Daily Archives: November 27, 2010

A hard, but correct decision

Posted on by
1

City Manager Ben Yacizi made a hard, but correct decision when he halted the City’s recent review of the shoreline ordinary high water mark regulations.

An outgrowth of the flawed Shoreline Master Plan update, this separate city-citizen review came to a halt when it was revealed by a Lake Sammamish homeowner not involved in the process that the lead city employee, Eric La France, was friends with a key official of the City’s outside consultant, and had socialized with him shortly before the contract was award.

The Sammamish Review has this story and the Sammamish Reporter has this one, both detailing that the appearance of fairness demanded that the current effort be ended and restarted.

Continue reading →

Traffic be damned: Mayor Gerend–but fears transit loss yet opposed transit policy

Posted on by
1
Two recent events make it clear that Mayor Don Gerend continues his quest to cram too much development into the Town Center, despite recommendations from five commissions and committees with some 70 citizens that adverse traffic impacts that would result.
At the same time, Gerend is bemoaning the very real possibility that cash-strapped Metro might cut bus service to Sammamish. Yet Gerend also opposed transit policies for the Town Center that would have sent a very real signal to Metro and Sound Transit that Sammamish is serious about attracting more transit service.
The most recent event concerns Transfer of Development Rights. The Sammamish Review reported Nov. 17, “…Gerend said he supported the program, saying it shifted potential traffic problems instead of adding to them.
“You remove potential traffic that would be going onto (state Route 202) into Redmond, which is one of the choke points in our morning commute,” Gerend said. “We’re reducing traffic in the north end, not just adding traffic to Town Center.”