Port Townsend questions (Sequim: health insurance, schools, calculating)

[pikabike]

Five years ago, someone predicted the mill would be shut down in five years. Then it got sold, and resold.

It is a blight that has one big thing going for it: it provides jobs in a city that doesn't offer much in the way of an employment base. So all the handwringing over it being a retirement haven seems a bit silly to me. The property taxes and other money spent by those retirees helps pay the bills.

[elkotronics]

Five years ago, someone predicted the mill would be shut down in five years. Then it got sold, and resold.

It is a blight that has one big thing going for it: it provides jobs in a city that doesn't offer much in the way of an employment base. So all the handwringing over it being a retirement haven seems a bit silly to me. The property taxes and other money spent by those retirees helps pay the bills.

Well put and true, pikabike!

[TrueTimbers]

Got stuck choking on mill stench for nearly 24 hours straight earlier in the week.

I truly do wonder about the mill. Does it cost us more money in lost tourist/retirement dollars, than money from jobs it brings in?

Maybe the mill helps moderate growth, so Port Townsend can endure trends and time like it has done so well at..

Personally, I hope we never are the "hot" retirement destination that Sequm wants to be/is.

Balance.. Maybe the Mill helps us preserve Port Townsends character.?

I am on the fence. The dynamic of the Mills impact is interesting to ponder.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by TrueTimbers

Got stuck choking on mill stench for nearly 24 hours straight earlier in the week.

In addition to the "aroma" from the mill, the water issue has been on my mind since our water shortages last summer. I knew the PT mill used a fair bit of water every day but didn't realize just how much until it was mentioned in a PDN article then. This article said that the entire city of Port Townsend uses about 2 million gallons of fresh water a day while the PT mill uses somewhere in the range of 15 million gallons of water per day. Wow, per day! The newspaper article at that time said that the mill was going to "conserve" and cut back to only using about 10 million gallons of water a day. Yikes, that's still a lot of fresh water used up every day...

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by TrueTimbers

Got stuck choking on mill stench for nearly 24 hours straight earlier in the week.

I truly do wonder about the mill. Does it cost us more money in lost tourist/retirement dollars, than money from jobs it brings in?

Maybe the mill helps moderate growth, so Port Townsend can endure trends and time like it has done so well at..

Personally, I hope we never are the "hot" retirement destination that Sequm wants to be/is.

Balance.. Maybe the Mill helps us preserve Port Townsends character.?

I am on the fence. The dynamic of the Mills impact is interesting to ponder.

Exactly. Unless and until it morphs into a less polluting form of business, the mill is tolerated but not rejoiced over, by most people.

That PT character includes industrial stuff such as the mill. But you do know there are people who want to get rid of the Boat Yard because it is "an eyesore"? (No, I am not one of them.) What it needs is more like some control over slobs who don't clean up and let all kinds of stuff blow around.

[Ruth4Truth]

The boat yard and the maritime orientation of the town is one thing that attracts me.

Someone said there's a building boom going on, currently. Is that true? Where are they building, and what are they building--more housing for all the people clamoring to rent and buy?

I also find it a little odd that an area with such a high percentage of retirement-aged people, including Sequim, doesn't offer more comprehensive medical facilities. Probably the current growth caught everyone by surprise, but that doesn't explain everything. Rural-ish areas all over the US are going to have to react and expand medical facilities, now that the entire mass of the Boomer generation is past 50.

Pt T really should work on devising an economic development strategy. If the mill were to close, the town would really be screwed, and it's already sorely lacking in employment opp'ties.

And while we're in planning-for-the-future mode, the region should work on resolving looming water supply issues, as summers get drier, and more rain, less snow, falls on the mountains. If they don't develop more rain catchment capacity, the mill will suck the town dry, as the climate changes. The status quo can't go on forever; we can't continue taking fresh water supplies for granted.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I also find it a little odd that an area with such a high percentage of retirement-aged people, including Sequim, doesn't offer more comprehensive medical facilities.

I wondered about that as well and asked a friend of ours here (who is a retired physician) about that very thing a few years back. His answer to me then was that retired people generally have Medicare and that Medicare doesn't reimburse well hence wouldn't fund extensive facilities built around a large Medicare payer base.

I don't know if this is true or not but your post reminded me of that conversation.

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The boat yard and the maritime orientation of the town is one thing that attracts me.

