June 22, 2011 Locally owned Founded 1992 50 cents
2 candidates part of 3-way council race Ramiro Valderrama wants new role for activism
Jim Wasnick, newcomer, wants to get involved in city
By Caleb Heeringa
By Caleb Heeringa
City Council candidate Ramiro Valderrama is no stranger to the issues facing the city of Sammamish. Once a month for the last several years, he and a couple dozen other citizens, united under the banner of Ramiro Citizens for Valderrama Sammamish, have gathered in the meeting
They say “all politics is local” – something Jim Wasnick learned after he and his neighbors were confronted with one of Sammamish’s touchiest issues. In January, Wasnick Jim Wasnick learned that the City Council was con-
See VALDERRAMA, Page 3
See WASNICK, Page 6
Teen Fest flies into summer
Photo by Christopher Huber
Jessee Ikedah, 16 of Sammamish, does a flip-twist on his scooter while other skaters compete during Teen Fest at the Sammamish Commons skate park June 17. For more, see Page 14.
Community Center could cost city $500,000 a year By Caleb Heeringa
A Sammamish community and aquatic center could recoup 90 percent of its operating costs through user fees and other revenue, but would still likely require a $250,000 to $500,000 annual subsidy from the taxpayer. The subsidy was a ballpark figure given by representatives from Barker Rinker Seacat, aquatic and community center builders who are running the city’s feasibility study on the potential facility. The figures were given during the study’s fourth and final public
outreach meeting June 13, which featured occasionally passionate comments for and against the facility from the 50 or so attendees. At the meeting the consultants discussed a smaller subsidy but increased the high end of their projection to $500,000 June 14 after discovering a mathematical error. The projections assume the city will charge between $800 and $1,200 for an annual pass for a family, between $300 and $450 for a three-month pass and $5 to $9 for day use. The consultants were careful to
note that the projections contained a variety of assumptions about the project – that it will include an 8-lane by 25-yard lap pool, a smaller, warmer leisure pool, gym and weight room, as well as community meeting spaces and a day care area. Non-Sammamish residents would likely be charged more than residents. Those rates would be significantly cheaper than local private health clubs – approximately half of the $2,600 a year it costs for a family to join the Columbia
Fitness Center by QFC. But they’d be about on par with the rates offered at the Sammamish Family YMCA, where a family can get an annual membership for less than $900 and offers financial assistance for families who can’t afford the normal rate. Though nothing has been formally proposed thus far, the council has discussed having a nonprofit organization like the YMCA run the facility once it is built. Though the June 13 meeting was aimed at discussing the
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annual operating costs of the facility, several Sammamish citizens lambasted the total price tag of the facility as envisioned thus far – upwards of $64 million if it is located on the Kellman property, behind the Sammamish Library. The property has emerged as the consensus choice for locating a community center. “Are the greatest majority of citizens going to be subsidizing something that only a minority are using?” asked Sammamish resident Mary Jo Kahler. Ken Ballard, president of
Calendar...........20 Classifieds........23 Community.......14 Editorial.............4 Police................8 Sports..............18
See CENTER, Page 2