"Second victory over radio towers." Now that's a great headline. I'm sure everyone with the Cross Border Coalition to Stop the Towers breathed a huge sigh of relief when Whatcom County council upheld the decision to deny the building permit last week. It has been a long, frustrating and expensive fight, but it seems that truth and sanity have finally prevailed. But what a ridiculous journey.
You could argue that BBC Broadcasting was just a business looking to serve its customers better. It followed the rules and made the applications. Sure, not including Tsawwassen on the map to the FCC isn't really fair, but if the FCC isn't concerned about anything outside its their borders and don't ask for that detail, what the heck? But just because the rules were followed doesn't make it the right thing to do.
So, after all the coalition's efforts, it gets thrown out on a technicality - the towers are too high.
I'm sure after the Corporation of Delta, our MLA and our MP got involved there was more than a little concern in Bellingham that something needed to be done. But couldn't someone see from the outset that the towers were three times higher than they were allowed?
I'm sure glad they didn't buy the "it's in the public good" line that BBC was pushing. You don't need a 50,000-watt radio station in Point Roberts. You can shout from one side to the other if you really try.
It wasn't until the coalition folks started talking about the facts that this became an issue. Should it really have taken a group of citizens to have to spearhead something like this, at their own cost? Bad decisions abound because organizations and governments don't ask enough questions. BBC's application was taken at face value, but a slight scratching of the surface showed a deeply flawed application.
Take the case of the Ministry of Health employees that were fired over data breaches, but found to be innocent later on. There seemed to be a "scapegoat" mentality within the ministry by not hiring an outside investigator as required. Seven people were let go, and had to hire lawyers to get to the truth. Tragically, a student involved committed suicide. He had gone back to school later in life, and his firing meant that he couldn't complete his doctorate. He was 46.
Just like with the towers, no one looked deeper to see what was going on, and hid behind a blanket of secrecy.
I guess the good news is once the facts come to light, things can be made right, as much as that is possible.
But I have to question the process that lets some people think they are covered as long as things stay silent. Just ask Bill Clinton.
I think a good measure for dealing with decisions like this is simple: What would I say if it someone found out? What would I say if a reporter put a microphone in front of me and started asking questions? Can I stand behind my decision, based on that scrutiny?
I guess the good news is there won't be a Point Roberts radio station looking for an interview.
