Tag Archives: Tom Odell

Complacency, willful ignorance, Council infighting mark Sammamish muffing of Lake Trail issues

Posted on by
13

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop.”

[New Statesman interview, 7 January 1939]”
― Winston S. Churchill

This is around 18 pages when printed.

Summary

The City of Sammamish has tried to keep an arm’s length to final development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail, but this hear-no- evil, speak-no-evil, see-no-evil approach began to unravel last year as King County’s over zealous approach to building the North end spurred outrage among homeowners.

A review of two years’ of emails, videos of Council meetings, conversations with city council members and homeowners along the Trail paints a picture of:

  • a complacent city staff routinely engaged with the County that kept the City Council in the dark;
  • frustrated property owners reaching out to the County and City;
  • a City Council that didn’t want to know what was going on;
  • inflighting among Council Members, who largely tried to ignore the one Council Member who was raising red flags about the County’s development of the Northern most section of the Lake Trail;
  • a City Council that ignored homeowners who complained; and
  • a City Council that finally awakened to the issues but remains muddled about what to do next.

Continue reading →

Favoritism charged in nominating procedure

Posted on by
5

Sammamish City Council member Ramiro Valderrama charged that Mayor Tom Vance played favorites in calling on Council Member Tom Odell to nominate Council Member Kathy Huckabay first for Deputy Mayor at the Jan. 6 city council meeting.

Valderrama claimed he hit the call button first and that he was watching down the line for other council members to do the same–and none did.

The call button is a process by which a council member signals to the mayor he or she wants to speak and the process calls for the mayor to call on the council member in order.

The issue here is that under the city process for selecting the mayor or deputy mayor, the person nominated gets voted on first. If this person gets a majority of votes, no more votes are taken.

Valderrama nominated Council Member Don Gerend, but because Odell’s nomination of Huckabay was recognized and voted upon first, and she received a majority of votes, Gerend’s nomination never was put to a vote.

Continue reading →

Election results, Initiative for Sammamish

Posted on by
5

Incumbents either won or were leading in Washington State elections Tuesday night (and in today’s update). Only one really has any relevance to Sammamish of any consequence: the State Senate race in the 45th Legislative District where incumbent Republican Andy Hill faced off with challenger Democrat Matt Isenhower. Hill is leading 53% to 47%. Although at this writing I haven’t seen a concession from Isenhower, I’m declaring Hill the winner. Historically final vote results don’t vary more than a percentage point from the election night.

Why is this one race of significance to Sammamish? Because Mayor Tom Vance, Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay and Councilmember Tom Odell endorsed Isenhower. Vance appeared in a mailer for Isenhower.

Councilmember Ramiro Valderrama endorsed Hill. I don’t know if the other councilmembers endorsed either candidate.

Continue reading →

Sammamish Town Center gets a kick-start with major grocery anchor tenant

Posted on by
3

The Sammamish Town Center has finally got a good kick-start for development of 100,000 sq ft, with a mixture of commercial/retail/office and residential, and the anchor tenant of Metropolitan Market, the locally owned grocery chain.

The Sammamish Reporter first broke the news today. Details were brief, so I called City Councilman Tom Odell, who filled in some of the information.

Continue reading →

Should Sammamish have city council “districts”?

Posted on by
Reply

Seattle has gone to City Council Districts, plus two at-large seats, in its most recent election. The theory is to provide greater representation for the areas of the city.

The concept was floated early in Sammamish’s history, though it didn’t go anywhere. When Sammamish was incorporated, all seven City Council seats were at large and this remains so to this day.

Throughout the history of the City, the council seats have pretty much been concentrated along the center of the City. Councilman Phil Dyer, who served one term from 1999-2001, lived by the lake and so does today’s Ramiro Valderrama. But the rest of the council members are from the Plateau.

I’ve put together this map showing the approximate locations where the new City Council members reside. As you can see, the concentration is still on the Plateau.The locations aren’t precise because the map from the Internet was poor quality and I couldn’t see the street names, so pardon if some of the residences are a little off–but they are close enough for to illustrate the point.

I’ve drawn in possible district lines, based solely on geography and not on population proportions (which is how they have to be drawn). Click on the map to enlarge.

CityCouncilLocations

I’m taking no position on whether continuing the at-large elections or creating districts is the preferred choice. It’s just food for thought. Maybe this is something for Citizens for Sammamish to study.