Challenge Day 2009
August 18, 2009
Sammamish Rotary runs a soap box derby for children with disabilities.
Kumbha Mela festival 2009
August 18, 2009
The Vedic Cultural center was home to the Kumba Mela festival which celebrates Krishna’s birthday and India’s independence.
Sammamish Forum August 19
August 18, 2009
Thanks for the story
I want to thank the Sammamish Review for the article featuring the Roving Rabbis as it was an interesting and informative read.
It is so refreshing that our local newspaper has brought awareness to the local Jewish community.
I am so happy to hear that our community has been welcoming to these Rabbis and I wish them all the best in their travels.
Naarah N. Hastings
Sammamish
Where is our
community center?
During a recent trip through Utah, we stayed in Vernal to visit Dinosaur National Monument. While looking for other activities we came across their state-of-the-art recreational facility and community center.
It boasts a lap/competitive pool, a leisure pool with two slides and play features, three party rooms, two full-sized gymnasiums, an indoor track, a 36-foot tall climbing wall, an on-site child care, locker rooms, an aerobics and dance studio, a strength room, a cardio equipment balcony, an indoor slide to the first floor, and programs/classrooms for use.
Visit http://www.uintahrecreation.org/ for more information.
I had my socks blown off when I visited the amazing facility. You can purchase affordable memberships or spend the day for under $3.
I asked the front desk person how they managed to locate such a beautiful facility in Vernal. She said that the city realized that their residents needed someplace to go for wholesome activity and they worked with the county to make it happen.
Did I mention that Vernal has a population of 7,900?
So someone please tell me again why Sammamish, with its 40,000 residents still doesn’t have a public recreational facility for its residents?
No, $45 million worth of sidewalks and planters on a ‘beautified’ East Lake Sammamish Parkway don’t count.
Michael J. O’Connell
Sammamish
The problem is
too little growth
The 2009 population and growth statistics are out for Washington state cities from the State Office of Financial Management.
Based on percentage of change since 2000, Sammamish ranks 70th, with 19 percent growth. Based on actual population change, Sammamish ranks 25th, with an increase of 6,566. Compare Sammamish to Issaquah (15,678), Marysville (12,215) Snoqualmie (8,099) Mill Creek (6,955), Redmond (6,634).
Sammamish’s current population is 40,670. The city encompasses 21.18 square miles. This is a population density of 1,920 per square mile, or 3 persons per acre.
Mercer island, a comparable bedroom city, has 3,664 persons per square mile. This is 5.7 people per acre. At nearly twice the density of Sammamish, Mercer Island is a highly desirable location that holds its housing values and quality of life.
To achieve Mercer Island-like density (5.7 person/acre) Sammamish needs a population of 77,600.
With town center build-out by 2020 or 2030 or never, Sammamish may add 3, 307 people. Studies indicate that remaining land capacity in Sammamish can accommodate an additional 2,000 single-family homes.
At three persons per household that is a population increase of 6,000. Population increase at build-out is 9,307. In comparative terms that is 27,626 less than Mercer Island’s current density of 5.7 persons an acre.
But the market for single-family homes has changed dramatically. Single-family home construction is unlikely to achieve build-out given that housing prices are depreciating and experts predict that the era of rapid equity increases that allowed homeowners to sell and buy up and younger homeowners to enter the market, well, those days are over.
Based on the facts, growth is not a problem.
Stagnation and economic decline is. Sammamish may become an Eastside “white elephant.”
John Galvin
Sammamish
Club, meet bikes
Does anybody who belongs to the Inglewood Beach Club, and is complaining about the city cutting off access to them, not own a bicycle and a tiny bit of self accountability?
Sure, this road construction is a nuisance to us all, and its relevance will show to be effective or not.
But, check this out: If you can ride a bike, and find your way to the bottom of Thompson Hill Road, you will gain full unobstructed access to your “Inglewood Beach Club” in no more than 8 minutes.
Peter Ogden
Sammamish
Thanks for the story
I want to thank the Sammamish Review for the article featuring the Roving Rabbis as it was an interesting and informative read.
It is so refreshing that our local newspaper has brought awareness to the local Jewish community.
I am so happy to hear that our community has been welcoming to these Rabbis and I wish them all the best in their travels.
Naarah N. Hastings
Sammamish
Where is our community center?
During a recent trip through Utah, we stayed in Vernal to visit Dinosaur National Monument. While looking for other activities we came across their state-of-the-art recreational facility and community center.
