Fred Jarrett is best choice for county exec
August 4, 2009
The King County primary ballots arrived last week in the mailboxes of registered voters, but there is admittedly little of keen interest to Sammamish residents.
But look a little further. The decision for King County executive makes the ballot worth paying attention to. Caution: Don’t just vote for the most recognizable name, unless you’ve done your homework.
We’ve done our due diligence and recommend a vote for Fred Jarrett. Nearby Eastside residents know him as a 41st District senator, but otherwise, he may be lacking in name familiarity.
Jarrett comes with a degree in financial analysis, and a 35-year career as a project manager at the Boeing Co. Those are the credentials needed for the executive’s job, but just as important is his very public, proven track record as a civic leader — as mayor of Mercer Island and as a state representative and senator. That combination of local and state government gives him a unique perspective to take to the county’s top spot.
Given the financial woes of King County, an executive who can oversee a $4.9 billion budget, trim the staff and benefit costs, and focus on measurable end results is what we need. We believe Jarrett is the best one to do just that.
Jarrett has proven himself to be an open book — easily accessible and transparent —during this campaign and as an elected official. He is known for good ideas — hold off on expansion of the county’s ferry system, implement performance standards, decrease the executive office’s budget and staff — and has the know-how to implement them.
No doubt one of King County’s biggest concerns is transportation, an area that Jarrett has mastered as member of the House Transportation Committee and chair of the committee that created Sound Transit. That’s the kind of background that will serve him well, if elected, to oversee the budget woes combined with needed growth of Metro.
There are seven other candidates seeking the King County executive role, but Jarrett stands out from all of the others.
The King County primary ballots arrived last week in the mailboxes of registered voters, but there is admittedly little of keen interest to Sammamish residents.
But look a little further. The decision for King County executive makes the ballot worth paying attention to. Caution: Don’t just vote for the most recognizable name, unless you’ve done your homework. Read more
Sammamish Forum August 5
August 4, 2009
No tolls
In the July 28 Sammamish Review, there was an article titled “Planners look into their crystal balls.” This article is about a new regional transportation plan.
There were various choices given for funding regarding roads, public transit, sidewalks etc.
One of the options is having tolls on major arterials and freeways. In this scenario even 228th Avenue would be tolled. 228th Avenue. A toll road. No.
Lori Barnett,
Sammamish
Agreed, teen
center is needed
I applaud Carol Schweitzer for raising the issue of a teen center. It appears our City Council has forgotten all about it.
Since a series of community forums in 2002, citizens identified a community center as a top priority for the city. In the past eight years, the idea of a community center that serves teens in particular or a cross-section of citizens has surfaced as a top priority again and again.
What happened with the parks bond that included funding for a teen center? It was discussed, identified as critical, then ignored until, suddenly, pressure to put a parks bond together to meet an election deadline demanded City Council attention.
Unfortunately, the City Council buried the bond’s key project, the teen center, under several pork barrel projects and it failed.
Most bond measures fail the first time, which is why leadership is important. Good leadership stays focused on priorities, learns from mistakes and makes sure the job gets done. This City Council, however, gets distracted by pet projects such as the Sammamish Landing. This project, for some strange reason, is moving forward while our teen center is forgotten.
I don’t understand it. The City Council intends to spend millions on a narrow strip of land that is hidden on the distant edge of the city away from the center of city activity. During the long, wet winter months how many of our teens will use the Sammamish landing? Will any teens even know it is there?
What we need is new leadership on the City Council that knows how to stay focused on top priorities.
We need council members who are in touch with kids, younger families, and the future. An election is coming. After 10 years, it’s time for new leadership.
Get involved, speak up and vote.
John Galvin
Sammamish
We should take
care of ourselves
Well, well, I see we have a real liberal bleeding heart in Michael J. O’Connell. I raised four children, and all are successful. We did not need all these youth services, etc.
We took care of our own, and they knew what the rules were. The idea of the rod hanging there was enough to ever deter them from doing what was not right.
Oh, by the way, we used to have at least three or more neighborhood kids around a great deal of the time. Never did we encounter any trouble, as I guess we, as parents, taught them right from wrong.
Now does O’Connell know the meaning of the parents managing their kids or does he always want the government to take care of them?
Of course, that is the way it seems liberals think. If you cannot learn to control them and teach them right from wrong as parents, well then no psychologist is going to help.
Your dreaming is just another pie in the sky. Help comes from the home, not you shipping your kids off to someone else to do it for you. I think O’Connell needs to take a visit up to Echo Glen or some other correction institute, and see what happens in the real world.
I, personally, have had quite a few kids work for me in different stages and all of them today are either in their own business or have jobs as leaders in major companies.
