Open Letter to Senator Cantwell:
May 20, 2008
Dear Senator Cantwell:
We have received a press release from your office extolling your support of legislative action to gift U.S. Forest Service land to the Snoqualmie Pass volunteer fire district.
As a resident of Snoqualmie Pass since 1992 and a property owner since 1986, I do have some strong opinions about this gift, which obligates the community to build a new Fire Station.
We published a newspaper there for several years and own the cable TV company that serves Snoqualmie Pass, so I feel my knowledge of the area is well founded.
The volunteer fire district already occupies a building that was gifted to them and they cannot afford to maintain that one. It is unrealistic to suggest they could support a new, larger station with a large mortgage. Their current building, compared to some other stations in the area, is very adequate. It includes living quarters and has consistently even housed volunteers; however, it needs updates and repairs. That, in my mind is where money needs to go, not into another station that the community (and the volunteers agree) cannot be funded locally.
I think you should take a closer look at what you are backing. This community is at the top of Snoqualmie Pass. During winter months it is often shut off from communities on both sides of Snoqualmie Pass because of avalanche danger and highway closures due to extreme weather conditions.
To place a full time operation or a fire station that ostensibly would serve nearby communities is just not realistic. It would be better to put a newer facility in a larger nearby community that is not impacted by the weather. An aid car, or more, could then be stationed at Snoqualmie Pass.
Snoqualmie Pass, although only 3100 feet above sea level, receives the most snow for its elevation of any mountain pass in North America. It is shut down frequently during the winter.
I also strongly urge you to confirm the number of volunteers and the number of calls per year that are mentioned in your press release. After a careful study of figures over the past several years, we have NEVER been able to confirm 24 volunteers living at Snoqualmie Pass. That would be 10% of the total full time population.
You should ask for the names of the volunteers and their addresses. I think you will find many do not live at Snoqualmie Pass.
The number of calls per year has been inflated.
Snoqualmie Pass is a small community (approximately 700 living units, the majority of which are used only in the winter). Because of this the vast majority of the property owners live full time off the pass and do not vote in elections there, impacting the tax payers ability to control the department's spending.
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