celebrate sammamish

Celebrate Sammamish A decade of cityhood

The party begins! Saturday Aug. 29, 2009

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Celebrate Sammamish

Celebrate Sammamish

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Table of Contents 4 6 8 10 12 15

Events Essay art math contest winners The city’s decade Time capsule Sammamish Nights Wine tasting guide

Photo by Xing Du

Anglers try to hook the big one on Beaver Lake.

It’s been great, here’s to the next 10

BY MAYOR DON GEREND As we celebrate our tenth birthday as a city, I hope the entire community will take a moment and pat itself on the back for the many accomplishments we’ve seen over the past decade.

It’s truly been a transformative time for Sammamish.

Massive improvements to our local and regional roads, new ball fields and parks, comprehensive planning for our new Town Center – these are just a few of the changes that have made the Sammamish Plateau a better place to live now, and ensured even brighter prospects in the years ahead.

We couldn’t have done it without the energy and commitment of our residents.

Whether it’s the volunteers working on Don Gerend our boards and commissions, or everyday citizens making a difference with individual acts of kindness, Sammamish has been blessed with good people and good ideas.

That’s one of the main reasons Money Magazine recently identified Sammamish as the 12th “Best Place to Live” in the

entire country (in the under 50,000 population category).

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s time to coast.

We’re only 10 years old, after all, and most of our history has yet to be written.

The challenges that lie ahead are plentiful, and perhaps even more complex than the problems we’ve already dealt with.

So let’s get geared up for another great decade!

Happy 10th Birthday, everybody! And let’s do this again in 2019!

Don Gerend, current mayor, is a 10-year member of the Sammamish City Council.

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Saturday’s entertainment includes 10 a.m. Kids’ Parade Viewing from Mary, Queen of Peace and City Hall

10:15-11:15 a.m Brothers From Different Mothers Comedy and juggling

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m Jet City Improv Comedy troupe

12:30-1 p.m. Zero and Somebuddy Clowns

Con

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Photo by Kevin Fry

Recess Monkey

Come see our new

look!

Abundant choices for your lifestyle For seniors on the GO Stop by for a visit. Open daily.

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entertainment and commerations 1-1:30 p.m. Time Capsule dedicated To be opened 40 years from now

1:30-2 p.m Shumba Youth Marimba Ensemble Traditional African music

2-3 p.m. Recess Monkey Rockin’ children’s music

The Shumba Marimba ensemble Birthday cupcakes galore will be available during the celebration.

The Jet City Improv comedy troupe

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Sammamish 10-year-olds create art As part of the festivities, the city held an essay and art contest for Sammamish’s 10year-olds. The winners, shown here, will have their work placed in the time capsule to be opened in 40 years (see related story Page 10).

A Bite of Sammamish

BY OINDRILA BANERJEE ESSAY CONTEST WINNER

I Pine Lake rolls along, Kid who throws tantrum, “I won’t go home” couldn’t be wrong!

Basketball, Rock Climbing, barbeques too, busy, busy as summer’s supposed to.

Little boys fishing, swimming, people having so much fun, Hold!

There’s more coming …….

II Mom pulls our boat in, we’re ready, I get supplies, untie the boat from jetty.

Art by Garret Marutz

We fed some ducks, happily floating could be bucks.

At the edge were lilipads floating, neon green, when the frogs had reached, we started boating.

III We jogged on a trail was so sunny …. picnics couldn’t fail. at Ilahee we set our baskets down met my friends, went up the bars, couldn’t frown!

Art by Stefanie Mulder

The flowers, trees, pearl white geese stared at me You just took a bite of Sammamish.

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for city residents of the future Math whizzes Four residents had perfect scores on a city math test.

Mayor Don Gerend wrote the test, which had eight word problems concerning municipal issues like public transit and population size.

Ariel Goh and Dave Lee, who entered the 17 and under division, had perfect scores. Randy Nevin and Jackson Dove, who entered the over 17 division, also had perfect scores.

Art by Mary Peterson

Congratulations Sammamish on your first 10 years

appreciates your business!