Urban Masset
Sammamish
Obama is the problem
The author opines that Republicans are the evil behind 30 years of undermining the American economy, proving once again that ignorance is the most costly commodity we have in America today.
He further asserts that there is a relationship between the time it takes to build something, and the time it takes to destroy something, or vice versa. Therefore, we should give Obama as much time as it takes to destroy the United States as we know it.
We should keep in mind that it took years to build the twin towers, but only minutes to bring them down. And we should also take note that the Obama administration has amassed more debt in six months than all presidents combined from GW, our first president, to GWB, our 43rd president. So let’s just put it on our children’s — and their children’s — backs, for our Obama’s selfishness.
It may be Pravda-like to ignore the truth for an ignorance of fact, or a refusal to face facts. But, then again, with an education system today that ignores teaching our young civics and history — other than the PC Pravda-like indoctrination version(s), for the art of putting condoms on cucumbers — it is of little wonder that so many are so politically blind.
Blaming the Republicans to excuse Obama and his destructive agenda is chicken.
But, then again, I just read in the Review Editorial that, “Chickens should have a place here.” So, now we can go after those “garden growers” who are lurking in Sammamish neighborhoods on their 1.89 acres.
I’ll go for the farmers over the “chickens,” but I haven’t checked in with the Obama “Chicken Tzar” yet for a Supreme Ruling. I’ll get back with you on that one.
Larry Davison
Sammamish
These things take time, revisited
I appreciate Mr. Barr’s comments. But, apparently, he does not quite see the forest from the trees. By adhering to the Democrat party line of “we inherited this mess” and not owning up to the following facts of unbridled power gone awry by Mr. Obama and the Pelosi/Reid Houses of Congress, he would rather dismiss political reality as propaganda. And, sir, you seem to miss the fact that the former Communists (Pravda) recognize the U.S. decline into Socialism.
Mr, Barr, can you really support:
1) a $787 Billion stimulus plan that was touted to create millions of jobs and keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent (now 9.5 percent: note that no jobs have been created and the government can’t even distribute the money timely to generate any jobs; less than 10 percent has been distributed)
2) An increase of the annual deficit to $1.8 trillion in this fiscal year alone and an increase in the Obama first term of more debt than all previous administration since the founding of this country
3) a $1.5 trillion expenditure for a takeover of the healthcare system (17 percent of the economy) for the benefit of 7 million citizens, 7 million illegal aliens and 20 million (making $40,000 or more per year, who chose not to enroll or went without health care at some point in a year) with a crippling requirement to small business and an exemption to unions.
And while Mr. Barr is reaching back 30 years to the “undermining of the economy”, lets reach back 40 years to when it was really bad, in the early 1970s when Congress had been controlled by the Democrats since the late 1950s, to the real disastrous problems of stagflation under Jimmy Carter which took Reagan to come in and fix by lowering crushing tax rates from the highest level of 70 percent to 33 percent. This stimulated private sector growth like the world had never seen. The last 30 years, sir, have been pretty good times for most folks within normal business cycles.
The point is you fail to see Mr. Obama repeating the failed Keynesian economic policies (care to witness Japan for the last 20 years?) of the Democrat congresses of the 1970s (now being used in the extreme by the Obama administration and the Pelosi/Reid Congress) which caused stagflation, 21 percent mortgage rates, and the last major recession with 10 percent unemployment.
My point is that there are no checks and balances left between the Congress (all Democrat majorities) and the Democrat Administration. Mr. Obama is jamming through his agenda because he know his party will be voted out in 2010 and the balances will be reinstated. By then, sir, we will be stuck paying for his undermining of the economy in two years for the next 20!
John Burg
Sammamish
No tolls
In the July 28 Sammamish Review, there was an article titled “Planners look into their crystal balls.” This article is about a new regional transportation plan.
There were various choices given for funding regarding roads, public transit, sidewalks etc.
One of the options is having tolls on major arterials and freeways. In this scenario even 228th Avenue would be tolled. 228th Avenue. A toll road. No.
Lori Barnett
Sammamish
Agreed, teen center is needed
I applaud Carol Schweitzer for raising the issue of a teen center. It appears our City Council has forgotten all about it.
Since a series of community forums in 2002, citizens identified a community center as a top priority for the city. In the past eight years, the idea of a community center that serves teens in particular or a cross-section of citizens has surfaced as a top priority again and again.
What happened with the parks bond that included funding for a teen center? It was discussed, identified as critical, then ignored until, suddenly, pressure to put a parks bond together to meet an election deadline demanded City Council attention.
Unfortunately, the City Council buried the bond’s key project, the teen center, under several pork barrel projects and it failed.
