Started by Chuenchom Greacen
Oct 31, 2025
Oct 31, 2025
9
Chom Greacen for Lopez Parks and Rec Commission #4
Oct 31, 2025
!!Happy Halloween!! Don't forget to vote!
A few people reached out to me saying they couldn't find my original post. So I'm reposting.
My name is Chom or Chuenchom Greacen. I’m running to serve on the Lopez Parks & Recreation Commission (position #4).
WHY I RUN:
Lopez Island’s public school faces a financial crisis threatening its future and our community’s vitality. I’m running to ensure district revenues prioritize essential support for our school & local youth. Other WA Parks & Recreation districts use their levies to support athletics, school garden, outdoor education, and after-school programs; we should prioritize these benefits for kids too, while keeping overhead low.
WHAT I OFFER IF ELECTED:
I believe I will bring a diversified perspective different from the Lopez Rec formation committee candidates. I do appreciate the committee's hard work and thoughtfulness put toward this mechanism, but there are things I'd do or approach differently if I was elected.
1. Staffing
The formation committee budgets $170,000 for staffing to cover 1 full-time director ($117,000 salary plus benefits) and a part-time assistant. I believe this expense can be reduced significantly to make funds available to support school and youth programs.
2. Admin or operations
The formation committee budgets $167,000 for insurance, accounting, IT, legal, etc. If Lopez Rec primarily passes through funding from the levy to support different organizations, like the Lopez school or Lopez Island Family Resource Center, or programs like Youth Conservation Corps, there may not be a lot of overhead needed. The basic infrastructure like IT or accounting needs to be adequate to get the job done but should be minimized so we have funds available to help support the school and youth programs that are struggling due to funding cuts and constraints.
3. Tax vs. private dollars
I believe tax dollars need to be treated with care and caution. Tax or levy dollars are best reserved for public goods or services, like public school, which benefits everyone in the community as it enables equal opportunity and social mobility and is foundational to our democracy. We have had access to public education and I believe it’s only fair that we make sure the younger generations have similar access to what we had.
Private dollars on the other hand should be used for goods or sports that are enjoyed individually or by small groups of people, with limited benefits to people outside the groups or activities.
Because of policy failures, our public school is not adequately funded. Use of Rec levy funds to support vital programs like the school garden, music and outdoor education, in addition to the committee's pledged $180,000 for school athletics, to lessen the school's budget strain is something I believe most people can get behind.
In addition, I wrote a recent Islands Weekly article arguing that Lopezians have long chosen to live a life of non-monetized abundance - in community, music, art, and neighborly help - and therefore do not need institutionalized recreational programming for adults that we have to pay extra taxes for. See: https://www.islandsweekly.com/opinion/to-rec-or-not-to-rec-thats-a-lopez-question/ It is also posted at https://lopezrocks.org/page.php?type=item&item_handle=1760113521&menu_type=forum&return=36&offset=2025-10-31
I have also written articles about our island's nonprofits and demographic/economic shifts and affordability.
https://salish-current.org/2025/09/26/lopez-island-in-need-of-financial-health-check-community-conversation/
https://theorcasonian.com/lopez-island-in-need-of-a-community-conversation-demographic-and-affordability/
Please consider a vote for me to serve on the commission if the above resonates with you.
You can learn more about my candidacy at https://chomgreacenforlopezrec.page.gd/
A few people reached out to me saying they couldn't find my original post. So I'm reposting.
My name is Chom or Chuenchom Greacen. I’m running to serve on the Lopez Parks & Recreation Commission (position #4).
WHY I RUN:
Lopez Island’s public school faces a financial crisis threatening its future and our community’s vitality. I’m running to ensure district revenues prioritize essential support for our school & local youth. Other WA Parks & Recreation districts use their levies to support athletics, school garden, outdoor education, and after-school programs; we should prioritize these benefits for kids too, while keeping overhead low.
WHAT I OFFER IF ELECTED:
I believe I will bring a diversified perspective different from the Lopez Rec formation committee candidates. I do appreciate the committee's hard work and thoughtfulness put toward this mechanism, but there are things I'd do or approach differently if I was elected.
1. Staffing
The formation committee budgets $170,000 for staffing to cover 1 full-time director ($117,000 salary plus benefits) and a part-time assistant. I believe this expense can be reduced significantly to make funds available to support school and youth programs.
2. Admin or operations
The formation committee budgets $167,000 for insurance, accounting, IT, legal, etc. If Lopez Rec primarily passes through funding from the levy to support different organizations, like the Lopez school or Lopez Island Family Resource Center, or programs like Youth Conservation Corps, there may not be a lot of overhead needed. The basic infrastructure like IT or accounting needs to be adequate to get the job done but should be minimized so we have funds available to help support the school and youth programs that are struggling due to funding cuts and constraints.
3. Tax vs. private dollars
I believe tax dollars need to be treated with care and caution. Tax or levy dollars are best reserved for public goods or services, like public school, which benefits everyone in the community as it enables equal opportunity and social mobility and is foundational to our democracy. We have had access to public education and I believe it’s only fair that we make sure the younger generations have similar access to what we had.
Private dollars on the other hand should be used for goods or sports that are enjoyed individually or by small groups of people, with limited benefits to people outside the groups or activities.
Because of policy failures, our public school is not adequately funded. Use of Rec levy funds to support vital programs like the school garden, music and outdoor education, in addition to the committee's pledged $180,000 for school athletics, to lessen the school's budget strain is something I believe most people can get behind.
In addition, I wrote a recent Islands Weekly article arguing that Lopezians have long chosen to live a life of non-monetized abundance - in community, music, art, and neighborly help - and therefore do not need institutionalized recreational programming for adults that we have to pay extra taxes for. See: https://www.islandsweekly.com/opinion/to-rec-or-not-to-rec-thats-a-lopez-question/ It is also posted at https://lopezrocks.org/page.php?type=item&item_handle=1760113521&menu_type=forum&return=36&offset=2025-10-31
I have also written articles about our island's nonprofits and demographic/economic shifts and affordability.
https://salish-current.org/2025/09/26/lopez-island-in-need-of-financial-health-check-community-conversation/
https://theorcasonian.com/lopez-island-in-need-of-a-community-conversation-demographic-and-affordability/
Please consider a vote for me to serve on the commission if the above resonates with you.
You can learn more about my candidacy at https://chomgreacenforlopezrec.page.gd/
Rec budget allocation proposed by Rally for the Rec
Property taxes and levies paid by Lopez property owners over time
Levy rate comparison (2025): San Juan, Orcas & Lopez (proposed)
Financial health check of non-profits
Demographic & economic trends and affordability