Tag Archives: Sammamish Comment

The inside story of how traffic and concurrency became “the No. 1 issue in Sammamish:” failure, success of government

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Update, July 25, 2017: The reporter for the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter has been transferred to sister papers in the Bothell-Kenmore area.

A Special Report

This is seven pages when printed.

By Scott Hamilton

Analysis

Traffic and concurrency in Sammamish is a classic example of failure, and success, in government. It’s a glaring failure of the local newspaper.

It’s a success story of how a single citizen forced debate on an issue that even determined City Council members could not.

Here is the back-story of how traffic and concurrency became “the No. 1 priority in Sammamish.” A sequential history is necessary before we get to the punch line.

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City Council needs to adopt building moratorium tonight

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June 6: The Sammamish City Council needs to adopt an emergency building moratorium tonight at the Council meeting.

The meeting begins at 6:30pm. Public Comment is scheduled to begin about 7:25pm. Discussion of the study is not on the agenda (the issue came up too late for inclusion) but is certain to come up.

The findings of the study by Miki Mullor, which Sammamish Comment reported last night, justify a temporary pause in processing building permits while the serious allegations of manipulating traffic numbers and other data are investigated.

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Writer wanted for Sammamish Comment

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Sammamish Comment is looking for a writer to help cover this year’s City Council elections and other issues.

With four Council Members out of seven retiring, this year’s election is guaranteed to see a power shift in the Council that could have deep ramifications for the direction of the City beginning in 2018.

As I announced last August, and which is also discussed in the “About” section, I moved after 20 years in Sammamish to Bainbridge Island in August. While I’ve been covering many issues from Bainbridge, it won’t be feasible to me to be on-the-spot to cover the campaigns of those seeking a Council seat.

There are already six candidates announced for the four positions. More are expected. So a writer who lives in Sammamish is desired.

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History of Sammamish resumes today

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Sammamish Comment today resumes its occasional series that is loosely called The History of Sammamish (According to Scott).

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History of Sammamish

This is principally based on recollection and first-hand accounts of The Comment’s founder and editor, Scott Hamilton. Hamilton was involved in the incorporation election in 1998 and every City Council election since the first one in 1999.

He served on the Planning Advisory Board, which wrote the first Comprehensive Plan, and the Planning Commission, which created the Town Center Plan. Hamilton moved to what was then unincorporated Sammamish in 1996 and in August 2016, moved to Bainbridge Island. Sammamish Comment continues this year to complete The History. Plans are to discontinue The Comment Dec. 31, 2017.

Related stories:

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Council is the root cause of marathon public comment

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Sammamish Retreat 2017

The Sammamish City Council yesterday created an ad hoc committee to come up with ideas to reduce the number of marathon public comment sessions.

However, in the discussion, not one Council Member or staff put their finger on the root problem. It is the Sammamish City Council’s own fault.

The following is my public comment given this morning on the topic.–Scott Hamilton.

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