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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016
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Wolves’ season ends at regional playoffs. See Page 10
School officials argue for bond issue to the City Council By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@sammamishreview.com Led by Superintendent Traci Pierce, Lake Washington School District officials spent a good deal of a joint meeting with the Sammamish City Council Feb. 24 attempting to sell the latter on the district’s upcoming bond issue. To meet what school officials say are growing needs for classroom space, the district’s board of directors voted Jan. 25 to place a $398 million bond sale on the April ballot. The total tax rate would be maintained at the 2015 rate, $3.30 per $1,000 in property valuation. Serving a large part of Sammamish, along with Redmond and Kirkland, the
Lake Washington district is now the fourth-largest in the state with more than 27,300 students. Pierce said the district took in 1,114 new students this year alone, enough to fill over 30 classrooms. She also noted this was the seventh straight year of growth for the district. Over the last five, the district has averaged 652 new students, an amount equal to a new elementary school every year. As a city staffer went through a quick update of the Town Center plan, school officials noted those plans would add plenty of Sammamish students to Lake Washington schools. See BOND, Page 7
City, school district try to tame traffic around middle school By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@sammamishreview.com City and school officials said at peak times, the traffic around Inglewood Middle School just doesn’t move much. “The kids can probably walk faster,” said Cheryl Paston, city deputy director of public works. Paston was talking to a joint meeting of the Sammamish City Council and the board of directors of the Lake Washington School District. The biggest problems appear in the morning and afternoons on Northeast
Eighth Street, said Paston and others. In the mornings, especially, officials said there is a significant traffic queue on the school campus itself. Another major problem is back up at the intersection of Eighth Street and 242nd Avenue Northeast in front of the school. The spot further was described as not very conducive to pedestrian traffic. Paston noted the intersection is over capacity even before school starts in the mornings. Eighth is also used by cars headed to Eastlake High School, which sits off Eighth just to the west of Inglewood. See TRAFFIC, Page 12
By Greg Farrar / gfarrar@sammamishreview.com
Doug Hills stands Feb. 23 next to a landscape tree on 233rd Avenue Northeast at Northeast Eighth Place at a low spot where a Comcast-owned cable line in the neighborhood is strung from tree branches to fences.
JURY-RIGGED
Cable line has snaked through Sammamish neighborhood for more than a year By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@sammamishreview.com It snakes around the neighborhood on 233rd Avenue Northeast like someone’s bad attempt at stealing cable and Internet service. “After about two years, the ‘Band-Aid’ is there and it looks horrible,” resident Tom Carste said.
Both he and fellow resident Doug Hills say it reminds them of pictures of Southeast Asia, where theft of electricity leads to forests of haphazard outdoor wiring. The cable in question may or may not be there much longer. Comcast reported to the Sammamish Review that it had contractors ready to remove the cable the week of
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Feb. 29. The company’s statement arrived in the form of an email from Walter Neary, senior director of communications. On Feb. 26, the email said more details might be available the following week. Carste reported he spotted a Comcast vehicle in the area Friday, but did not See CABLE, Page 9
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