Seminar on Washington's Public Records & Open Meetngs laws, June 23

The Washington Coalition for Open Government will present a special program focusing on Washington’s Public Records and Open Meetings laws from 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Wednesday, June 23 at the Plaza Room above the Edmonds Library, 650 Main Street in Edmonds. 

Kirkland and Sammamish are lukewarm to a community aquatic center

Prior to the closing of  Hartman Pool on June 18, Redmond City council had been actively seeking a city partner for funding a community aquatic center.  

During joint meetings with Kirkland council on May 28 and Sammamish council on June 8, Redmond floated the idea of creating a new taxing district to fund a community aquatic center.  Kirkland staff estimated a new aquatics facility would cost between $42-46.5 million.

According to the Kirkland Reporter:   Councilmember Allen said the Redmond pool was "on life support" and that recommended economies of scale between Kirkland and Redmond could pencil out.   Redmond City Councilmember Pat Vache' felt that, "Trying to combine parks departments would create all sorts of complications that we are not even thinking about," saying "Cities have different philosophies on how to run their parks."  Another issue of combining the city's Parks departments would be existing funding.  Mayor Marchione wasn't present at the Kirkland meeting. 

According to the Sammamish Review:  Council members in Sammamish grappled over the question of why citizens would want to tax themselves for a new facility when they could wait for a neighboring city to build one and go use it.  While the Sammamish council said they’d keep the idea in mind as discussions continue, their response was lukewarm.   "Read More" for my comments:

Redmond Hartman Pool is closed

According to Marta Gronlund, City of Redmond, the Redmond Pool at Hartman Park was closed June 17 due to an equipment failure. "The pool filtration system is unable to maintain water clarity and therefore requires repair. The pool will remain closed until a full evaluation and needed repairs are completed."

According to NW Center Pools staff, effective June 18, 2010, Northwest Center will no longer be operating the Redmond –Hartman Pool.

The Redmond Reporter has a good story on this.

Northwest Center’s lease expired May 28th, 2010 and after working diligently with the city of Redmond,  they could not agree to new lease terms.  Pools staff thanked the city of Redmond for their support for the past seven years and thanked their customers.

For refunds on lessons purchased and punch cards, contact NW Center staff at (206) 296-4370 or via e-mail at swim@nwcenter.org.   Any questions concerning the pool's closure can be forwarded to Sandra Bettencourt, Redmond's Recreation Division Manager, at (425) 556-2319.

The following is a list of other pools in the area. In addition to these pools, Idylwood Beach Park has a swimming beach with lifeguards on duty, now through September 6, from 11am to 6pm.

Posted by Bob Yoder
Ref:  C.O.R. press release / NW Center Pools / email from RNB reader

Redmond Councilman Myers named Executive Director of King County Ferry District

The King County Ferry District board of supervisors named Hank Myers of Redmond, Executive Director with a unanimous vote.  Myers is a transportation economics consultant who is also serving his first term on the Redmond City Council.

Read More

Source:  West Seattle Blog

LETTER: Citizen Input to Redmond's "Budget By Priorities" is a failed process

Howard Frazier has left a new comment on your post "Redmond's BP budget process - not a 'catastrophe',...":

LETTER   If the budget process has ‘citizen input’ as a core principle, then all evidence indicates that it is a failed process. If there was substantial notification of reasonable opportunities for input from citizens, then there would be substantial input offered.

I think that the persons responsible for collecting input did not use contemporary tools and methods to notify citizens of the opportunity and/or the methods available for input were not acceptable.

Several years ago, I received a form in the mail from the city which asked me to indicate my interest in various services so budget priorities could reflect citizen opinion. I filled in the form and returned it because I am interested in providing my input on the use of the revenue collected by the city.

What is the current method that the city uses to communicate with the citizens? How successful is it? I get regular e-mail from my HOA and from King County about how to participate in the decision making process.

I looked at the city web site about the budget process and the information published there is outdated and frankly embarrassingly sparse for such an important issue.

Road construction closures planned for intersection of NE 124 Street & SR202 and on 116th St

Two Redmond roadways will be closed this summer.

I.  NE 116th Street between 167th Place and 172nd Ave NE will be closed to thru traffic beginning June 22.
This project will reconstruct NE 116th to meet site distance and safety standards in advance of construction of Fire Station 17. Preliminary work has begun and the closure is expected to last through early September. Local access for emergency vehicles and to properties in the construction zone will be maintained. Detour routes will be clearly marked.

LW School District seeks parent perspectives

District Seeks Parent Perspective

Each year, the Lake Washington School District invites all parents to take a survey on how the district is doing in different areas. It covers the instructional program, facilities, technology, communication, and more.

