The agenda for Wednesday night’s (April 26, 2023) Quiet Skies Puget Sound (“QSPS”) informal meetup at the Quarterdeck in Des Moines – including discussing how local elections matter for airport noise and pollution issues, as well as a review of last week’s bombshell filing of a class action lawsuit against the Port of Seattle – took an unexpected turn with a visit from Port of Seattle Commission senior member/former President and 2023 candidate Fred Felleman.
Felleman’s appearance led to some vigorous debate with organizers Steve Edmiston and Sheila Brush, including a back-and-forth exchange on the Port’s ongoing refusal to release a non-redacted copy of the Port’s increasingly infamous “Ramboll Report” (download/read it here) a highly-censored internal Port document that contains still-unreleased information about the public health impacts from airport noise and pollution.
QSPS shared at the meetup that so far, at least 47 citizens have filed public record requests for an unredacted version of the Ramboll Report, which has not yet been released.
An initial noteworthy moment was that when Felleman first entered the meeting, he mistakenly thought that participants were involved in the recent class action lawsuit. Edmiston clarified that that was not the case – none present were or are yet involved.
While the assembled citizens appeared to disagree with Felleman and the discussion was sometimes intense, at all times exchanges were civil and respectful, and the citizens thanked – and applauded – Felleman for his appearance.
QSPS released the following statement about this encounter:
“We invited Commissioner Felleman. We are Thankful he attended and while did not have answers to our questions, he did encourage everyone there to email the Commissioners directly. I do know he is actively involved in saving Seatac park. That remains to be seen. Sadly, this is another example of elected officials being mis guided by staff, he was unaware of the Ramboll report until we were with him at an event in South Park, since then he has inquired with port staff of its contents and staff claim they will have to present it to him to understand. He was clearly frustrated with that response. There are four more Commissioners that need to step up and ask for the un redacted copy of Ramboll.
“If Port staff had released my records request in a timely fashion, we would not be here speculating over the two internal memos where selling to the Port was mentioned. Perhaps others should submit the same request to the Port? Power in numbers.”
Video
Watch edited highlights of the exchange below, as filmed by Scott Schaefer (running time 21-minutes, 16-seconds):
Follow Quiet Skies Puget Sound at https://www.facebook.com/groups/QuietSkiesPugetSound
The POS partners with NO ONE. They dominate, take what they need WITHOUT regard to human life, our drinking water and the Puget Sound. They are the biggest polluter and liability to the PNW.