An analysis of precinct results from the Nov. 8, 2011 general election released by the King County Elections office shows that 71.6 percent of Sammamish voters were in favor of Initiative 1183, which allows private stores 10,000 square feet or larger to sell hard liquor.

In the City Council race between Kathy Richardson and Nancy Whitten, Richardson drew a lot of support from lakefront property owners. Map by Dona Mokin

That’s significantly more support than the initiative got statewide, where 58.7 percent of voters were in favor.

And though Sammamish is likely home to a large amount of commuters on state Route 520, its voters were even less likely than those statewide to be in favor of eliminating variable tolling on the bridge.

A bit more than 57 percent of voters checked “No” on Initiative 1125, compared to just over 53 percent around the state. The initiative would have also put state legislators in charge of setting tolling rates and unraveled plans to put light rail on the Interstate 90 Bridge.

Support for Initiative 1163, which would have increased training and licensing requirements for long-term care workers, lagged a bit in Sammamish – 58.4 percent of plateau voters supported the measure, compared to 65 percent of statewide voters.

Opponents questioned the wisdom of adding millions in costs to an already cash-strapped state budget.

City council races

The precinct numbers also cast some light on Sammamish’s city council races.

Kathy Richardson, a Lake Sammamish shoreline property owner, predictably garnered solid support from her shoreline neighbors in her candidacy against the incumbent Nancy Whitten, who has pushed for more stringent shoreline development regulations in her time on the council.

Richardson won all six of the precincts that border the shores of Lake Sammamish, as well as several other precincts scattered around the city.

Whitten said the results don’t surprise her. She theorized that some Lake Sammamish residents are still sore from her first campaign in 2004 when she advocated heavily for opening up the East Lake Sammamish Trail to the public, despite protests from nearby homeowners about the added pedestrian traffic near their homes.

Richardson also beat Whitten by three votes in Whitten’s own precinct, which covers the north end of Pine Lake. Whitten said some of her neighbors are less-than-keen on her advocacy for vegetated buffers around Pine and Beaver lakes, which makes lakefront recreation difficult.

Whitten did win the precincts around Beaver Lake by a healthy margin.

Ramiro Valderrama garnered solid support from around the city in his campaign against Jim Wasnick, winning all but three of the city’s 46 precincts. Wasnick won one Lake Sammamish precinct – between Southeast Eighth Street and Southeast 25th Street, as well as two precincts in the southeast corner of the city, roughly between Klahanie and Beaver Lake west of Duthie Hill Road.

Tom Vance, who cruised to victory with 67.6 percent of the vote over Jesse Bornfreund, won every precinct in the city.

Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.

Nancy Whitten, Ramiro Valderrama and Tom Vance all appear to be on their way to seats on the Sammamish City Council in 2012.

Vance cruised to victory by the largest margin, garnering 67.9 percent of the votes cast compared to 31.7 percent for challenger Jesse Bornfreund as of Wednesday night. Valderrama, organizer of local advocacy group Citizens For Sammamish, leads challenger Jim Wasnick 56.6 percent to 43.1 percent. Incumbent councilwoman Whitten appears to have beat planning commissioner Kathy Richardson by a 53.3 percent to 46.5 percent margin.

Vance, who ran for council in 2009 and lost to John Curley, said he was optimistic going into election night, but still nervous “having been down this road before.” Vance thanked his supporters and said he was looking forward to being one of two new faces on the council.

“I’m humbled and grateful to the voters and my supporters,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a good council for the next two years.”

Bornfreund said he was glad that he and Vance’s race was not as “contentious” as the other races and stayed focused on the issues. He said he would continue to keep an eye on the council as it grapples with issues like Town Center and a potential community and aquatic center.

“I ran because I was concerned about the direction the city was going,” he said. “Now that I’ve run I’m even more concerned than before.”

Valderrama, the second new face on the 2012 council, said he expected the support he received on Election Day given the similarly solid results during the primary. Valderrama received 46 percent of primary votes while Wasnick and local activist John Galvin had 28 percent and 25 percent support, respectively.

