We live on the fringe of Ferndale, not properly within the city limits, but still Ferndale by most other measures. Our address is Ferndale, we work in Ferndale, we bank in Ferndale, we shop at Haggen, Walgreen’s, Pilot, etc, we frequent Coconut Kennys, DownTime Taps, Fringe Brewery :), buy car parts at O’Reilly’s, coffee and reading time at Woods, use Ferndale Library, We live in the Fringe where we are impacted daily by the decisions made by the City of Ferndale, but we have no official say in the City of Ferndale.
We still have a few entanglements with the City of Ferndale.
- I work in the City of Ferndale.
- My wife’s work has her sometimes working in the City of Ferndale.
- We have no choice but to buy our water from the City of Ferndale where we pay the going rate (plus 50% surcharge) set by the City of Ferndale, yet having no voice in the City of Ferndale.
- We have no choice but to have our trash picked up by a Ferndale based company, where we pay the taxes set by the City of Ferndale, yet having no voice in the City of Ferndale. FYI, city limit dwellers get a special rate set by the City but not offered to those of us on the fringe.
- Until recently we had a child in the Ferndale School District where we had no choice but to travel through the City of Ferndale traffic jam, yet having no voice in the City of Ferndale. btw, we moved our sophomore out of FSD to Meridian, best choice in the world and for more reasons than just time spent in traffic. FSD has not only abandon efforts to provide a school on this side of Ferndale, but in their latest school bond they purposely ignored the needs of east Ferndale No voters and concentrated on getting more City of Ferndale voters out to bump the yes votes as a method of getting the bond to pass.
- We work with a Ferndale based dog rescue which has a PO box in the City of Ferndale, where we have no choice but to travel through the City of Ferndale traffic to get to the Post Office, yet having no voice in the City of Ferndale.
- We like to take our dogs, and at times our foster dogs, to Hovander Park, which is the nearest off leash park and we have no choice but to travel through the City of Ferndale traffic, yet having no voice in the City of Ferndale
- As State & County homeowners and taxpayers, we help pay for City of Ferndale roads, water, sewer, basically we help pay for anything for which they solicit outside money in the forms of loans and grants, and that means most projects, even those projects that would seam minor.
My point is that all of us living on the fringe of Ferndale are just as financially and socially entangled with the City of Ferndale as anyone else in the greater Ferndale area, in or out of city limits, we just don’t have a voice within the City of Ferndale. In a way, our position could be considered a form of “taxation without representation” or maybe some form of indentured labor, we are good enough to pay taxes to the City, just not good enough to be listened to.
Am I calling for everyone on the fringe to be annexed into the City? Certainly not, that’d just move the fringe out a bit further. What I am calling for is for the people living on the fringe of Ferndale to encourage their friends within city limits, to vote for people who respect all people beyond their ability to pay taxes or make campaign contributions. That’d be, we need a new mayor and a new school board.
For sure, this post is a rant rather than a ramble, and it has nothing to do with bikes, but I make no apologies.