Tag Archives: John James

City Council on Ace: We got the message; action, next meeting Dec. 11

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Mayor Tom Odell said the Sammamish City Council “got the message” from two hours of public comment in support of Ace Hardware at the Dec. 4 council meeting.

The Council will consider the proposal by Ace at its Dec. 11 meeting for a land swap immediately south of the Starbucks at NE 4th St. Tim Koch, owner of Ace, hopes to enter into a Development Agreement that will streamline the review and application process with a goal of beginning construction in February or March, in time for his lease expiration on August 28.

The Council asked Kamuron Gural, the Community Development Director, to produce a matrix that identifies Problems and Solutions involved with the land swap and the parcels, which are highly constrained by sensitive areas and buffers.

At the very end of the City Council meeting, Odell–speaking to the few people remaining in the audience and those watching on Comcast 21, that the Council received the message in support of Ace. Deputy Mayor John James said that he would like to see one last effort to accommodate the proposal than see it die without trying. City staff recommended against a Docket Request submitted by Ace. The attorney for Ace called the Request a “placeholder” required due to timing and Ace really wasn’t interested in the request, preferring a Developer Agreement instead.

Some kind of action is planned for the Dec. 11 Council meeting.

Polls slam City Council, Staff, Manager

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Opinion polls gave failing grades to six of seven City Council Members, the work of the City Council as a whole, the City Staff and the City Manager.

The polls, conducted on this blog, are, to be sure, unscientific. But an unscientific poll conducted to gauge support for the Community Center proved to come within 2.5 percentage points of the final result.

Graphs of the Opinion polling about the City appear below the jump.

Except for Council Member Ramiro Valderrama, whose Favorable score was 78%, each council member’s favorables-unfavorables fell below any passing grade metric anywhere in any school.

Approve-disapprove polling for the City Council as a while, the City Staff and the City Manager also were failing scores.

And Don Gerend, who has been a council member since the formation of the City in 1999 and who has told people he intends to run for another term next year (after 14 years in office), should retire, respondents voted. Gerend, Mayor Tom Odell, Deputy Mayor John James and John Curley are up for election next year. Curley said when he was campaigning in 2009 he planned to serve only one term. If he follows through, this guarantees one open seat in the 2013 election.

My analysis of each poll results follows the graphs.

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Poll: Do you approve or disapprove of the Sammamish City Council?

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This is a long post: be sure to scroll down.

Following the election and the controversial advisory vote for the Community Center, I thought a poll about the job the City Council is doing might be worthwhile.

Although unscientific, my Go Daddy poll about the advisory center is turning out to be pretty close to the mark: 55.7% of the respondents favored the Community Center and through Nov. 13, actually ballot results give the Yes vote 53%, well within standard margins of error of scientific polls. (The Sammamish Review’s unscientific poll wasn’t so good; it gave the Center a 62% Yes vote.)

A recent Citizens for Sammamish meeting turned into a massive venting session about frustrations with the City. The Council, the staff and the manager all came under fire. So I’m polling on this, too, as well as the Favorables-Unfavorables of each Council Member.

Feel free to comment in the Comment section. BUT: keep it clean, no swearing, no insults. Concisely state your opinions and the reasons for it in a clean and respectful way. I’ll delete comments that resort to name-calling and obscenities.

Question #1

Question #2

Question #3

I know this election is barely over but in 2013, four City Council seats are up for election. Mayor Tom Odell, Deputy Mayor John James, and Council Members John Curley and Don Gerend are up for election. Let’s get some favorable-unfavorable ratings.

Question #4

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

Council Member Don Gerend has been on the council since the city elected its first council in 1999-13 years. I’m told he plans to run for another term next November, his 14th year on the Council. If elected, he would serve 17 years by the end of his term.

Question #8

The other three Councl Members, Nancy Whitten, Tom Vance and Ramiro Valderrama, were elected in 2011 and won’t be up for reelection until 2015. What is your opinion about them?

Question #9

Question #10

Question #11

Final countdown to Election Day; unscientific poll gives Rec Center 56% Yes vote

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Update, Nov. 5: The Sammamish Review has an unscientific poll that gives the Community Center a 72% passing vote as of 8am today.

Original Post:

There are just a few days left before the Nov. 6 election and for Sammamish, the big issue is the Community Center.

Here’s how I see it:

Our totally unscientific poll gives Proposition 1 a passing vote with a 55.73% margin. If this reflects the final vote tally, the City will be able to fairly consider this not only an endorsement of the Community Center but also of the plans to partner with the YMCA.

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Campaign Contributions Update: Sept. 27

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Note: The only candidates’ forum is Wednesday, September 28, at the Beaver Lake Middle School, 25025 SE 32nd St. (at 251st Ave. SE), Sammamish, from 7-9pm.

I continue to watch the Public Disclosure Commission filings to see who is backing whom and how much money is raised.

The latest review was conducted Sept. 27.

Here’s the recap:

Position 2

Kathy Richardson v Nancy Whitten

Richardson added a number of small contributors to her campaign, and now has raised more money in cash and in-kind than any other candidate except Ramiro Valderamma.

Richardson’s contributors continue to trend to conservative, including new contributions from current city councilman John James and former councilman Jack Barry.

Whitten did not add a significant numbers of contributors in the most recent reporting periods. The largest, for $500, is from her former employer, John O’Brien. His wife, Mary, owns and operates Arbor School in the Sammamish Town Center.

Position 4

Ramiro Valderamma v Jim Wasnick

Valderamma now leads Sammamish candidates in money raised and with in-kind contributions. His contributors continue to trend conservative, though he has a small number of more liberal contributors.

Wasnick hasn’t added any supporters since our last published review, suggesting a continued, very narrow base of support.

Position 6

Jesse Bornfreund v Tom Vance

Bornfreund continues to report virtually no campaign contributions. Those he has remain in the right-center, property rights spectrum.

Vance has reported two new contributors, suggesting his base remains narrowly focused on Democrats and environmentalists.

The latest summary is here: Sammamish Campaign Contributions 92711.