Valderrama pledged to do more to involve the public and be fiscally responsible when it comes to a potential community and aquatic center and Town Center.

“It’s humbling to be supported by this large of a percentage of the city,” he said. “I appreciate the support from the public and the people that worked on my campaign.”

Wasnick said he was hopeful that the support he garnered would send a message to the upcoming council.

“I think voters liked my straight-forward approach … and don’t want to see the city spending a bunch of money on items like the aquatic center,” Wasnick said. “Despite the numbers, 43 percent of voters agreed with my message. I think that sends a pretty strong message to the council.”

Whitten said she was thankful for the support for a third term on the council.

“I had a lot of people coming up to me during the campaign and thanking me for one thing or another,” Whitten said. “I’m looking forward to the next four years.”

Though Whitten said she mostly filed for reelection out of concern about Richardson’s effect on the council when it came to property rights and environmental protection, Whitten spoke highly of her opponent after election results were in.

“I have a lot of respect for her – she’s smart and articulate,” Whitten said. “Hopefully she’ll run again two or four years from now, because she’d make a good councilmember. I’m glad she’s on the Planning Commission.”

Richardson said she knew that the race would be close, given that she was running against a two-term incumbent. She said she would continue to devote herself to public service on the commission, where she is vice-chair.

“I’m very comfortable with what the voters decided,” she said. “Either way going into it I knew the worst possible outcome was that I’d still get to serve the community – it was just a matter of whether that was on the council or on the commission.”

Though campaigning was a lot of work, Richardson said it was surprisingly fun at times.

“I loved meeting voters,” she said. “Even sign waving was actually a lot of fun, which I didn’t expect it to be at all.”

Two candidates who benefited from a last minute mail campaign funded by the Building Industry Association of Washington came up short in the end. The Affordable Housing Council, the political action committee arm of the BIA, spent $3,000 on mailers for both Richardson and Wasnick. Their expenditure was posted with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission on Oct. 30.

The Sammamish numbers reflect 8079 ballots out of 27117 registered voters in the city, or about 29.8 percent turnout. King County Elections officials will be updating results in the coming days.

School Board and Port of Seattle

Two incumbents will keep their seats in both the Issaquah School Board and Port of Seattle Commission races

Brian Deagle cruised to victory over challenger Patrick Sansing, garnering 65 percent of votes; Suzanne Weaver got 64 percent of votes to keep her seat from challenger Brian Neville. Lake Washington School Board members ran unopposed.

At the port, Bill Bryant beat challenger and Sammamish resident Dean Willard 62 to 37 percent. Gael Tarleton also won reelection over Richard Pope, 56 to 43 percent.

More liquor, keep the tolls

At the state level, voters kicked the government out of the liquor business and rejected a measure to put road tolling in the hands of politicians.

Initiative 1125, Tim Eyman’s tolling measure, is failing by a 48.6 to 51.4 percent margin.

Initiative 1183, which would privatize liquor sales in the state, garnered affirmative votes from 59.6 percent of the electorate.

Initiative 1163, requiring more training for long-term care providers, is garnering solid support, with 66.2 percent of voters in favor.

Two amendments to the state constitution appear on their way to passing. Senate Joint Resolution No. 8205, regarding residency requirements to vote in the state, has 71.8 percent of voters in favor. Senate Joint Resolution No. 8206, which calls for larger-than-expected revenues to be put into the state’s rainy day fund, had 66.8 percent of voters in favor.

Reed forecast 47 percent statewide for the election. In King County, turnout is expected to crest 50 percent, although the low expectations reflect the lack of major races on the ballot. County Elections Director Sherril Huff predicts 52 percent turnout countywide — 53 percent in Seattle and 51 percent elsewhere.

The liquor measure, Initiative 1183, and Tim Eyman’s tolling measure, Initiative 1125, dominate most discussions about the Nov. 8 election.

Issaquah-based Costco is the major supporter behind I-1183, a push to remove the state from the liquor business. I-1125 aims to change rules to allow state lawmakers, rather than the appointed state Transportation Commission, to set tolls.

