"Kempin Creek" - the city stream with a split personality. Part One.

OPINION: Part One: "Kempin Creek" is a salmon-bearing tributary of northern Bear Creek in NE Redmond. The creek first runs through 10 acres of developable county land called "Kempin Property" before entering North Redmond. (NE 128th Street near 176th Ave. NE are crossroads). This is the first of a two parts describing "the split personality" of Kempin Creek's biology as diagnosed by "qualified consultants" using Redmond's land use review process.

The Creek has an interesting land-use story. CAMWEST Development Inc. was pushing buttons really hard to get city approval to annex the 10 acres of Kempin Property. It's zoned one house/acre. CAMWEST wanted to build four houses/acre as close to the Creek as regulations allowed. They felt they would be less encumbered by the critical wetland and streams and road connections if they could build in the city by annexation rather than the county. The county classified Kempin Creek as a salmon species bearing creek requiring 165 foot buffers on each side. CAMWEST'S housing project would be less profitable if they had to build around wider county buffer standards.
It was possible CAMWEST could reduce stream buffer widths by more than half! All CAMWEST had to do was hire an "independent qualified biology consultant" to re-classify Kempin stream from 165 foot buffers to Redmond's 75 foot buffers. Not a problem. CAMWEST's "qualified biologist" claimed no fish inhabited Kempin Creek, thus the developer could build twice as close to the stream now!

At first glance, Kempin Creek looked to me like a fish-bearing (Class II) creek, to me. The King County Basin Steward - a qualified wildlife consultant - affirmed Kempin Creek had fish, proving the developer's project proposal to the city was flawed. The report was biased since the "qualified consultant" was paid by the developer. Some of you may have read my 4/07column about Kempin Creek in the newspaper when land use deficiencies were uncovered in the Kempin Property file, as follows:

• For one, CAMWEST consultant's complete report was no where to be found in the project files. Camwest's consultant faxed and emailed pieces of the report to the city after I reported the missing documents. I made multiple visits to Redmond Planning to extract the stream report. (Not being a developer with 5th amendment rights my right for a public record received second fiddle).
• Secondly: The city had a problem with SEPA, the State Environmental Planning document. The SEPA had determined the impact to the environment was insignificant. The State had been mislead by the developer's biologist's flawed report.
• The city's quandary: Starting all over again to fix a flawed SEPA would take weeks, if not months. The Director of Planning and Development came up with a brilliant solution. While rummaging through the SEPA file he noticed the required newspaper public notices were never published. Presto! the SEPA could be updated with Redmond's more salmon friendly Class II designation simply by advertising the public notice of the amended SEPA.

Many thanks to Mary Maier, County Stream Basin Steward for providing truly INDEPENDENT, qualified stream classification data on Kempin Creek; to help preserve Kempin's salmon habitat now and in future proposed land use. (The riverteen wetlands and poor stream vegetation Camwest reported along the river could supersede stream buffer regulations?)

In conclusion, the City Council never approved annexation of the Kempin Property. I remember Councilmember Richard Cole stating R-1 (one house or less/acre) is important to Redmond's "horse culture", now rare in Redmond. draft

Readers with similar county-city stream classification problems can contact the new Bear Creek - Sammamish - Cedar River Basin Steward for help. Tom Beavers is the new county Basin Steward. Resources are thin but he may be able to help or direct you to the resources you need.

Terrain Map of Kempin Property, Kempin Creek riparian vegetation. (Move the map up to orient 128th Street to the top' look for the ribbon of vegetation following the stream)

Existing and Recommended Zoning Map - map is on last page.

"Kempin Creek" is a name I use to describe it. The stream hasn't been named by the county or city or any other jurisdiction, as of this writing.

cc: Mr. R. Odle, Director of Planning and Development, City Council; The PlanningCommission@redmond.gov ; Cathy Beam, Environmental Principal Planner.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Please comment on the "comments tab" below or by emailing REDMONDBLOG@GMAIL.COM for posting (with your approval) on this page

Ex-Councilman Richard Grubb says council needs more debate

This is a Letter Richard Grubb wrote the Redmond Reporter, 1/21/09

From the front page of the Jan. 7 Redmond Reporter, it appears that the Redmond Reporter is almost as enamored with Redmond's elected politicians as they are with themselves. The six pictured white, middle brow, conventional males and two females seem content and smugly satisfied to march in lockstep.

As former Speaker of the House of Representative Sam Rayburn once remarked, when two people agree on everything, only one of them is doing the thinking. The question in Redmond is which one of the eight is thinking for the other seven?

In the Jan. 7 article, Councilmember Richard Cole claims that *boring meetings are a good problem to have. He may be an expert on that subject , but he is wrong.