It boasts a lap/competitive pool, a leisure pool with two slides and play features, three party rooms, two full-sized gymnasiums, an indoor track, a 36-foot tall climbing wall, an on-site child care, locker rooms, an aerobics and dance studio, a strength room, a cardio equipment balcony, an indoor slide to the first floor, and programs/classrooms for use.
Visit http://www.uintahrecreation.org/ for more information.
I had my socks blown off when I visited the amazing facility. You can purchase affordable memberships or spend the day for under $3.
I asked the front desk person how they managed to locate such a beautiful facility in Vernal. She said that the city realized that their residents needed someplace to go for wholesome activity and they worked with the county to make it happen.
Did I mention that Vernal has a population of 7,900?
So someone please tell me again why Sammamish, with its 40,000 residents still doesn’t have a public recreational facility for its residents?
No, $45 million worth of sidewalks and planters on a ‘beautified’ East Lake Sammamish Parkway don’t count.
Michael J. O’Connell
Sammamish
The problem is too little growth
The 2009 population and growth statistics are out for Washington state cities from the State Office of Financial Management.
Based on percentage of change since 2000, Sammamish ranks 70th, with 19 percent growth. Based on actual population change, Sammamish ranks 25th, with an increase of 6,566. Compare Sammamish to Issaquah (15,678), Marysville (12,215) Snoqualmie (8,099) Mill Creek (6,955), Redmond (6,634).
Sammamish’s current population is 40,670. The city encompasses 21.18 square miles. This is a population density of 1,920 per square mile, or 3 persons per acre.
Mercer island, a comparable bedroom city, has 3,664 persons per square mile. This is 5.7 people per acre. At nearly twice the density of Sammamish, Mercer Island is a highly desirable location that holds its housing values and quality of life.
To achieve Mercer Island-like density (5.7 person/acre) Sammamish needs a population of 77,600.
With town center build-out by 2020 or 2030 or never, Sammamish may add 3, 307 people. Studies indicate that remaining land capacity in Sammamish can accommodate an additional 2,000 single-family homes.
At three persons per household that is a population increase of 6,000. Population increase at build-out is 9,307. In comparative terms that is 27,626 less than Mercer Island’s current density of 5.7 persons an acre.
But the market for single-family homes has changed dramatically. Single-family home construction is unlikely to achieve build-out given that housing prices are depreciating and experts predict that the era of rapid equity increases that allowed homeowners to sell and buy up and younger homeowners to enter the market, well, those days are over.
Based on the facts, growth is not a problem.
Stagnation and economic decline is. Sammamish may become an Eastside “white elephant.”
John Galvin
Sammamish
Club, meet bikes
Does anybody who belongs to the Inglewood Beach Club, and is complaining about the city cutting off access to them, not own a bicycle and a tiny bit of self accountability?
Sure, this road construction is a nuisance to us all, and its relevance will show to be effective or not.
But, check this out: If you can ride a bike, and find your way to the bottom of Thompson Hill Road, you will gain full unobstructed access to your “Inglewood Beach Club” in no more than 8 minutes.
Peter Ogden
Sammamish
Sammamish is the place to celebrate summer
August 18, 2009
There is still plenty of fun to come this summer!
The Sammamish Farmers Market continues every Wednesday 4-8 p.m. at Sammamish Commons through September. In addition to a lot of farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs and more, there is live entertainment (jazz tonight, folk/country next week) and special events — including zucchini races tonight!
If you haven’t been to a free concert at Pine Lake Park yet this summer, there are still two more to come, both at 6:30 p.m. The August 20 evening weather is expected to be nearly perfect for our very own Sammamish Symphony as they serenade the night with their amazing array of music. The following Thursday, Aug. 27, boots and hat are optional to match the bluegrass tunes by Back Burner. Don’t forget to bring your picnic supper!
And coming up is the city’s big celebration for its 10th birthday on Aug. 29. Kids, sign up now for the kids’ parade, beginning at 10 a.m. All 10-year-olds get celebrity status in the parade. Find parade applications on the city’s Web site.
A birthday party wouldn’t be complete without birthday cake and punch. The time capsule will be sealed until the city’s 50th anniversary, and winners of the art, essay and math competitions will be announced. And there will be music and entertainment, too!