No statewide offices appear on the ballot in November.

“We certainly wish that half or more of our voters were casting ballots, since so many important local government offices and local issues are before the voters and we have significant statewide ballot measures to deal with,” Reed said in a statement issued Oct. 26.

King County Elections sent about 1.1 million ballots to all registered voters Oct. 19, although a glitch caused the elections office to send 11,000 ballots to Eastside voters later.

The elections office received about 68,000 completed ballots in the initial wave. Officials expect for 559,322 voters to return ballots in the election.

“I encourage everyone to vote and to remember that getting your ballot in early ensures plenty of time to correct any issues that may arise with your signature,” Huff said in a statement.

Mailed ballots require a first-class stamp and must be postmarked by Nov. 8. Or voters can drop ballots into a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Election Day. Issaquah City Hall and 10 other sites countywide host drop boxes.

The accessible voting center at King County Elections in Renton is open for voting, and additional locations in Seattle and Bellevue open Nov. 7 to allowed disabled voters to cast independent and private ballots.

Reed said 47 percent turnout is lower than recent off-year elections. In November 2009, turnout reached 50.9 percent.

The ballot also includes Initiative 1163 — a measure sponsored by the Service Employees International Union to address homecare workers’ certification and training.

State lawmakers also placed noncontroversial constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Senate Joint Resolution 8205 addresses a residency requirement for presidential voting outlined in the state constitution. The measure is meant to bring state law into synch with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Senate Joint Resolution 8206 calls for the state “rainy day” reserve fund to require contribution of a portion of “extraordinary” revenue in the future.

Reed said although lackluster turnout is unfortunate, the statewide picture often reflects the races on the ballot.

“But at the same time, we know that election turnout is largely driven by good races across the state and hot ballot propositions that really galvanize people to vote,” he said. “We are not sensing that degree of voter interest, and, indeed, many people are more engaged in the 2012 presidential race, the governor’s race and other open offices, and the fight for the Legislature and congressional districts that soon will have new boundaries.”

Issaquah, Redmond ballot drop box opens

King County Elections has opened ballot drop boxes at Issaquah and Redmond city halls and other sites for the Nov. 8 election.

The boxes at Issaquah City Hall, 130 E. Sunset Way and Redmond City Hall, 15670 N.E. 85th St., are due to remain open 24 hours a day until 8 p.m. Election Day.

The boxes allow voters to return ballots in person rather than by mail.

The elections office relied on historical use, population densities, planned future growth, proximity to transit services, access and safety data to determine the boxes’ locations.

Reach Reporter Warren Kagarise at 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com.

King County Elections officials said ballots for 11,000 Eastside voters — including more than 800 people in Sammamish — did not go out last week as planned due to a glitch.

The elections office plans to mail ballots Saturday; voters should receive them early next week. The deadline to return ballots via mail, drop box or accessible voting center is Nov. 8.

Overall, the issue impacted 11,000 Eastside voters, including 54 in Issaquah, 141 in Newcastle and 875 in Sammamish. Some North Bend and Snoqualmie voters also face delays in receiving ballots.

King County Elections started mailing 1.1 million ballots to voters Oct. 19.

“Fortunately, we had some voters who were on top of it and that tipped us off to start checking and seeing if there were any anomalies,” King County Elections spokeswoman Kim van Ekstrom said. “There are always voters who don’t get their ballots. Things happen, and that’s why they have several weeks to try to connect with us.”

Officials review calls to the elections office’s phone bank to determine if any issues arise during the election. In recent days, the office started to receive calls from Eastside voters about not receiving ballots in the mail.

The office hears from a small percentage of voters in every elections about not receiving a ballot. Call the voter hotline at 206-296-VOTE.

“In every single election, you hear a fair amount from us about, if you haven’t received your ballot, call us, call us, call us,” van Ekstrom said.

The reason for the delay remains unknown.

“We were able to clearly figure out who didn’t get them, but we’re still not completely sure on why it happened,” van Ekstrom said. “We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Officials check ballots throughout the process, from printing and insertion into envelopes to mailing and then to the Renton elections office for tabulation.

