It’s all about the spin. I’ve read with some amusement a couple of articles in the Reporter lately.

Councilmember Largo Wales touts that one of her achievements on the council was helping to save the City $3 million a year by eliminating the court system. Now if you count sitting in a council chamber, overfilled with legal professionals begging for the council not to do this, and vote against them without even studying the situation, but do it because you were told to, well, I guess the spin on that is an accomplishment.

Then, Mayor Nancy Backus says that she’s saved the City $2 million by eliminating the court system and that there is a significant decrease in the number of Auburn inmates housed. We just have a different booking and sentencing philosophy. Now that’s some spin.

The fact is that it cost Auburn to sign on with the King County court system. And if it was such a good idea, why hasn’t any other city in the county gotten rid of its court system? With the exception of Auburn, the trend in King County has been to leave the county and establish their own courts.

In addition to saddling us with a 40-year bond to pay for a new jail, the cost of housing an inmate more than doubled when we built a new jail. But City Hall struck upon the brilliant idea of saving money by not putting criminals in jail, which explains the decrease in Auburn inmates incarcerated.

Now that we’re not holding criminals accountable, or offering rehabilitation programs or community service programs like Auburn’s court did, we are seeing the result of this money saving accomplishment. More homeless in Auburn, more drug-related behavior, more mentally ill wandering our streets. If Auburns streets don’t feel safe, it’s because they’re not.

And with all that money being saved, you’d think we would have been able to fix our roads by now. Or hire all the police officers the City promised us. But no. We’re still paying for those other great accomplishments like the Auburn Avenue Theater and the restaurant at the golf course. And it probably didn’t help that we paid over $7 million for a block of downtown that we turned around and sold for just over $1 million.

My point here is this: Long ago were the days that City hall had any credibility with its citizens. If this current administration ever wants to endear itself to us, then it’s time to stop the spin on everything and start with some frank honesty.

– Mark Silberling