August 3, 2011 Locally owned Founded 1992 50 cents
Candidates’ voting records are mixed By Caleb Heeringa
Photo by Christopher Huber
Pine Lake resident Kate Bradley collects a water sample from the lake Aug. 1. As the volunteer lake monitor for the King County Lake Stewardship Program, she collects data on water temperature and transparency and collects samples to send to the county labs for testing.
Residents’ volunteer efforts protect Sammamish’s lakes By Christopher Huber
In 1989 a group of Lake Sammamish residents and area citizens came together to discuss development issues. They were concerned about the quickening pace of development along the Interstate-90 corridor and how it might affect water quality in the lake, which stretches the entire western border of what is now Sammamish. They figured more people would help keep the lake clean if the newly organized nonprofit could get the word out. “We were concerned about a road … and what it would do to the lake,” said Joanna Buehler, Save Lake Sammamish founding member and past president. King County had recently cre-
Sammamish Goes Green ated sewage treatment plants in Renton and West Point and there was enough data and science that backed up the idea that the water quality would degrade significantly in the coming decades, she said. Save Lake Sammamish
formed that year to work with local governments and residents to address the potential environmental problems the area would face with such rapid development. “The most important issue is the water quality in the lake,” she said. Save Lake Sammamish is one of three organizations in Sammamish devoted to changing or creating government policy that sheds light on water issues or lessens impact on the delicate lake environment. They also educate the public to improve or maintain, on a house-by-house level, water quality in Lake Sammamish and Pine and Beaver See LAKES, Page 3
Four of the seven Sammamish residents running for City Council seats did not vote in one or more City Council elections in recent years. An analysis of voting records obtained from King County Elections office through a public disclosure request shows varying levels of electoral participation by City Council candidates. The records show the following: ◆ Jim Wasnick, running in the Aug. 16 primary against John Galvin and Ramiro Valderrama, did not vote in the general elections in 2007 or 2009, both of which included City Council races. Wasnick registered to vote the state in 2007 but could not vote on Sammamish City Council races because he was living in a temporary apart-
ment in Mercer Island until he moved his family to Sammamish in December of that year. He said a family member mistakenly threw out his ballot in 2009. ◆ Valderrama missed the 2005 general election, which included several City Council races, as well as the 2008 general election, which included a presidential election and had the highest turnout nationwide since 1968. Valderrama could not recall missing the 2005 election. During the 2008 election he said that he was on the East Coast for business and, based See VOTING, Page 3
Rule change may cause headache for LWSD By Caleb Heeringa
A proposed county regulation designed to limit suburban sprawl could render several Lake Washington School District properties largely useless. King County’s Growth Management Planning Council is considering a rule change that would forbid extending sewer lines to serve schools in rural areas and prevent rural schools from serving students inside of an urban growth boundary.
Youth help after a fire
A view from the balcony
community page 8
sports page 12
Tim Trohimovich, co-director of planning and law policy for smart growth advocacy group Futurewise, said the rule change would bring the county into compliance with the state’s Growth Management Act, passed in 1990. Trohimovich said Futurewise is supporting the rule change because putting a school in a rural area creates an incentive for development to follow, covering open space and farm land and choking local roads with traffic.
Calendar...........14 Classifieds........15 Community........8 Editorial.............4 Police................6 Sports..............12
See RULE, Page 2