Category Archives: City Politics

BREAKING NEWS: Council Member Jason Ritchie resigns over Town Center; calls city council obstructionist

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

In a bombshell announcement at the end of the Sammamish City Council meeting tonight, Council member Jason Ritchie resigned from his position effective immediately.

Earlier in the meeting, the Council extended the moratorium on development for six more months, with an exception for single family homes on existing lots.

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Ritchie calls city council racists, white privilege over Town Center opposition

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

  • Ritchie calls council members who oppose the Town Center racists, classists, white privilege.
  • Charges manipulation of the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
  • Casts  some opponents to Town Center as standing with Trump against fairness and equity.
  • Unrelated, King County initiates an inquiry into Ritchie’s residence status over his voter’s eligibility and whether he vacated office.

The controversy over the Town Center development project took a new turn with Council Member Jason Ritchie invoking racism and white privilege language against some City Council majority members.  He did not name names.

Ritchie posted his message on his campaign Facebook page, which Council Member Pam Stuart supported by giving it a “like.” 

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BREAKING NEWS: Interim City Manager Rudat hired as the Permanent City Manager

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

120 days after appointing David Rudat as the City’s Interim City Manager, the Sammamish City Council voted 5-2 to hire Rudat Tuesday evening as the new permanent City Manager.  Council members Pam Stuart and Jason Ritchie voted against.

In February, when he was first hired as an Interim City Manager, Mayor Karen Moran described Rudat as the “most qualified manager we have ever seen”:

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Mayor accuses just-launched local news site of misreporting, “factually incorrect”

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

  • Mayor Karen Moran calls a story about Farmers Market “factually incorrect,” and provides email evidence to support her accusation. 
  • The site, “Sammamish Independent”, published a story that Moran called a local school to discourage it from hosting the Market in Sammamish. Moran disputed information contained in the report.
  • The new site was launched yesterday by Lin Yang, a communications professional with ties to former Mayor Don Gerend.

In a new twist to the Sammamish Farmer Market saga, Mayor Karen Moran issued a statement late Monday night disputing a report from a new local news site that claimed she actively derailed the Market from being hosted in Sammamish. 

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Gerend lawsuit: both sides claim victory; development moratorium enacted

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

A much anticipated ruling by the Growth Management Hearing Board rejects former Mayor Don Gerend claims that the new concurrency rules were illegal. But the GMHB faults the City on procedural errors.  The Board gave the City until October 30 to correct the errors.  

The Board’s decision caps a two year long struggle between the majority City Council and supporters of the Town Center project over the new concurrency rules.

In response to the ruling, the City Council enacted an immediate development moratorium to give the City time to address these procedural issues.

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