Sammamish Nights will appeal more to the community’s adults looking for a way to celebrate the occasion without the kids. Wine tastings, good food and smooth jazz will set the stage for the inaugural year of this new event at Sammamish Commons. Get your tickets at www.sammmishchamber.org.
Looking for something a little less structured? Bring your frisbee, your fishing pole, your swim suit, or just your walking shoes to a city park. Enjoy the summer while you can!
There is still plenty of fun to come this summer!
The Sammamish Farmers Market continues every Wednesday 4-8 p.m. at Sammamish Commons through September. In addition to a lot of farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs and more, there is live entertainment (jazz tonight, folk/country next week) and special events — including zucchini races tonight! Read more
Sammamish could be better, but many residents are happy with its autonomy
August 18, 2009
The second part of a two-part series reflecting on the founding of Sammamish.
By J.B. Wogan
In the beginning
Ten years ago, the Sammamish Plateau became a city. The thought had percolated through the community for more than seven years, gaining steam in a failed creation effort in 1992. But by 1998, residents said they were ready for a change, ready to assume command of their high property tax revenues and steer funding to local needs. A second incorporation ballot measure passed with 66.85 percent of the vote.
Seven residents found themselves in charge of making a city out of thin air.
“It was pretty interesting becoming a new city,” remembered Don Gerend, one of the original City Council members in 1999, and current mayor. “I found it very exciting, very stimulating … You were drinking from the fire hose of educating yourself on municipal government.”
“We really didn’t understand where we were going to meet and how to get things started,” said Deputy Mayor Jack Barry, also part of the original City Council.
The council’s first public meeting was held at then-Mayor Phil Dyer’s home, Barry said.
“We mutually all agreed that we were all prepared to work countless hours until we got the city up and running,” Barry said. “It seemed exceedingly overwhelming.”
City Hall wasn’t as it is today. City staff worked in an office at the Sammamish Highlands Shopping Center. Instead of today’s 69 full-time employees, the city had 10 temporary employees.
“I thought the first City Council had a lot of the expertise to put it together,” said former Councilman Ken Kilroy. Kilroy pointed out that the council had a former fire chief, a former law enforcement officer, an accountant, a former high school administrator and a land-use attorney.
“The challenge was getting off to a sound start with your city services,” he said. The city needed to establish fire and police protection, and then it would need to turn its attention to road improvements and adding more parks, he said.
Change came slowly. The city acquired 120 acres of parkland within the city limits, plus another 178 acres at Evan Creek Preserve (outside the city limits). Through partnerships with the Issaquah and Lake Washington school districts, it gained access to seven acres of school ballfields, available to the general public when the schools weren’t using them. The Parks Department added trails at Llama Lake and Beaver Lake Preserve.
The City Council issued a key permit that allowed King County to open the East Lake Sammamish Trail in 2006. In the same month, Sound Transit opened a Park & Ride lot on 228th Avenue.
The city also purchased the Sammamish Commons site, which now houses City Hall, a skate park, a basketball court, a climbing wall and a playground in the lower Commons area. The city jumpstarted community events such as the Sammamish Farmers Market, park concerts, and the annual Fourth on the Plateau fireworks display.
“I don’t regret supporting the incorporation. I think it was really important to draw some political boundaries around our community,” said Leslie Kralicek, who ran and lost in the 1999 City Council election. “It really shined a light on this area to get some significant investments.”
Kralicek said it wasn’t perfect though. She wished the City Council had adopted a different form of government with a strong mayor. Kralicek said the current form of government consolidates too much power in the City Manager position and what’s more, residents can’t vote that person out of office.
“I’m not exactly sure that’s in the residents’ best interests,” she said.
Phil Dyer, part of the original City Council, said he thinks Sammamish of today is “fine.”
“I think the council is a little generous with its spending right now,” he said. He added that he wished the council positions were divided into different districts, an idea he pushed early in his council tenure.
“Right now, the neighborhood doesn’t have any voice,” Dyer said. “Politics is best when it governs closest to the people.”
In spite of those misgivings, Dyer said the situation is far better than if the plateau were still fully under King County’s jurisdiction.
Vicki Baggette, another candidate in the original 1999 election, said she initially had fears that the new city would facilitate growth, and growth in the wrong ways. She imagined strip malls and loads of cement.
“I kept worrying that we were going to turn out like Spanaway,” she said.
She said she was pleased with some of the road projects, like widening 228th Avenue and giving it sidewalks. She also appreciated the city’s work in installing more walking trails in the area, she said.
