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DicksHeating.com Sumner & Puyallup RIPOFF REPORT!

It’s sad businesses continue to rip people off.  Do they really think in this digital age that nobody is going to report on their bad behavior?  They and many businesses think that they can just rip people off and walk away with a fatter wallet and there will be no consequences.  We recently had a very bad experience with DicksHeating.com that involved a “diagnosis fee” which in reality was just a smooth way of saying a travel fee.  They come out and try to switch a few things.  Tell you they think they know what the problem is, however, it doesn’t work.  Of course you pay for the equipment to try out their suggestion.  So we call them back out again and they try to fix the problem but can’t make it repeat.  They decide to call that a diagnosis fee.  Never did they mention this travelers fee before coming out.  The issue was discussed with management and they flat out denied a refund or partial refund or anything.  This company that serves many areas including Puyallup is trouble and not for the customer.  They are all about collecting fees and in my case not correcting the issue.  All I asked for was for them to come and fix the issue I called them about but they failed and failed miserably. Read more about bait and switch it at dicksheating.com.

If you live in the Puyallup, Sumner, or the South End areas please remember to use caution.  This is a real review and completely honest about their service.  I would never call Dicks Heating in Puyallup for anything and you should take this review as a caution when working with them.

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Did You Know Houses in Georgetown are Assessed at $1,000? Zillow Didn’t.

I want to invite you to take a nice walk thru Georgetown. Look at the houses on Corson and Carlton. I am not sure about Flora and Ellis. Notice all the houses are different. There are some beauties. Some are small and plain. Everyone is assessed at $1,000 ( one thousand dollars). Zillow prices varies but are between $200,000 and $350,000), Fire insurance appraisers set the price close to the Zillow price.
The assessor that did this was Scott Noble. After he got himself into some serious trouble and arrested, we had four assessors in 5 months. Appeals were nightmares and totally useless. The Department of Assessments actually wiped out single family homes. They call all of our homes tear downs. They want us to build 8 unit condos. I appealed but the only defense you can present is evidence the assessor has erred in doing the appraisal. My argument was you would have to be drunk or crazy to say every house along at these two streets are only worth a thousand dollars. They said I had to bring proof of sales around me. No house beside me, behind me, in front of me had been sold. Every house in this entire neighborhood had been declared identical and worthless. I lost my appeal.  The reason was “It is the assessors job to tax on the highest and best use”.  Single family dwellings are not the best use. The best use is tear our house down and put up an 8 unit condo. The state of course owns vacant land, pays no tax and doesn’t build condo’s on theirs. I also argued that you cant buy a Tuff Shed for $1,000. Just a total time waster to appeal. The value of the land went from $60,000 to $320,000. In other words we are being taxed right out of our $1,000 home.

This presents another boondoggle. Fire Insurance appraisers actually come and go thru the houses. They talk you into taking replacement value. This means if my house burns down they will replace it, not give me money or replace the house on a lot I can afford to pay taxes on. I would never build a new little house on a $320,000 lot here in Georgetown. So Fire Insurance is actually worthless. I am not sure the city would issue a permit to build a single family dwelling. If you go down to try to talk to them you are more or less shown the way back out of the building and told to file certain forms. From then on you are lost in Electronic Dead Ends. Something is very wrong here but none of us residents can find a way to fix it. It appears the appraiser took on the role of a Land Use Change without having to hold a hearing.

Today in the mail I get a letter from King County Sound Insulation Program. They want to come and insulate my house free to block out the noise of airplanes. If the state is broke, why would they spend thousands to insulate my THOUSAND DOLLAR HOUSE that I have lived in for 65 years and the appraiser wants me to tear down? Not real urgent. Wait until the state is not in debt.

I also got a notice from WSDOT that they will be repaving my street soon. My goodness if the state is broke why would you repave a street that doesn’t even need it. Please do not send the men in little white coats. This stupid stuff is true. State is not broke, they just cant figure out how to spend all the money.

Who does City Attorney Pete Holmes Work For? Who is his Client?