“We investigated the matter and discovered a technical problem associated with part of our voter database that resulted in exclusion of these ballots from being mailed on the date originally scheduled,” Elections Director Sherril Huff said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “Quality assurance is an important component of our elections processes and while we regret that this event occurred, I’m pleased that the reviews we have in place helped us in identifying and problem solving the issue.”

Recent battles between aggrieved property owners and environmental advocates during the Shoreline Master Plan seem to underpin many of the campaign contributions in this year’s election, though that’s far from the only thing on the minds of local donors.

A look at election contributions on the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission website brings up the names that will be familiar to anyone involved in Sammamish government in recent years.

There’s considerable overlap in the donors to the campaigns of Planning Commission vice-chairwoman Kathy Richardson and Jesse Bornfreund. Both candidates have collected donations from Planning Commissioner Mike Collins (through Concentric 2 LLC), Peter Scontrino, George Toskey and Megan Gee – all of whom have publically lobbied for the city to be more lenient on property owners when considering shoreline or wetland regulations.

Collins, Scontrino and Toskey (as well as Richardson herself) were all members of the Shoreline Home Owners group that was instrumental in crafting the draft of the city’s Shoreline Master Plan, which underwent significant rewrites before the Washington State Department of Ecology finally approved it this summer.

Contrast that with their respective opponents, incumbent Nancy Whitten and former Planning Commission chairman Tom Vance, who have both received contributions from former Planning Commissioner and environmental advocate Erica Tiliacos, Parks Commissioner Mary Doerrer and Wally Pereyra, a former fisheries biologist who was skeptical about the effect of Ebright Creek Park on the creek’s salmon.

Vance and Whitten have both identified themselves environmental advocates in recent interviews.

Contribution trends are a bit less cut-and-dry in the race between Ramiro Valderrama and Jim Wasnick.

Valderrama boasts of receiving support from across a “wide spectrum of the city” and a “balance between Democrats and Republicans.” He points to a $150 donation from Kathy Huckabay, a former City Councilwoman who donated to Vance and Tiliacos in the 2009 campaign, as an example of this environmental support.

Much of Valderrama’s support comes from members of the local advocacy group he chairs – Citizens for Sammamish. Those donors include Harry and Claradell Shedd and Mike Collins.

Wasnick said fundraising has not been his first priority during the campaign, instead asking supporters to put up yard signs and consider donating their money to charity. More than $7,800 of the $10,120 in his campaign fund has come from Wasnick himself.

Wasnick has garnered a $500 donation from Cyrus Oskui, a Kirkland resident who owns Columbia Athletic Clubs and has taken out advertisements in local media saying that city plans to build a community and aquatic center might put his Sammamish club out of business.

Wasnick, who has suggested looking into partnering with either a non-profit or private company to run such a facility, said the donation reflects his “pro-business” outlook.

“I think (Oskui) knows exactly where I’m at when it comes to the aquatic center,” he said.

Wasnick also received a donation from Vanessa Collins, the wife of Mike Collins. Collins said he and his wife wanted to donate to all first-time candidates early in the election cycle to give them a chance to get their message out through flyers and advertisements.

He said he donated in the name of his business rather than as an individual because he does most of his banking through his business account.

“These are generally good people that want to do something for the community,” he said. “They should be supported by the voters.”

In the Richardson/ Whitten race, the two candidates had different approaches to fundraising. Richardson’s $6,130 in cash contributions leads all candidates, while Whitten has gathered only $1,930 from a handful of core supporters.

Whitten, now in her third campaign, said the self-salesmanship required when fundraising has never been her strong suit. Whitten is also reusing old campaign signs, while first-time candidates like Richardson must pay for new ones.

“It’s embarrassing to go out and push yourself,” Whitten said. “I know I’m known as being outspoken during council meetings, but I’m shy that way.”

Richardson, who has collected donations from 54 people, said fundraising became a priority for her when Whitten changed council seats to run against her.

