This is a long post: be sure to scroll down.
Following the election and the controversial advisory vote for the Community Center, I thought a poll about the job the City Council is doing might be worthwhile.
Although unscientific, my Go Daddy poll about the advisory center is turning out to be pretty close to the mark: 55.7% of the respondents favored the Community Center and through Nov. 13, actually ballot results give the Yes vote 53%, well within standard margins of error of scientific polls. (The Sammamish Review’s unscientific poll wasn’t so good; it gave the Center a 62% Yes vote.)
A recent Citizens for Sammamish meeting turned into a massive venting session about frustrations with the City. The Council, the staff and the manager all came under fire. So I’m polling on this, too, as well as the Favorables-Unfavorables of each Council Member.
Feel free to comment in the Comment section. BUT: keep it clean, no swearing, no insults. Concisely state your opinions and the reasons for it in a clean and respectful way. I’ll delete comments that resort to name-calling and obscenities.
Question #1
Question #2
Question #3
I know this election is barely over but in 2013, four City Council seats are up for election. Mayor Tom Odell, Deputy Mayor John James, and Council Members John Curley and Don Gerend are up for election. Let’s get some favorable-unfavorable ratings.
Question #4
Question #5
Question #6
Question #7
Council Member Don Gerend has been on the council since the city elected its first council in 1999-13 years. I’m told he plans to run for another term next November, his 14th year on the Council. If elected, he would serve 17 years by the end of his term.
Question #8
The other three Councl Members, Nancy Whitten, Tom Vance and Ramiro Valderrama, were elected in 2011 and won’t be up for reelection until 2015. What is your opinion about them?
Question #9
Question #10
Question #11
Sammamish Comment 
Especially Mayor Tom Odell has broken his campaign pledge telling the voters he would maintain a fiscal responsibility. He failed his first term in office. Concoulman Don Gerend, has failed many times to restrain the City Manager. Sammamish does not have the luxury of owning a money printer. It is high time we must carefully pick future candidates who are qualified ffor the task guiding the town.
Change the form of government to a “strong” Mayor with a separate city council
My concerns are simple. Just because we have some money today we don’t need to spend it on wants. We have needs that need financed. Sorry Mayor Odell you are not restraining the City Manager. The staff seems to have their own agenda and want to create work to justify their jobs. The majority of the Council could and should be replaced with fiscal responsible adults who are a little more watchful of our money we entrusted them with to do the right thing. An example of a wrong decision is a beach north of town that you have to walk a 1/2 mile to enjoy. Building a dock that you can only get to by the water side and no one wants to paddle the length of the lake to get there to use it. We should have given that portion of our beach to Redmond and let them keep theirs. We could have saved a lot of money and used it on other projects. The city center idea is a plan that is not feasable. No company can afford to develop there and the restrictions are not condusive to promote development. Change is needed and we need to tighten the belt.
I think the upcoming council elections will be interesting. Many residents are upset and trying to push through the community center in favor or other needs will only increase the tension, especially without the landslide victory they were expecting.
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