Tag Archives: City Politics

Opinion: Town Center Upzoning to 4,000 Homes Needs Voter Approval

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By Miki Mullor

Commentary

The Sammamish City Council is facing an extraordinary moment in the life of our city.

On the table is a plan to double the number of housing units in the Town Center—from the current 2,000 to 4,000. This is by far the most consequential decision the city has faced since 2010, when the original Town Center plan was adopted.

Even more extraordinary is the timing: this decision is scheduled to occur just as four City Council seats—enough for a new majority—are up for election this November. If just three of those seats change hands and align with Councilmember Kent Treen, who opposes the Town Center 4000 plan, the plan could be blocked.

In theory, that means voters could decide the fate of Town Center 4000 simply by voting for council candidates. But the council has another option: place an advisory vote on the ballot. That would allow residents to vote directly on the plan and for their preferred candidates—regardless of the candidates’ individual positions on the issue.

It should be an easy decision.

Mayor Karen Howe, in a recent op-ed we published, expressed confidence that the public supports expanding the Town Center. If that’s the case, why is the sitting City Council unwilling to postpone the final vote on Town Center 4000 until January—after the election results are in?

Perhaps the mayor is not so sure that public support exists. And if the support isn’t there, moving forward would risk breaking public trust.

The timing set by the current city council to vote on Town Center 4000 certainly suggests they doubt the purported support is there. They plan to vote on approval of this policy in December–after the November election and before the new city council is seated in January. Therefore, if three current council members who support this policy are defeated in November, they still get to lock in the new project before opponents take office.

The timing appears intended to be a slap in the face to residents and to the taxpayers who must subsidize the growth that comes with Town Center 4000.

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BREAKING NEWS: King County Council appoints former Council Member Pam Stuart to Sammamish City Council

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

Pam Stuart

King County Council today unanimously voted to appoint former Council Member Pam Stuart to Ken Gamblin’s vacant city council seat. Gamblin resigned in January. The City Council had 90 days to appoint a Sammamish resident to fill his vacant seat. However, because the 6 members of the city council couldn’t agree on who to appoint, by state law, the responsibility became King County council’s.

Stuart will serve on the city council until December 2023.

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Stuart flip-flops on tax vote: Favored higher levy before voting no

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By Scott Hamilton

Guest Contributor

In a maneuver reminiscent of Sen. John Kerry’s infamous “I was for it before I voted against it” declaration in the 2004 presidential election, Sammamish Council Member Pam Stuart declared she would support taking the 1% property tax increase allowed by law.

Council Member Pam Stuart

Then she voted against it when the vote was called.

She was the deciding vote in causing the motion to fail.

The vote came after the council on Nov. 19 added $270,000 to the city’s expenditures for the next year that hadn’t been budgeted.

This included $120,100 for the Technology Fund and $150,000 for a grant in the Health and Human Services Commission dedicated for youth mental health.

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Unfettered development vs controlling it is the only issue in this election

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By Scott Hamilton

Commentary

Sept. 20, 2019: It is now clear that the Sammamish City Council election this year has come down to one issue: unfettered development across the city vs controlling development so it doesn’t further overwhelm the roads and aggravate the congestion that already exists.

All other issues have taken a back seat.

If you support unfettered development, Karen McKnight, Rituja Indapure and Karen Howe are your choices for council.

If you want to control development and moderate traffic congestion, Christie Malchow, Kent Treen and Ken Gamblin are your choices.

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City-YMCA deal was sole-source, no-bid contract, no Requests for Proposals issued

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By Scott Hamilton

Analysis

Sept. 16, 2019: The agreement between Sammamish and the YMCA for the latter to run the community center was the result of a sole-source, no-bid contract.

No Request for Proposals was issued that would compete management of the center.

The contract between Sammamish and the YMCA was a sole-source, no-bid arrangement. No Requests for Proposals were issued. A Sammamish businessman wanted to bid. City of Sammamish photo.

An offer by a Sammamish health club owner to submit a bid that would return 15% of the gross receipts to the city didn’t even get a hearing.

One of the leading advocates throughout the years for the YMCA was a city council member who also sat on the YMCA board, a clear conflict of interest that was ignore by the city administration and a successive series of city councils. (This member was off the council in 2012-13, when the votes were held.)

The YMCA was fundamentally the only entity supported by the city for nearly a decade before a contract was negotiated.

These lie at the roots of the current controversial examination of the city’s management contract with the YMCA that sees the agency siphoning off $1.4m a year to the Greater Seattle YMCA rather than keeping the money in Sammamish or sharing the profits with the city’s general fund.

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