My message to Sammamish is that this year’s elections are too important to worry about being popular. If, like me, you support Obama, Gregoire, Burner, and other Washington State Democratic candidates for public office, now is the time to use our voices to speak up for change. We have to do everything in our power to effect the “change we believe in.”
I challenge us all to answer the call and do more than just speak up.
Shame on the City of Sammamish. The Albrechts have lived in their home since 1976. They are in their 70s. They will be forced to leave their home because their property is in the planning area of the Town Center. At most, they can hope to remain in their home while the Town Center project moves forward.
I read the letter entitled “Not all trees provide value.” (May 23 Reporter) I believe that many of the author’s points are covered in Issaquah’s current tree ordinance, which I hope will still contain these clauses when it is revised. Diseased trees can be cut, and I would think so would inappropriate trees, as long as they are replaced with more appropriate trees. Where the author and I really part company is in her statement that one of the “considerations for keeping or planting trees … (is) not obscuring views.”
The Town Center’s few supporters have narrow interests and little connection to existing residents’ concerns. Sammamish’s priority should be mitigating 60 years of “planned growth” absorbed within 25 years.
I wanted to offer a few comments on the tree issue as both a homeowner and a landscape designer. I…
I would like to suggest three ways for people to use all or part of their Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate.
It doesn’t appear that the city of Issaquah has learned anything from the multi-year tug-a-war between King County and the rural land-owners debate. In a nutshell, you can’t impose city-type regulations against rural land lots. The case in point is the proposed new city ordinance that limits homeowners to cutting down three trees per year on their lot. If the target is a city-sized lot, then this regulation might make sense… but when it’s a 1-plus acre lot with approximately 50 trees and a home, then the regulation is just more unnecessary government bureaucratic regulation. And — worst of all, it costs the homeowner unnecessary fees for absolutely no value in return.
For those people who say that the last two local elections should serve as the voice of the electorate concerning the issue of the SE Bypass, I submit the following information recently received from the Issaquah City Clerk’s office.
The problem with the SE Bypass project, which caused so much emotional involvement from our citizens, was the city government shoving it down our throats.
I have been a foster parent and volunteer with King County Animal Services for the past three years.
On behalf of the Puget Sound Blood Center I would like to extend my thank you to the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter for publishing local blood drive opportunities in their newspaper.
It was very heartwrenching to read the story of the Albrechts and their home that they hope to save in the Town Center.
On the front page of the March 28 edition of the Reporter, the adorable little Miss Mirabella Ross (age 11 months) was pictured reaching for a new beanie baby. Mirabella had a big, red bump on her head after a nasty fall and was brought by her parents to our Emergency Department to get checked out. Fortunately, she was just fine and left us a happy little girl, chewing eagerly on the beanie baby she received on her way out.
I have lived here on the Sammamish Plateau since 1987, after retiring from 32 years of Federal service. Being active enough to get locally involved, I ran for a seat on the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District Board of Commissioners and served just short of 12 years. I really liked my position as I got to make lots of friends and really felt like a contributing member of the community.
Who would have known that a year ago when a delegation from Issaquah visited our Sister City, Chefchaouen, Morocco that our partnership would have grown to what it is today? We recently hosted a visit by a delegation from Chefchaouen. The mayor and his wife, plus Council members who consisted of a doctor, teacher and a lawyer rounded out the delegation.
There is a very unattractive trend in the course of public debate these days when it comes to promoting views that are not supported by fact or are inconsistent with the public good. It starts with presenting the issue in terms that if one was to disagree, would be politically incorrect. If the opposition is successful in refuting that argument with facts, the next step is to create your own “facts” and let the opposite side bear the burden of proving your “facts” to be fiction. If all else fails, a personal attack is the next step in preventing substantive argument of vital issues of the day.
The consultant who came to do the report was biased, and had an agenda before he even arrived here. His “unbiased report” is anything but. When I spoke with him for his report, he had asked if I had bought his book within the first five minutes. During our conversation, he constantly mentioned his book.
Poor Rowan Hinds! Still bracing from his perceived loss of his favorite road, the Southeast Bypass. Rowan, you need to fully disclose who you shill for – your buddies Skip Rowley, Judd Kirk and the rest of the King County Republican Central Committee – all of whom want to spend taxpayer money for private benefit. Who will conduct your survey? Who will pay for it? How unbiased will it be? We’ve had a decade of monthly surveys (at council meetings) and surveys every two years (called elections). What more do you need! Time to get some help, Rowan – you and your buddies need to recognize reality and deal with it. Unhappy with reality? Move to China or Cuba, or start therapy.