Good government comes from a rigorous debate, from a clash of ideas, from opposing philosophies bumping up against one another until there is a synthesis that results in sound policy. Ennui in a community's politics more often than not brings on apathy rather than vigour's enlightening involvement.

The poet William Blake noted that "without contraries in no progression". Dissent from the commonplace wisdom of the day clarifies issues through robust discussion.

Perhaps in the next council election cycle, someone will stand who is willing to spike the Kool-Aid punch bowl that the current crop is drinking from.

As a concluding aside for the record and for the Reporter's readers, it should be noted that the two urban centers are not Mayor Marchione's vision for Redmond. They have been city policy since the mid-1990's. 1-21-09

What's Your Opinion about Redmond's prolific Outdoor Art?

I think the City has 100 pieces of outdoor art. Or, is it 300? We have so much of it the city staff tracks it by GPS.

What do you think about it? Do you drive by the metalic "Split Personality" in awe and admiration OR find it a hazardous driving distraction? Or both?

Should "Art Hill" be rebuilt as a landscaped park with trails featuring a collection of outdoor art "discoveries" or would you rather keep the grassy knoll an open space?

Do you fall in love with your favorite piece, only to find the city had it on loan and it's been taken? The above "Pi in the Sky" was my favorite and it's gone. "Scooter" - another, was taken.

Make your comments heard - loud and clear - to our friendly and hard working Arts Commissioners! These citizens want your input on Monday, January 26, 7PM, City Hall.

Direct any questions & comments to RAC@redmond.gov. And, comment here, too. But see the art in person at City Hall Monday night.

___________________________________________________________________________

What is your opinion? Click "Comments" below and/or email redmondblog@gmail.com with your opinion for posting on this page.

___________________________________________________________________________

"I can't say as I have been moved at all by anything I have seen to date but no doubt there are those that embrace the exhibits. However, I certainly hope that the city plans a temporary moratorium on any more "outdoor art" expenditures. Considering the financial bind the city/state/country are in I believe there are better uses of the taxpayers money."

-- Carla H. 1/25

On superficial neighbourhood relations, by Keven Harris

Thursday, 22 January 2009
"On superficial neighbourhood relations," by Kevin Harris

- an English perspective

From time to time I argue that 'shallow' informal interactions, such as simple gestures of recognition at neighbourhood level, are more significant in terms of social capital than is generally recognised.

I raised this recently in relation to the CLG guidance on 'meaningful social interaction,' which argues that for social interaction to be 'meaningful' it needs to go beyond a superficial level and to be sustained. My view is that yes it makes a difference if it's sustained, but 'superficial' does not mean trivial. Superficial is good.

Now I'm just catching up with a paper in BMJ last month about happiness and social networks, which got quite a bit of publicity for its finding that happiness is 'contagious'. The researchers looked at 20 years of data from the Framingham heart study in Massachussetts and found that:
People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected.
This includes close neighbours, but apparently next door neighbours have a much stronger influence than neighbours who live a few doors down in the same neighbourhood.

The researchers observe: the strong influence of neighbours suggests that the spread of happiness might depend more on frequent social contact than deep social connections.
So let's take that as a tentative endorsement. More evidence needed of course.

And behind all this are the challenges of defining (without solidfying) what we're talking about. A few weeks ago I was questioning some of the assumptions about definitions of 'belonging' in the methodologically-creaky Changing UK research, and perhaps there are comparable dangers in assumptions about 'happiness'.

One commentator on the BMJ paper observes:
Happiness research that attempts to find generalisations about happiness... will not challenge inherent assumptions about what makes people happy, what is happiness, and who is happy in society or indeed, as Anthony Storr suggests, who is 'happy alone!'

Posted by Kevin Harris on Thursday, 22 January 2009 at 11:29 AM Permalink

Neighbourhoods an English blog 0n neighborhoods, neighboring, social capital, community engagement, and stuff at the local level." by Kevin Harris, author

« Six per cent would prefer no contact with neighbours Main

It's meaning hits home, The Inaugural Poem.

Tom Flynn, Chair of the Arts Commission, and other citizens, encouraged the Council tonight to approve The City of Redmond's new Ordinance for the Establishment of a Poet Laureate . Mr. Flynn stated the city has supported visual and performing arts well and some deserved attention is needed for the literary arts. In support of literary arts in Redmond and in honor of President Barack Obama and his poet Elizabeth Alexander, please enjoy Praise Song for the Day.

'Praise Song for the Day' - composed for Barack Obama's Inauguration
and read by author Elizabeth Alexander on January 20, 2009

"Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise.

All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

ALEXANDER: A farmer consider the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light."

Slide show of 2009 Flooding in Washington - beyond words

View 2009 Washington Flood Slide Show (click)

CLICK ON SMALL BLUE LINK ABOVE TO START THE SLIDE SHOW.