The City Attorney just sued to block the Referendum against the Highway 99 Tunnel. Does he have the legal right to do that? He is an independently elected official. My view is he cannot strike out on his own and sue to stop a referendum to stop the tunnel that has enough signatures to be on the fall ballot. I think he has to be defending some branch of the city. The mayor didn’t ask him to sue. The Mayor is totally in favor of the referendum being on the ballot and the tunnel stopped. The city council is for the tunnel but had no meetings to take a vote about what to do with the referendum, so he isn’t working on their behalf. I would think it should be illegal for the city attorney to take it upon himself to sue for anything that he has not been instructed to do. He says he will save the city millions of dollars if he blocks the referendum. Well why doesn’t he block the school levy, it would save billions and billions? We the people have no choice about putting the school levy on the ballot, but we the people did have a choice about putting the tunnel referendum on. We have more than enough signatures showing we want to vote on it. The King County Council has not instructed him to stop it. He did it on his own almost the minute it was shown to have enough signatures.

For sure the city signed contracts before and during the time “we the people paying for it” were working to get a vote. It was a slimy, (not clever at all) way to muddle up the mess.

For City Attorney Peter Holmes to say he did it to save the taxpayers money and hold a straight face takes some fine acting. None of the politicians give one hoot in hell about saving taxpayers money. That is the one thing they do not even consider. They have proved that time and time again. The tunnel is the most expensive. How did that save me money?

Washington State, King County, and City of Seattle has Hijacked the Gravy Train

Let’s call the load of taxpayer’s money the Gravy Train.  It’s a little train that COULD. There is billions on the train. More than enough to pay good wages to fireman, policemen, teachers, nurses, and countless other essential help that a state, county or city needs.  Remember when the train loads of gold went along thru the country and Highwaymen, Robbers, all sorts of crooks would rob the train unless they were stopped by The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Hoppy and Lucky and maybe the Riflemen. We don’t have those guys anymore. It should be the governor, executives, elected representatives, mayors, helping to protect our gravy train but THEY DO NOTHING. At every stop the robbers/embezzlers/liar’s take bundles of tax payer rmoney for pet projects we never hear of. They take many trips here and there, the administrators; get paid obscene, astronomical, unwarranted salaries. Then they come back and want more taxes and the people who are elected to carry out our wishes dream up another tax and we have to load the train again.

The first to get laid off are teachers, policeman and help for the poorest of the poor. They want our sympathy. Those days are gone. Look at the waste.  They are just a few examples. They just have to have more money for roads. The Washington State Department of Transportation screwed away 377 million without one thing to show for it, studying the 520 bridge. The Seattle City Council had 700 meetings, 76 options, about the tunnel. They spent big bucks buying up land and trying to tie it up so it will have to get built, no matter what.  The Seattle Port Chief Tay Yoshitani is paid $366,825. The new Superintendent of Schools (Susan Enfield) is paid $225,000. Those are just at the top. Think how many layers and layers of administrative costs we pay for and get absolutely nothing. The Governor is paid $167,891 and should be the highest paid person in the state. The gravy train is powered by our taxes. If every property owner, (I mean everyone) refused to pay their property tax until they fired all this deadweight at the top and made  salaries comparable to teachers, police, firemen etc the train would stop. There would be so much money left over they could hire a tutor for any child that was having trouble. They could hire more police to stop crime but they for some reason hand out our money to these administrators. When someone is caught robbing/embezzling they get a golden handshake. No one has to pay a dime back to us.

They want to double the school levy. Double the property tax we pay. Our tax is based on someone who is living on Fantasy Island. I have a little 90 year old house that I paid $10,500 for years ago and the property tax on it is $3,850 a year. Because the dreamer in the Assessor’s office says an 8 unit condo should be there. So I pay tax on his dream, as well as his wages. He says they have to tax on the highest and best use.  In my neighborhood, however, the state owns 14 acres of land. They rent the back portion to a college for $3 or $4 a year. The rest is lawn. Its best and highest use according to the assessor must be for dogs and geese to poop in. It would hold a lot of condo’s.  The officials are untouchable. You cannot get a suggestion to them. They have lied to us so much they think what they say is true. They have hired so many “thugs” a/k/a staff to insulate themselves from us. If we try to contact them an aide sends us a form letter with cuts and pastes from their website. They end it by saying “if you have any questions please let them know.” Well hell – they never heard or answered the first one.

