Sammamish Forum
April 28, 2009
The Blotter
could be worse
In response to recent commentaries about the Police Blotter, I’d like to say that the page serves well its purpose as a barometer of criminal activity in our burgeoning city.
I don’t know what the criteria is for which crime reports get published, but I presume it has a smidgeon to do with relevance, brevity and public interest.
Fine with me if the worst of these crimes in a given week is duct tape on the road, eggs on the hood, graffiti on the door and the like.
One should take solace in the notion that the typical Sammamish crime is — for now — petty and mischievous as opposed to grand, aggravated, or terroristic.
With the help of local police and concerned citizens, we’d do well to nip our relatively minuscule crimes in the bud.
In so doing, we can put off becoming the next Los Angeles, which Mr. Lou Ho recounts as a hotbed for murder, rape and drive-bys.
So thank you, Sammamish Review, for bringing such incidents, big and small, to our attention.
Glenn Lew,
Sammamish
An open letter
to Mark Cross,
Thank you so much for challenging the notion that spending another penny on the Freed House makes fiscal sense and for voting against the contract extension.
My husband and I wholeheartedly support you.
Finally, someone is thinking logically.
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we read the article in the April 15 Sammamish Review. In fact, this is the first we heard of this boondoggle.
We are in a recession and we are taxed to death.
Yet, your fellow council members see nothing wrong with spending at least $238,000 on this piece of junk. To what end?
For what purpose? Very shocking.
This money could be spent in much better ways.
It is time that you treated the taxpayers’ money as though it were your own personal money.
Ask yourselves if you would write a check from your bank account to pay for this?
We say “no” to spending any money on the Freed House and we are confident that our fellow taxpayers feel the same.
In fact, letter writer Betty Miller also thinks that our tax dollars are being spent on frivolous things, and I quote her from the Sammamish Forum:
“We citizens, who pay all the bills, should elect some new council members who will listen and work with the people that elect them, instead of following their own agenda.” Kudos to you Betty.
Also want to give big kudos to the Review Editorial. You covered all of the points. Great job.
Renate and Frank Perry
Sammamish
Someone should
run for council
Local politics is the foundation of any democratic government. Decisions taken individually and almost unconsciously by the local community determine the course of history.
The city of Sammamish is 10 years old this year. Most new cities experience a major crisis around year 10. It is a stage of development at which a city will begin to succeed or fail at local governance.
Sammamish is an affluent, suburban city.
We are busy people. Work and family take up most of our time.
When our families are young, we spend our weekends shuffling kids to sports, volunteering, organizing birthday parties, maintaining the house.
As our families mature, college, weddings, grandchildren and retirement demand our time and energy.
Weekdays start early and end late.
Radio and TV news tells us about national and international affairs, but local politics, while so much closer, seems far away.
Every once and a while, local politics intrudes into our lives.
A new ordinance reduces the value of our property. Services are lacking when we need them.
A city construction project we never heard of begins tearing up the street in front of our house.
At times, the local newspaper has an article that captures our attention.
We wonder if we should be concerned, but then we assume someone else is talking care of things. Why should we worry?
A very important local election is coming up in November.
Our local officials are responsible for tens of millions of dollars of our tax money. Their decisions can impact our lives in positive as well as negative ways.
Past elections have been non-events. We’ve voted the same people back in office, again and again.
This time many people are saying it is time for change.
Lets make this local election an important event.
John Galvin
Sammamish
Am I my brother’s keeper?
April 28, 2009
By Sen. Cheryl Pflug
Give state workers some credit.
The men and women who keep our government running day-to-day are dedicated professionals.
They’re your friends, neighbors and loved ones, and they truly care.
So, if you were to tell the average state employee he or she had the opportunity to:
Prevent more than 18,000 working poor adults from losing their only source of coverage in the state-subsidized Basic Health Plan,
Allow all poor children covered by Medicaid to continue to see their doctor,
Allow most of the elderly poor to continue receiving nursing home care and the disabled to remain in the adult family homes of their choice, and
Preserve crucial mental health services for some of the most vulnerable among us
…and it would only cost them $25 a month, would they do it? I think they would.
Their unions might try to talk them out of it, but they would say yes.
We can save the safety net,
and here’s how:
Currently, the Senate budget includes $140 million of new funding for state employee and K-12 health care benefits.
This is a 3 percent per year increase through 2009-11 or 6 percent total.
When this budget came to the Senate for a vote, I introduced two amendments.
One would have increased state employee health premiums by 17 percent, which would buy back 30,000 Basic Health Plan slots, thus reducing the proposed 42 percent cut to just 12 percent.
It failed.
But then I introduced an amendment that would allow state employees to voluntarily “opt in” to help save the safety net. If 50 percent of the employees agree to contribute $15 per month, they would save the state $18 million a year or 7,317 Basic Health Plan slots.
If 50 percent of the employees agree to contribute $30 a month, they would save $36 million a year or 14,634 slots.
If they give $50 a month, they would save $60 million a year or 24,390 slots.
Those willing and eager to help could make a world of difference for the poor and disabled.
