Sammamish Review, October 21, 2009,
Letter to the Editor
Vote for Odell
On Nov. 3, as we enter our second decade, Sammamish citizens have a real choice for Position 7. While candidate Jack Barry has contributed much to our community over the years, it is time for a positive change. That change is Tom Odell. I have known Tom and his family for the 20 years they have lived in Sammamish and know they are a family of integrity. Odell is focused, analytical, and above all, fair. He does not say one thing and do another.
Tom Odell has stated that a civic center with an aquatic facility is exactly what Sammamish families and kids need. On the other hand, his ‘family friendly’ opponent, Jack Barry, stated that a civic center is ‘wishful thinking’ (Sammamish Review Sept. 30, 2009). He also voted against the skate park and actively opposed the Sammamish Trail, two of the most popular family/kid activities in our city.
Tom Odell has been against the East Lake Sammamish Parkway project from the beginning and continually urged the council to cancel this project. Most citizens with whom he has spoken feel the same. On the other hand, his opponent initially said ‘let’s get on with it’ and supported the entire project during open discussions on the project. Now he claims that he has always only supported two small parts of the project.
Tom Odell has consistently emphasized that this project does not add additional traffic capacity and is not a good use of our road construction funds irrespective of where the dollars come from. Odell has never been in favor of a four-lane highway as his opponent insinuated in the Oct. 7 candidate forum.
As the ballots arrive in the mail, I hope that our citizens will take time to get the facts straight. We need a fresh leader who listens, won’t backtrack when citizens react and refuses to take contributions from special interests. It is time for a positive change on the Sammamish council in Position 7. Please join me in voting for Tom Odell.
John Knie
Sammamish
Sammamish Review, October 13, 2009, Letter to the Editor
Rip Van Winkle awakes
I rather enjoyed the Review article on Sept. 30 comparing Tom Odell and Jack Barry. Especially amusing was that Barry believes he still has time to ‘educate’ the Municipal League about the real Jack Barry to improve his ratings. If I understand this correctly, Barry has slept his way through the past four years and wants us to believe that he is actually serious about the City Council. After all, his friend convinced him to put up signs. Yup, he must be serious. I was not amused, however about Barry’s statement that ‘a comprehensive recreation center with an aquatic facility in the Towne Center area is “wishful thinking.” As far as I can tell, a recreation center has always been “wishful thinking” to Barry. Of course, we would already have a center had the council, which Barry has been a member of since the founding of Sammamish, made it a priority in the beginning.
It is well past time for Barry to move on and to give others the opportunity to deliver on what Sammamish families actually need.
Michael J. O’Connell
Sammamish
Sammamish Reporter, Letter to the Editor, Oct 22 2009, 12:47 PM
Back to the Parkway (Please note that this letter refers to Tom Odell’s opponent, Jack Barry as the councilor.)
As I watch the city council candidate forum I am intrigued as an incumbent city councilor back peddles on his past position on East Lake Sammamish. It is public record that the councilor supported the wasteful project. At every opportunity, he voted for it, saying “let’s just get on with it” and turned down requests from citizens and even other council members to review alternatives as well as requests that the first phase not include sidewalks — that even the city recognized no one was going to use.
Now as he is more enlightened, the incumbent councilor says he only wants what has been done to date, and boasts that the $9 million the city spent so far on phase one was well spent and is already being utilized. The councilor claims we have a safe intersection, sidewalks used by children waiting for the school buses, and the filtration system is protecting Lake Sammamish.
The Inglewood Hill intersection is now under its third reconstruction (not a bragging point). It is still questionable whether it will be any safer. The sidewalks are not being used, by pedestrians or schoolchildren awaiting buses. If the city councilor checked he would see that despite his assertion, our children do not wait for the bus on the sidewalk but 30 feet up the street away from traffic. The filtration system was not needed until the council put in the sidewalks and we had more spillover. Now we have spent millions more of our money on a filtration system and the on-going maintenance for a project the city councilor now says he is in favor of stopping. The only thing being used are the newly planted flowers — the deer have already eaten them all on the east side — and I expect them to go after the ones in the medians causing further havoc and accidents on ELSP. All of which citizens warned the city council in 2006 when an alternate plan was presented.
We need real cost effective transportation solutions. Though one can hope the deer will use the costly sidewalk.
Ramiro Valderrama
Municipal League rates council candidates in Sammamish
Sammamish Reporter
Jul 27 2009, 10:25 AM · UPDATED
Last week the Municipal League of King Country released its ratings of 113 primary candidates running for local offices, including County Executive, County Council, Port of Seattle Commission, Mayoral and City Council races for Auburn, Kent, Seattle, and Sammamish.
The Municipal League did not undertake a review of the candidates for Issaquah City Council.
The ratings are based on four criteria: knowledge, involvement, effectiveness and character.
They assess each candidate’s potential to be effective in office and their ability to serve the community.
Political affiliations or stands on specific issues are not considered and candidates are not rated against each other.
The Municipal League ratings of the candidates for Sammamish City Council were: Pos. 1 -John James: Adequate and Erica Tiliacos: Very Good; Pos. 3-John Curley: Good and Thomas Vance: Very Good; Pos. 5-Don Gerend: Outstanding and Michael Rutt: Adequate; Pos. 7- Jack Barry: Adequate and Tom Odell: Good
For more information on the ratings, including candidate questionnaires, go to www.munileague.org/candidate-evaluations/previous-ratings/2009/sammamish-city-council
This year’s ratings are the result of the work of 65 citizens from throughout King County who volunteered for the Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Committee.
They studied the public record, reviewed candidate questionnaires, checked references and conducted live interviews with the candidates.
Each rating was carefully reviewed by the Municipal League’s trustees. Candidates received one of six ratings: Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Adequate, Not Qualified, or No Active Campaign.
The Municipal League attempted to contact every candidate. Candidates were rated even if they declined to participate in the process.
This year’s Candidate Evaluation Committee conducted interviews in Seattle, Bellevue and Renton, and was led by Gabe Meyer, Chair of the Candidate Evaluation Program.
The Municipal League of King County is a nonpartisan volunteer organization that has worked to ensure good government that is open, effective and accountable since 1910.