“It’s still been a long process to see it happen,” she said.
Bob Brady, who also ran in the first election and now sits on the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District Commission, said he’s relatively pleased with how things turned out.
“I was envisioning a bedroom community. That was really the key, which was unlike Issaquah and Redmond,” Brady said, explaining that the city should have enough businesses to reduce people’s trips off the plateau, but not so much that the character of the area would change.
“It’s hard to get people to envision a city that’s different from any other city they’ve ever seen and hang on to it,” Brady said.
Sammamish of today comes pretty close, he 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 second part of a two-part series reflecting on the founding of Sammamish. Follow the link for Part I.
Ten years ago, the Sammamish Plateau became a city. The thought had percolated through the community for more than seven years, gaining steam in a failed creation effort in 1992. But by 1998, residents said they were ready for a change, ready to assume command of their high property tax revenues and steer funding to local needs. A second incorporation ballot measure passed with 66.85 percent of the vote.
Seven residents found themselves in charge of making a city out of thin air. Read more
Air guns in Trossachs raise alarm
August 18, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Toy guns or not, parents in the Trossachs neighborhood were alarmed after a spate of air gun incidents in June.
Miho Reed said her daughter was walking across the street one day when a boy intimidated her with a BB gun.
One boy aimed the gun at Reed’s daughter and asked if she wanted a piece of him, according to the report. He also asked if “she wanted to go.”
Reed was worried by the confrontation and called police.
“I’ve had neighbors where their windows were broken,” Reed said, adding that neighborhood children have dressed in camouflage, playing war games. “It was really getting out of hand.”
Alyson Cathro, another Trossachs resident, said she was disappointed by the way some parents responded to her neighbors’ concerns about the air guns.
“A lot of people take it very, very lightly, like they’re harmless, and they’re not,” she said.
Reed agreed.
“There were some neighbors and homeowners that were totally apologetic, but there were some neighbors who were very flippant about the whole thing,” she said. “That’s where you have to point to the law and say it’s actually illegal. We can press charges.”
Sammamish’s municipal code classifies the unlawful use of air guns as a misdemeanor, something that the King County District Juvenile Prosecuting Attorney’s Office could enforce if the suspect was older than 8 and younger than 18.
The city’s code defines “unlawful use” as any person who points or shoots an air gun at another person or another person’s property; the definition also allows that the shooting or pointing must occur at a close enough distance that the shot would cause harm to another person or another person’s property.
Lynn Moberly, the city of Sammamish’s prosecutor, said the maximum sentence for a gross misdemeanor is one year in jail or a $5,000 fine.
“That would not normally happen on a first offense,” she added.
Sammamish Police Chief Nate Elledge said his department was trying to avoid charging the children involved with a crime.
“My preference is to handle this with pressure from the HOA,” Elledge said. A representative from CDC Management, which runs the Trossachs Homeowners Association, sent out a mass e-mail to residents explaining that possessing air guns was against the association’s policy, Elledge said.
“The goal is to get it to stop,” Elledge said. “Do I really want to expose these kids to the juvenile system? I was hoping to go this without going the enforcement route.”
For the moment, the e-mails appear to have worked. Reed and Cathro both said that the air gun incidents had subsided.
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.
Toy guns or not, parents in the Trossachs neighborhood were alarmed after a spate of air gun incidents in June.
Miho Reed said her daughter was walking across the street one day when a boy intimidated her with a BB gun.
One boy aimed the gun at Reed’s daughter and asked if she wanted a piece of him, according to the report. He also asked if “she wanted to go.”
Reed was worried by the confrontation and called police. Read more
Kathy Huckabay, a city founder, retires from council
August 18, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
The announcement came May 28 at the tail end of a flurry of e-mails from would-be Sammamish City Council members: Kathy Huckabay would not seek re-election.
“I think after 10 years, it’s time to move on and give some other people the opportunity to step up,” Huckabay said in a later interview. At the time that she was making her decision on whether to run for a third term, U.S. Bank offered her a job in Seattle as a regional financial planner, and she decided to take it.
Huckabay is one of the original City Council from 1999. Her tenure spans the road widening along 228th Avenue, the creation of City Hall, the East Lake Sammamish Trail opening, and the drafting of all municipal master plan documents to date.
“It was a surprise to me,” said City Manager Ben Yazici, who credited Huckabay with helping to start the Sammamish Kiwanis Club and for laboring over Sammamish’s need for more public transit.
