Category Archives: General

Keller declares for John Curley’s City Council seat

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Bob Keller, a 17 year resident of the Sammamish Plateau, declared his candidacy for the Sammamish City Council in the fall election. He will run for the seat being vacated by John Curley, Position 3.

Keller, who lives in the Tree Farm area, was active in civic affairs prior to the incorporation and was one of about two dozen candidates seeking a City Council seat in the 1999 primary. He did not survive the primary.

Since then, Keller was on the Planning Advisory Board, which wrote the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and the Planning Commission. His last year on the Commission was as chairman.

Since then he’s been president of the Sammamish Kiwanis chapter, arranging monthly speakers, engaging in various civic projects.

Four Council seats are up for election: Curley’s; Don Gerend, Tom Odell and John James. Gerend and Odell are expected to seek reelection. Gerend has served since the first City Council was elected in 1999. Odell and James are completing their first terms. Odell is currently Mayor and James was Deputy Mayor in 2012.

James quietly filed his C1 Candidacy report with the Public Disclosure Commission on April 17.

Valderrama elected Deputy Mayor for 2013

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Ramiro Valderrama was elected Deputy Mayor for Sammamish by his fellow council members at the January 8 council meeting. This is a one year term.

Councilman Tom Vance had lobbied members for the position, but didn’t have four votes pledged. Vance was not nominated for the position and Valderrama was elected unanimously.

Curley rapped for absentism-vows to stay, but should he resign?

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Follow us on Twitter @sammcomment. Sign up in the right-hand column.

The Sammamish Review has this story focusing on the absentee record of Council Member John Curley, a first-term member three years into his four year term.

When Curley was elected in 2009, he said he would only serve one term. But he’s been absent from 17% of the Council Meetings, some of which had critical votes on issues on the agenda.

Curley had widely been expected to use the City Council as a stepping stone to the State Legislature, but for a variety of reasons he as yet hasn’t made a move in this direction.

The article is self-explanatory. After reading it, decide for yourself whether Curley should resign as some have urged, or whether too much is being made out of this.

Citizens want the Initiative; Sammamish City Council doesn’t want Town Hall meetings

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As November fades to December and the last City Council meetings in Sammamish of the year, Members are going to be considering whether to grant citizens the right to Initiative.

The City Council has to allow this right—it didn’t come as part of incorporation.

The request for the right to Initiative comes from long-simmering frustration with the City and a perception that neither the Council nor the employees listen to Citizens.

As with most things, the reality is more a shade of gray than black and white. But there is certainly enough evidence over the course of the City’s 13 year history to understand the pent-up frustration.

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Polls slam City Council, Staff, Manager

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Opinion polls gave failing grades to six of seven City Council Members, the work of the City Council as a whole, the City Staff and the City Manager.

The polls, conducted on this blog, are, to be sure, unscientific. But an unscientific poll conducted to gauge support for the Community Center proved to come within 2.5 percentage points of the final result.

Graphs of the Opinion polling about the City appear below the jump.

Except for Council Member Ramiro Valderrama, whose Favorable score was 78%, each council member’s favorables-unfavorables fell below any passing grade metric anywhere in any school.

Approve-disapprove polling for the City Council as a while, the City Staff and the City Manager also were failing scores.

And Don Gerend, who has been a council member since the formation of the City in 1999 and who has told people he intends to run for another term next year (after 14 years in office), should retire, respondents voted. Gerend, Mayor Tom Odell, Deputy Mayor John James and John Curley are up for election next year. Curley said when he was campaigning in 2009 he planned to serve only one term. If he follows through, this guarantees one open seat in the 2013 election.

My analysis of each poll results follows the graphs.

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