A Fatal Flaw

If I remember my Artistotle, a tragedy requires a  fatal flaw, a wrong decision that engenders disaster.


For that reason, I hate the use of tragedy for unavoidable natural disasters, truly random accidents, and sad oddities -- acts of God as it were.

On the other hand, the landside at Oso might be considered a tragedy, with the fatal flaw being a combination of cowardice, greed, and most of all a failure to govern.


This is shown in a story covered by KUOW, our local all NPR all news station: Oso Highlights A Policy Challenge: Development Pressure Vs. Landslide Risk | KUOW News and Information.*

In short Barbara Dykes, the county hearing examiner whose brief covered review of land slide risks, was not renewed in her position by the board, after intense lobbying by the Master Builders Association of Snohomish and King Counties.


They claimed "[Dykes] was more likely to rule against development interests than in favor ... even while Dykes held the position, more than 80 percent of development projects".



In an initial burst of character, a six-month moratorium on all building permits within a certain
distance of known slide areas was proposed by a member of the Snohomish County Concil.  Since then, at the behest of the Master builders, voting on the issues has postponed.


There will, of course, be no significant change in that county's land use policy. 

 











* This was a gratifying  'dog walking on its hinder legs' moment, for this mediocre news service.