“I knew it was going to have to be a different type of campaign because of the name recognition that Nancy has,” Richardson said. “I felt like I needed to get my name out there more.”

Top donors to candidates by total amount(as of Oct. 21):

Mike and Venessa Collins: $3,084 (to Richardson, Wasnick, Valderrama and Bornfreund)

Harry and Claradell Shedd: $1,750 (to Valderrama and Vance)

Wally Pereyra: $1,600 (to Whitten and Vance)

Mike Rutt: $1,050 (to Wasnick, Bornfreund and Richardson)

Where the money’s going (Total raised as of Oct. 21/personal contributions/top donors)

Kathy Richardson: $9,098/$2,687/Angus Walker (Woodinville), Mike Collins, Rory Crispin, Michael Rutt

Nancy Whitten: $6,428/$3,817/Wally Pereyra, John O’Brien

Ramiro Valderrama: $7,601/$3,724/Mike Collins, Harry Shedd, Claradell Shedd

Jim Wasnick: $10,120/$7,808/Vanessa Collins, Cyrus Oskui, Mike Rutt

Jesse Bornfruend: $7,385/$5,360/Mike Collins, Mike Rutt, Tom Behan

Tom Vance: $7,063/$2,554/Wally Pereyra, Kathy Huckabay

Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.

The Sammamish City Council joined a handful of other Eastside cities Oct. 17 in publicly opposing an initiative that would rewrite the rules for tolling roads in the state.

Initiative 1125 would require that legislators be responsible for setting toll rates, require that tolls be the same during rush hour as they are during the middle of the night and unravel plans to run light rail over the Interstate 90 bridge to the Eastside.

The measure, introduced by initiative guru Tim Eyman and financed largely by Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman, aims to give voters the ability to hold politicians accountable if they are displeased with toll rates. That responsibility currently lies with a commission appointed by the governor. In December, the state plans to begin charging drivers who use the state Route 520 bridge as much as $3.50 each way during rush hour, or up to $5 if the driver doesn’t have a so-called “Good To Go!” pass.

The initiative would also require that tolls only go towards the replacement of the specific road being tolled, rather than the regional freeway system as a whole, and be discontinued once the expansion or replacement project is finished. Legislators have considered tolling the I-90 floating bridge as well, which is expected to see significantly more traffic once 520’s tolls kick in.

Opponents, including Kathy Huckabay, former Sammamish councilwoman and mayor, call the measure a “disaster” for regional transportation. They point to a report from the state Office of Financial Management which notes that leaving toll rates to the whims of politicians would be “unprecedented nationally.” The uncertainty would make it next to impossible to sell bonds for the projects and potentially sacrifice millions of dollars of federal grant money that is dependent on variable tolling rates.

The initiative would also prohibit gas tax money from going to “non-highway purposes” – gutting a Sound Transit plan to run light rail over the I-90 bridge.

The councils of Redmond, Kirkland and Renton have come out against the measure, as have business groups on both side of Lake Washington, including the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Association of Realtors and the Bellevue and Seattle chambers of commerce. Microsoft has been a top donor to a campaign against the initiative.

Sammamish’s council joined the club on a 5-2 vote, with councilmen John Curley and John James opposed. Both said they didn’t believe the council should be in the business of trying to sway voters on statewide initiatives.

“If that’s the service that we’re starting to do, we should do it for all the initiatives that come down the pipe,” Curley said. “To cherry pick certain ones … seems a little inconsistent.”

Council candidates Jesse Bornfreund and Jim Wasnick echoed that sentiment during the public comment period.

The rest of the council, however, said the measure’s potential impact on the thousands of Sammamish residents that use the 520 and I-90 bridges made it important that they weigh in.

“Since we’re part of regional boards that see the importance of regional and statewide issues, I think it’s important that we take a stance,” Councilman Mark Cross said. “I think having light rail across to the Eastside is a feature that we don’t want to have held up.”

Councilwoman Michelle Petitti pointed out that both of the leading candidates for Governor in 2012 – Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna – oppose the initiative.

