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New, Jan. 28, 12:14 p.m.
Mike Collins is enthusiastic about the city’s new e-mail Alert system, but he wishes more people would sign up for the service.
“Do I think it’s working? On a too-small scale, yes. Hopefully over time it will become more mainstream,” he wrote in an e-mail. Read more
New: Jan. 27, 2 p.m.
Chief among the elements in Carla Dimitriou’s most recent work is her implementation of layers. Two-dimensional paintings have thick, swirled bumps from her beeswax palette. Some have flourishes of tarpaper and objects sprouting from the canvas. Even her sculptures are vibrant with eyes that pop and lips that purse. They are whimsical in their color schemes (sometimes circus-like), but often buttressed by ominous undertones.
Read moreThe Eastlake girls select fifth-grade basketball team is celebrating a successful mid-season tournament.
The girls, from various Sammamish elementary schools, won the eighth annual Chelsea Ebert Ferndale Basketball Jam Jan. 15-17 in Ferndale. It took home the championship after beating Ferndale 26-19 in the final.
The girls went unbeaten in the tournament, said parent Matt Gallant.
They beat the UBA Lightning 48-12 in the first round, Ferndale 18-13 in the second and the Whatcom Magic 52-12 in the third. On its way to the title game, Eastlake beat Sport n’ Skilz 32-9 and Lake Stevens 31-17, according to statistics from Gallant.
The fifth-graders play in the Puget Sound Traveling League under coaches Todd Beahm and Tom Marxen.
The players are: Gina Marxen, Avery Hanson, Natalie Gallant, Gabbie Beahm, Emily McDonald, Alissa Matrinez, Ally Wynecoop, Nikki Johnson, Marqui MacLachlan, and Korbyn Stahl.
Sammamish 13-year-old Brian Mogg earned what his family called his biggest golf tournament win after he finished even-par Jan. 17-18 in the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Golf Open.
“I studied and admired Martin Luther King so much, so it’s really nice to win a tournament named after him,” Mogg said a day after the tournament. “I prepared well and felt really confident going in.”
Mogg won the seventh- and eighth-grade class of the youth tournament after hitting a 71 (-1) Jan. 17 at McCormick Woods in Port Orchard and a 72 (+1) Jan. 18 at Chambers Bay in Tacoma, he said.
“I only made five bogeys in two days,” Mogg said. “This is probably one of my biggest wins, because it was at two of my favorite courses and it’s named after Martin Luther King.”
With his 143 total score, Mogg beat Cole Madey of Lake Oswego, Ore. by three strokes and Mukilteo’s Joe Fryer by six strokes.
Sammamish residents R.P. McCoy and Spencer Weiss finished fifth (157) and sixth (158) respectively.
The city of Sammamish has received $1.04 million through a state grant to fund construction on Southeast 20th Street.
The grant comes from the state Department of Commerce’s Public Works Board.
Read moreIf your Feb. 9 election ballot is still sitting in a pile of unopened mail, dig it out and mail it in. The number one concern with passing the levies is getting enough voters to care.
If you have children or grandchildren in school or soon to be in school, you better care. If you don’t, then care anyway – because the children in the neighborhood don’t deserve any less of an education just because the economy is in turmoil.
Read moreSupport the school levies
The Sammamish City Council recently unanimously endorsed the Issaquah School District levy election. I plan to vote for the three Issaquah levies and urge voters to support the levies when ballots arrive in the mail.
Nothing is more important to the long-term health and strength of a community than strong schools. Excellent school systems attract families and businesses to our area. Our schools provide us with community meeting places and help focus families and community members on healthy activities. Strong schools always elevate property values. The reputation of the school district is integrally woven with the reputation of this city and community.
I appreciate the fact that the Issaquah School District recognized our tough economic times by taking a very conservative approach to levy collections. All three levies are replacement levies, simply renewing the commitment we taxpayers already share. In some cases, homeowners will actually see their tax rates decrease over the next four years.
