Coyotes very active today up here in the center parts of Point Roberts. I don’t hear them all that often, and usually it is in the summertime. But today, there have been repeated periods of call and response. Omens of some kind, doubtless, but we’ve lost the ability to know what they’re trying to tell us.
And reasonably warm today, too. Maybe that’s what they’re howling about. The bushes are showing alarming signs of swelling buds. ‘Wait,’ I want to tell them, ‘You’ve got all of January still to get through.’ But maybe they, like the coyotes, know something we don’t. We did see, coming through Vancouver a few days ago a row of four trees in bloom--pink flowers--in front of the condos down on English Bay, right near the entrance to the Burrard St. Bridge. And there are daffodils showing their leaf tips over at the Community Center, here in Point Roberts. Well, we’ll see.
Other things we are seeing about:
1. According to the business news, the FDIC (the part of the federal government that is in charge of bank closings, among other things) is said to be getting serious with Sterling Financial Corp., the parent company of Sterling Savings Bank. Sterling is said to have less than two months to get a plan together to get its business, as it were, back on track. So we’ll be hearing more about that as February comes to a close. In the meantime, two or three more legal firms have announced that they’re trolling for participants in a class action suit against the company. The FDIC has been on a vacation as far as closing banks is concerned, but they’ll be back in that business next week. It is also reported that they’re hiring a lot of new, but temporary, workers to help them in that sad activity.
2. The WUTC held its public hearing on Pt. Roberts' trash issues on the 29th, although earlier in the day than originally scheduled. I suppose it occurred to them that it wasn’t difficult enough for people from Point Roberts to get down to Olympia for this hearing to find out what they think, so they re-scheduled it to 9:
In any case, they had the hearing, and attendance appeared minimal, at least as far as the ‘Sign-In Sheet’ revealed. At the end of whatever happened, the Commission requested the staff to get some information for them (not a moment too soon, I’d say) as to Whatcom County’s actual trash/recycling plan, the Commission’s staff’s analysis of that plan, the State of Washington’s views on the status of Freedom 2000, and the (I assume) federal Dept. of Transportation’s view on the status of Freedom 2000 with respect to licensure (12/31, 'notice of bench requests' at the link).
And within less than 48 hours, the state responded ('response' 12/31, at the link; now there’s a bureaucracy that’s performing at top speed; kudos to them) by announcing that they had dissolved the company (i.e., Freedom 2000) on December 1, 2009, because of the company’s failure to complete various paperwork required of such companies in order to be recognized by the state. That would be 28 days BEFORE the public hearing on whether Freedom 2000, the company, should be awarded the opportunity to collect our trash and recycling.
A friend asks, ‘So, where does that leave us now?’ Good question. Freedom 2000 is no longer a company, apparently, and Points Recycling and Refuse, the Wilkowsky contestant, is offering to do less than the County says is to be done. I would think that figuring this out would take, oh, maybe another 30 days? Stay in touch. Or maybe just howl.
Update: On January 4, Freedom 2000 filed reinstatement papers, including fees, etc. So, presumably it's back in business. Link here.
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