Tag Archives: Sammamish Comment

Time for fresh approaches

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By Scott Hamilton
Founder, Sammamish Comment

The Sammamish City Council held its last meeting of 2018 yesterday, ending the most contentious and divisive year I’ve seen since the incorporation vote in 1998.

As 2019 prepares to arrive, it’s time for a fresh approach to how this city is governed.

The city council, administration and staff has been consumed by traffic concurrency, the resulting building moratorium and related development regulations all year—really, since October 2017, when the moratorium was adopted to give the government time to sort out the concurrency issues.

These issues consumed the city nearly to the exclusion of all else.

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Park & Ride symbolic solution; more bus service is what’s needed

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By Scott Hamilton

As Sammamish drivers try to cope with congestion in the city, increasing transit service is often suggested as one solution.

Proponents of the developer STCA plans for the Town Center have, in part, pointed to the possibility of including a park and ride (PNR) in the plans as a reason to lift the building moratorium and let STCA file its applications for development.

Without getting into the pros and cons of the overall STCA plan for the Town Center, inclusion of the PNR at this point is more symbolic than substance. Here’s why. Continue reading →

Gov. “can’t” or “won’t” veto legislators’ self-exemption from Public Records Act?

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Gov. Jay Inslee says he “can’t” veto SB6617, the bill the Legislature passed to exempt itself from the Washington Public Records Act, because it was approved by super-majorities that can override a veto.

Gov. Jay Inslee stood up to President Trump. Will he stand up to the Washington State Legislature? Photo via Google images.

Or is it more like Inslee “won’t” veto it, using the veto-proof majorities as cover so he can pursue his own political goals, such as a carbon tax? Can he afford to piss off legislators with a veto to the possible detriment of his own agenda?

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Guest Contributions now welcome to Sammamish Comment

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Readers of Sammamish Comment have the opportunity this year to be a Guest Contributor.

Think of the Op Ed pieces that appear occasionally in The Seattle Times.

Contributions may be up to 1,000 words. They may be on any topic. They must be polite, but they may take a critical eye of policies, topics or actions of Sammamish. They may also be supportive of these.

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Top 10 stories in Sammamish for 2017: Traffic dominated

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Traffic clearly was the No. 1 topic of interest in Sammamish during 2017. It made five of the Top 10 stories posted in Sammamish Comment.

Miki Mullor. One citizen can make a difference.

The issue exploded after citizen Miki Mullor performed his own study of the City’s traffic concurrency system. He concluded traffic concurrency data and policies were manipulated by City staff. The Comment, which reviewed Mullor’s work before he went public with it, revealed the findings.

The study and story set off a series of events that reverberate to this day.

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