Sammamish Forum May 19
May 18, 2010
By Administrator
No to Town Center
I thought the March Sammamish city newsletter’s “Town Center: Prudent approach pays dividends” meant a check was in the mail. No luck. Instead it was disturbing to see it adopt special interest extortion tactics like “the Town Center will adsorb growth and help protect existing neighborhoods from the impacts of more indiscriminate development.” Even worse, it conflicts with state law.
The State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires “A housing element ensuring the vitality and character of established residential neighborhoods” with growth issues following, not preceding it. If the city won’t meet its legal requirement to protect existing neighborhoods first, it shouldn’t plan for a Town Center.
The GMA states “A city that has chosen to be a residential community is exempt from the economic development element requirement of this subsection.”
Yes to need-based retail/commercial. However, cities that bought the urban myth of discretionary retail/commercial development being a cash cow have the greatest fiscal problems and a lower quality of life.
A majority of Sammamish residents want the city to make these choices in their favor.
Yes, GMA states “Comprehensive plans and development regulations must provide sufficient land capacity for development” but not without the proper infrastructure in place at the time of development.
Adequate regional roads and transit are decades away from Town Center. The city should shun unrealistic, regional growth allocations until its infrastructure is foreseeable.
Dividends indeed. The city admits its treasury will profit little from Town Center.
Will the city use their meager profit to reimburse each household for paying the other half of additional school impacts, the public portion of Town Center transportation “concurrency projects” and uncollected project impacts from added police, fire and parks? Get your wallets out.
Like other Eastside cities, your household will subsidize Town Center at several hundred dollars per year to get the tired fairy tale of “sense of place” and “community focal point.”
Greg Allan
Sammamish
Consider the source
It is interesting to see our local liberal blogger, Michael J. O’Connell lamenting about being challenged on the issues by an RNC phone caller.
O’Connell sounded a little offended that he supports policies of the Obama administration and the Democrats that have completely failed and that a majority of the people in this country are offended by and do not support (healthcare, $787 Billion Stimulus, etc.).
Let me quote O’Connell’s blog from August 18, 2008 “the Bush policies have driven down real wages and created a boom financial climate by encouraging borrowing – leading to unmanagable debt”.
Sounds like you should listen to that caller on the phone, doubling the debt of the nation in 20 months and 10 percent unemployment for the longest period in post war history in not a legacy you or your Democrat buddies should be proud of.
We should ask McConnell about the Democrats selling their souls to the unions and planning the demise of capitalism. That is the road he advocates.
Sounds like his model would be like Greece, 110 percent spending over GDP, 14 months pay for annual pensions and retirement age of 53, IMF bailouts of $100 billion. We are on that road right now state by state – look to Olympia, Salem and Sacramento for examples.
Best advice for the upcoming elections, fire Patty Murray and her ilk, let your voice be known through your vote.
Take your country back!
John Burg
Sammamish
Don’t waste money on poop
I for one would like to applaud City Councilmen Tom Odell and John Curley for voting against the contract with Triangle Associates regarding concern for Sammamish pet lovers and their pet defecations. Finally, someone has the common sense to think a community concern through before spending money on any city project – especially this one.
The idea of teaching special classes to grade school children about the importance of picking up poop at the cost of $23,217 dollars, when the school budgets are so stretched now for far more important learning requirements — such as the need for quality teachers, smaller class sizes, and art and music programs, is a total waste of money.
Next time you are out and about — take time and look around. I feel quite confident you will see lots of adults, not children walking their pets. I would bet that 90 percent would be a good average, of adults, not children. Common sense tells one, that it’s the adults who hear about this concern on the news, or read about it in the papers — not the children. The adults are the ones who need to be responsible!
The creeks, lake and waterways here in Sammamish make it one of the nicest places to live and raise a family.
The adults need to take charge of the pet control – not the children.
Donna Martin
Sammamish
Benefits are the problem
Last week’s article led one to believe that personnel charges for the city (salaries and benefits) would be the city’s largest operating expense by the year 2020.
These expenditures are already the largest operating expense for the city of Sammamish.
If allowed to continue the same growth rate, these expenditures would exceed the largest revenue item the city depends on (property taxes) by 2020.
A closer look shows about $200,000 per year increase in property taxes versus a $1 million per year increase in personnel charges.
The City Finance Department already points to 2013 as the year the operating budget will enter the “red zone” (crossover point).
That means urgent action is needed now, not later. Large states across the U.S. are bankrupt (in every case, benefits were a major cause). The state of Washington is deeply in the red, and 60 percent of the budget is employee benefits.
The City Council must show courage in doing what must be done.
We have a fine employee complement in Sammamish. No one is asking them to go backwards, but rather greatly slow the future personnel charges.
The full weight is on the City Council’s shoulders…and their own benefits are included in the action they take.
Harry Shedd
Sammamish
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Mr. Burg doesn’t seem to realize that in 2008 we already took our country back from the thugs that created the unemployment, deficit and deregulation fiascos of the last 25 years.
We have no intention of turning it back over to them to do it again.
Employment is improving, 95% of Americans have seen a tax decrease, and we are increasing the regulatory oversight so needed of our banking sector.
Work is still to be done, but hardly the failure painted in his letter.
And please, spare us the “death of capitalism” rhetoric. The cold war was over a long time ago.