By supporting these levies, voters can say yes to strong schools, and help pay for smaller class sizes, textbooks, computers, and buses, important offerings like foreign language and library staff, and long-term school building maintenance. All of these contribute substantially to a strong, vibrant community and student success. Join me in voting yes for the Issaquah School District levies and please mail your ballot back by Feb. 9.
Don Gerend
The writer is mayor of Sammamish
Thanks, city
At 11:55 a.m. Jan. 15 while working from home, I noticed a young Puget Sound Energy employee approaching my home in the Timberline neighborhood. She was passing out notices of a planned all-day electricity outage on Jan. 18.
When I gently questioned the timing of the outage (a holiday) and of the notice (Friday noon when most customers were not at home), she explained that “they” were doing it all over the area. Since it was not her decision, I instead called the number provided by Puget Sound Energy on their notice.
I got a very pleasant response, but essentially “we’re going to do it.” As I groused and grumbled after that response, my wife said “call the mayor!” which seemed a great idea.
I went to the Sammamish Web page, but the first contact name and number I saw was for the city manager, so that’s who I called. I don’t have permission to use the name of the person who responded, but she was excellent. She got information about my “crisis,” plus my name and contact number and promised to let the city manager know.
I, now enamored of speaking truth to power, called the mayor. He was not available, but his wife was – and she is a dynamo. After agreeing with me that the people who planned such an outage for a holiday with such late notice were “idiots,” she too collected the appropriate information and promised the mayor would get it.
Even though I fully expected nothing to be done, I had at least been listened to. Both women kept me in the loop as the afternoon progressed, and much to my amazement, by the end of the afternoon the outage had been postponed. Sammamish had roared and Puget Sound Energy had to listen.
My thanks to the city manager and mayor, but especially to the two who heard my concern, realized it was just, gathered the necessary information and got it into the hands of our city executives.
I’m still smiling.
John Boyne
Sammamish
Sammamish would be a good steward
I am writing as a 17-year resident of Klahanie. I want to comment on the Klahanie Park proposal.
I have two daughters and a dog, and I feel so lucky to have raised my family in this community.
But I feel the best interests of the community are not being represented by the continued fight to keep control of the King County/Klahanie Park.
My daughters both play soccer and other sports and have been fortunate in the past few years to have the city of Sammamish’s vision to put all-purpose fields in both the Skyline and Eastlake parks.
Without these fields, our teams would be limited to only the two high schools turf fields, and it would have been nearly impossible to get practice or games once the grass fields become unplayable and close for four months.
During this time, the city of Sammamish has done a great job of scheduling use of the fields and making sure we have lights when needed.
I feel the best option for the many residents of Klahanie would be to have the county turn the fields over to Sammamish. I trust their vision and I know they would do a great job of maintaining the fields and giving the many residents of the plateau and Klahanie the best option for the future.
When I talk to my many neighbors, we all agree that this is the best proposal and feel that having Klahanie maintain control of the fields would not be in the best interest of residents and community.
I hope we can work closely with Sammamish and make the transition to the city smooth and not take on a responsibility that is not in our best interests.
Brian Bofto
Issaquah
Eastside Fire & Rescue officials took strides at their first board meeting to make good on promises of change.
In his report to the EFR board, Finance Chief Dave Gray said he would make budget reports more detailed.
“Prior years I have worked to limit the number of line items as I felt there were so many it made the budget unmanageable,” he wrote in his January report. “We will be attempting to reach a balance between too much information and enough detail to achieve meaningful control.”
Read moreThe Issaquah School District is seeking voter approval of three levies, including a capital levy for critical repairs and technology.
If approved, the levies would supplement the district’s budget with more than $214 million by 2014.
The four-year $38.4 million capital levy would make repairs to school buildings and maintain and purchase technological equipment.
Read moreIn addition to a pair of levy proposals, Lake Washington School District voters will see a bond on their February ballot.
The $234 million bond would be used to upgrade facilities across the district, including an expansion for Eastlake High School.
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