Sammamish Forum November 18
November 17, 2009
By Administrator
New council should reconsider Town Center
Kudos to John Galvin, Dick Birgh, and the southeast quadrant group for taking the bull by the horns and getting what appears to be a fine master plan for their portion of the Town Center development. Risking $85,000 of their own money to help get this project off the ground is a bold step in the right direction.
Much of the required infrastructure is there – improved road, water and sewer and fiber optic cable. The city council needs to revisit the council’s regulations for the Town Center development. Since the City Council will soon have three new members, may I suggest that the plan and regulations be reviewed by the incoming City Council?
Jeff Matson
Sammamish
Thanks, Jack
For the past 10 years since Sammamish was incorporated, Jack Barry has dedicated himself to being an integral force in shaping our city as a member of its City Council. It’s not an easy task to seek elected office when much of the infrastructure is already in place. It is even more of a challenge to be willing to step up and share the responsibility for creating from nothing a city that is now named the 12th best small city in the United States.
Thank you, Jack, for having given selflessly to help make us who we are. You have always been an example of political and personal integrity for this community and a great role model for our youth. The city of Sammamish has been fortunate to have had you as one of its leaders.
C.J. and Mary Jo Kahler
Sammamish
Nightmare was
successful
It was a dark and stormy night could have been the theme of Rotary’s annual nine-night fundraiser, The Nightmare at Beaver Lake. Not only did the rains and winds come, one night was cancelled due to lightning and thunder to ensure the safety of participants and actors.
Overall, the fundraiser was a great success with its trebuchet, rotating tunnel of clowns, Wizard of Oz sets, the village, Salem witch trials, abandoned chemical factory, and a whole lot more spread throughout the path from Beaver Lake’s ball fields through the pavilion next to the lake.
Hundreds of actors and behind-the-scenes volunteers staffed the nine-night extravaganza, and thousands of area residents braved the family hour and full scare to raise thousands of dollars for Rotary’s community and international causes, which include college scholarships for Sammamish’s three high schools.
More than $40,000 was raised for direct services.
Thousands of canned goods were donated during the nine nights to benefit the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, and the Renaissance School raised funds with its concession booths each evening.
We especially wish to publicly thank our nonprofit partner, Scare Productions, for its expertise in set design, makeup, casting, actor training, security functions and so much more to bring such realism to the haunt.
We are also most grateful to the Sammamish Parks Department and the Sammamish Youth Board for their annual partnerships, and to the King County Explorer Scouts for their major security roles.
Sammamish resident Dana Young is to be commended for her thousands of hours of set design, makeup, and overall production of so much of the annual haunt.
Norm Bottenberg
President, Sammamish Rotary Club
Let barricade
talks go on
From the Nov. 4 Sammamish Review barricade articles, it appears that some folks are still trying to short circuit the barricade decision process currently under development before it works its independent course. The city comprehensive plan does not state or imply that road connections be established through residential neighborhoods regardless of safety.
City staff is correct that the comprehensive plan also requires the city to maintain neighborhood character. There are many reasons for this, such as the city’s and taxpayers’ liabilities if unwise or reckless actions are taken.
The city’s recent two “connectivity” working public meetings asked neighbors to identify concerns to be included in a connectivity decision process. Each meeting was broken up into tables of about eight to 12 folks with mediators encouraging dialogue on all sides at each table.
Tables had to be added at each meeting given the citywide attendance filling the room. Each table was instructed to identify and prioritize the top five concerns associated with connectivity and present their findings to the entire meeting. If memory serves me right, for all the tables at both public meetings, the top issue was safety and then residential quality of the neighborhoods (a quick check of each table’s presentation sheet retained by the city should easily verify this observation). It is seriously incorrect to characterize that safety was only pedestrian safety as this was clearly not the only safety concerns identified, discussed, and presented by the majority, if not all, of the tables.
The city’s continuing efforts to develop an open, independent connectivity decision process should be supported given Sammamish’s unique challenges. Many residential neighborhoods and roadways were never intended nor designed for connection, and it would be inappropriate to connect them now.
It is important that all connectivity decision processes be open, factual, transparent, involve the neighborhoods and pass independent scrutiny by the public.
I have visited all the barricades in person, and I believe that open decision processes would result in some barricades remaining for insurmountable safety reasons, some could be removed, and the rest would need thorough road mitigation before removal.
