Sammamish Forum June 24
June 23, 2009
By Administrator
Counseling center
doesn’t fit
The neighbors have protested turning the Sween House into a counseling center but the city still plans to. It seems this is the stupidest move the city has ever made.
The counseling center for juveniles can include a lot of different levels of delinquents. Why were they sent to the counseling center? It could be simple like break-ins or something much worse like being sex offenders.
The Sween House is in the Commons. I did not think that they could put a business of this kind where children often play.
The facility is down a dead end, one-way road. It is over half a mile to a bus stop and there is no sidewalk, or streetlights. Now lets be practical. The upper level of City Hall could be used as the counseling center; there is even police protection there. They also have the vacant mansion to the south.
The best place for the center would be at the corner of 20th and 228th Avenue Southeast. It is a well-lit spot with a bus stop right in front. The city is moving their maintenance equipment to a new location. Why didn’t they consider this location for the counseling center? Could it be that two of the council members live within a stone’s throw of this facility? And the people in this neighborhood don’t want that here.
I don’t think they will have police patrolling the dark areas in the Sammamish Commons. Well, think for yourself and then you will see. Whatever the council decides to do, it does; no matter what we the people say.
Urban Masset
Sammamish
New council needs
to look at budget
Without significant change in economic policies, by 2015 Sammamish will not be able to maintain and develop infrastructure, provide adequate levels of service, and protect the value of Sammamish properties and homes.
According to budget projections, between 2007 and 2009, city revenues will decrease by $4.8 million. During the same period, city operating expenditures are budgeted to increase from $26.6 million to $30.1 million, a $3.5 million increase. Combining the increase in expenditures with the decrease in revenues, the city’s budget shrank by $8.3 million. Remove $5.3 million from the general fund and transfer it to an emergency revenue stabilization fund and it is easy to see the $8 million – $10 million saved on road projects is no budget windfall.
Looking ahead to 2010, the city’s beginning fund balance is projected to drop from $50.8 million in 2009 to $11.7 million in 2010. In these number holes, between 2007 and 2010 the city would experience a 45 percent drop in adjusted income from $103 million to $56.8 million. This decrease is in the context of vigorous budget controls, service reductions, fee increases, project delays, project scope reductions, and other cost cutting activities.
In June of 2008 at a budget retreat, Stan Finkelstein, executive director of the Association of Washington Cities, told the City Council they needed to increase revenues and diversify the city economy or else face a major crisis. A year has passed and the City Council has not yet responded to Finkelstein’s warning.
Ten years without an economic development plan leaves Sammamish on the brink of an economic crisis.
Citizens need to hear what candidates for the City Council think about the city’s economy. How will Sammamish stop this economic decline? Can past policies meet future realities?
John Galvin
Sammamish
Cheaper catalogs
are possible
The Department of Education spends about $16 million per year to print and mail curriculum catalogs to every residence in Washington. Four times per year I get catalogs from 3 different community colleges, the U of W, and Renton Technical College. It would be fully effective to replace these catalogs with a two part postcard. A person, who is not inclined to access the catalogs via the Web, would return a part of the postcard, requesting a catalog. This would reduce the cost to less than half a million per year.
J Neil Butchart
Issaquah
Why no cell tower?
The June 3 Review addressed an issue which seems strange to me.
The school district is strapped for funds and a cell tower was a source of $1,300 each month.
Some people are against such a move and indicated it was not safe and reduce property values. What evidence did they offer, if any? Has anyone heard of any incidents of a cell tower hurting anyone?
What is more likely to reduce property values, a cell tower on school property or a recession? In addition, will all of those folks who are against a cell tower making money for the school district, please throw all of their cells phones in the cell phone recycle bin?
Ken Sessler
Issaquah
When Pravda, a Russian newspaper, recognizes that the U.S. is declining into Marxism with breathtaking speed, you, a citizen of this country, must sit up and take notice.
I wrote to this paper during the election espousing dire economic consequences with the election of President Obama due to the unbridled power he and the Pelosi/Reid democrat congress have yielded.
Ask yourself the question; am I better off after five months under Obama? I think not. Real estate prices continue to decline, our neighbors (even at Microsoft) continue to lose their jobs and our state deepens its budget gap. Concerning the state budget, face it, people are scared and are not spending money because the government is scaring us. Washington state is cutting back just like we will experience nationally if the current administration gets its way.
If Obama and his cronies get their way this year we will see at least an almost immediate (this year) 20 percent decline in our standard of living due to increases in fees, taxes, cap and trade, national sales tax, healthcare takeover, etc.