Most bond measures fail the first time, which is why leadership is important. Good leadership stays focused on priorities, learns from mistakes and makes sure the job gets done. This City Council, however, gets distracted by pet projects such as the Sammamish Landing. This project, for some strange reason, is moving forward while our teen center is forgotten.
I don’t understand it. The City Council intends to spend millions on a narrow strip of land that is hidden on the distant edge of the city away from the center of city activity. During the long, wet winter months how many of our teens will use the Sammamish landing? Will any teens even know it is there?
What we need is new leadership on the City Council that knows how to stay focused on top priorities.
We need council members who are in touch with kids, younger families, and the future. An election is coming. After 10 years, it’s time for new leadership.
Get involved, speak up and vote.
John Galvin
Sammamish
We should take care of ourselves
Well, well, I see we have a real liberal bleeding heart in Michael J. O’Connell. I raised four children, and all are successful. We did not need all these youth services, etc.
We took care of our own, and they knew what the rules were. The idea of the rod hanging there was enough to ever deter them from doing what was not right.
Oh, by the way, we used to have at least three or more neighborhood kids around a great deal of the time. Never did we encounter any trouble, as I guess we, as parents, taught them right from wrong.
Now does O’Connell know the meaning of the parents managing their kids or does he always want the government to take care of them?
Of course, that is the way it seems liberals think. If you cannot learn to control them and teach them right from wrong as parents, well then no psychologist is going to help.
Your dreaming is just another pie in the sky. Help comes from the home, not you shipping your kids off to someone else to do it for you. I think O’Connell needs to take a visit up to Echo Glen or some other correction institute, and see what happens in the real world.
I, personally, have had quite a few kids work for me in different stages and all of them today are either in their own business or have jobs as leaders in major companies.
Urban Masset
Sammamish
Obama is the problem
The author opines that Republicans are the evil behind 30 years of undermining the American economy, proving once again that ignorance is the most costly commodity we have in America today.
He further asserts that there is a relationship between the time it takes to build something, and the time it takes to destroy something, or vice versa. Therefore, we should give Obama as much time as it takes to destroy the United States as we know it.
We should keep in mind that it took years to build the twin towers, but only minutes to bring them down. And we should also take note that the Obama administration has amassed more debt in six months than all presidents combined from GW, our first president, to GWB, our 43rd president. So let’s just put it on our children’s — and their children’s — backs, for our Obama’s selfishness.
It may be Pravda-like to ignore the truth for an ignorance of fact, or a refusal to face facts. But, then again, with an education system today that ignores teaching our young civics and history — other than the PC Pravda-like indoctrination version(s), for the art of putting condoms on cucumbers — it is of little wonder that so many are so politically blind.
Blaming the Republicans to excuse Obama and his destructive agenda is chicken.
But, then again, I just read in the Review Editorial that, “Chickens should have a place here.” So, now we can go after those “garden growers” who are lurking in Sammamish neighborhoods on their 1.89 acres.
I’ll go for the farmers over the “chickens,” but I haven’t checked in with the Obama “Chicken Tzar” yet for a Supreme Ruling. I’ll get back with you on that one.
Larry Davison
Sammamish
Hot, Hot, Hot
August 4, 2009
Sammamish and region endure record-setting temps
By Lauren McLaughlin
The heat hadn’t changed Carson Denny’s habits one bit. He was already visiting Pine Lake Park every day this summer.
“I go for the girls, mostly,” Denny said.
With the temperature outside reaching into the 100s, Sammamish residents were looking for ways to stay cool. On July 29, the official temperature at Sea-Tac Airport hit 103 degrees – the highest temperature on record in 115 years.
Some people trekked to lakes and air conditioned stores, others bought cold drinks and ice cream, and many bought fans and air conditioning units to turn their homes into sanctuaries from the heat.
Tim Koch, owner of the Sammamish ACE hardware, said his fan aisle was completely empty.
“We sold out of fans and air conditioners Tuesday (July 21),” Koch said. “We got 50 more in on the 28th and they were gone in an hour.”
Running out of fans and air conditioners in the store is not the only potential problem.
“Last week we had 900 units of one specific air conditioner in the warehouse,” Koch said. “When I checked yesterday we only had 300.”
Koch said he is not too worried.
“As of right now we can still get stuff,” Koch said. “If this heat lasts a couple of weeks we’ll be in trouble, but I don’t think it will.”
Many people have also been indulging in ice cream to take off the sting of the heat.
Debbie Chaney, owner of the Cold Stone Creamery on Northeast Eight Street, said she had noticed an increase in people buying ice cream.
“People have been staying in the store later than usual too,” Chaney said.
Chaney has also noticed that they have been selling more of certain flavors.
“The sorbets. People just look for something lighter,” Chaney said. “Most of our flavors are rich and creamy and in this heat people want something lighter.”
Ice cream stores weren’t the only places to rest in air-conditioned comfort.