Someone said there's a building boom going on, currently. Is that true? Where are they building, and what are they building--more housing for all the people clamoring to rent and buy?

I also find it a little odd that an area with such a high percentage of retirement-aged people, including Sequim, doesn't offer more comprehensive medical facilities. Probably the current growth caught everyone by surprise, but that doesn't explain everything. Rural-ish areas all over the US are going to have to react and expand medical facilities, now that the entire mass of the Boomer generation is past 50.

Pt T really should work on devising an economic development strategy. If the mill were to close, the town would really be screwed, and it's already sorely lacking in employment opp'ties.

And while we're in planning-for-the-future mode, the region should work on resolving looming water supply issues, as summers get drier, and more rain, less snow, falls on the mountains. If they don't develop more rain catchment capacity, the mill will suck the town dry, as the climate changes. The status quo can't go on forever; we can't continue taking fresh water supplies for granted.

Sequim has tried...and continues to try...to attract young medical professionals (doctors, etc.) to the area to accommodate their burgeoning population. When these professionals tour the schools and discover how unfavorably their antiquated infrastructure compares to other areas they are considering, Sequim loses that game.

There have been four (I think?) recent school bonds now that have all failed. They all garnered more than 50% of the vote (one just barely under 60%) but a 60% majority is required. It's interesting because in my area of WI the first bond would've passed based on the numbers. They all would've. It's not just retired folks on limited incomes that thwart the bonds. There are a good number of retired folks who can afford the bonds, who support better school infrastructure, who desire more accessible health care and who understand the relationship between the two. But obviously more than 40% of voters do not like those school bonds no matter how they are tweaked.

Sequim is working on building a reservoir for that very purpose. The cost will be challenging to handle. But at least they are trying.

I am not aware of what PT is doing to address these issues. Hopefully PT is looking ahead too.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Dendrite

I wondered about that as well and asked a friend of ours here (who is a retired physician) about that very thing a few years back. His answer to me then was that retired people generally have Medicare and that Medicare doesn't reimburse well hence wouldn't fund extensive facilities built around a large Medicare payer base.

I don't know if this is true or not but your post reminded me of that conversation.

Oh, great! (SARCASM!) So now that the largest age cohort in history has reached 50+ and will be in greater need of medical care, we're writing them off because they can't pay well enough to justify serving them?


The system has to do better than this. Besides, only the ones over 65 are on Medicare. The younger retirees (or non-retirees) have regular insurance. And there are move of them moving to town as we speak. Though it does explain why the bigger hospital is over on the east side of the Kitsap Peninsula.


This is bad, people. If what your friend says is true, it means that the medical system is writing off the elderly and not-quite-elderly, simply because they don't have "good" insurance. So, who cares if the die, or their stroke becomes permanently disabling, while being med-evac'ed to another hospital? They're "old" anyway, so who cares?




Only in America.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Oh, great! (SARCASM!) So now that the largest age cohort in history has reached 50+ and will be in greater need of medical care, we're writing them off because they can't pay well enough to justify serving them?


The system has to do better than this. Besides, only the ones over 65 are on Medicare. The younger retirees (or non-retirees) have regular insurance. And there are move of them moving to town as we speak. Though it does explain why the bigger hospital is over on the east side of the Kitsap Peninsula.


This is bad, people. If what your friend says is true, it means that the medical system is writing off the elderly and not-quite-elderly, simply because they don't have "good" insurance. So, who cares if the die, or their stroke becomes permanently disabling, while being med-evac'ed to another hospital? They're "old" anyway, so who cares?

Only in America.

Those on Medicare showed zero concern for younger families without health coverage. Those Tea Party protests against Obamacare were surprisingly skewed toward the elderly with the whole "keep your government hands off my Medicare" business. On top of that, Medicare contributions only amount to 13%-41% of the benefits claimed by Medicare recipients. Contrast that to when the completely unfunded Medicare Part D was passed. No protests whatsoever. Seniors on Medicare seem inclined to want all the health care they can get while expecting those that work to pay the difference and literally protesting against them receiving any assistance for health coverage themselves. Just look at the school bonds in Sequim that cannot pass. This group has become a bit (very sometimes) selfish.

I have absolutely nothing against seniors and retirees whatsoever, but my opinion would have been higher if they had seen the need for those younger than they to receive health coverage. Note, my family has coverage, I just think everyone should have it. Seeing the Sequim school bond issue is really telling and the results are not undeserved.