Category Archives: City Politics

Fifth candidate for City Council emerges

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Chris Ross, the fourth declared candidate for Sammamish City Council. Photo via Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter.

A fifth candidate for Sammamish City Council emerged, becoming the fourth to officially announce: Chris Ross.

The Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter has the story here.

No position was declared, apparently.

The three other declared candidates are Jason Ritchie, who updated his filing with the state that he is seeking Position 1, the seat now held by retiring Kathy Huckabay; Minal Kode Ghassemieh; and John Robinson. Neither Ghassemieh nor Robinson revealed which position they will seek.

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Fourth candidate appears ready to announce for City Council

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A fourth candidate for Sammamish City Council has emerged, although no formal announcement has been made.

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Ritjua Indapure, left, in a photo from her Facebook page, was introduced at the Save Sammamish meeting last night as a candidate. She has not issued a formal announcement or press release.

Indapure lives in Klahanie, making her the second candidate from here. Jason Ritchie, also a Klahanie resident, was revealed by Sammamish Comment in February to be planning to run. He announced a short time later.

Four seats are up for election in November. Three incumbents announced they won’t run for reelection: Mayor Don Gerend, Deputy Mayor Bob Keller and Kathy Huckabay. The fourth, Tom Odell, hasn’t announced his intentions.

In addition to Ritchie and Indapure, John Robinson and Minal Kode Ghassemieh previously announced candidacies.

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Huckabay moving to “next phase,” bows out of reelection

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Kathy Huckabay

Sammamish City Council Member Kathy Huckabay said on her Facebook page that it’s time to move on to the next phase of her life.

She joins Mayor Don Gerend and Deputy Mayor Bob Keller in deciding not to seek reelection. Council Member Tom Odell hasn’t declared his intentions.

Here is here Facebook message:

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Husband of former Arts Commissioner to run for Council

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John Robinson

John Robinson, 68, the husband of former Sammamish Arts Commission chair Daphne Robinson, declared his candidacy for Sammamish City Council.

The Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter story is here.

Robinson is the third person to declare for City Council. Jason Ritchie, 45, was the first; Minal Kode Ghassemieh, 36, was the second.

Four seats are up for election. Mayor Don Gerend and Deputy Mayor Bob Keller said they won’t run again. Tom Odell and Kathy Huckabay haven’t declared their intentions.

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Issaquah-Fall City Road cost jumps 36% over pre-annexation estimate

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The construction cost of Issaquah-Fall City Road (IFC) improvements quietly has gone up by 36%.

Or has it?

The Sammamish City Newsletter says the improvements to Issaquah-Fall City Road will now cost $36m. In 2015, the figure was $23m.

The March Sammamish City Newsletter’s page 1 article updating the plans to widen Issaquah-Fall City Road is the following, opening paragraph:

“When 10,000 Klahanie-area residents came into Sammamish last year, the city knew that a big responsibility was going to follow them through the door – a $36 million item known as Issaquah-Fall City Road.”

This figure is not what the City told Klahanie residents and the taxpayers of legacy Sammamish when promoting annexation to Sammamish.

Instead, then-City Manager Ben Yazici and then-Mayor Tom Vance said IFC Road would cost $23m, a reduction from the $38.8m King County priced the road improvements, cited by Issaquah.

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