Curley argued that the current tolls could especially hurt Eastside commuters who work in Seattle and could not adjust their schedules to avoid high rush-hour tolls.

“We’re taxing them right out of their cars,” he said.

Mayor Don Gerend noted that he was not in favor of Sound Transit’s plan to extend light rail to the Eastside, saying that money would have been better spent on improving bus service. But he said he was still opposed to the initiative’s dismantling of the variable tolling system, which is aimed at cutting down on congestion by encouraging people to change their driving habits.

“The only way to relieve congestion is to do some social engineering,” Gerend said. “Building a road period is social engineering. Variable tolling spreads out the traffic so that we don’t have to build more lane miles. As for who tolls, I’d hate for that to go to the legislature since their track record isn’t all that good on other matters.”

More information on Initiative 1125

Voters Want More Choices – For 1125: http://www.voterswantmorechoices.com.

Keep Washington Rolling – Against 1125: http://voteno1125.com.

Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.

When deciding which candidates to endorse, the Review considers a number of factors. We like to see candidates who’ve put in time in the community, who have a strong grasp of all of the issues facing the City Council, and who have real, sensible but creative solutions.

Position 2 — Nancy Whitten. Incumbent Whitten is always willing to ask questions. Yes, sometimes those questions make meetings drag on, but her job is to think about issues and make sure the city is heading in the right direction, not sit quietly when she doesn’t agree. She raises issues that may otherwise go unnoticed. We’re impressed by challenger Kathy Richardson, who is smart and has spent time as a Planning Commissioner learning how the city operates, but she has not demonstrated a grasp of issues outside land use strongly enough to justify replacing Whitten.

Position 4 — Ramiro Valderrama. We haven’t always agreed with Valderrama, but his passion for Sammamish is undeniable. He is one of the driving forces behind a group of citizen activists, has studied all of the major issues facing the city, and has been involved on the sidelines for years. Challenger Jim Wasnick could become a good council member, and has certainly started becoming active in civic life around Sammamish, but Valderrama has the edge on experience. After a bit more time learning the ins and outs of city government, Wasnick could become a more desirable candidate.

Position 6 — Tom Vance. Vance served as chairman of the Planning Commission before running for the council two years ago. He has thoughtful, specific answers to questions about nearly everything the City Council is likely to face in the next few years. Opponent Jesse Bornfreund has come out of nowhere and has not demonstrated a command of the issues.

Organized by The Issaquah Press, sister publication to the Sammamish Review, and moderated by Publisher Debbie Berto, the forum attracted candidates for the Issaquah School Board and Port of Seattle Commission.

The candidates, gathered at the King County Library System headquarters in Issaquah, answered questions in 40-minute sections organized by race.

The forum occurred days before King County Elections mails ballots, and as many voters start to pay attention to the off-year election. Election Day is Nov. 8.

In the school board election, incumbents Brian Deagle and Suzanne Weaver face challengers in the nonpartisan races.

Deagle, a Sammamish resident, faces challenger Patrick Sansing, a Sammamish resident, for the Director District No. 3 seat. Weaver, a Sammamish resident, faces Issaquah resident Brian Neville to retain the Director District No. 5 seat.

Bellevue resident Anne Moore is running unopposed for outgoing board member Jan Colbrese’s post.

In addition to proposals, school board candidates offered a veritable alphabet soup to describe involvement in local education efforts. PTSA and VIS, or Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, factored into candidates’ statements at the forum.

The questions during the forum’s school board portion focused on improving school experiences for students and maintaining a high-achieving school district despite near constant cuts from Olympia.

The incumbents, Deagle and Weaver, said Issaquah School District officials trimmed unnecessary expenses, or “low-hanging fruit” in Weaver’s description. Future cuts could impact students more acutely in the classroom.

“What it comes down to in the short term, it’s staff,” Deagle said. “The largest expense for the district is teachers. In the short term, unfortunately, that’s the only lever we can pull. In the long term, it will be a different approach to serving the kids.”

Sansing said district leaders should instead consider trimming administrative costs if state legislators hand down additional cuts in the months ahead.

