Remarks by Lenny Greenstein
52 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 1:16:21
“I don't have a huge issue with that. Where my bigger concern is is really on the city flag, not the flag polls, but the light polls, where we currently have the agreement with the Lions Club, who put up the American flags for the period of I forget the exact dates, but I know it's there for Flag Day, it's there for Memorial Day, Labor Day, you know, for that stretch of holidays, the Fourth of July. My concern is switching out the American flag for any other flag through that period of time I have a serious problem with, serious concern.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:17:03
“I believe there are brackets, and they're using our brackets to put their flags, because what this policy is talking about is allowing other organizations or other flags, other approved flags, to fly on those same brackets. Am I missing something there? That's what we're talking about, correct?”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:18:01
“I guess where I'm still missing something is my understanding, because I've helped them put those flags up in years past, they fly them all over the city. I mean, I don't know that we have areas that they're not flying those during the holidays. And that's where my concern comes, because it just so happens that the timing of the other flags is during the time they fly those flags, right? Because Pride Month is June. Juneteenth is in June. That is during the period that they fly the American flags. So that's my concern. I would have a serious concern with us taking down the American flag to…”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:18:43
“But is that the case, though? I mean, because if we would be going into an agreement with anybody else flying these flags, is the existing agreement with the Lions Club going to take precedent over those other agreements? So they would have first right of refusal. That's not in their agreement at this point.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:19:23
“Right, we need to formalize that in the policy. It would be critical to me.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:20:10
“I would think it would make sense to leave it a little more open-ended in the sense of not necessarily naming the locations of the flagpoles, but city flagpoles, right? So that every time we add a new flagpole, we don't have to amend the policy like we're doing now for the police station or Rainier Vista. I mean, it would be, I would think it'd just be easier to make it for any city-owned flagpoles.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:23:27
“In some of the years, I can tell you that AUSA and soldiers from JBLM have helped put up the flags because Sunrise Lions Club is, you know, they generally have gotten a little older over the years, the group that's there, and some of them are just not quite as able to put up the flags. So they've struggled with the volunteers to be able to actually put them up and take them back down. So AUSA and soldiers from JBLM have helped several of those years.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 1:59:42
“That's the only thing staff would be looking at.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:01:20
“As I recall last time, if I could be correct, Hoffman, we had 13 or 14, though. We had a fair number, and we did interview all candidates, all applicants got interviewed. Yeah.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:01:42
“We all asked the same question. We each asked the same question of each candidate.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:02:07
“But the other candidates are held out in another room so that they're not hearing the answers, so that they're not getting any unfair advantage of hearing the people that go before them. Yeah.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:03:56
“The other thing that added a lot of confusion, not as much in the last one, but the one previous to that, was that council members voted for more than one candidate, more than one applicant. That created mass confusion.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:05:35
“It just becomes a little more difficult for logistics. I know, like, October, for instance, I'm gone part of the month. I'm sure other people have.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:07:10
“The point you need sooner rather than later is the application questions, right? Right, which I'll have some slides coming up. Because then we have the time period that they're applying for us to work through the rest of this. Correct.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:08:08
“Yeah, I was here for the last two. You did the one, I think you did one additional one, because I know because I was one of the applicants on that one. That's right. But in the two that I've been involved in, they were not the smoothest of processes, let's just say. It's a difficult process, no matter how you do it. There's no easy way to do this.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:13:41
“Well, I mean, again, if we're running for election, there is no, I mean, diversity is the decision of the people that elect the elected body. It's really not, I don't see it as a question that belongs on that application.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:15:48
“If that's a question someone wants, puts on their list of questions that they want to ask.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:16:59
“Diversity of thought is necessary for a good... And part of it was... But that question isn't really about that. It could be. It could be, but...”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:19:38
“Depending on how many applicants we have. Yeah, it depends on the applicants.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:21:33
“But it could be a question that we do in an interview rather than that if everyone's not comfortable with that question because there are, and Andy and I have had that conversation in the past when we've had these, Some people feel it's important that we put someone on who is planning on doing this for a long time, and others don't. Other people think that it's better to fill the spot, whether they're running or not is irrelevant and shouldn't be part of the decision.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:23:00
“Also, serving for that time period until May of next year, if they get appointed now, serving until May may have a big influence on whether they want to run or not once they see what that experience is.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:24:03
“Are we leaving or removing the interested in running questions?”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:24:33
“Yeah, I would support removing this question first.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:26:27
“But I think that would be the same whether you did two weeks or whatever amount of time you did. They're all going to tend to come in that last part of it, whatever it is, I think.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 2:31:53
“And I can fill you in more on that because I chair that for many, many years.”
City Council · Aug 18, 2026