Huckabay, married to Warren Huckabay with three adult children, moved to Sammamish 24 years ago.
“She’s a part of that institutional memory of the beginnings of the city,” Mayor Don Gerend said. “We’ll miss her.”
Gerend, who has been on the council with Huckabay since 1999, said Huckabay played a major role in pushing for more transportation options for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as bus riders. He added that one of Huckabay’s more interesting contributions was an experiment in 2004 when, as mayor, she wanted to build in more interface between the public and the City Council.
“She felt very strongly about the connection between the council and citizens,” Gerend said.
Huckabay had the council set up a table in the Pine Lake QFC once a week, where people could have an informal dialogue with their government representatives.
As mayor in 2009, Gerend has revived that practice — but with some modifications — by having council office hours at City Hall once a week.
Former councilman Troy Romero said Huckabay made an impression on him from the beginning of their time on the council together.
“Kathy had a challenging situation in that she was the lady and there was all these boys,” he said. She was the only woman on a seven-person council.
Romero and Huckabay drafted the city’s land-use code, adopting the bulk of it from King County. They met on Saturday mornings at one of the local elementary schools, he said.
Romero guessed that Huckabay spent up to 100 hours, and perhaps double that, working on the first city code.
“Kathy was very good at land-use stuff. She had a passion. It was her baby,” he said.
Huckabay supported the failed effort to form a city on the plateau in 1992. Still lobbying for eventual incorporation, Huckabay spent three years learning about land-use policy as an Issaquah Planning Commissioner during the mid-1990s. One month before the residents voted in favor of incorporating, Huckabay seemed poised to run for the first Sammamish City Council.
“This is not the most important vote,” Huckabay told the Sammamish Review in October 1998. “The most important vote is when we pick our City Council.”
When she ran (and won), she sold herself as a fiscal conservative. She told the Sammamish Review in 1999 that she supported a six-month moratorium on building, but did not want to litigate against King County for poor growth management in the Sammamish area.
Phil Dyer, the city’s first mayor, remembered Huckabay as the colleague who best represented a balance on the King County East Lake Sammamish Trail issue. Dyer fell on the side of protecting Sammamish residents’ property rights while other council members were more focused on the need for the trail.
Huckabay tried to balance those perspectives, Dyer said.
“She was relatively measured in that,” he said.
Ken Kilroy, another colleague from the original City Council, said he sometimes disagreed with how Huckabay wanted to spend city funds. What sticks out in his mind was a mansion she thought the city should purchase for a civic use.
“We didn’t always agree, but she was always professional about how she conducted her business,” he said.
Huckabay’s civic career almost extended beyond the city level when she ran for the state Senate in 2004, picking up 40 percent of the vote as the Democratic candidate in a defeat to Cheryl Pflug.
On a council that touts itself as fiscally conservative, Huckabay has been especially frugal in the last two years. She was the rare dissenting vote against projects and contracts that she identified as insensible, poorly timed or too expensive. The latest example was a 1-6 vote in which she was against paying $75,000 to an out-of-state consultant to advise the city on road connections. She also opposed the 2.5-mile East Lake Sammamish Parkway design in January 2008, which led to a related “no” vote on the 2009-2010 biennial budget, which included funding for the first phase of that design. In June 2009, Huckabay also helped vote down (3-4) the relocation of the Freed House, which the city estimated could cost more than $600,000.
Huckabay is one of two council members not running in the upcoming election, leaving at least two seats open for newcomers. She said she didn’t have advice for those who replaced her, but perhaps a hope.
“What we accomplished were some major capitol projects. Now that that piece of work is almost complete, I would hope that the next council would begin to focus on the community itself and begin to respond to the demand for more community services.”
She suggested the next council tackle a community center, a pool, more parks and more activities for seniors, teens and family groups.
“I would hope that we would start to make investments in those quality of life activities,” she 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 announcement came May 28 at the tail end of a flurry of e-mails from would-be Sammamish City Council members: Kathy Huckabay would not seek re-election.
“I think after 10 years, it’s time to move on and give some other people the opportunity to step up,” Huckabay said in a later interview. At the time that she was making her decision on whether to run for a third term, U.S. Bank offered her a job in Seattle as a regional financial planner, and she decided to take it. Read more
Festival celebrates Indian culture, Independence Day
August 18, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Vedic Cultural Center director Hari Vilas Das had such a tough time procuring a house-size inflatable cow for the Kumbha Mela Festival of India that he had to look all the way to Southern California.