“That’s got to be the place that we continue to look first,” he said. “I don’t want to look first toward the schoolroom.”

How to better serve students inside and outside of the classroom dominated the school board candidates’ discussion.

Neville said the district could do a better job to serve students uninterested in a traditional college education after high school. The proposal came in response to a prompt from the moderator: “Complete this sentence: The one area of our schools that should receive more attention is…”

“Issaquah School District certainly place a lot of focus on college prep, which is understandable,” he said. “I think most parents, probably, in the Issaquah district probably expect their kids to go to college. However, an area that I feel is somewhat lacking is the vocational side as well as on the arts, potential viable alternatives to the college prep track.”

Neville’s opponent, Weaver, said district schools should focus more on “the students who don’t fit the mold in high school.”

“I think we have a greater number of kids who, I guess you could say they underachieve,” she said. “They’re not achieving at their potential. They kind of fit in the traditional high school, but they need something more. They need more hands-on opportunities. They need more things that will give them exposure to careers and other types of paths that they might take.”

In September, school board members delayed sending a proposed bond — a $219 million package to fund construction and upgrades at schools across the district — to the electorate from February to April. Questions arose about using bond dollars to fund improvements to stadiums at Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline high schools.

“I would say these are not Cadillac stadiums, but I’d say they’re also not Pintos,” Weaver said. “It’s important to spend a certain amount of money to build things well.”

Sansing said the stadiums at the high schools serve a key component in surrounding communities, because the facilities serve more than sports teams.

“I think that they are not only a school resource but a community resource,” he said. “There are many groups that use our stadiums, and I think that it’s important for them to be able to do so. I also think that the education that you receive outside of the classroom is just as important as the education you receive inside of the classroom.”

Questions for the Port of Seattle Commission candidates closed the forum.

In the nonpartisan commissioner race, Democrat Dean Willard, a Sammamish resident and onetime state House of Representatives candidate, faces Republican incumbent Bill Bryant.

Richard Pope is challenging incumbent Commissioner Gael Tarleton. (Pope did not attend the forum.)

The discussion focused on the economy and the environment — major issues at the agency responsible for the Port of Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“At the Port of Seattle, we’re proving that we can rise to what I think is the challenge of time — to generate jobs while protecting the environment,” Bryant said.

Despite a recent turnaround for a once scandal-plagued agency, Willard said more progress is needed to create jobs and clean up damage to the environment related to trade.

“There are too many people that work at the port that don’t have family-wage jobs,” he said. “Far too frequently, the environmental damage that’s caused by economic activities are borne by those who are least able to bear them.”

Tarleton, regarded as the commission’s expert on security, tackled a question about the balance between security and convenience at the airport.

“Our job is to make sure that people can move through that airport safely and securely, with minimum hassle,” she said. “Now, we all want to get rid of pat downs. We all want to get rid of the hassle of walking through a security system that feels like you’re a salmon swimming upstream. Then, suddenly you reach that choke point and you’ve got to climb that ladder and you hope you get to the other side. I’m working on that.”

A recent debate between City Council candidates will be aired on Sammamish 21 TV at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. everyday through election season.

The debate, which took place at Beaver Lake Middle School Sept. 28, featured audience questions regarding the city budget, the city’s future with Eastside Fire and Rescue and the Town Center project. Five of the six candidates running for three council seats participated.

The debate was sponsored by the Sammamish Review, Sammamish Kiwanis and the Sammamish Rotary Club.

For 48-year-old information technology executive Jim Wasnick, the issue comes down to “approachability.” He points to the Southeast 32nd Street barricade issue as an example of his ability to roll up his sleeves and work with neighbors to get their input on city policy.

“Who is someone that will sit down and get coffee with you and talk about the issue?” Wasnick asks rhetorically. “I think if you meet me the decision is pretty clear.”

His opponent, 52-year-old international development consultant Ramiro Valderrama, says one need only look at the record to see who would be better at engaging the public.

He points to his work heading Citizens For Sammamish, the local advocacy group that he credits for guiding the city’s decision to scale back spending on projects like East Lake Sammamish Parkway and formalize the process for taking down street barricades.