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A retrospective: look how Sammamish

BY J.B. WOGAN Ten years ago, Sammamish City Hall was a one-story office in a strip mall within the Sammamish Highlands Shopping Center.

“It was a jungle. I got to City Hall and thought, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’” said Ben Yazici, now the Sammamish City Manager.

“It was just a lot more rural,” Mat Taylor recalled. Taylor, who grew up by Beaver Lake and has lived in the area since 1978, is the head football coach of Skyline High School.

Sammamish as Taylor remembers it — which wasn’t called Sammamish at the time — was the ideal place for children to grow up.

“You were riding your bike around everywhere. It was just a lot more laid back — you’d throw a pole in the water and go fishing,” Taylor said.

“There used to be one street light on 228th, now there are a ton,” said Stan Bump, a resident of the area since 1992.

Better roads The most dramatic change to the area in the last 10 years is the city’s transportation network, according to Yazici.

Aside from expanding 228th Avenue from a two-lane road to a four-lane road plus the occasional left-turn lane, the city also improved its outlets at the north and south ends of the plateau.

Lower taxes One reason some may have supported incorporation had to do with simple arithmetic — creating a city meant that residents would pay less in taxes and see more of their money go toward funding local public projects.

Finance Director Lyman Howard said the county typically invested about $1 million in capi-

File photo

Widening 228th Avenue was one of the first large projects the city accomplished.

tal projects for the Sammamish area, whereas the city spends an average of $14 million each year.

More people

File photo

Pro-incorporation residents meet in September, 1998; two months later, residents would vote to form a city.

The city’s early years experienced significant growth.

Between 1999 and 2004, the permit center issued 2,276 building permits for single-family residences, according to Darci Donovan, permit center manager.

There are about 880 more proposed lots — of varying sizes and density designations — that could be developed some day, she added.

“This whole place has just mushroomed in the past 10 years. People will tell you it’s because of good schools,” Bump said.

Two school districts —

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has changed

File photo

During the city’s incorporation festivities in 1999, then-mayor Phil Dyer (center) unveiled the city’ logo, a combined effort of Amy Sanders and Tom Burgess.

Issaquah and Lake Washington — share Sammamish, with the dividing line between them just north of City Hall and Skyline High School.

More parks Part of the character of Sammamish since incorporation has been its dedication to opening or enhancing parks, according to Jessi Richardson, director of Parks and Recreation.

Upon incorporation, Sammamish inherited about 44 acres of parkland.

The city has since added 120 acres of new parkland, not including athletic fields built by school districts but maintained by city parks employees.

The city also bought the Evans Creek Preserve property, another 178 acres, just north of the city limits.

King County gave Sammamish a chunk of Soaring

Eagle Park in order to develop fields, and the city of Redmond gave Sammamish a 1,000-foot strip of lakefront land to be transformed into a public beach at the northern end of Lake Sammamish.

Sammamish Commons includes a playground behind City Hall, a skate park, basketball court and climbing wall, all of which buzz with teenagers after schools let out for the afternoon.

He described the city as going from suburban residential to truly urban in some areas, especially the city’s four shopping centers.

He said he expects more parks, more road projects, and better routes for bicyclists and pedestrians.

“My hope is, like other communities elsewhere in the world, we’ll have matured out of a carcentered focus,” he said.

With the introduction of Town Center, there could be more affordable housing within the next 10-20 years, which could be important for retaining the city’s young population.

“If you grow up in Sammamish, do you come back? Can we create that?”

Gurol said.

Looking ahead The future of Sammamish is anyone’s guess, but Kamuron Gurol, director of the Community Development Department has some ideas.

File photo

The Sammamish skate park has become one of the most popular attractions built by the city.

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Time capsule will carry city history

BY LAUREN MCLAUGHLIN In 40 years, Oindrila Banerjee’s plans to be in Sammamish. The 10-year-old was the winner of a citywide essay contest and will have her writing placed in a time capsule set to be opened on Sammamish’ 50th birthday.

“I love to write,” Oindrila said.

“I’m very proud of my success.”