Public libraries were designated cooling areas and that brought in crowds of people, Sammamish Library Manager Robbin Gaebler said.
“Every available seat was filled,” she said. “I saw adults squeezing into kids chairs, 3-4 people on a single bench, every available cushion and every available chair was taken, sometimes even multiple people to a single chair. It was really crowded.”
The Sammamish Library opened up its conference room to provide more seating because library policy doesn’t allow people to sit on the floor or in the aisle ways, Gaebler said.
“Even with the conference room it wasn’t enough,” Gaebler said. “I saw an elderly couple search the library for a while looking for a place to read before they left because they simply couldn’t find a seat.”
Closing time presented unpredicted problems; no one wanted to leave.
“In the fall it happens sometimes because of people staying late to get homework help, but not in summer,” Gaebler said. “We actually had to turn off the lights and start to leave in order to close the library at 9. It’s normally empty by 7:30 in the summer.”
Mary Mae Colvin retreated to the library for a few hours to get out of the heat.
“I came (on Wednesday) and it was just so wonderful that I came back again today,” said Colvin.
Colvin said she noticed the library was more crowded than usual but it didn’t bother her.
The library was not the only crowded location during the heat wave. Many people stopped by Beaver and Pine lakes for a swim or to simply cool off.
Lorna Forbes, of South Africa, and Cristina Gomez, of Columbia, came to visit friends in Sammamish and were surprised by the heat.
“This never happens here,” Forbes said. “I wasn’t expecting this heat in Washington.”
“Yesterday we tried going to the mall to get out of the heat,” Gomez said. “It was crazy.”
It wasn’t just people cooling off at Beaver Lake this week. Juan Pablo Gofre brought his dog to the lake to cool off.
“She doesn’t like the water, so I have to put her in,” Gofre said after dunking his dog in the lake. “Coming to the lake is a good way to stay cool,” Gofre said.
Pine Lake Park was no different.
“This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it here,” said Tyler Bodick, a lifeguard at Pine Lake Park for the last four years. Bodick said he and the other lifeguards would take to the shade whenever they were off duty.
Toby and Andrew Beyer, visiting the state from southern California, came to Pine Lake Park to seek respite from the oppressive heat.
The Beyers said they spent the week bouncing from air conditioned shopping centers and movie theaters and outdoor parks.
“I’d heard stories that it was cold in Washington,” Andrew Beyer said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan contributed to this story.
Intern Lauren McLaughlin can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 244 or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this story visit www.sammamishreview.com.
The heat hadn’t changed Carson Denny’s habits one bit. He was already visiting Pine Lake Park every day this summer.
“I go for the girls, mostly,” Denny said.
With the temperature outside reaching into the 100s, Sammamish residents were looking for ways to stay cool. On July 29, the official temperature at Sea-Tac Airport hit 103 degrees – the highest temperature on record in 115 years.
Photo by J.B. Wogan Zakk Weber, 11, launches into the water from the Pine Lake Park dock. His friend Adam Nakanishi, 16, watches the jump. Photo by J.B. Wogan
Town Center could end up waterlogged
August 4, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
The slide that caught Tom Vance’s attention showed seven ponds, some the size of two football fields, sprinkled over land intended for the city’s new urban center.
“It certainly opened up my eyes,” said Vance, chair of the City Council’s land-use advisory board, the Planning Commission. “That’s a lot — almost one quarter of the buildable land.”
Much of the 240-acre Town Center area is wetlands, already unfit for development, making the remaining portion crucial. About 22 percent of that remaining buildable area – 11 percent of the total area — would be set aside for storm water ponds, according to Vance.
Eric LaFrance, the city’s senior storm water program engineer, and a city consultant gave presentations to the Planning Commission and the City Council in July about storm water management in the Town Center. The takeaway: the city cannot rely on traditional methods, detention ponds in particular, to deal with storm water in the area.
Vance said the commission hasn’t given any direction to city staff yet, but they’re well aware of the problem.
“We’ve got a big issue with regards to mitigating all that storm water, which points us to various LID (low impact development) solutions, including green roofs,” Vance said.
Vance said the commission would consider implementing rain gardens and permeable surfaces on roads and parking areas.
There was already a precedent for using those alternative technologies.
LaFrance pointed out that the City Council anticipated using alternative storm water management techniques when it approved its Town Center Master Plan.
The plan suggested that a green spine stemming from the Lower Sammamish Commons Park up north would have a combination of dry wells, vegetated swales, rain gardens and natural vegetation, slowing the rate of storm water going into nearby streams and lakes.
The presentation also mentioned the use of rainwater harvesting — repurposing rain for man-made uses.
But LaFrance said there were myriad issues with recycling rainwater, from determining who has a right to the water to making sure that tributaries still receive enough to exist.
