Thanks and respect owed to Whitten, Vance as their terms wind down

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Two City Council Members will be leaving office on Dec. 31. Regardless of politics surrounding each,

Nancy Whitten

regardless of differences over policies and demeanor, each deserves the thanks of Sammamish residents for their willingness to step up and provide public service. Too few people are willing to do so.

Nancy Whitten decided to retire after three terms on the Council. She is unquestionably the leading environmentalist on the Council, and her interest in this arena predates her service on the Council and incorporation of Sammamish.

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Precinct-by-precinct analysis of Sammamish City Council election

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A precinct-by-precinct analysis of the Nov. 3 Sammamish City Council election demonstrates that development concerns and a muffed plan for the Sahalee Way road projects helped lead the way to victory for Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish over Mark Cross and Tom Vance.

Ramiro Valderrama faced only token opposition, and therefore Sammamish Comment hasn’t spent a lot of time analyzing his race against Hank Klein. Klein dropped out of the race too late to take his name off the ballot. He didn’t campaign or raise money.

Here’s what The Comment’s analysis found:

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Final Nov. 3 Sammamish City Council Results

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The final results of the Nov. 3 Sammamish City Council election confirm Christie Malchow, Ramiro Valderrama and Tom Hornish the winners over Mark Cross, Hank Klein and Tom Vance.Final Results 2015

King County Elections posted the results shortly after 4pm today.

As Sammamish Comment reported on Election Night in calling the winners as noted above, the final results didn’t vary more than 1%-2% from Election Night. The three winners increased their vote tally margin daily until returned ballots trickled out.

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65% of votes cast in Sammamish City Council races were for change

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Sixty-five percent of the votes cast in the Sammamish City Council races were cast for Christie Malchow, Ramiro Valderrama and Tom Hornish, a clear message to remaining Council Members and the City Administration that a change is desired from current and past practices and policies.

Although Valderrama is an incumbent, he was isolated by the ruling majority of the Council and members worked hard to find a challenger to defeat his bid for reelection. His reelection is a blow to the ruling majority’s ambitions to maintain control and eliminate a challenger to the status quo.

The election of Malchow and Hornish, allies of Valderrama, cement voters’ message of change.

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Intelligent Transportation System in line for refresher course

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Illustration of Intelligent Transportation System. Image via Google images. Click to enlarge.

Sammamish’s new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), intended to speed traffic along the main arterial, 228th Ave., through the City, has generated enough complaints that a refresh is likely, officials say.

The ITS is intended to synchronize traffic lights based on traffic demand through the entire corridor. The problem: left turn signals don’t “trip” as often as before, sometimes leading to three full traffic light cycles before left turns are permitted, according to some City Council Members at a recent Council meeting.

Complaints appearing on social media point to longer cross street red lights, even when there is little or no traffic on 228th.

On other occasions, cross streets have the green even when there has been no traffic.

City transportation officials are well aware of the problems.

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