Children’s soccer program returns to the Valley Page 16
Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
March 3, 2011 VOL. 3, NO. 9
Hand recount of school bond votes begins
Tale of two cities
Supporters use social media to raise money for recount
Snoqualmie mayor faces challenges, tensions. Page 6
By Dan Catchpole
Police blotter Page 7
Snow shots Residents send in photos they snapped of the snow. Page 9
Future of voting Innovator brings online voting to digital age. Page 10
When supporters of the $56 million bond measure to build a new school in the Snoqualmie Valley heard that it had failed by a single vote, one word came to the lips of many: recount. Only one vote needed to change from nay to yea for the bond to be approved. Within hours of the election’s final results being posted online Feb. 23, a Facebook page, SVSD
School Bond Recount, had been set up to raise the $2,650 needed to pay for a recount. Nine hours later, $2,700 had been raised. King County Elections has scheduled the hand recount for 9 a.m. March 3. The recount results will be certified the next day. Sean Sundwall, who set up the Facebook page, said he didn’t see any other option after he learned that the bond had failed. “With the election hanging on literally one vote, it was time to do
something,” he said. “If the margin had been 50 votes, 100 votes, it would be a different story.” Plenty of Valley voters agreed. Most of the contributions that came in were in small amounts — $10 or $20 — but they quickly added up. More than 125 people donated, Sundwall said. “It just blew up in a matter of hours,” he said. Like other supporters, Sundwall is worried that not passing the bond will have long-
A Washington State Department of Transportation snow blower clears a path on I-90’s westbound lanes near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass only minutes after an avalanche dumped 10 feet of snow across the road Feb. 28. WSDOT closed the highway at about 11:30 a.m. because of heavy snowfall since 6 a.m. that day.
By Dan Catchpole
Snoqualmie Ridge fueled changes Snoqualmie Ridge has fueled the population explosion in the Valley, and its picturesque streets have helped change the complexion of the city and the upper Valley. “Snoqualmie Ridge has undoubtedly attracted a population that’s much more like the new population coming to King County,” said Chandler Felt, a demographer with King County. That new population is more diverse in its ethnicity and place of birth. The county’s population growth has been
A late-season snowstorm hit the Snoqualmie Valley and Western Washington on Feb. 22, causing minor frustrations and few serious problems. The winter squall came with a blast of Arctic air, plunging temperatures into the teens. Road crews were ready for the weather and took to clearing streets as soon as the first flakes fluttered down. Snowfall varied across the Valley from a few inches to as much as a foot. “When we were in the teeth of the storm, we were rushing for 24 hours to keep up with it,” North Bend City Administrator Duncan Wilson said. “We pretty much had the plows running constantly.” While the plows kept the streets clear, they couldn’t keep ice from building up, especially on side streets. Road crews combat ice primarily with salt, which breaks it down. But with low temperatures falling to 12 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, salt becomes less effective at breaking down ice on the road, said Dan Marcinko, Snoqualmie’s public works director.
See CENSUS, Page 3
See SNOWSTORM, Page 3
By Washington State Department of Transportation
Census: Immigrants have changed the Snoqualmie Valley’s complexion Food drive for pets Leadership club heads up collection of animal chow. Page 14
Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
It is no surprise that Snoqualmie has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Snoqualmie Ridge has expanded at a rapid pace, with forests being replaced by wending streets lined with homes. But the once sleepy city isn’t the only part of the Valley that has seen dramatic change in the past decade. All of the Snoqualmie Valley has changed. Its complexion has darkened. While still predominantly white, the Valley has a growing minority population. An influx of foreign-born immigrants into King County has contributed to that growing
See RECOUNT, Page 8
Late-season Arctic blast hits Valley with snowstorm
Interstate 90 shutdown
By Dan Catchpole
term negative consequences for Snoqualmie Valley schools, specifically its middle schools. The Snoqualmie Valley School Board has already committed to turning Snoqualmie Middle School into a dedicated freshman satellite campus for Mount Si High School. “That leaves us with two middle schools that could not be more displaced from the centers of population” in the Valley, the Snoqualmie Ridge resident said. Twin Falls Middle School is
ON THE WEB
> > www.snovalleystar.com See the U.S. Census Bureau numbers for Snoqualmie Valley online.
population. The Valley’s immigrants face many challenges in adapting to their new communities. Language and cultural barriers make finding work and forming local ties to the nonimmigrant population difficult for some. The Valley’s communities and school district have adapted to meet the needs of the new residents. Services have been created or expanded to
help immigrants.