Tag Archives: Citizens for Sammamish

The City’s stealth campaign against Citizens for Sammamish, leader Shedd

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Hary Shedd 2

Harry Shedd, chairman of Citizens for Sammamish and the driver behind the vote to give Sammamish citizens the right of Initiative and Referendum.

  • Vote in our poll on whether Sammamish residents should have the right to Initiative and Referendum. Click here to go to the post.
  • Vote in our first pre-general election poll on the Favorability/Unfavorability ratings of the incumbents, Tom Vance, Ramiro Valderrama and Nancy Whitten. Click here to go to the post.

This investigative report is more than 4,400 words and is best read when printed out.

The City of Sammamish is quietly engaged in a stealth campaign against the Citizens of Sammamish (CFS), attempting to deny the group locations for meetings, persuade groups to oppose the Initiative, stifle discussions at community groups, and limit information about the Initiative in the City’s newsletter, an investigation reveals.

Long considered an irritant and a “complainers” group, which was nonetheless tolerated and largely ignored by the City, the stealth campaign to deny CFS a meeting place began this year after its chairman Harry Shedd, was successful in backing the City Council into a corner to put an Advisory Vote on the April 28 ballot for City voters to tell the City Council if the right to Initiative and Referendum should be adopted for the City.

Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay is quietly driving the effort. Huckabay has been trying to deny CFS use of the Boys & Girls Club (B&GC)   from future meetings. The B&GC building is at Ingelwood Hill Road and 228th Ave. Northeast, is owned by the City, leased to B&GC. Huckabay met with the firefighters union to evict CFS from the Eastside Fire & Rescue Station #82 at 1851 228th Ave. NE, Sammamish, WA 98075. CFS typically meets at Station 82 on the first Monday of the month. It rented a room at the B&GC in February to kick off its campaign for a Yes vote for the Advisory ballot. It was shortly after this meeting that efforts began its efforts to bar CFS at B&GC and Station 82.

Council Member Tom Odell filed a complaint against Shedd and CFS with the State and the County over required filings and financial disclosures and raised the prospect of removing a planning commissioner for participating in a Girl Scout event that discussed the Initiative.

Summary

  • Council members faces off against each other.
  • Boys & Girls Club, Eastside Firefighters, Presbyterian Church, the Rotary Club and even the Girl Scouts caught up in the disputes.
  • Silencing critics.
  • Using City resources to work against the Initiative.
  • Freedom Foundation becomes a target used against the Initiative. Continue reading →

Initiative/Referendum: Whom do you trust? Council waffles on Retreat consensus it would respect citizen vote

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Sammamish City Council members have declined to reaffirm statements at January retreat they made indicating they would honor citizen vote in the Advisory Ballot April 28 on whether to grant voters here the right to Initiative and Referendum.

By a 5-2 majority, members of the Sammamish City Council currently oppose giving the right of Initiative and Referendum to the voters of our City. It was a split vote to even put the issue to an Advisory vote on the April 28 ballot. Council Member Tom Odell voted against putting the issue to the voters.

With only Members Nancy Whitten and Ramiro Valderrama on record in favor of granting the right, other Members informally said at the City’s January retreat they would honor the citizen outcome on the Advisory ballot. But last week, only Whitten and Valderrama responded in the affirmative to an email inquiry I sent to each council member asking whether they will honor an approval vote from citizens. Odell and Don Gerend declined to state their position “for the record” in advance of the vote. Bob Keller said he is reserving his decision until the result. Mayor Tom Vance and Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay did not respond to the inquiry.

  • See my post from the January retreat. At this retreat, Council members told me that if voters for Yes for the initiative, the council will adopt the ordinance. If they vote No, they won’t
  • See a Sammamish Review article on the topic. The paper reported, “While the April vote will be a nonbinding advisory vote and Mayor Tom Vance made no promises, he did say he believes the council will go along with whatever voters decide. He added he just couldn’t see any member of the council going against voter wishes.”

This ambiguity now raises the obvious question of whether a majority of the Council will endorse an affirmative vote of citizens, even if the outcome is a narrow 50% plus one or an overwhelming majority.

Fundamentally, the issue comes down to trust. Opposing Council Members have been clear they don’t trust the initiative process or our citizens to handle this right, which is provided under the 1912 State Constitution.

Continue reading →

Should Sammamish have the right to Initiative and Referendum?

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Ballots are arriving this week with an Advisory Vote asking Sammamish residents whether they want the right of Initiative and Referendum.

See these previous posts for background.

Vote Yes for Initiative/Referendum

Campaign for Initiative/Referendum kicked off

Council sets Advisory Vote for Initiative/Referendum

The Sammamish Review weighed in:

Time has come for Initiative/Referendum

A 5-2 majority of the Sammamish City Council doesn’t want our citizens to have this right. Ramiro Valderrama and Nancy Whitten favor the right of initiative/referendum.

Here’s an unscientific poll: Do you want it or not?

We’ll report the results in the not-too-distant future.

Harry Shedd, chairman of Citizens for Sammamish, is the principal driver behind the Initiative/Referendum.

Yacizi resigns, effective in February; legacy positive despite controversies

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Ben Yacizi.

Ben Yacizi has resigned as Sammamish City Manager, effective in February.

Yacizi has been City Manager for nearly all of our existence after incorporation in 1999. He became City Manager in January 2001.

Having served on City commissions for 8 1/2 years, I know Ben quite well. We’ve debated issues, we’ve fought over issues, and we’ve collaborated on issues.

A City Manager is the Chief Executive Officer of a city; the City Council is the Board of Directors. A City Manager is responsible for all hiring and firing, operations, the budget and carrying out policy set by the Council. Some cities, with an elected mayor (as opposed to a mayor selected by fellow council members like Sammamish), who serves as the CEO, usually have an Administrator as well.

Ben, as CEO of Sammamish, has come in for his share of criticism from citizens. With additional benefit of an insider’s view, he’s also come in for my criticism on more than one occasion. But I can tell Readers that on balance, I would give him four stars out of five for his oversight of Sammamish. Continue reading →

“Yes” for Initiative/Referendum in Sammamish

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Sammamish voters should vote Yes on the April 28 Advisory Ballot for the Initiative/Referendum.

As long-time readers of this column know, I’ve been conflicted over whether Sammamish should adopt the right of Initiative and Referendum, as provided in the 1912 Washington State Constitution. But events since the first of the year convinced me this is the correct decision on the part of the voters. The Sammamish City Council informally said it will follow the outcome of the Advisory vote. This should be the case even if a Yes vote is narrow.

King County Elections is mailing the ballot this week.

Here’s why I’ve come down for the Yes.

Continue reading →