City Government Illegally obtains Federal Funds.

In 1990 The City of Port Townsend, WA defrauded the Federal Govt. by submitting a false request for funding under the "National Historic Preservation Program." This Federal program was and is designed to help maintain and save historic landmarks in designated Historic Cities throughout America. As is the case with most, or all federal funding, these programs are vulnerable to fraud, misuse and abuse.

The specific case I am writing about is extremely relevant in our current national debate as to the role of Government and the slippery slope leading to a socialist style and ideology with regard to American business and economics.

The City of Port Townsend, WA previous to 1990 had been a traditional small working class American City. During the 1980's a migration of liberal, Arts community type people began influencing and ultimately gaining control of local politics. They took over City Hall and the Mayor’s office and began to apply their liberal, special interest agenda. A group of these liberal, socialists decided that the city needed a movie theater which would better serve their specific needs, but no one was willing or had the means to finance such a business venture privately.

So they went to the City Council (whose make-up included people very much a part of the originally interested group) and convinced the City to lend its credit and financial support in obtaining a substantial Federal Grant to “renovate” what they described as an "Historic Nickelodeon" (Fraud #1).

In granting the request for public funding the City of Port Townsend also changed the municipal code requiring new public entertainment venues to provide adequate parking so that their new theatre would not be required to meet a requirement that would get in the way. (Recently the City of Sequim has stopped the construction of a new cinema for this very reason).

Meanwhile, there was already a movie theatre in Port Townsend called the Uptown Theatre, a privately owned and operated business which had been employing people and paying taxes for almost 50 years.

The new Government-built "Rose Theatre" because it had been set up with public funds was to operate under special conditions and parameters beyond the Federal requirement for use of such funding being limited to only returning the property back to its original state, The Rose was required to; #1Be accessible to the public, #2 Not directly compete with the existing private enterprise for industry specific product (movies).

Well, as you have probably guessed, it was all lip service, and once they got their foot in the door the stipulations were ignored and the government renovation of a "Historic Nickelodeon" is now a state of the art twin Cinema not only competing directly for any and all product, but winning and doing very serious financial damage to the existing private enterprise.

My concern is this: Is this the direction this country is heading?

Does the Govt. know just how reckless, damaging and discriminatory this use of funding can and has become?

Is the Government, local or Federal, legally entitled to set someone up in business with a grant of public funds and subsequently directly compete with and defeat an existing privately owned enterprise?

I would very much like to hear some opinions and advice, as I am currently compiling files to build a case against the Rose Theatre and The City of Port Townsend in a Federal Court complaint filing. Thank you for any help or suggestions.

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic." Benjamin Franklin