Tag Archives: Kathy Huckabay

City inaction to earthquake preparedness is of shocking magnitude; Yazici mounts defense, decries political “silly season”

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  • There will be a candidates forum tonight, Wednesday, October 7, at 7pm at the Boys and Girls Club, Inglewood Hill Road and 228th Ave. NE. It is sponsored by the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce and the Sammamish Rotary. It will not be videotaped or broadcast on Sammamish TV Channel 21, so this is your only chance to see the candidates and ask questions in a forum.
  • Here’s how the story evolved.

When Sammamish Comment learned last month that Sammamish wasn’t going to

Cascadia Rising is a regional earthquake preparedness drill next June. Sammamish wasn’t going to participate–until questions arose.

participate next June in Cascadia Rising, a massive earthquake preparedness drill from British Columbia to Northern California, it was shocking. It was unbelievable. It was a dereliction of duty to public safety of massive proportions.

Issaquah, Redmond, Kirkland, the county, the state, the Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer District, the University of Washington Medical Centers, fire and police, and on and on signed up last year to participate–but not Sammamish. Training for these agencies was well underway. But not Sammamish.

The issue came to light at the Sept. 1 City Council meeting when Member Ramiro Valderrama asked why wasn’t the City participating in the drill. City Manager Ben Yazici brushed aside the question, a stunning reaction in its own right considering Yazici is a native of Turkey where devastating earthquakes occur, with huge losses to life and property. He of all people should know the importance of being prepared.

Equally stunning was that Valderrama didn’t get one word of support from any other Council Member. Not one. Mayor Tom Vance, who’s the City’s titular leader, sat mute through the entire exchange.

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Sammamish scrambles to join multi-state, multi-jurisdictional earthquake drill after skipping sign-up deadline last year

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Sammamish had no plans to participate in a regional earthquake preparedness drill, skipping a sign-up last year.

Note: this is 2,900 words with illustrations.

  • Participants, Sammamish Council Members say Sammamish wasn’t going to be involved in four-day drill.
  • Within hours of inquiries, City officials advised Sammamish Citizens Corp and County emergency coordinator that the City will be involved.
  • Neighboring cities, emergency services, King County and other government agencies to participate.
  • Sammamish skipped last year’s sign-up deadline–but can join now; training for others underway for months.
  • Drill scenario calls for a 9.0 earthquake off Washington coast, 7.2 quake in Sammamish.
  • Drill to test preparedness, inter-agency coordination, response.
  • As goes Sammamish, so goes Klahanie area.
Earthquakes

Figure 1. Two earthquake fault zones run deep into Sammamish, one through the far south and another on an east-west line entering the city at about SE 33rd Way (around the 7-11) and extending underneath Pine Lake. The entire western bluff of the city is subject to landslides in an earthquake. Click on image to enlarge.

Sammamish city officials scrambled last week to tell the City Council, a city emergency group and the emergency management coordinator for Eastern King County that the City will join a four-day, multi-state, multi-jurisdictional earthquake disaster drill next June after skipping the sign-up last year—something that, King County, fire departments, the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District and every neighboring city have joined.

According to every source contacted by Sammamish Comment, including two City Council Members, and those from other participants in the drill, Sammamish wasn’t participating. Training is already underway with the participating agencies.

Lyman Howard, deputy city manager, told The Comment Thursday that the City will participate, activating the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in City Hall to test the City’s abilities in the drill. Others began getting notifications Thursday morning as well.

The drill, called Cascade Rising, will be June 7-10. It’s intended to plan and test local response, coordination between agencies and related activities in the event there is a major earthquake.

The scrambling began within hours of Sammamish Comment filing Public Records Requests for emails related to Cascadia Rising, an interview with Council Member Don Gerend and interview requests with Howard and City Manager Ben Yazici. Yazici referred questions to Howard.

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Valderrama endorsers pressured, intimidated

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Ramiro Valderrama, Sammamish City Council Member.

At least a half dozen supporters of Sammamish Council Member Ramiro Valderrama who lent their names to his Endorsements page on his campaign website have been pressured and intimidated to remove their names, eliminate references to their titles and affiliations and in some cases, drop their endorsement of Valderrama and endorse his opponent, Hank Klein, a Sammamish Comment investigation has shown.

In addition, efforts are underway by Valderrama’s opponents to dig up “dirt” to make allegations of impropriety in the closing weeks of the campaign, it has been learned.

The pressure and intimidation have been traced to some members of the so-called Gang of 4, the ruling majority of the Sammamish City Council, according to interviews.

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Vance promised barricade discussion in July or September; both have come and gone and no discussions

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Sammamish Mayor Tom Vance promised in March the City Council would have a

Tom Vance, Mayor of Sammamish.

discussion of the controversial 42nd Street barricade in July or September.

July came and went. No discussion.

Now September City Council meetings have come and gone. No discussion.

The NE 42nd St barricade issue has been around for 10 years and, other than the East Lake Sammamish Trail and tree retention has probably been the most controversial and lingering issues facing the Sammamish City Council.

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Rotary, Chamber still say “no” to videotaping and broadcasting Sammamish City Council candidate forum; Mayor Vance, seeking reelection, objected

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Update, Sept. 23: Deb Sogge, executive director of the Sammamish Chamber, responded today to the emails sent Sunday about the objections Sammamish Comment reported coming from Mayor Tom Vance about videotaping the October 7 candidates’ forum.

Sogge was one of four people to make the decision to not tape; the other three were Bob Toomey, president of the Chamber; CJ Kahler, treasurer of Rotary and Bill Shaw, publisher of the Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter, who will moderate the event. Shaw could not be reached when any of The Comment’s articles were written because he was on vacation.

Kahler told The Comment that “a couple of candidates” objected to videotaping. The Comment verified that Ramiro Valderrama, Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish favor taping. Valderrama said he encountered Mark Cross at the Farmer’s Market last week, who said he also favored taping. Cross did not respond to an email from The Comment. That elft Vance, who also did not respond to an email asking if he objected and why.

In a later interview with Toomey, he said Vance objected and provided detail surrounding the issue. He said Sogge spoke with Vance and told him that a commitment made to Vance not to tape should be honored.

In today’s response, Sogge denied all of this. She said Vance agreed to taping. Vance continues to stonewall The Comment. As noted in the report below, Kahler is, appears, the key holdout.

Original Post

The Sammamish Rotary and Sammamish Chamber of Commerce have stuck to their

Tom Vance, seeking reelection to the Sammamish City Council, objected to videotaping the October 7 candidates forum.

decision to not videotape the Sammamish City Council candidates forum, which will be at 7pm October 7 at the Boys and Girls Club, Inglewood Hill Road and NE 8th St.

A Chamber official confirmed the decision Friday to Sammamish Comment.

Sammamish Comment also confirmed that Mayor Tom Vance, who is running for reelection, objected to videotaping and the groups agreed to forego taping. The four other active candidates favor videotaping. Vance did not respond to a request for comment for the original story last Thursday when it first appeared he had objected.

“I think this shows a lack of transparency in our government leadership,” said Tom Hornish, Vance’s opponent in the November 3 election.

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