I had concerns of the potential for bias at the public forum sponsored by the CK Council and the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce on incorporation.

Well, now that it is over, I have to say that I am sad that my concerns were merited.  The cities represented all favored incorporation and no voice was heard to present a counter argument. As a matter of fact, the cities chosen and the counties they were located in did not reflect the reality of Silverdale in the least.

I was truly upset at the county bashing that went on. Those representatives may not have liked their county government but I  like mine.

All of the cities represented were in areas that the county was encouraging to incorporate or be annexed because they were in King County and Pierce County Urban Sprawl and were not receiving adequate county support.

I cannot believe that the CK Council actually thought this was a fair expression of the pros and cons of incorporation.  How about at least a representative from a group that rejected incorporation or even Bainbridge to talk about the problems that they are facing.  At least Bainbridge is in our county.

The demographics were different and the political situations were different from those facing Silverdale and Kitsap County.  To top it off, all of the people on the forum were elected officials — what are they supposed to do, bad mouth their respective cities? So much for re-election.

I must say that the chamber and the Council were very good dupes for the Citizens United for Silverdale committee.  Too bad that their efforts weren’t aimed at providing a broad spectrum of information on incorporation for the citizens.

I do not know who chose the cities or the people to be presenting, but as far as I am concerned they have done a disservice to the people. Credibility is important and the sponsoring groups lost some of theirs.

It was not an informational meeting but one of propaganda, and I left the meeting feeling ambushed.

Joyce Merkel

Old Town Silverdale