(click the "full" button to enlarge the slides)

FROM: Steve Hitch, Redmond Stormwater Engineer

EMAIL (excerpt): Members of the Flood Hazard Management Advisory Committee, 1/17

"As you have watched flooding happening in other communities around Puget Sound, and we here in Redmond have come away relatively unscathed, we are thankful that our situation has not resulted in a major flood here. We are mindful that all it takes is for Redmond to receive a large storm event impacting the Bear Creek Basin followed by a few weeks of heavy rains that raise the lake level. That combination could result in the 100-year flood that fills up Redmond.

... Should the City have posted evacuation routes in the floodplain? Should we do flood drills? Should our emergency center be prepared to use the reverse 911 system to notify our neighbors of potential inundation? Send me your thoughts and I can see how those ideas may be incorporated into the City's short and longer term plans."

--Steve Hitch, P.E. Sr. Stormwater Engineer City of Redmond, Public Works Department Natural Resources Division, Redmond, Washington 425/556-2891 draft

_______________________________________________________________________

Or, post your comments at the end of this story or by email to redmondblog@gmail.com.

Many thanks to my next-door neighbor Larry Pawlowski for sending the slide show.

Mustang Basketball - Courtney Martin featured on KING 5 TV!

Bothell game photos

Junior Lindsey Smith....................................................Junior Kailan Kalina.............................Junior Katie Whittaker

We are the Redmond High School Mustangs from Redmond, Washington. We are a member of the Class 4A KingCo Conference. Welcome and please sign our guestbook.

Mustang Flash video:

Courtney Martin is featured here on King 5's High School Gametime!

EASTLAKE GAME - Redmond (6-5) lose 55-44 to rival Eastlake. The Stangs raced out to an early 12-5 lead but the Wolves closed the lead to one at 12-11. The game was close throughout the second and third quarters. Eastlake took the lead for good at 37-33 to end the third and pulled away in the fourth quarter for the win. Courtney Martin led Redmond with 14 points, Alicia Valentine had 13.

See our Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Central Bucks East, Colts Neck, Inglemoor, Woodinville, Skyline and Bothell gamephotos. Photos courtesy of parent, Jerry Smith.

Next up: at home -vs- Lake Washington. Wed Jan 21st. JV game will be at 5:45PM, Varsity tips off at 7:30. The Lake Washington Kang vs. Stang game will be televized on RCTV - 21. A link to the game will be posted here.

Make-Up game @ Garfield will be Sat Jan 31; JVs at noon, Varsity at 3:30PM.

Redmond High School Girls Varsity Basketball Website

Letter ot the Editor - Lakewood Councilman speaks against rising city salary costs.

Reference to January 7, 2009 post on "Rising salary and benefit costs in City Hall".

I appreciate the heads up email from you and your interest and hard work in public employee compensation. I’m a city councilman in Lakewood and have had similar concerns for several years. I wish I could provide you the answer to the unwarranted increases. Unfortunately, most of my efforts to trim compensation increases have not been successful. So I don’t have the solution – except to say that you are doing the right thing by informing the public. Taxpayers can get what they want if they apply enough pressure, so your blog is a good start. But in my opinion, you have to build a high level of public outrage that will result in great numbers of citizens getting involved in some way to have a dampening effect on these large increases.

One thing I can confidently say is, do not rely on bureaucrats nor most elected officials to fix the problem for you. The reasons are pretty obvious. Plus, have they ever fixed the problem or have they contributed to it? Like him or hate him, Tim Eyman has been the only force reducing taxes and spending at the state level. That should tell you something.

Redmond is not alone with this problem. Public sector wages far outstrip private sector wages at every level of government statewide. And the rate of increase year-to-year is higher too. Unions are partially to blame. Governments are about the only segment of the labor market where unionization is increasing – public employee unions. Avoid them like the plague.

But beyond unions, there’s no incentive for government leaders to reduce compensation – nor the general growth of government, for that matter. Bureaucratic leaders’ lives are made easier by granting big increases to their employees. And elected officials win votes by delivering more and more services. Plus, they’re not spending their own money. So again, I think it is going to fall on the people of Redmond to either elect very conservative council members who will get the job done, or else to apply extraordinary pressure on sitting council members to lower employee costs.

And finally, as I said before, this is a state-wide problem. Employees in Redmond look at the salary increases given to employees in Lakewood and say, I want that too. They threaten to unionize or move to higher paying cities. The same with Lakewood employees – they look at your wages/benefits. There are 281 cities/towns in Washington, so multiply all that by 281. It’s a tangled mess. City employees play us off on one another. No one city can take it on alone, even with a conservative council. But if we could all work together to reduce public employee compensation, it can be done. I’m with you. It needs to happen.