In celebration of the city’s 10th birthday, city officials are already looking ahead to the city’s 50th birthday. City staff members have been collecting memorabilia from the city’s first 10 years to place in a time capsule. The 12-inch long, 12-inch wide and 16-inch high time capsule will be buried on Aug. 29 and will not be unearthed until

Celebrate Sammamish A decade of cityhood Published by

A publication of Issaquah Press Inc P.O. Box 1328 Issaquah, WA 98027 425-392-6434, ext. 233 www.sammamishreview.com Cover photo by Xing Du

Photo by J.B. Wogan

Look closely, this box won’t be seen again for 40 years.

the city’s 50th birthday.

It will be buried in the patio area near the skate park, said City Clerk Melonie Anderson

According to Anderson, the capsule will hold the winning entries from the city’s art, essay and math contests.

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and video messages from residents In addition to the winning entries, there will also be a scrapbook with pictures from around the time of incorporation and before and after pictures of places such as Pine Lake Park and 228th Avenue.

Mayor Don Gerend said he found it very rewarding to work on the time capsule project.

“It’s a stimulus to try and think about the future. You try to visualize society 40 years from now,” Gerend said. “I wanted people to think about what they wanted Sammamish to be like 40 years from now.”

There will also be paperwork from the city’s incorporation such as the first budget, the interim budgets, town center plans and articles about candidates that ran for city council in the first election.

“We created the time capsule project to celebrate the beginnings of the city,” said Marlene Durham, finance specialist.

Residents had the opportuinty to give their input through video messages for the future.

-Don Gerend During the Sammamish Farmers Market earlier in the summer, the owner of AudioAmigo Video, Eddie Bishop, filmed messages from Sammamish residents to include in the time capsule.

The messages were up to 30 seconds long and were open to anyone who wanted to record one.

Bishop said 115 messages

Photo by J.B. Wogan

Sammamish Commons is decked out with colorful signs for the festivities.

were recorded.

Gerend gave speeches at local elementary schools encouraging the children to record messages for their future selves.

“I discouraged them from starting out with ‘Hi, old man’,” Gerend said.

“They may not think of themselves as old then.”

“The messages are very fun to watch, very spontaneous,” Bishop said.

“This is something previous generations couldn’t do,” Gerend said. “The data storage abilities we have now make it so we can leave video messages, instead of just letters.”

“I wanted people to think about what they wanted Sammamish to be like 40 years from now.”

The video messages were not the only way for children to get involved with the time capsule project. There was also and an art contest and an essay contest.

Mary Peterson, 10, was one of three winners for the art contest.

“The mayor came and told our class about it,” Mary said. “I love drawing so I decided to enter.”

Mary created a piece that showed how an eagle would view Sammamish.

The other winners for the art contest were Garrett Marutz, 10 and Stefanie Mulder, 10.

Oindrila was only winner for the essay contest.

See Page 6 for a reprint of the winning essay and the art contest winners.

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Celebrate Sammamish

Evan Hamilton to be parade Grand Marshal you grow up?”

“I might dress up as something I want to be,” Ten-year-old Hamilton said.

“I wanted to Sammamish resident be a museum curator and Evan Hamilton found out travel around the world in early August that he and… buy things from was going to do somearound the world.” thing most people don’t He’s not nervous about get to do. being in the parade. He He’s one-of-a-kind said he looks forward to around town.

Evan Hamilton as a baby in 1999 and today, soon the event. to be 10.

Hamilton, a Mead “It’s going to probaElementary fourth grader, The city celebration starts bly be really fun to be the was born on the same day with the parade at 10 a.m.

Grand Marshal, to be waving Sammamish became a city — As the Grand Marshal, from a Corvette,” Hamilton Aug. 31, 1999 — and was choHamilton will ride with Mayor said. sen to be the Grand Marshal of Don Gerend in the parade, said Kathy Hamilton, Evan’s the “Future of Sammamish Kids facility coordinator Joanna mother, said Evan’s participation Parade.”

Puthoff. is special in the family.

