempts politicians signs and they are working on  updating the current sign ordinance. Several years ago I  made this video of the signs both legal and Illegal in East Wenatchee. Since I am only posting videos I made myself this year on my blog- please allow me to repost it even though it had over 125 views from original posting.

When Eastmont  Avenue was widened into an arterial street, the 4 way stop sign at 5th/Eastmont was to become a 2 way stop. But when they removed it, people still stopped n Eastmont, so they just it back up as a 4 way stop. Some claimed they were worried about cars not stopping for pedestrians, (which is required at any intersection marked or not marked)- and apparently not enough to put a crosswalk in on Eastmont Ave yet. I wrote the council with my concerns 2 years ago, and still have not heard on response back from the present mayor/or council- I am sure they are still working on it.

I recently read where the average sales tax in Washington state is 8.9%, making us the 5th highest in the nation. The good news is East Wenatchee's is still only 8.2% ; until we finish bailing out the town Toyota Center Arena- and then it should drop to 8.1% again. ( State-wide Local Range: 7.000% - 10.500%) Several years ago the City council repealed the utility tax- only to put it back on and this time include cell phones as well as electricity. I keep hearing how healthy the city is, but no talk of repealing any taxes that were needed for an emergency like utility taxes? The state just raised our gas tax by 33% and also are increasing car tabs on top of the city car tab surcharge. In fact now, the fire district wants to increase taxes if you vote yes. In 1992 the city quit paying for fire protection and let the citizens pick up the 210,000 per year, while keeping those funds themselves they had paid to fire district. Several years ago we approved a bond to pay for new fire station, that tax is still going and not been repealed, so use that for this new tax instead of saying a new bond will be for only six years.  So far I have not heard any figures or seen their reserves- but there are better ways than property taxes to fund the extra funds- why not tax fireworks (the same percent the tax cigarettes) or just ban fireworks to save fire costs? It seems every year they choose an emotional issue to raise taxes on but avoid talking about waste and unnecessary basic government? (like a half million for gateway to city or sprint boat races) If the fire bond is voted down- I can assure you it is not because of lack of support for our firemen- it is where the taxes are coming from and too much waste and other taxes not addressed. It is easy to say you support raising a tax when you are exempt from paying it. (renters do not pay property taxes and the city has 138 parcels of land they pay no property tax on)