Opinion - Letters to the Editor

POSTED: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Says Blethen would have handled NOAA better

In March, five months before NOAA officials made a decision about where to locate, the chief contracting officer wrote to remind Bellingham that their lease price proposal was above NOAA's limit. Yet Port of Bellingham officials did not offer to cut the price to NOAA's specification or modify the proposal.

In April "NOAA closed the discussion session with Bellingham ... with an emphatic statement that they could not make award for a lease that is over the prospectus level," according to a recent story.

The port still did not modify their proposal and was "stunned" at NOAA's choice of Newport, Ore., in August. Upon receiving the Port of Bellingham's protest, NOAA issued a stinging rebuttal citing "factual inaccuracies and mischaracterization of NOAA's actions."

This is how our port operates? Bellingham and Whatcom County deserve a port commissioner who listens and gives considerations to what others say. John Blethen will bring a new level of deliberation and responsiveness to the port commission and finally make it our port.

Greg Aanes

Bellingham