Lets shut off the fuel to this gravy train as soon as possible. King 5 investigators are doing a great job, an bloggers like the Emerald City Journal is trying to get word out on the Web. We have to stop the wasted fuel (tax money) and get rid of all of the officials (at the ballot box that are hijacking and robbing the train.  You never solve money problems by throwing more money at it. Every year they want more and more money and go deeper in debt.

      
 
 

Seattle Interim School Chief Won’t Make Big Changes

Susan Enfield who took over immediately upon the firing of Maria Goodloe-Johnson says she has no big changes planned. What the heck did they appoint her for? They were paying Goodloe-Johnson $294,000 a year and will have to pay her for a whole year plus $9,800 in benefits for doing a rotten job. They also fired Don Kennedy, Goodloe’s handpicked chief financial officer. He will get half his salary, which will be $85,000 plus $4,900 in benefits. Susan Enfield will be paid a BASE salary of $225,000. When they say base they mean she can put about as many add on expenses she happens to feel like it. So lets see what we have gained in this shuffle. The Superintendant job for this year will cost taxpayers $618,700 (all the above added together). Two crooks get a year off with pay and benefits and we end up with a superintendant that will continue with the plan that Goodloe-Johnson created. The money squandered does not have to be paid back.

You would think the change should have been for someone to step in and stop the bloated, asinine, over inflated wages the management portion of the school is being paid. Why should they be paid such a salary? What is Susan Enfield doing to justify $225,000? Teachers start at about $54,000. Firefighters start at $62,856, Sheriff/Police vary between $85,564 and $106,883. It’s no surprise. She wants to keep her $225,000(more than our governor is paid) and has to keep peace with the peons in her administrative office.

Somebody has to step in and start completely over, first by setting a top salary that is realistic for what they are doing. If you fired every administrator making over $50,000 a year, I bet it would work a lot better. These managers are not royalty, they are totally self absorbed, they don’t deserve pay like that. They have proved they cannot manage school money, they divide it among themselves then ask for another levy. We can’t complain to the Governor, Representatives in Olympia, or the Seattle City Council. They do not read your complaints and you MIGHT get a form letter from their flunky directing you to their website, telling you to be sure to get in touch if you have any questions. They pretend to make a change, but things stay the same or get worse, but always cost more.

Drive A Mile…Get Taxed A Mile – The New Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Tax

If you drive a motor vehicle you could soon be taxed for the miles you drive.  Uncle Sam with the help of Democrats are circulating new ideas for increasing revenue and one of those ideas is the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Tax.  Supporters believe its a fair way to charge people for using the highways.  They believe it would naturally limit highway use thus create less spending for the highways (like repairs etc) and obviously create revenue.

It’s not enough any more that you pay your normal taxes, gas taxes, bridge tolls, HOV fees, car tabs, traffic/parking violations, auto ownership transfer fees, and 520 tolls anymore.  You need to be taxedfor the mileage you drive also.  Where do we draw the line in the sand and say that is enough taxes/fees for the roads.  If the roads can’t be fixed with all the taxes and fees above then we have to realize this is more than just revenue – it’s management of the current transportation revenue. 

It starts with getting people out of office who don’t make tough spending decisions and are constantly just thinking up “ideas to create revenue”.  These decisions mean certain people need to be fired (management/staff whatever) and/or over inflated programs need to be cut.  Our officials in office need to have the testicular fortitude to put their neck and reputation on the line (plus other things) to make these tough decisions.  Sure tough decisions mean everyone isn’t going to be happy but that is part of the job.  We don’t need anymore thinkers – we need action.  We have setup a government system that supports ideas and not action.  Officials want to get re-elected and to make this happen they don’t want to make the hard line cutting decisions.  They don’t want to make anyone mad or even have anyone dislike them.  It simply is not in their own professional interests.  That is why most officials don’t make tough cuts or even discuss it – they just sit around and think up some new revenue idea that will tax more people.

These ideas do pass.  Look at the light cameras we have or the HOV lane fees.  The extreme rental car taxes.  Some states have speeding cameras mounted on the road.  We have even tried placing empty white vans on the highways ticketing people (with just a computer inside). 

It’s the same story we hear it all the time.  After a year or two when the government has used that great ideas revenue, they’ll claim we are broke again.  Some Official will think up another revenue idea (tax) and the vicious cycle continues over again.