The company he found shipped it in time for festival volunteers to put it on display in front of the Sammamish facility along 228th Avenue Southeast Aug. 13-16.
“That’s a happy cow,” Vilas Das said during festivities Aug. 14. In Vedic culture, cows are treated like a member of the family.
After it was all said and done, close to 12,000 people from around Washington, and some from India, visited the Vedic Cultural center to celebrate the birth of Hindu deity Krishna and the Indian Independence Day, among other celebrations.
Visitors partook in cultural dances, songs and deity-bathing ceremonies and enjoyed free Indian food with family and friends.
The center buzzed inside and out with children in traditional garb and women wearing vibrant saris.
Krishna followers and curious community members alike experienced the jovial chanting, music and colorful deity dressing late into the night throughout the weekend.
They also perused the replica Vrindavan village outside. The village depicts what followers believe are some of the immortal pastimes of Krishna when he appeared in Vrindavan, India 5,000 years ago.
“I thought it went wonderfully. The message got through that we’re all part of one family,” Vilas Das said. “I think it was a really enriching experience for most people.”
The Kumbha Mela festivities featured many of the center’s students, including Sammamish resident Ayush Sharma, 11, who led much of the devotional singing portion in the temple Aug. 14.
The festival finished Aug. 16 with a 60-person Broadway-style Indian cultural dance performance, Vilas Das said.
“It was spectacular. It was like a Broadway performance group,” he said. “People were howling it was so good.”
More than 30 volunteers worked for two months to prepare the Vedic Cultural Center for Kumbha Mela, organizers said. It was the largest Indian cultural festival in Washington, they said.
Harini Goea, of Bellevue, spent much of the festival giving tours of the Vrindivan village. She said she simply wanted to show the community the rich cultures and traditions of India.
“We just want to share our culture with everyone here,” she said.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
Vedic Cultural Center director Hari Vilas Das had such a tough time procuring a house-size inflatable cow for the Kumbha Mela Festival of India that he had to look all the way to Southern California.
The company he found shipped it in time for festival volunteers to put it on display in front of the Sammamish facility along 228th Avenue Southeast Aug. 13-16.
“That’s a happy cow,” Vilas Das said during festivities Aug. 14. In Vedic culture, cows are treated like a member of the family.
A two-story inflatable cow greeted visitors to the Vedic Cultural Center. For more, see Page 10. Photo by Christopher Huber
Local youth turn city streets into speedways for a day
August 18, 2009
By Christopher Huber
To local special-needs children like Brett Allen, the annual Rotary Challenge Gravity Race means a lot. For one day, dozens of Sammamish youth gather with their parents, local business owners and Sammamish Rotary volunteers to race soap-box cars.
For parents like Allen’s mother, Kris Allen, seeing the smile on their face as they fly down Southeast 24th Street is worth everything.
“This is the best day of the year for him,” Kris Allen said of Brett being able to race. “He looks forward to racing every year.”
Racing lasted nearly three hours Aug. 15 near Discovery Elementary School as area children with disabilities, coupled with able-bodied 11- to 13-year-olds, steered and pedaled hard to be the first across the finish line.
Sammamish leaders, such as city manager Ben Yazici and the Rev. Bill Heric, of Eastside Catholic, led off the beginning heats.
Members of the Eastside Catholic football team received the racers as they glided across the finish line.
The high schoolers got a good workout by pulling the seven-foot-long cars back up the hill. The Skyline cheer squad lined the racing strip and spent the morning cheering the children on. Volunteers with Athletes for Kids also helped with racing.
“It’s really good to come out and support,” said Crusader football player Connor McCormick.
The event benefited Issaquah-based Life Enrichment Options, a special-needs outreach organization that works to provide housing, recreation and employment options for people with developmental disabilities. Throughout its 20 years as a non-profit, Life Enrichment Options has partnered with housing contractors and local outreach organizations to increase awareness about people with disabilities. It helps special-needs youth transition from home to life as an adult.
The Sammamish Rotary Challenge Gravity Race is one of two soap-box derby-style events held each year for the children. Local companies and organizations built and funded each of the racecars.
As racing wound down, just before the community barbecue Aug. 15, the sun came out. Brett Allen won the 11th heat and smiled with gladness.