We are headed toward a 1970s explosion in interest rates and it has already begun. Mortgage rates have jumped one full point in three months as the presses roll on. With the all of the Obama/Geithner printing presses going full stream printing money we are headed toward a borrowing cost that will exceed our national GDP. Look to Europe, most of the EU countries voted in conservatives.
In the next year, please consider that voting against the party in power to put the checks and balances back into our government.
Consider voting against Patty Murray.
John Burg
Sammamish
Counseling center doesn’t fit
The neighbors have protested turning the Sween House into a counseling center but the city still plans to. It seems this is the stupidest move the city has ever made.
The counseling center for juveniles can include a lot of different levels of delinquents. Why were they sent to the counseling center? It could be simple like break-ins or something much worse like being sex offenders.
The Sween House is in the Commons. I did not think that they could put a business of this kind where children often play.
The facility is down a dead end, one-way road. It is over half a mile to a bus stop and there is no sidewalk, or streetlights. Now lets be practical. The upper level of City Hall could be used as the counseling center; there is even police protection there. They also have the vacant mansion to the south.
The best place for the center would be at the corner of 20th and 228th Avenue Southeast. It is a well-lit spot with a bus stop right in front. The city is moving their maintenance equipment to a new location. Why didn’t they consider this location for the counseling center? Could it be that two of the council members live within a stone’s throw of this facility? And the people in this neighborhood don’t want that here.
I don’t think they will have police patrolling the dark areas in the Sammamish Commons. Well, think for yourself and then you will see. Whatever the council decides to do, it does; no matter what we the people say.
Urban Masset
Sammamish
New council needs to look at budget
Without significant change in economic policies, by 2015 Sammamish will not be able to maintain and develop infrastructure, provide adequate levels of service, and protect the value of Sammamish properties and homes.
According to budget projections, between 2007 and 2009, city revenues will decrease by $4.8 million. During the same period, city operating expenditures are budgeted to increase from $26.6 million to $30.1 million, a $3.5 million increase. Combining the increase in expenditures with the decrease in revenues, the city’s budget shrank by $8.3 million. Remove $5.3 million from the general fund and transfer it to an emergency revenue stabilization fund and it is easy to see the $8 million – $10 million saved on road projects is no budget windfall.
Looking ahead to 2010, the city’s beginning fund balance is projected to drop from $50.8 million in 2009 to $11.7 million in 2010. In these number holes, between 2007 and 2010 the city would experience a 45 percent drop in adjusted income from $103 million to $56.8 million. This decrease is in the context of vigorous budget controls, service reductions, fee increases, project delays, project scope reductions, and other cost cutting activities.
In June of 2008 at a budget retreat, Stan Finkelstein, executive director of the Association of Washington Cities, told the City Council they needed to increase revenues and diversify the city economy or else face a major crisis. A year has passed and the City Council has not yet responded to Finkelstein’s warning.
Ten years without an economic development plan leaves Sammamish on the brink of an economic crisis.
Citizens need to hear what candidates for the City Council think about the city’s economy. How will Sammamish stop this economic decline? Can past policies meet future realities?
John Galvin
Sammamish
Cheaper catalogs are possible
The Department of Education spends about $16 million per year to print and mail curriculum catalogs to every residence in Washington. Four times per year I get catalogs from 3 different community colleges, the U of W, and Renton Technical College. It would be fully effective to replace these catalogs with a two part postcard. A person, who is not inclined to access the catalogs via the Web, would return a part of the postcard, requesting a catalog. This would reduce the cost to less than half a million per year.
J Neil Butchart
Issaquah
Why no cell tower?
The June 3 Review addressed an issue which seems strange to me.
The school district is strapped for funds and a cell tower was a source of $1,300 each month.
Some people are against such a move and indicated it was not safe and reduce property values. What evidence did they offer, if any? Has anyone heard of any incidents of a cell tower hurting anyone?
What is more likely to reduce property values, a cell tower on school property or a recession? In addition, will all of those folks who are against a cell tower making money for the school district, please throw all of their cells phones in the cell phone recycle bin?
Ken Sessler
Issaquah
Comments
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Regarding the Sween house counseling center:
I looked up Youth Eastside Services on the internet. The counseling services they offer “give kids and families the understanding, confidence and support they need to address emotional distress, behavioral difficulties, school-related problems, peer and family relationship issues, sexual orientation and identification, teen dating violence, and parent-child conflicts.”
I don’t see anything there about “delinquents” being “sent” to counseling for criminal offenses. I see a service being offered to families dealing with many issues that can happen in even the best of families. I don’t see the people who use these services as “delinquents” and threats. I see them as people in need of help–something many people occasionally need. I wonder why the letter writer came to the conclusion that those using the center were necessarily “delinquents.” Sounds like the writer could use a lesson in compassion and understanding before jumping to conclusions.