It’s not clear how successful any of the innovative techniques will be, LaFrance said.
“That’s an uphill struggle,” he said.
He added that the city did have some success in experimenting with permeable hard surfaces at the City Hall parking lot and driveway.
The city used the technology in several locations at City Hall, but it did have to replace one with traditional concrete in April of this year.
Those permeable technologies would be part of the storm water management discussion, too, LaFrance said.
At the July 21 City Council meeting, City Manager Ben Yazici also suggested using one large regional pond that would receive all the storm water, rather than a patchwork of smaller ponds.
“We’re going to be looking at that as one of the techniques that we’ll examine,” LaFrance said.
LaFrance said he and city staff would publish a paper for the City Council on innovative storm water strategies in late August.
An overall basin plan, including the Town Center’s storm water management techniques, is scheduled for publication some time in the winter, LaFrance said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
The slide that caught Tom Vance’s attention showed seven ponds, some the size of two football fields, sprinkled over land intended for the city’s new urban center.
“It certainly opened up my eyes,” said Vance, chair of the City Council’s land-use advisory board, the Planning Commission. “That’s a lot — almost one quarter of the buildable land.” Read more
Residents protect land and save money
August 4, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Raymond Pedrizetti wasn’t in it for saving the environment, necessarily, but he considers it a plus.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a big advocate of that. But I do want to see the horse farms stay in the area. They keep getting pushed farther and farther out,” he said.
Pedrizetti and his wife Louise were one of three Sammamish property owners in July who had private land reclassified as protected open space under a King County program called the Public Benefit Rating System.
Residents agree not to develop the land set aside as protected. They can have passive-use trails and, in special cases, farm-related structures.
In all, 7.5 of the Pedrizetti’s 10.25 acres are now listed as protected.
The Pedrizettis have a large pasture and small forest in the protected area. In return for the reclassification, their annual property tax in 2010 will be reduced by 50 percent.
Charles and Lucy Mullen had 1.66 of their 2.65 acres reclassified as protected open space, giving them a 60 percent reduction in their 2010 property tax. The Mullens own part of a wetland, plus some trees and native shrubs.
David Kampp had 21.93 of his family’s 23.20 acres reclassified, resulting in a 70 percent property tax reduction.
Like the Pedrizettis, Kampp’s property has a large pasture, a small forest and some native plants and shrubs.
Each time a Sammamish property owner seeks the reclassification, the Sammamish City Council and the King County Water and Land Resources Division must approve the application.
The City Council approved this latest slate of applications unanimously at the July 7 meeting.
The county has 872 property owners participating in the program, constituting a combined 7,742 acres of protected open space, according to the county’s Public Benefit Rating System’s Coordinator Ted Sullivan.
The city has 15 property owners participating in the program, representing 52.29 acres. Kampp’s 2009 contribution doubled the amount of protected acreage.
The program allows for property tax reductions of 50 percent to 90 percent. There is a caveat with the saved money though: If property owners decide they don’t want the protection anymore, they have to pay back the reduced portion of their property taxes, plus interest.
In the case of a developer buying the land, a similar penalty would apply.
Charles Mullen said he sought out the open space protection for the same financial boon that motivated the Pedrizettis.
“The major purpose was to get some tax relief. We’re going to save a couple thousand dollars on our property tax,” he said.
But Mullen added that he and his wife are tree lovers, too, and they value the privacy their trees provide.
“We just like to be surrounded by trees and not have the neighbors too close,” he said.
While some property owners are seeking property tax relief through the open space program, there hasn’t been a big influx in applications this year, in spite of a reported recession, Sullivan said.
“I’m not receiving a noticeable change in calls,” he said. “I think certain things scare people away.”
Sullivan observed that the idea of a penalty for backing out of the program dissuaded many potential applicants.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Raymond Pedrizetti wasn’t in it for saving the environment, necessarily, but he considers it a plus.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a big advocate of that. But I do want to see the horse farms stay in the area. They keep getting pushed farther and farther out,” he said.
Pedrizetti and his wife Louise were one of three Sammamish property owners in July who had private land reclassified as protected open space under a King County program called the Public Benefit Rating System. Read more
The good news is: There have been fewer bombings
August 4, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Sammamish Police Sgt. Robert Baxter said he remembers a time three years ago when the month of July guaranteed a flurry of angry phone calls from residents about fireworks in the neighborhood again. Not so anymore, Baxter said.
The City Council adopted a ban on the sale, purchase and possession of fireworks in the city, which went into effect January 2006.
“Since we banned everything, it’s gone down significantly,” Baxter said.
