Category Archives: Regional

Ramiro Valderrama for Sammamish City Council Position 4

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Ramiro Valderrama, Sammamish City Council Position 4

Sammamish voters should re-elect Ramiro Valderrama-Aramayo to Sammamish City Council Position 4.

Valderrama has been a thorn in the side of the Gang of 4 and of the City Administration. He asks questions that need to be asked, often to the point of irritation. He challenges the leadership to the point where they actively sought people to run against him. He challenges the City Manager and the City Staff.

This is how it should be. We don’t need a Council of “yes men.”

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City Council election ballots on the way

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Ballots for the November 3 Sammamish City Council race and a couple of County races are being mailed this week and should be hitting local mailboxes in the next few days.

There are three positions up for election in Sammamish:

  • Position 2: Christie Malchow vs Mark Cross. This is an open seat being vacated by three-termer Nancy Whitten.
  • Position 4: Ramiro Valderrama (incumbent) vs Hank Klein (who dropped out of the race in July, too late to have his name removed from the ballot). Valderrama is seeking a second four-year term.
  • Position 6: Tom Vance (incumbent) vs Tom Hornish. Vance is seeking a second term.

Links to their websites are in the right-hand column.

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City inaction to earthquake preparedness is of shocking magnitude; Yazici mounts defense, decries political “silly season”

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  • There will be a candidates forum tonight, Wednesday, October 7, at 7pm at the Boys and Girls Club, Inglewood Hill Road and 228th Ave. NE. It is sponsored by the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce and the Sammamish Rotary. It will not be videotaped or broadcast on Sammamish TV Channel 21, so this is your only chance to see the candidates and ask questions in a forum.
  • Here’s how the story evolved.

When Sammamish Comment learned last month that Sammamish wasn’t going to

Cascadia Rising is a regional earthquake preparedness drill next June. Sammamish wasn’t going to participate–until questions arose.

participate next June in Cascadia Rising, a massive earthquake preparedness drill from British Columbia to Northern California, it was shocking. It was unbelievable. It was a dereliction of duty to public safety of massive proportions.

Issaquah, Redmond, Kirkland, the county, the state, the Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer District, the University of Washington Medical Centers, fire and police, and on and on signed up last year to participate–but not Sammamish. Training for these agencies was well underway. But not Sammamish.

The issue came to light at the Sept. 1 City Council meeting when Member Ramiro Valderrama asked why wasn’t the City participating in the drill. City Manager Ben Yazici brushed aside the question, a stunning reaction in its own right considering Yazici is a native of Turkey where devastating earthquakes occur, with huge losses to life and property. He of all people should know the importance of being prepared.

Equally stunning was that Valderrama didn’t get one word of support from any other Council Member. Not one. Mayor Tom Vance, who’s the City’s titular leader, sat mute through the entire exchange.

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Issaquah sponsors, broadcasts candidate forum, but Sammamish won’t; why not?

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The City of Issaquah will host, sponsor and broadcast one of three candidate forums for its City Council election, but Sammamish won’t.

Sammamish said it will broadcast a forum, but only is someone else pays for it. CJ Kahler, treasurer of the Sammamish Rotary, which is co-sponsoring with the Sammamish Chamber, the only candidate forum set so far in our City Council elections, won’t allow videotaping the forum unless Sammamish pays for it.

Four years ago Sammamish said it wouldn’t allow a candidates forum in its chambers for some obscure reasoning. Now it says it will, but it won’t pay for videoing it and broadcasting it.

This is all nonsense.

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“Greenwashing” in Sammamish: A Special Report

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  1. Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on “whitewash”), or “green sheen,” is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization’s products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly.–Wikipedia.

Since the 2003 Sammamish City Council election, in which environmental-leaning candidates swept the election, the Council prided itself on pursuing “green” policies and ordinances.

The City Manager was far less gun-ho, often lagging his own staff, especially when it came to a concept called Low Impact Development, or LID (not to be confused with Local Improvement Districts, also LID, a special tax option–so context of “LID” is always important to understand).

The current Council is comprised of what would ordinarily considered to be environmentalists. Of the seven, only Member Don Gerend leans “development” over the environment–or so its appears. Tom Odell and Bob Keller proved to have strong environmental credentials. Ramiro Valderrama evolved into a strong backing of the environment. Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay and Mayor Tom Vance not only consider themselves environmentalists but have an historical track record supporting this.

Image via Google Images. Click on image to enlarge.

Without question the leading environmentalist on the Council is three-term incumbent Nancy Whitten, who decided to retire at the end of this year. And Whitten has been increasingly critical of the collective Council’s direction on a number of environmental issues over the past four years.

While “greenwashing” isn’t the term that comes to the top of the conversation with Whitten, she didn’t disagree with its use when it comes to how Sammamish approaches the environment now. And she’s especially critical of Vance’s evolution away from his historical green leanings.

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