“You can never pay enough to see his smile,” Kris Allen said as she helped Brett from the car. “The smile is worth it all.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
To local special-needs children like Brett Allen, the annual Rotary Challenge Gravity Race means a lot. For one day, dozens of Sammamish youth gather with their parents, local business owners and Sammamish Rotary volunteers to race soap-box cars.
For parents like Allen’s mother, Kris Allen, seeing the smile on their face as they fly down Southeast 24th Street is worth everything.
Sam, right, and Hannah Taafe, get ready to zoom down Southeast 24th Street during the Sammamish Rotary Challenge Gravity Race Aug. 15. Photo by Christopher Huber
A fond farewell
August 18, 2009
By Sarelyn Radecke
This week, I am heading off to the land of overpriced books, overextended bedding and overachieving students: college.
My mom told me I had to choose my bedding before I could buy any other dorm supplies. She told me this in June.
I kid you not; I have actively been looking for bedding since June.
All potential dorm bedding fell into three categories for me: weird, kiddish, or stupid. Observe the following conversation between my mother and myself.
“What about this one?”
“Weird.”
“This one is nice…”
“Kiddish.”
“Well, what do you think about this?”
“Stupid.”
The more I looked at bedding, the more I considered not sleeping in a bed. Either that, or just not sleeping in general. I wondered how much money I could get for a bed frame and a mattress, or even, how much a hammock would cost me.
I don’t think people understand how much of a dilemma this bedding issue was for me. I mean…I fantasized about being that one girl that everyone talked about from the moment I set foot on campus.
Student 1: “Hey—you see that girl over there?”
Student 2: “Yeah?”
Student 1: “She’s the one—the one who doesn’t even have bedding!”
Student 2 faints.
Finally, I found it. A fourth category of bedding existed: perfect.
It was as if a light were shining down on it as I walked into the store (actually, a light was shining down on it because it was on display) because it just felt perfect.
To say that it’s eclectic would be an understatement – it’s made up of six different fabric textures, ten different colors, and looks like it exploded out of the factory in which it was made. I think it fits me.
That being said, I am heading to the land of overpriced books, overextended bedding, and overachieving students this week. So, I have to bid you Sammamish Review readers farewell as I move on to the next phase of my life.
I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for the Sammamish Review, and I hope you have enjoyed reading it!
Hopefully, I will get the chance to update you on the battle between me and the Freshman 15 in December!
Just remember, readers: Life is funny. Don’t forget to laugh every once in a while.
Oh, and always go for the obscure dorm bedding. Life’s more fun that way.
This week, I am heading off to the land of overpriced books, overextended bedding and overachieving students: college.
My mom told me I had to choose my bedding before I could buy any other dorm supplies. She told me this in June.
I kid you not; I have actively been looking for bedding since June.
All potential dorm bedding fell into three categories for me: weird, kiddish, or stupid. Observe the following conversation between my mother and myself.
“What about this one?”
“Weird.”
“This one is nice…”
“Kiddish.”
“Well, what do you think about this?”
“Stupid.”
The more I looked at bedding, the more I considered not sleeping in a bed. Either that, or just not sleeping in general. I wondered how much money I could get for a bed frame and a mattress, or even, how much a hammock would cost me.
I don’t think people understand how much of a dilemma this bedding issue was for me. I mean…I fantasized about being that one girl that everyone talked about from the moment I set foot on campus.
Student 1: “Hey—you see that girl over there?”
Student 2: “Yeah?”
Student 1: “She’s the one—the one who doesn’t even have bedding!”
Student 2 faints.
Finally, I found it. A fourth category of bedding existed: perfect.
It was as if a light were shining down on it as I walked into the store (actually, a light was shining down on it because it was on display) because it just felt perfect.
To say that it’s eclectic would be an understatement – it’s made up of six different fabric textures, ten different colors, and looks like it exploded out of the factory in which it was made. I think it fits me.
That being said, I am heading to the land of overpriced books, overextended bedding, and overachieving students this week. So, I have to bid you Sammamish Review readers farewell as I move on to the next phase of my life.
I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for the Sammamish Review, and I hope you have enjoyed reading it!
Hopefully, I will get the chance to update you on the battle between me and the Freshman 15 in December!
Just remember, readers: Life is funny. Don’t forget to laugh every once in a while.
Oh, and always go for the obscure dorm bedding. Life’s more fun that way.