“I was like, ‘oh my gosh,’ I “We’re hoping to have him “I think it’s going to be fun. was really surprised,” Hamilton help us handout the prizes for His grandpa is really excited,” said of finding out. “I think it’s the parade,” she said Kathy Hamilton said. “They’re pretty cool to have the same The theme for the parade is really excited to come and see birthday as Sammamish.”

“What do you want to be when him.”

BY CHRISTOPHER HUBER

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Sammamish Nights: Let the adults play

BY LAUREN MCLAUGHLIN While bouncy houses and marbles will be the order of the day, the evening will see the Sammamish Commons turned over to wine and jazz.

Sammamish Nights, a firstof-its-kind event is being produced by the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce.

Sammamish Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Deborah Sogge said there are many family-friendly events hosted by the city, but some residents wanted an adult venue.

Therefore, this one will be a 21-and-older event.

“The whole idea was just to have a fun event outdoors to let people relax and enjoy the wine and good music,” said Sogge.

Contributed

Darren Motamedy will play smooth jazz to compliment the wine tasting.

The evening’s fun is set to run from 6-10 p.m. Aug. 29.

Hundreds have already

signed up for the festivities, said Sogge, some from as far away

Continued on Page 14

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“The nice thing about smooth jazz is that it goes great with good food and wine.”

Photo by Arthur Yeo

City Hall and the Sammamish Commons will be turned over to adults for once.

as south Seattle.

Tickets, are $35, and include admission and five wine tasting.

Seven different wineries will be pouring.

Five restaurants — Agave Cocina, Roadhouse, Sip, Spazzo and Coho — will be offering small plates for purchase.

“It’s like a taste of the east-

-Darren Motamedy

side,” Sogge said.

Jane Souza, owner of Jane’s Events! and Chamber of Commerce member, agreed that the Sammamish Nights adult-only theme was unique.

“Sammamish has never done something like this before,” Souza said. “It’s just so different.

We decided it was time to do something for the older group.”

As the grown-ups enjoy samples of food and wine, they can also listen to the smooth jazz of Darren Motamedy and his band.

“It’s an honor in itself to perform for the anniversary,” Motamedy said. “The nice thing about smooth jazz is that it goes great with good food and wine.”

Additional wine and nonalcoholic beverages will be available for purchase.

ID will be required for admission, Sogge said, and she suggests bringing a lawn chair to enjoy the music.

All proceeds from the wine will go to the Chris Elliott Fund for Glioblastoma brain cancer research.

Buy tickets online at www.sammamishchamber.org.

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Wine tasting is not just wine sipping Wine tasting is not the same as wine drinking. To experience the true flavor of a wine requires that you pay attention to your senses of sight, smell, touch and taste.

Sight: Look at the wine — in daylight if possible. The best way is to tilt the wine in the glass and look at it against a white background.

What do you see? Is the wine clear or cloudy? The color will vary according to what wine it is. Red wines vary greatly in color. As a red wine ages, you will see hints of reddishbrown around the edges. White wines become more golden as they age.

Smell: To determine the aroma, swirl the wine vigorously in the glass. The aromas can be quite different depending on how far into the glass your nose goes. At the top of the glass, they are more floral and fruity; deeper in the glass, they are richer. Try to detect the full range of scents from berry to floral to spicy to woody. Consider intensity and appeal.

Touch: When tasting wines, the touch is the feel of the wine on your tongue. Is it soft or brisk?

Does it have a refreshing zing around the edges of your tongue?

Or is it flat and flabby?

Tannins (used in red wines to keep them from spoiling) will feel sort of prickly on your tongue.

The ideal touch is a mellow softness — a velvety feeling in your mouth.

Taste: This is the final step and should be taken only after you’ve used your other senses.

When tasting a wine, take a small amount in your mouth, swirl it around lightly so all your taste buds are exposed, then keep it there for a brief period.

Does the wine taste the same as

its aroma? Is it sweet, acidic, crisp? Is it light or full-bodied?

At this point you can either spit it out (especially if you are tasting several wines) or simply drink it, but be sure to experience the aftertaste (the finish).

Source: atime4wine.com