Council approves program to transfer density into city
January 25, 2011
Plan is designed to preserve open space along state Route 202
Sammamish may preserve open space and potentially add to parkland north of the city, but it will likely mean more cars and people in the future Town Center.
By a 6-1 vote with Councilwoman Nancy Whitten dissenting, the council on Jan. 18 passed the Transfer of Development Rights agreement with King County. Under the agreement, as many as 75 development rights from the county could be transferred into the city, specifically in the area that will become Town Center.
Areas in brown would be preserved as open space while the pink square, part of Town Center, would see more housing. Map by Sammamish Review graphics
Homeowners turn backyards into wildlife sanctuaries
January 25, 2011
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has reached a milestone in the effort to turn backyards into urban wildlife sanctuaries.
The agency’s Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Program has celebrated 25 years — and exceeded a goal to turn 10,000 properties into sanctuaries in the year leading to 2010. The program had enrolled 11,454 properties across the state in time for the Dec. 31, 2010, deadline. Read more
Vote yes for LWSD levy
January 25, 2011
Think back about five years. Times were good and a booming economy seemed like it would last forever. People were optimistic, and they started having babies.
Well, that surge of babies is growing up, and starting to need places to sit in kindergartens around the state and in the Lake Washington School District. The rapid expansion in student population necessitates an expansion in the number of classrooms. Read more
Sammamish Forum Jan. 26
January 25, 2011
Freed house is not historic
To those others who want to declare the house as a historical landmark, please look up the definition of “history” and “historical.” The Freed House does not qualify. Period.
No treaty was signed at the Freed House. People slept, ate, talked — in other words just lived there. Nothing significant happened at the Freed House. It is just a house just like millions like it in the United States. It is just a common, nothing, ugly house. Read more
Police Blotter Jan. 26
January 25, 2011
Civil issue
Police were called to sort out a dispute between a tenant and owner of an adult family home Jan. 15.
The owner complained that the resident had been stealing food from the pantry of the home and jewelry from other residents.
The resident complained that she was not being fed enough at meals and that the meals she was getting were “unrecognizable as food.” Read more
Jordan McCabe: basketball whiz kid
January 25, 2011
Jordan knows dribbling
January 25, 2011
The ball is almost too low to the ground to see it move, but you can hear the double-time pitter-patter as it rattles between floor and finger tips over and over. Jordan McCabe is not just dribbling one, but two basketballs — in sync, out of sync, up and down, side to side — at the same time. It takes a second to see how he does it, but by the time you catch up, he’s already switching it up. This time, he dribbles the right ball in front while taking one around his left leg and through from the back, then vice versa. The balls go faster, slow down, then go airborne as he juggles them. Then comes the tennis ball. Read more
Sammamish techie helps nonprofits
January 25, 2011
What normally takes a company weeks and thousands of dollars to complete, took area nonprofits less than three days and zero dollars Jan. 14-16.
Thanks to the time and expertise of about 50 volunteer software engineers and tech gurus, including one Sammamish resident, 15 area charities have new ways to do outreach in a tech-savvy world. The first Seattle Give Camp, hosted at the Microsoft campus, brought together some of the area’s best and brightest in the world of software development, design and database administration.
Girish Bhatia, right, of Sammamish, and Cherylann Brown work on a web project for Auburn Youth Resources during the Seattle Give Camp Jan. 15 on the Microsoft Campus. Contributed
Discovery’s K-Kids help nonprofits
January 25, 2011
Visitors had to be careful not to step on any teeth as they stepped into Lori Moorman’s kindergarten class Jan. 19.
They didn’t find any real teeth on the floor, but many of the about 50 students in the Discovery Elementary K-Kids club spent time after school drawing posters with big smiles on them, among other projects.
Students from kindergarten through grade five buzzed around the room, stringing beads, composing pages to booklets and drawing signs and posters for the club’s service project. One of six or so projects the club conducts throughout the year, this one benefited Sammamish-based nonprofits International Smile Power and Kids Without Borders.
“The most rewarding thing you can do is have kids that want to give back to the community,” said Janna Redman, fifth-grade teacher and K-Kids staff advisor.
Students made posters to support International Smile Power. Photo by Christopher Huber
Local families needed to host Chernobyl children
January 25, 2011
The 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is April 26. More than 750,000 children are still living in the most contaminated areas.
For the Children of the World provides health, respite and rest for these children by providing some basic medical and dental care and a chance to replenish their system in a clean environment which includes healthy food. Time spent away from the radiation allows their bodies to flush out contaminants so their immune system can rebuild and fight the effects when they return home.
This year, 20 children are looking for host families in the U.S. from June 14 – July 26. If interested in hosting a child (or sharing host responsibilities), contact Janet Hlavaty-LaPosa at 206-953-2279 or go to www.ftcotw.org.