“I’m able to bring people from different sides of the issue together to talk,” Valderrama said. “I’ve been able to get support from across a broad spectrum of the city.”

In interviews, the two share similar views when it comes to some of the hot button issues in Sammamish.

• Both generally support the idea of a some sort of community and aquatic center but believe the $64 million facility envisioned in the recent feasibility study is too expensive. Both suggest partnering with a non-profit like the YMCA or some sort of private entity to build or run a potential facility.
• While Wasnick and Valderrama both like the idea of jumpstarting development in Town Center, both are non-committal about whether they’d prefer to see a facility inside or outside of Town Center.

“Not all the options have been vetted yet,” Wasnick said. “For me to say what would work and what wouldn’t isn’t appropriate at this time.”

• Both are opposed to the city proactively investing money in Town Center infrastructure to encourage developers to break ground in the area. Valderrama points to the example of University Place, which has invested approximately $43 million in its Town Center but has seen little development due to the recession.

“The only tenant is a library, which doesn’t pay taxes,” Valderrama said. “We have to be careful about that.”

• Both say they’d be open to scaling back Town Center’s requirements for affordable housing and structured parking if that’s what was needed to get development moving, but both caution that changes shouldn’t be done hastily just because the recession has slowed development in the Puget Sound area.

“I’m very amenable to changing different aspects of (the Town Center Plan), but that doesn’t mean we start ripping it up just because it doesn’t work for developers,” Wasnick said.

• Both say the City Council should have fought harder for the property rights of shoreline homeowners against the Washington State Department of Ecology during the recently completed Shoreline Master Plan process.

Ecology sent the council a laundry list of required changes to their plan, which had been crafted by input from shorelines homeowners, prompting compromise language that left some of those homeowners underwhelmed.

Valderrama suggested that in the future Sammamish get together with the other cities bordering Lake Sammamish and demand Ecology approve a uniform set of regulations.

Though he’s a relative newcomer to city politics, having been spurred to action last year by the city’s decision to remove the road barricade near his home, Wasnick points to the volunteer efforts he and his family have done in the community since moving to Sammamish in 2007. He recently helped build a boardwalk in Evans Creek Preserve and his family often volunteers at the Veteran’s Administration in Seattle.

Wasnick said he sees himself as more of a listener than Valderrama, who he said is beholden to the group he chairs.

“I think that’s a close-knit group that is their pushing their own agenda and not necessarily that of the people out in the neighborhoods,” he said.

Valderrama said he’s proud of the work Citizens For Sammamish has done over the years and says that if elected he will push for finding consensus and compromise between different viewpoints, just as he’s done at Citizens For Sammamish meetings.

“(In the Shoreline Master Plan process,) we had strong environmentalists and strong property rights advocates,” he said. “If we can capitalize on that we’ll come out with much stronger policy.”

More revenues or less expenses?

In a Sept. 28 city council debate, both Valderrama and Wasnick threw out ideas for balancing the budget as it heads for the so-called “crossover point” when expenses outpace revenues, estimated to be in 2016.

In addition to encouraging development in Town Center to build the city’s meager sales tax base, Wasnick suggested charging mobile phone companies more for the right to have cell towers in the city right of way. The city collects about $140,000 a year from wireless providers for “rent” for 15 cell phone towers located near city streets, Finance Director Joe Guinasso wrote in an email.

That’s a drop in the bucket of a $103 million biennial budget, Wasnick admits, but anything helps.

“I think we should try to collect every bit of revenue we can that doesn’t affect families,” he said.

Valderrama says $1 million a year could be trimmed out of the nebulous “non-governmental/other government services” portion of the budget – a catch-all part of the general fund that covers everything from office supplies to membership fees for the regional organizations the city is a part of to contingency funds kept in case of cost overruns.

He also suggests designing any future parks and roads in a way that will minimize operating costs. He specifically points to the landscaped median on 228th Avenue as an example of an unnecessary continuing cost.

“It’s little things like that can save us some money,” he said.

Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.