Sammamish Forum August 19
August 18, 2009
By Administrator
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
Comments
One Response to “Sammamish Forum August 19”
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People talk of growth, mostly the need for more housing, more development. (see John Galvin, Aug 19th, and plenty of others in the previous five years). This by itself will only add to Sammamish’s financial worries. Sure, the first result is an increase in tax revenue. However, until the city council learns about true fiscal responsibility, we will just keep spending more then we take in, as a city. To beat a dead horse one more time, the ELSP project is an improper use of tax payer money at BEST. To add sidewalks and a bike lane INSTEAD of paving over the nice, relatively new trail that parallels ELSP, is just plain bureacracy at it’s most stereotypical. Some board members get something in their head, and all of a sudden there are no other solutions. I propose that incoming city council members use a new oath, “Spend spend spend, it’s ok, because either more tax revenue will come, or I’ll be long gone by then”. Here’s a new idea, stop overspending (see $100,000 clock), and actually plan and budget. I don’t mean planning and budgeting in it’s present form. I mean, actually plan, you know, long term, and actually budget. By Budgeting I don’t mean make the numbers match what you want to spend. I mean, anayze how much income is coming in, and how much is going out. Take that for the next year, and project into the future, realistically, and then truly evaluate projects. There are plenty of overspending, underplanning examples of late. Let me see if I can remember them all: sidewalks wide enough to drive a ‘Wide Load’ convoy down, but only for a mile or so, just enough to separate the bike lanes (plural because they are two distinctly separate entities) on 228th. Way to go, surround those wide sidewalk (and no bike lanes) with bike lanes and standard sidewalks on the north and south sides. The $100,000 clock, and ESLP. Do I really need to say more? Ok, how about the latest, the lakefront park. Where did this idea come from?You do know there are several nice parks on the lake, right? Idyllwood, Vasa, Lk Samm State Park. Hmm, sounds like we need one, is it within our borders? Will there be nice wide sidewalks, and NO bike lanes, to get to it? How about this, instead of enforcing the speed limit of 35 (which makes ESLP safe), let’s go ahead and widen it, and put in left turn lanes, and medians which require landscape maintenance. Ahh heck, let’s scrap it all and go with a tunnel, only after aquiring the surface lands using “imminent domain”, then sell it all to developers for pennies on the dollar so they can become bazillionaires. I am not against development, though I am against Sammamish becoming Seattle, or Bellevue.