Betsy Peabody Sent - City of Bainbridge Island

From: John Papajani
Sent: Thu 10/7/2010 12:08 PM
To: Council
Subject: WSF offer
Dear Council Members,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of Seaview Boatyard at last night’s work session on the
WSF offer. I’d like to take off my Seaview Boatyard hat and don my Bainbridge Island resident’s hat.
WSF has made the city a limited time offer with two options. Before you do anything else you need to figure out
if their timeline is valid. What happens if you don’t perform by their deadline? Do you lose your legal claim to
the boatyard? To answer these and other questions you need to determine your legal standing regarding the past
agreements and rulings. I’m sure you have a legal analysis of your position. Without knowing your strengths
you are negotiating from a position of weakness. a very bad spot to be.
Once you determine the strength of your claim you need to ask yourselves a question - do you want an island
boatyard? If so then fight for it. If you don’t want a boatyard then take the money, give up all future claims, and
get on with life.
They’ve made the boatyard lease conditions so onerous, as Mr. Knobloch characterized it, it’s obvious they
don’t want the island to have a boatyard on their site. They’re just covering their butt by making the offer. They
want you to take the money and go away. You seem afraid to make a counter offer which states your terms.
Instead you are coming back to them with a “mother may I?” attitude that does nothing but show you are negotiating
from a position of self-perceived weakness. If you determined you have a strong claim then stand up and
negotiate. Play hardball, and don’t be bullied by the WSF folks. If you don’t come up with a signed lease and
you really want a boatyard then you can wait to fight again at a later date. or you could still take the money and
the game is over. At least you tried.
Thanks for listening.
John Papajani