Richard Conlin Seattle City Councilman Won’t Answer Taxpayer Questions

Richard Conlin Seattle City Councilman Won’t Answer Taxpayer Questions.

I recently wrote each member of the city council. Only two bothered responding. I want to just print what I wrote them, and what they answered back and think it pretty well shows they are not the slightest interested in what we have to say, or what we ask them.  You be the judge.  Try asking them something.  Anything.

 This is what I wrote to Councilman Richard Conlin after the Japan tsunami. They had their mind made up from day one they wanted a tunnel(must have got some big donations for their elections and have some big favors to pay).  Us guys paying the bills are just not important to them at all.  They have bought up land and have been wheeling and dealing in such a way they can get the tunnel whether it is on the fall ballot again or not.  Or if it proves the voters does not want it.  They can say the referendum does not apply to administrative actions, only to legislative actions.  See my letter to him and his answer below.

Good Morning Mr. Conlin:

Please re think your position on building the deep bore tunnel to replace the viaduct since the Japan earthquake.I was always against the tunnel as were 70% of the voters. Where do you get the idea you can ignore our vote?
Forget how you hate the Mayor, and want to make a liar out of him but thankfully you are giving him a lot of publicity and maybe he can be our next governor. He got elected because he promised us to stop the tunnel. His loyalty is to the voters and citizens not to a handful of council members. Just think about this.
How can digging right thru an earthquake fault, below sea level to build a tunnel be a good idea?  It would be a death trap far greater than the viaduct the minute you built it.  You cannot outguess Mother Nature and she will win.  If/when we have the big one with a tsunami there would be no warning to even get what cars were in it out the other end. It would be a big culvert. Also, it is the most expensive plan, we have no money.  It will take the longest to build so the viaduct would be up longer.  It will not help the traffic problem and will handle less cars than the viaduct. It has no exits. It wont get you downtown. What on earth are you guys thinking?  You are listening to some builders and union promises somewhere and not thinking about the tunnel at all.  For shame.
Lilly

HERE IS HIS ANSWER   (jibber jabber from his website, cut and pasted)

Thanks for your message.  I do not agree with your assertions, and have commented on them below.

Then in the same message he copy and pasted the exact text on Seattle City Councilman website here (the whole thing!):

http://conlin.seattle.gov/2011/03/03/council-overrides-mayoral-veto-on-tunnel-agreements/

The email concluded with him providing information links in the email:

For more details on the project, please go to the following:

http://conlin.seattle.gov/2010/05/18/time-to-tell-the-truth-about-costs-about-costs-and-the-viaduct-tunnel-project/

http://conlin.seattle.gov/2010/08/20/tunnel-agreements-endorsed-by-council/

http://conlin.seattle.gov/2010/12/21/tunnel-bid-on-target-for-budget/

Council President Richard Conlin

Seattle City Hall

He never answered or commented on a thing I wrote but its very interesting for him to admit they had 700 meetings, 76 replacement options, 15,000 public comments, 20 public meetings. Maybe he should update it to 15,001, since he got MY comment.

I felt the need to reply. To let him know that I know I got a snow job. See my reply below.

Thank you for answering.  You missed the whole point.  Even if everyone was for the tunnel before the Japan quake and tsunami they sure SHOULD BE AGAINST IT NOW.  No I never liked the tunnel(70% of the voters said the same thing) and you’re right I don’t trust WSDOT(think $377 million gone to studies and plans) without a thing being done.  This is no worse than Potter screwing away those millions on studying how to run minority businesses.  Maybe some heads will roll over that mess.  But for now wanted to get you Council Members to think how dangerous a tunnel would be.  If the tooth fairy or Santa offered to build it free, I would still think it was a bad idea.  Thank you again for at least sending a form letter.
Lilly

Seattle Councilman Richard Conlin
Seattle Councilman Richard Conlin

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Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess Can’t Be Trusted To Listen To Seattle Voters About The Tunnel.

My correspondence with the councilman Tim Burgess and his answer clearly shows he is out of touch with what Taxpayers want.

