Last November I was part of a crowd of people pleading with Mayor (Carol) Benson and the Black Diamond City Council to make growth pay for growth by finalizing a fee that developer YarrowBay (now Crown) had already agreed to pay if only the city finalized it. Mayor Benson and council member (Janie) Edelman were on the record stating the developer has paid enough and they didn’t support doing something that might make them back off of the project.

The mayor was unwilling to listen to us, despite the fact that as a Save Black Diamond volunteer, I shared that we had just recently collected 300 voter signatures asking for the elected officials to make growth pay for growth. This was also despite a landslide election, where almost 70 percent of those voting once again made it clear that they don’t want the city to rubber stamp a giant 6,000-unit development in Black Diamond..

This year it has gotten even worse. The mayor has spent thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in January alone to have the city attorney find problems with newcomers Pepper and Weber and council member Morgan. The mayor and attorney have behaved poorly at council meetings, being rude and making attacks instead of trying to work with the council. Pepper and Weber campaigned on a platform of change. The city has voted for change many times but haven’t gotten it yet.

Now Edelman’s husband has filed a lawsuit against the city. The city will have to pay to defend this frivolous suit. I believe it was filed as a threat to try to get the council to back down on changes they have made, even though these changes will make the council more accountable to the public.

If Benson and Edelmen were as financially responsible as they claim to be, they will stop wasting city time and resources in this witch hunt. They need to move on to what they signed up for – working together to represent the citizens of Black Diamond, working real issues. The people and neighbors like me don’t support the massive developments planned in Black Diamond. YarrowBay/Crown Development is promising to quadruple the city’s population. Is this how they’re preparing for it?

Pete Kelemen

Black Diamond