Pad Flinnigan
City Councilman
City of Lakewood
Lakewood , WA. website

cc: Redmond City Council & Mayor John Marchione

'National Review Online' explains the loss of print media to blogs

The following excerpt was taken from the "Kirkland Views" blog. 01/05/09.

National Review Online has posted an article by Mark Krikorian, dated December 31, 2008, in which two local Kirkland blogs are mentioned. An argument is made that bloggers are filling the demand for “hyper-local” news once covered by local newspapers. Kirkland Views was mentioned by "National Review".

The discussion centers around how local coverage by small newspapers is diminishing as they struggle to remain profitable. Many small newspapers are relying on wire services for stories and “articles” promoting local businesses rather than covering the local news. The argument is made that the business model of traditional newspapers is difficult to sustain because of enormous costs they incur that online competitors do not share. Among the various perspectives given was one from a reader of Kirkland blogs. The reader says he/she is better informed than ever by reading local blogs and other online media. "Read all about it" at Kirkland Views.

As for the Redmond Neighborhood Blog, ask your friends to search "redmond blog". Forwarding and word-of-mouth is how my blog and others are distributed. Thank you for your readership and support! BOB Y.

Updated: Golden Apple Awards Ceremony for Teacher Mike Town is February 25.

Updated, 1/6 - The School Employees Credit Union of Washington, KCTS 9, and PEMCO Insurance recently announced the winners of the 17th annual Golden Apple Awards for individuals and programs that make a positive difference in Washington state education for grades pre-K through 12.

The Golden Apple Awards are scheduled to be broadcast on Wednesday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. It’s a one hour program. It will be available online the following day.
This year’s recipient of the Stanley O. McNaughton Golden Apple Award is Mike Town, teacher of AP Environmental Science in grades 11-12 at Redmond High School (RHS).

Mike Town is known throughout the Lake Washington School District for his passion for environmental science. He personally advocates for all students to have access to rigorous AP courses and believes strongly that if a student is introduced to college course material and receives credit, the odds of them attending college will increase dramatically.

Because of this, Town has opened his **six AP courses to all students with great success. According to the Redmond-Reporter.com **fifty percent of the RHS student body enrolls in his courses and 90 percent of these score well enough on the AP exams to earn college credit.

Outside of the classroom, Town mentors the RHS Environmental Club, which successfully reduced the carbon footprint by implementing environmental changes at the school, including solar panels, a recycling program and environmentally friendly practices in the cafeteria.

PEMCO Insurance will award each Golden Apple winner a $1,500 grant to support their classroom, school or educational program. For more information visit http://www.kcts9.org/. --

This article was abbreviated and excerpted from a story at Redmond-Reporter.com, 11/12/08

**Correction: The Redmond Blog estimates a student body population of RHS at ~1500. Mr. Town teaches 5 periods/day. 5 classes x 30 students = 150 students/year or 10% of the student body.

Redmond High School Mustangs Girls Basketball Team

2008-2009 Redmond Mustangs Girls Basketball

#3 Kailan Kalina 5' 7" G 11, #5 Stacey Kimball 5' 3" G 10, #11 Alicia Valentine * 5' 4" G 12, #12 Chandler Jones 5' 9" G 11, #21 Katie Whitaker 5' 8'' F 11, #22 Lindsey Smith 5' 9" F 11, #23 Courtney Martin 5' 11" F 12, # 30 Jordan Ohrt 6' 0" F 10, # 33 Kaitlyn Parrott 5' 7" G 12, #35 Jessica Bushmeyer 5' 5" G 11, #42 Lexie Yoder 5' 9" F 11, # 44 Marissa Pratt 6' 4" C 11

Dennis Edwards , Varsity Coach (blue shirt), Harve Menkens, Assist. Varsity Coach, Jordon Wilde, JV Coach, Archie Archuleta, Team Manager, *Valentine, Captain. (Click player's name for bio; click on team pic to enlarge)

We are the Redmond High School Mustangs from Redmond, Washington. We are a member of the Class 4A KingCo Conference. Welcome and please sign our guestbook.

Mustang Flash: The Redmond Varsity Girls traveled to Orlando, Florida on Winter Break to play in the 300-team "KSA Holiday Tournament". Redmond (3-3) made it to the championship game of the KSA Tourney but lost by 13 points to the #1 team in New Jersey, the Colts Neck, 68-55 Courtney Martin led the Stangs in scoring with 23, Alicia Valentine was named tournament co-MVP. (click the score for stats and schedule).

See our Juanita, Issaquah, Newport, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Central Bucks East, Colts Neck gamephotos. All photos courtesy of parent, Jerry Smith. Next up: against Inglemoor Sat Jan 3rd at RHS. JV game will be at 5:45PM, Varsity tips off at 7:30. (click pics to enlarge).

Sophomore Jordon launching....................Junior Marissa flying......................................Senior Alicia up and away!