Richard B. Kuprewicz
Sammamish
New council should reconsider Town Center
Kudos to John Galvin, Dick Birgh, and the southeast quadrant group for taking the bull by the horns and getting what appears to be a fine master plan for their portion of the Town Center development. Risking $85,000 of their own money to help get this project off the ground is a bold step in the right direction.
Much of the required infrastructure is there – improved road, water and sewer and fiber optic cable. The city council needs to revisit the council’s regulations for the Town Center development. Since the City Council will soon have three new members, may I suggest that the plan and regulations be reviewed by the incoming City Council?
Jeff Matson
Sammamish
Thanks, Jack
For the past 10 years since Sammamish was incorporated, Jack Barry has dedicated himself to being an integral force in shaping our city as a member of its City Council. It’s not an easy task to seek elected office when much of the infrastructure is already in place. It is even more of a challenge to be willing to step up and share the responsibility for creating from nothing a city that is now named the 12th best small city in the United States.
Thank you, Jack, for having given selflessly to help make us who we are. You have always been an example of political and personal integrity for this community and a great role model for our youth. The city of Sammamish has been fortunate to have had you as one of its leaders.
C.J. and Mary Jo Kahler
Sammamish
Nightmare was successful
It was a dark and stormy night could have been the theme of Rotary’s annual nine-night fundraiser, The Nightmare at Beaver Lake. Not only did the rains and winds come, one night was cancelled due to lightning and thunder to ensure the safety of participants and actors.
Overall, the fundraiser was a great success with its trebuchet, rotating tunnel of clowns, Wizard of Oz sets, the village, Salem witch trials, abandoned chemical factory, and a whole lot more spread throughout the path from Beaver Lake’s ball fields through the pavilion next to the lake.
Hundreds of actors and behind-the-scenes volunteers staffed the nine-night extravaganza, and thousands of area residents braved the family hour and full scare to raise thousands of dollars for Rotary’s community and international causes, which include college scholarships for Sammamish’s three high schools.
More than $40,000 was raised for direct services.
Thousands of canned goods were donated during the nine nights to benefit the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, and the Renaissance School raised funds with its concession booths each evening.
We especially wish to publicly thank our nonprofit partner, Scare Productions, for its expertise in set design, makeup, casting, actor training, security functions and so much more to bring such realism to the haunt.
We are also most grateful to the Sammamish Parks Department and the Sammamish Youth Board for their annual partnerships, and to the King County Explorer Scouts for their major security roles.
Sammamish resident Dana Young is to be commended for her thousands of hours of set design, makeup, and overall production of so much of the annual haunt.
Norm Bottenberg
President, Sammamish Rotary Club
Let barricade talks go on
From the Nov. 4 Sammamish Review barricade articles, it appears that some folks are still trying to short circuit the barricade decision process currently under development before it works its independent course. The city comprehensive plan does not state or imply that road connections be established through residential neighborhoods regardless of safety.
City staff is correct that the comprehensive plan also requires the city to maintain neighborhood character. There are many reasons for this, such as the city’s and taxpayers’ liabilities if unwise or reckless actions are taken.
The city’s recent two “connectivity” working public meetings asked neighbors to identify concerns to be included in a connectivity decision process. Each meeting was broken up into tables of about eight to 12 folks with mediators encouraging dialogue on all sides at each table.
Tables had to be added at each meeting given the citywide attendance filling the room. Each table was instructed to identify and prioritize the top five concerns associated with connectivity and present their findings to the entire meeting. If memory serves me right, for all the tables at both public meetings, the top issue was safety and then residential quality of the neighborhoods (a quick check of each table’s presentation sheet retained by the city should easily verify this observation). It is seriously incorrect to characterize that safety was only pedestrian safety as this was clearly not the only safety concerns identified, discussed, and presented by the majority, if not all, of the tables.
The city’s continuing efforts to develop an open, independent connectivity decision process should be supported given Sammamish’s unique challenges. Many residential neighborhoods and roadways were never intended nor designed for connection, and it would be inappropriate to connect them now.
It is important that all connectivity decision processes be open, factual, transparent, involve the neighborhoods and pass independent scrutiny by the public.
I have visited all the barricades in person, and I believe that open decision processes would result in some barricades remaining for insurmountable safety reasons, some could be removed, and the rest would need thorough road mitigation before removal.
Richard B. Kuprewicz
Sammamish
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