Issaquahpress052815

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The IssaquahPress

Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper

www.issaquahpress.com

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Development raises fears of adding traffic, harm spawning salmon By Lynn Thompson Seattle Times staff reporter One year ago, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and King County Executive Dow Constantine knelt with schoolchildren to release kokanee salmon fry into a Sammamish creek and celebrate a $300,000 habitatrestoration project. Down to about 50 spawning fish in 2008, the kokanee, a relative of the sockeye that spends its entire life in fresh water, made a stirring recovery in 2012 with more than 14,000 returning to Lake Sammamish tributaries, about 4,500 of those to Ebright Creek. But at the top of the creek’s steep ravine, where it rises to the Sammamish Plateau, a developer has proposed a 30-home subdivision on 85 acres with a bridge spanning the creek. Builder William E. Buchan has received preliminary approval from the city to construct houses on an 8-acre open space and wildlife corridor the city in 2001 required be set aside as a condition for Buchan to develop an adjoining subdivision, Chestnut Estates. “If we don’t protect the watershed, we lose the capacity to support a spawning population of

fish. The creek dies by a thousand cuts,” said Wally Pereyra, a fish biologist who owns 25 acres off East Lake Sammamish Parkway and who privately financed the habitat-restoration project where the creek runs through his land. Pereyra is challenging Sammamish’s recommended preliminary approval of the new subdivision before a city hearing examiner. He said the developer should have been required to do a full environmental review to better analyze the potential effects on the stream. The traffic, bridge construction, and removal of trees and vegetation, he argues, could increase stormwater runoff and the risk of landslides, threatening the kokanee eggs laid each fall along the creek bottom. He also said Buchan should not be allowed to swap the existing open space for a new one, which, Pereyra said, is more fragmented and provides less habitat protection. Traffic concerns Homeowners in Chestnut Estates are also asking why the city See FEARS, Page 3

State park hosts free concert June 6 Summer Smash, a free concert coming June 6 to Lake Sammamish State Park, will feature Nolan Garrett along with other local groups Cygnus, Last Minute, LocoMotive and the School of Rock House Band. The backdrop to the stage will be a glorious view of Lake Sammamish. The concert occurs on a “free day” so no Discover Pass is required to park and there is no admission charge. The concert begins at 1 p.m. and continues until 7 p.m. Tim Freeburg, from Freeburg Promotions, will emcee. A local food truck will be available for refreshments or bring your own picnic. Concert attendees might also want to bring a low beach chair. Summer Smash T-shirts will be on sale at the Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park booth.

See the entertainment lineup at westsideissaquah.wordpress. com. Summer Smash is presented by the Kiwanis Club of Issaquah and the Issaquah Arts Commission. Sponsors include Rowley Properties, Integrity Automotive and Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park. Lake Sammamish State Park is a 512-acre day-use park with 6,858-feet of waterfront. The park is at 2000 N.W. Sammamish Road, just north of Interstate 90 at exit 15. Learn more about the Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park at http://lakesammamishfriends. org or find it on Facebook. The Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting, enhancing and promoting Lake Sammamish State Park.

By Greg Farrar

Issaquah School District teachers, along with the support of students and their parents, picketed by the hundreds at two locations in downtown Issaquah May 19 to pressure state legislators to obey the state constitution’s mandate to fully fund K-12 public education.

Issaquah teachers join walkout to protest state’s education funding By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com About 80 percent of the approximately 1,100 teachers in the Issaquah School District were part of last week’s oneday walkout May 19, said Doug Jones, president of the Issaquah Education Association, the local teacher’s union. In most cases with parents and students joining them, teachers lined the streets in eight locations, calling for state legislators to fully fund education, to meet the demands of the state Supreme Court McCleary decision, which makes paying for basic education the fundamental job for the state. Jones said picketing teachers got a “very positive” response from parents and others driving by the protesting instructors. “We got plenty of waves and honks,” Jones said, adding that parents brought teachers doughnuts and other foodstuffs. “Want to be an example to students? Support the teachers. Call/write your legislator and demand adequate funding of education,” reader Bruce Lawrence, said via The Issaquah Press Facebook page. “It teaches students the power of making it so your voice is heard,” said another reader, Valarie Cook Harris. Still, not everyone was happy. “What is this teaching the students? So immature. Hope they don’t get paid for that day,” reader Lynn Whittendale said.

By Greg Farrar

A procession of the Issaquah teachers’ walkout May 19 heads down Front Street. At least one member of the public questioned the legality of the strike. Jones said teachers and union leaders are decidedly worried about how the final version of the state budget might look. State House and Senate versions remain disjointed. “The Senate side has huge implications for local control,” Jones said. Jones said the senate version of the education budget uses local dollars, from local levies, to meet the demands of McCleary and increase state funding of education. The Seattle, Bothell and Issaquah districts actually could end up paying out tax dollars to fund districts around

the state. Jake Kuper, the school district’s chief financial officer, said he feels legislators generally are moving in the right direction. Under current plans, the state would spend more than $1 billion on basic education in the next biennium. Schools undoubtedly lost funding during the just past recession, Kuper said. “They are beginning to restore funding to pre-recession levels,” he added of legislators. There may or may not be some levy reform included in the final spending package, Kuper said. But he said the plan See WALKOUT, Page 5

McNugget memorial plaque, scrapbook closer to fruition By Christina Corrales-Toy newcastle@isspress.com A community movement to honor resident rooster McNugget with a permanent memorial is inching closer to reality. The campaign, launched by The Issaquah Press shortly after news spread of McNugget’s death, is almost halfway to its $3,000 goal. The money collected will go toward erecting either a plaque or type of shrine near the rooster’s old home by the Your Espresso stand. It will also cover the costs to publish a scrapbook of photos and memories in The Issaquah Press.

“People were saying there should be a memorial of some kind, and something to remember him by, so this was a natural fit for this newspaper that has cared for, and educated and advocated for, people throughout its 115 years in this community,” said Kathleen R. Merrill, managing editor of The Issaquah Press. McNugget was killed April 27, after a neighborhood dog got to him. The dog initially ran away, but neighbors later found the rooster’s body and plan to respectfully bury it in an undisclosed location. A Front Street staple since 2002, McNugget escaped from the nearby Issaquah Grange

Supply and found a home in the Staples parking lot. Neighbors and employees of the Your Espresso stand in the lot adopted the rooster, named him and cared for him. Neighbors organized a well-attended celebration of life May 8. Some wore black, others stayed casual, but several mourners filtered in and out of the Staples parking lot during the two-hour memorial. “The day I heard McNugget had been killed, I stopped by his little house on my way home,” Merrill said. “People were there, See MCNUGGET,

By Greg Farrar

McNugget, an escaped Grange roster, would frequently perch in the tree in the Staples parking lot where he made his home. Page 5

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