Baxter’s observations were based on anecdotal evidence. Incidents listed as bombings in the police reports were on the decline in July from 2006-2008, but actually returned to about 2007 levels in 2009. There were nine bombings in 2006, six in 2007, two in 2008, but seven in 2009.
Police officers might file a fireworks bombing as a bombing, vandalism, or several other incident types, making it difficult to track, Baxter explained.
Eastside Fire & Rescue, the city’s fire protection provider, recorded a decline in fireworks incidents from the previous year. In 2008, there were four incidents in Sammamish in July. This year, there were none.
The city’s 2006 fireworks ordinance isn’t an outright ban, but it makes private fireworks displays expensive and more time intensive. Residents can still host a fireworks display if they have a state license, a city permit, a licensed pyrotechnician to set off the fireworks, an approved fire plan review from EFR, and a minimum of three firefighters on site before and after the fireworks display.
Mayor Don Gerend was also the mayor in 2005 when the City Council adopted the ban.
“We got a lot of pressure from Eastside Fire & Rescue and a lot of citizens who felt that they were almost living in a war zone during the Fourth of July,” he said. “We felt for the safety of our citizens that it was the right thing to do.”
Gerend, a Pine Lake resident, recalled his first July 4 in Sammamish in 1979 when he decided to venture out onto the lake to enjoy the fireworks. Soon he found himself in a crossfire from different neighbors around the lake.
“I retreated and chose not to do that again,” he said.
While some still set off private fireworks illegally, the number seems to be dwindling as Fourth on the Plateau — the city-sponsored fireworks display — grows in popularity, Gerend observed.
The July police reports reveal a handful of residents weren’t deterred by the city ban.
A man on 234th Avenue Southeast reported that someone lit off a sparkler bomb by his driveway; a woman on 238th Place Northeast reported that someone blew up her garbage can one evening — her neighbor suspected three young men running away from the scene were the culprits; a man on 231st Place Northeast and a man on Southeast 27th Street reported mailbox bombings; and a construction company reported that their portable toilet on Southeast 30th Street exploded, leaving its roof about 20 feet from its original location and one wall was about 50 feet away.
Baxter said he thought the remaining fireworks incidents were probably the result of teenage boredom.
“What we see is mailboxes, port-a-potties. That’s kids,” Baxter said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Sammamish Police Sgt. Robert Baxter said he remembers a time three years ago when the month of July guaranteed a flurry of angry phone calls from residents about fireworks in the neighborhood again. Not so anymore, Baxter said.
The City Council adopted a ban on the sale, purchase and possession of fireworks in the city, which went into effect January 2006.
“Since we banned everything, it’s gone down significantly,” Baxter said. Read more
Roving rabbis seek to share Judaism
August 4, 2009
By Hunter Deiglmeier
Since 1943, the Roving Rabbis program has been impacting the lives of Jews around the world.
This summer, two Roving Rabbis — Rabbi Shimon Rivkin and Rabbi Gedalya Liberman — are here in the Issaquah and Sammamish area, striving to connect with the Jewish community.
Roving Rabbis are Jewish students who are eager to spread Judaism as they travel around the globe to bring “Torah, joy and warmth to Jews in thousands of cities in over 150 countries,” according to the Web site, www.chabad.org.
“We stress the great idea of unity,” Rivkin said. “People are so nice here in Issaquah. We are happy to share with them the idea of unity.”
Although the main focus of the Roving Rabbis in Issaquah is to exemplify unity, another goal is to spread Jewish awareness, Liberman said.
Both men have been traveling around Issaquah and Sammamish together in order to reach out to the Jewish community that lives here and help people “discover their Jewish roots,” Liberman said.
Commun-icating with the rabbis is not only a learning experience for the Jewish community. It’s also a way “to learn about different communities and to have different experiences,” he said.
Rivkin said his experiences with the Roving Rabbis program have been “definitely very enjoyable.”
The job is “particularly enjoyable, because of the warm welcome I received in Issaquah,” Liberman added.
The Roving Rabbis program is sponsored by Merkos L’lnyonel Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, through which all travel expenses are paid.
Reach intern Hunter Deiglmeier at Samrev@isspress.com.
Since 1943, the Roving Rabbis program has been impacting the lives of Jews around the world.
This summer, two Roving Rabbis — Rabbi Shimon Rivkin and Rabbi Gedalya Liberman — are here in the Issaquah and Sammamish area, striving to connect with the Jewish community.
Roving Rabbis are Jewish students who are eager to spread Judaism as they travel around the globe to bring “Torah, joy and warmth to Jews in thousands of cities in over 150 countries,” according to the Web site, www.chabad.org. Read more
Parkway construction rankles beach club members
August 4, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
July 29 would have been a nice day to swim on the beach, what with 100-plus degrees of heat and glaring sunlight.