Time and Love
It would take only a short time to offer all our public employees the same options.
In the meantime, I argued, let’s just ask state employees to consider helping out those who can least help themselves.
My guess is they’d be honored. And as a state employee myself, I would gladly join them in this tiny sacrifice.
With this amendment, I invited my colleagues, the majority Democrats, to join me in pursuing true budget equity.
As they made deep cuts in the state budget, I asked them to remember the least among us. Just a few dollars a month would buy each state employee two lattes per week…or their share of $169 million toward our highest human purpose: Loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Amazingly, the amendment passed!
As state employees, we’ll get the chance to save many of the slots on the Basic Health Plan; a little good news from a hard, hard session.
Sammamish eyes federal stimulus funds for eco-projects
April 28, 2009
Hybrid cars, L.E.D. street lights and motion-sensor lights – imagine this wave of energy-efficient technology on its way to Sammamish.
Deputy City Manager Pete Butkus said he and Community Development Director Kamuron Gurol are researching ways to apply for stimulus funding through the U.S. Department of Energy. Read more
City re-evaluating fire service provider
April 28, 2009
Study is part of standard review of city contracts
Sammamish will re-examine its current method of providing emergency medical and fire service to residents.
Administrative Services Director Mike Sauerwein, who gave a report on the proposed resolution to the City Council April 21, said Eastside Fire & Rescue provides excellent services to the city. Even still, the city periodically looks at all contracts. Read more
East Lake Sammamish Parkway construction is underway
April 28, 2009
SCI Infrastructure installed a stormwater drainage pipeline April 14 as part of early construction along East Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast.
Totem Electric, a Tacoma company working for SCI, was also on site April 14, helping install motion-detecting cameras at the intersection of Inglewood Hill Road and East Lake Sammamish Parkway.
Work will continue for months and will span from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., although both traffic lanes will be left open during rush hours (7-8 a.m. and 5-6 p.m.).
The project is scheduled to be mostly finished by September.
The $6.1 million redesign will expand the parkway from two to three lanes; it will also add bike lanes, a sidewalk, and a sand vault for filtering pollutants and preventing erosion.
The construction will run from the intersection of Inglewood Hill Road to Northeast 18th Place.
It is the first of several phases of roadwork scheduled for the parkway.
At its April 7 meeting, the City Council approved a second phase of parkway construction prompted by unexpected federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The $3.5 million in stimulus funding will pay for about .25 miles of construction, including a 64-foot-long bridge.
The second phase has yet to go out to bid and the city does not know when construction would begin in 2009, Public Works Director John Cunningham said.
Sammamish extends consultant contract
April 28, 2009
The City Council voted 6-0 April 21 in favor of extending a contract with Northwest Environmental Consulting from $14,000 to $30,000.
The company is helping the city obtain a wetland permit for a flood bypass culvert at Southeast 42nd Street.
It has expertise in obtaining permits from a range of agencies, including the U.S. and state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
The contract extension would allow the city to call upon Northwest Environmental Consulting for future small public works projects.
Sammamish establishes ID theft prevention program
April 28, 2009
In compliance with federal regulations, the City Council established identity theft prevention measures April 21. Finance Director Lyman Howard, who is in charge of overseeing the program, said the city isn’t at risk of identity theft scenarios.
The measures were a requirement passed down from the Federal Trade Commission as part of a law called the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003.
“It really doesn’t affect us that much,” Howard said.
If the city had its own surface water utility, and billed its residents on a monthly basis, it would have to be more cognizant of identity theft risks, Howard said.
Since the city contracts out for all its utilities, the identify theft prevention measures are more likely to affect public utilities, such as Sammamish’s two water and sewer districts, Howard said.
Group goes to Rachel Carson to challenge environmentalism
April 28, 2009
Earth Day had special meaning for Rachel Carson Elementary School. Not necessarily for the students and staff, though.
But for a pair of independent filmmakers, showing their new film at the school helped paint a curious picture of the environmentalist efforts of Rachel Carson the woman, who is considered by many to be the founder of the modern environmentalist movement.
Todd Myers, Washington Policy Center director for the center on the environment, addresses the crowd before the film screening. Photo by Christopher Huber
Sammamish library to help job seekers
April 28, 2009
Librarian Robbin Gaebler has seen a definite mood shift at the Sammamish Public Library. People come in tense, their spouses recently laid off, their job searches aren’t going well — small late fees might be enough to make someone snap.
“We’re not social workers, yet someone is there showing us their entire resume,” Gaebler said. “We’re being drawn into people’s personal lives right now.” Read more
Blackwell student speaks frankly about her epilepsy
April 28, 2009
Since she was diagnosed with epilepsy in June 2007, Blackwell Elementary fifth-grader Courtney Huston has worked hard to educate others about the disorder that affects her nervous system.
She doesn’t have it bad, but her “absence” seizures often affect her ability to work on class projects at school or remember instructions.
Courtney Huston poses in front of the U.S. Capitol building after completing the National Walk for Epilepsy March 28. Photo Contributed