Good Morning Mr. Burgess:

I am asking you to re think the tunnel. It would be a far worse death trap than the viaduct if/when the big one and tsunami hits. Mother Nature will win. It might be minutes, it might be years, no one knows.  So seeing what you see in Japan can you in good conscience think digging right where the earthquake fault is, and below sea level could even be an option. It would be a giant culvert. You would not have enough warning to get any cars out of it if the ground starts to shake.  A tsunami would flood it immediately.  If you fell off the viaduct and got sandwiched there is a thousand to one chance someone might find you(maybe dead). The tunnel would just be a dark nightmare.

  • It is the most expensive option, and we are broke.
  • It will take the longest to build.
  • It will not hold as many cars as the viaduct.
  • It has no exits.
  • It will not go downtown.

Do you have more loyalty to some builder/union friends than you do to 70% of the people who voted against the tunnel?  KILL THE TUNNEL before it kills thousands of Seattleites. You are giving the Mayor a lot of good publicity because we agree with him 100%.  He got elected because he said the tunnel was a bad idea.

Thank You,
Lilly

My answer was an email with his website which covers everything including the Sonics. You cannot get in touch or tell your views to the Seattle City Council. He must be banking on some judge blocking t0 Stop the Tunnel Referendum if it gets on the ballot and passes. They do an end run(sleazy) and wheel and deal making agreements hoping that the referendum won’t apply to their administrative agreements, and only to legislative ones . That’s the method they used to screw us Taxpayers and get the King Dome blown up and two new Sports Palaces built. Who needs to worry about crooks on the streets? You will get the same answer from gov/council/Burgess no matter what you ask him or try to tell him. To him we are just an irritant by asking questions that he can’t or won’t answer.

Hello, I wanted to let you know that since you have recently communicated with Councilmember Burgess from this e-mail address, you will receive periodic updates from Tim’s free e-newsletter City View. This is one of the best ways to stay in touch with what’s going on at Seattle City Hall. If you would like to view past City View newsletters, please follow this link: http://www.seattle.gov/council/Burgess/news_past.htm
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Nate Van Duzer Legislative Aide
Councilmember Tim Burgess

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Seattle Welfare Debit Cards = Free Money $$$

Our great Welfare System.  A program created (in the 1930’s) to help lift individuals out of poverty and provide them the opportunity to become self sufficient. In theory it sounds like a great program, however, just like with every city program there are some major money problems.

Over time the Welfare programs distribution of funds has become more sophisticated. The funds are provided with debit cards and these debit cards are being sold for quick cash. Seattle welfare debit cards are even being used out of state in Portland. They have been used at liquor stores, taverns, bail bond agencies, gun shops, and strip clubs. Washington lawmakers are trying to introduce new laws to prevent this from happening more, however, millions of tax dollars have already been wasted.

When Seattle welfare debit cards are given out, no individual information is required. A name is not required and there is not even a photo on them. Recently, debit cards have even been showing up on Seattle Craigslist for sale. You can get yourself a welfare debit card with about $600 dollars on it for only $100 cash. It’s not big deal for the rightful welfare debit card owner because he/she can run down to the welfare office and get a replacement. In fact, since no personal information is on them they pretty much just give them away.

It has been said by Seattle Police Officers that it is actually a common occurrence to see drug dealers with several welfare debit cards on them. Welfare debit card holders will sell them and/or are negotiating them for drugs.  If you have ever parked in Downtown Seattle, it’s very common for a homeless person with a debit card to even pay for your parking (for a little cash in return).  What a nice guy.

With millions and millions of tax dollars already lost, lets hope this obvious money management problem by our city is corrected quickly.

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Senator Ed Murray Tricking Seattle Residents

Senator Ed Murray pulled a quick one on the Seattle public today.  As you grind at work all day trying to feed your family and pay your mortgage, Senator Ed Murray, pushed through 22 “Title Only” bills.  If you’re unaware what “Title Only” bills are they are just that – New “Bills” with only a title.  A short sentence that says what the “Bill” is and that is all.  Lawmakers use them so they can slip them though hearings etc. without them being discussed (privately or with public) or having any feedback on them.  That was a slimy technique to trick the Seattle residents Mr. Senator Ed Murray.

There was one in particular that stood out called “The creation of revenue and taxation acts”.  He will complete the bill later and it will most likely be used to create more taxes.

Senator Ed Murray
Senator Ed Murray

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