But construction along East Lake Sammamish Parkway makes it harder for residents to enjoy their private beach, said Stephanie Daniels, president of the Inglewood Beach Club.
The club, which boasts about 91 members, usually has access to a foot path from the intersection of Inglewood Hill Road down to their gated beach. But when the city began its construction this summer, widening the parkway and that particular intersection, the path was closed off.
Residents can still drive to a wide shoulder along the parkway near Northeast 7th Court, where about 10 cars can fit if they park at an angle. The shoulder is part of public right of way, not owned by the beach club. From there, it’s about a quarter-mile walk along the Lake Sammamish trail to the Inglewood Beach Club’s 150-foot-long gated beach.
“It’s just too far,” Daniels said.
Most of the club members hail from Inglewood Hill Road and used to walk to the beach trail, or park along the parkway shoulder. Now neither are options.
The fallout is neighbor-on-neighbor confrontations, with the city refusing to provide a solution until construction is complete.
“We just feel like we’re being hung out to dry,” Daniels said.
Senior Transportation Engineer Jeff Brauns said the city has agreed to re-establish access from the Inglewood Hill Road intersection after construction. Until then, residents will just have to park down the street and walk, he said.
“We were never trying to find a solution during construction,” he said.
As a temporary response, some members of the beach club have started parking in the construction zone and walking down private driveways that connect to the trail, Daniels said. One private resident complained about the intrusions and threatened the beach club members not to use his driveway again. Police have also ticketed a few beach club members who parked along the parkway, including Daniels.
Brauns said the area is a no parking zone. The city has posted signs to reinforce that no one can park there, he said.
But Daniels complained that the area set aside for parking, the shoulder by Northeast 7th Court, is frequently filled by construction worker vehicles. She said the city should find a way to let Inglewood Beach Club members park closer to the beach and give them closer access to the beach.
Brauns denies this. He said no construction vehicles were using the public right of way.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
July 29 would have been a nice day to swim on the beach, what with 100-plus degrees of heat and glaring sunlight.
But construction along East Lake Sammamish Parkway makes it harder for residents to enjoy their private beach, said Stephanie Daniels, president of the Inglewood Beach Club.
The club, which boasts about 91 members, usually has access to a foot path from the intersection of Inglewood Hill Road down to their gated beach. But when the city began its construction this summer, widening the parkway and that particular intersection, the path was closed off. Read more
Local artists go crackers over their animals
August 4, 2009
By Lauren McLaughlin
The famous lyrics “Animal Crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits loop-the-loop,” from the 1935 Shirley Temple film “Curly Top,” were the inspiration for the upcoming Animal Crackers exhibit.
A group of local artists who call themselves the Sammi 7 will be featured in an artEast Collective Works show that will run from Aug. 7-29 at Up Front Gallery, 48 Front Street North in Issaquah.
According to artEAST executive director Karen Abel, Animal Crackers is part of a monthly series of exhibits that are free and open to the public for the purpose of showcasing artwork from local, student and guest artists.
“One of the things we like to do is to have a Sammamish artist exhibit every year,” Abel said. “It is a fun way to make a connection between the arts community in Issaquah and the neighboring one in Sammamish.”
The exhibit will show the artists’ interpretations of the theme Animal Crackers through various mediums, such as metals, photography, glass and mixed media.
There will be an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Aug. 7 at Up Front Gallery.
Kurt Rodenhiser, a member of the Sammi 7, is credited with suggesting the theme.
“We wanted to do something fun with poetry, and I thought why not animal crackers,” Rodenhiser said. “It spun out from there.”
“The animal crackers song has a couple of neat lyrics,” glass artist Jamie McKay said. “There are some fun parts and some macabre parts that some of the artists are having a lot of fun with.”
Ann Elizabeth Scott, another member of the Sammi 7, said the exhibition has given her an opportunity to try new things with her art.
“It was challenging because I don’t usually paint a lot of animals,” Scott said. “I like the whimsical quality, the nostalgic quality and the freedom it gave me to branch out into less serious works.”
McKay chose to work with the idea of the Barnum’s Animal Cracker Box.
“That invokes childhood memories and imagination,” McKay said.
Scott also is using animal crackers in a piece that features Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and a deer made of animal crackers.
Not all of the artists interpreted the theme the same way.
“We are an eclectic group of artists with an eclectic mix of media,” McKay said. “With any theme we take it and interpret it in totally different directions.”
The inclusion of the Sammamish Artists exhibition goes over well every year Abel said.
“It’s one of our favorite shows because of the energy and feeling of community it provides.”
All the artists are excited with the exhibit being part of the Issaquah Art Walk.
The exhibit will be free and family friendly and the artists encourage people to visit.
