Tag Archives: Ben Yazici

Sammamish unprepared for disaster, says city consultant

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City_of_SammamishWhen it comes to disaster preparedness, Sammamish is unprepared.

This is the conclusion of a consultant hired by the City to assess its emergency management planning.

The results, first revealed to the City’s Public Safety Committee June 22, paints an alarming picture of just how unprepared City government is to handle a major disaster like an earthquake. The City also failed to comply with federal and state law to prepare plans. The City failed to join a King County regional planning effort in 2014—and still hasn’t.

The consultant, Gail Harris of GCH Disaster Solutions, painted a grim picture to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. The committee consists of Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama Council Members Tom Hornish and Christie Malchow, Deputy City Manager Jessi Bon and other City staff members. The police and fire departments are also members.

Among the findings:

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Sammamish disaster planning “not enough,” says City Manager

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June 23, 2016: Sammamish participation in the Cascadia Rising earthquake drill this month was labeled a success, but City Manager Lyman Howard acknowledged the level and scope of participation wasn’t enough.

Lyman made his remarks in an interview last week with Sammamish Comment.

Sammamish wasn’t going to participate at all until The Comment began making inquiries last fall about failure to sign up for the multi-state, multi-jurisdictional, international drill. The drill, assuming an earthquake from then Cascadia fault line off the West Coast, encompassed British Columbia to Northern California.

The drill’s parameters assumed Sammamish telephone and cell phone communications were disrupted and damage on major arterials leading in and out of the City occurred.

Howard told The Comment that Sammamish focused on its inter-agency and emergency communications with local citizen groups, such as the Info Hubs operated by the Sammamish Citizen Corp and CERTs; and Sammamish Plateau Water. City Hall was evacuated. But links to the County and State weren’t tested, nor were there actual drills in the City.

“It’s not enough [what the City did], I’ll be honest,” Howard said. “We’re talking with CERT about annual drills.”

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Sammamish Retreat analysis

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The Sammamish City Council’s 2016 Retreat wrapped up Saturday. Here are thoughts and analysis:

  •  Retreat location: This was the first time in about 10 years Sammamish held its Retreat on this side of the Cascade Mountains. Given how often Snoqualmie Pass closed this season (including City_of_Sammamishtwice on Saturday alone), holding it in Tacoma was good from this perspective alone. Council members and the Administration liked the remote location because it discouraged public participation and afforded total candor–sometimes to the point of open warfare (as occurred last year, despite presence by Sammamish Comment and others). In Tacoma, The Comment and others were present all three days, with the public attendance of almost a dozen on Saturday. The sky didn’t fall in. The atmosphere was far more civil this year as well (see below).

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Sammamish Council Retreat: Legislative Priorities and other things

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Jan. 14, 2016: The Sammamish City Council outlined its priorities for the State Legislature at the first part of its annual Retreat today. The Retreat began at 5pm and continues to noon Saturday.

Among the issues Sammamish supports:

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How Sammamish veterans lost their City Council races

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  • Note: This is 11 pages when printed.
Nov 4 results

Click on image to enlarge.

How did two veterans of Sammamish public service lose their bids for election to the City Council in the Nov. 3 election to two unknown newcomers to the City?

They lost through a combination of miscalculation, arrogance, the split of traditional coalitions, angry opposition, tenacious newcomers and a one-term Council Member who wasn’t about to cower in the face of determined opposition.

They also had an unwitting helping hand from their own Deputy Mayor, whose obsessions galvanized the opposition to upset her allies.

This is the inside story of how Mayor Tom Vance lost to two-year resident Tom Hornish and how former Mayor and Council Member Mark Cross lost a comeback bid to a feisty young Mom in tennis shoes, Christie Malchow, invoking remembrances of another tennis shoe Mom campaign in Washington long before Malchow moved here.

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