“Hopefully they’ll be able to feel the whimsical approach, and look at it in a light-hearted way,” Carol Paschal, member of the Sammi 7, said.
“Kids will find something that they like about it, and sophisticated art buyers will find something they like as well,” Carol Ross, encaustic artist and member of Sammi 7, said. “It’s really something that will appeal to everyone.”
Intern Lauren McLaughlin can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 244 or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this story visit www.sammamishreview.com
The famous lyrics “Animal Crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits loop-the-loop,” from the 1935 Shirley Temple film “Curly Top,” were the inspiration for the upcoming Animal Crackers exhibit.
A group of local artists who call themselves the Sammi 7 will be featured in an artEast Collective Works show that will run from Aug. 7-29 at Up Front Gallery, 48 Front Street North in Issaquah.
According to artEAST executive director Karen Abel, Animal Crackers is part of a monthly series of exhibits that are free and open to the public for the purpose of showcasing artwork from local, student and guest artists.
These seven local artists – front, from left, Carol Paschal, Kurt Rodenhiser, Katya Palladina, back, from left, Ann Elizabeth Scott, Joanney Elliot, Jamie McKay, Carol Ross – make up the group the Sammi 7 whose art will be featured in the Animal Crackers exhibit at Up Front Gallery. Photo contributed
Their parties feed the hungry in Africa
August 4, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Chicken. Spice. Lentils. Rice.
Such was the chant of approximately 75 members of Sammamish-based Missio Lux church as they scooped, measured, dumped and packaged food to make 8,000 nutritious meals for hungry orphans in Sierra Leone.
The original “Party with a Purpose” was held June 7 at Pine Lake Covenant Church, but various members have since sponsored more meal-assembly gatherings to benefit children through Silverdale-based Children of the Nations International.
So far this summer, Missio Lux has funded and packaged 16,000 meals, with an ultimate goal of 40,000 by summer’s end, said Lead Visionary Pastor Tamara Buchan.
“It’s an inexpensive way to impact the lives both locally and globally by helping hungry children be able to eat,” Buchan said.
Each meal is not just a handout coming from “rich” Americans to desperate children in Africa, said Dave Schertzer, Children of the Nations resource director.
“(Missio Lux’s) food alone would feed 110 children for a year. That’s real,” he said. “That 40,000 meals will be a huge blessing. And when the food arrives, it’s almost perfect timing for when it’s needed in the country.”
Schertzer said the organization treats each meal as a catalyst for building relationships with village leaders in each country, with the end goal of medically treating and educating the children. They each dream of the same things American children do, he said. They want to be doctors, teachers; any profession you can think of.
“They don’t just want a handout,” Schertzer said. “Our children are going to have a direct opportunity to step into those roles and part of that is receiving a nutritious meal every day.”
The meals — made of chicken powder, lentils and rice with some spices — are designed to benefit children nutritionally and mix with local produce from any nation, particularly in Uganda, Malawi, Dominican Republic and Sierra Leone, Schertzer said. Children of the Nations works with local sustainable farmers to add extra nutrition to the meals once the food is in the country.
“The food is made so that each culture can incorporate that into the nutrition plan for each child,” he said.
A single meal, including packaging and shipping (which is usually donated), costs just 25 cents, Buchan said, and meal assembly is quick with a large group of people.
Children of the Nations feeds approximately 11,000 children per day in the four countries, which means it raises funds and volunteer time to package about 1 million meals each year, Schertzer said.
Not only do the meals provide the initial sustenance to help poverty-stricken orphans regain energy for a new life, but the many Sammamish children involved in the project have learned valuable lessons, said Missio Lux member Kirsten Hindsbo.
“I think it gives awareness. The kids from an early age…it raises awareness and it becomes much more personal,” Hindsbo said. “I like the format. Everyone was so happy and helpful and social and the kids were really involved. The kids were not just there, they were actively involved and understanding (what it was about).”
Buchan said Missio Lux members plan to host three more meal-packaging parties: Aug. 18 and 30 and Sept. 12. The Aug. 18 event will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Buchan home.
“We’d like to keep it going as long as possible,” she said. “But the hope is to do another one next year in May and get people to have them in their homes.”
Contact Buchan for directions or more information at tamara@missiolux.org.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
Chicken. Spice. Lentils. Rice.
Such was the chant of approximately 75 members of Sammamish-based Missio Lux church as they scooped, measured, dumped and packaged food to make 8,000 nutritious meals for hungry orphans in Sierra Leone.
The original “Party with a Purpose” was held June 7 at Pine Lake Covenant Church, but various members have since sponsored more meal-assembly gatherings to benefit children through Silverdale-based Children of the Nations International.
Members of Missio Lux gather around the 8,000 meals they packaged June 7 at Pine Lake Covenant Church in Sammamish. Contributed