This information is used by the district to help improve its work to serve your students. Please take a moment to take the survey. To take the survey on the Internet, you can simply click here:  http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22APFM357XA 
 
Please take the survey by June 25 to be included in this year's results.
 
Submitted by Beth Angelo
LWSD PTSA

Ananda Mela Festival: A Joyful Festival of India in Redmond, June 26 - 27

Redmond Event Listing: Ananda Mela Festival: A Joyful Festival of India:

"Vedic Cultural Center in partnership with many Indian-American Associations, is pleased to present a free, lavish, two-day outdoor festival of India to Redmond’s residents and visitors.

The festival, titled "Ananda Mela: A Joyful Festival of India" will take place at the Redmond City Hall campus on Saturday June 26th and Sunday June 27th, from 12 noon to 9 pm."

Read More

Posted on "Experience Redmond"

Redmond's BP budget process - not a 'catastrophe', but close to it.

OPINION:    UPDATED:  The Administration couldn't have picked a worse name for their "Budgeting By Priorities" process - BP!   Unfortunately, the name is fitting.   As far as public participation is concerned, the BP process was a disaster.  

Mayor Marchione (in photo) held a Public Hearing last night to wrap up the BP process.  No one showed to speak pro or con.  Did anyone know about it?   As usual, city advertising of BP public participation events was faint.  Only 6 citizens signed-up for the first meeting and 12 for the second.  The key purpose of BP is to engage citizens in the budget process.  This pitiful Hearing combined with the others make for a Triple Storm - a public process disaster.

The Mayor was prepared for the worst.   Melissa Files, his finance manager, spoke immediately after the Hearing to PR the  BP.  I listened in on the tapes of the meeting and bent over, laughing in pain, when Melissa stated,  "The BP process gets a whole bunch of citizens and employees involved in the budget".

Truth came out on how the Administration measures our capacity for taxation and budgetary needs.  Administration obviously can't rely on pubic input.  Rather, they use a book (Osborne and Hutchinson.) as their gold standard for deciding on how much taxation we can take.  Melissa summarized the book:

"there's a band within which citizens are willing to pay taxes based on total city revenues as compared to personal income.  The band for Redmond is 5-6% of personal income." 

Oh, so THAT'S how Mayor John Marchione knew he could raise our property tax 1% last election?  He applied the formula! 

Melissa promoted transparency and accountability in the BP process and claimed the six key priorities of BP were "developed in 2008 by the citizens of Redmond".  Huh?  What did she say?   First, I went to all 2008 BP public meetings; the 6 priorities where predetermined and stated without any public input.  Second, the Mayor claims he has "identified" $2.6M in efficiencies this biennium, but he's still opaque on their implementation.

This BP process looks like a lost cause but you can still "participate" at BPquestions@redmond.gov, or please comment here.  Two state-mandated public Hearings on the budget will be held this Fall.   

Opinion By Bob Yoder

References:  
6/15 Council meeting tape
2009-2010 Mid-Biennial Review Performance Management
Public Record:  BP Innovation/Efficiency Initiative, 4/2010
Participation at 2008 / 2010 BP Meetings.

7 Reason Why the Window 7 Phone is THE iPhone Killer

7 Reasons Why The Windows 7 Phone Is THE iPhone Killer

The sleeping giant is back. With yesterday’s announcement of the new Windows Phone 7 I believe we are seeing the rise of Phone 7 as the iPhone killer. Forget Android, this is the one you need to pay attention to.

Read More
Posted by Jamie Riddell on March 16th, 2010

thesledgehammer said...on 6/17

As much as I'd really like to see MS do well in this market, there's one big reason that Windows Phone 7 is doomed to be an also-ran: It should have been out at least a year ago. When it comes out it'll not only have to fight against the iPhone, but it'll also have Android (which, quite frankly, has stolen a big chunk of WP7's potential users already) to deal with. And a good chunk of the iPhone users WP7 is targeting are either a) Apple diehards (see also: MS haters) or b) people who bought their iPhones as fashion accessories. A good chunk of the people in between those have already jumped ship to Android (myself included, having purchased an EVO to replace my aging WM6 phone a couple of weeks ago)

I actually think WP7 looks quite nice, and I'd really like to see it do well. I just happen to think that it's chasing after a horse that's already long since left the barn, and it's going to be a serious uphill battle for it to ever become anything but a niche player in the market.

-Brian
http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/

County gives recycling crew voluteers free entry to Marymoor summer concert series

King County seeks volunteers for recycling crew at Marymoor summer concert series

Music lovers who want to help King County Parks at one of the region’s best outdoor concert venues can sign up to be a part of the “Marymoor Recycling/Composting Volunteer Crew” at this summer’s Concerts at Marymoor.

Recycling crew volunteers get free entry when they help promote recycling and waste reduction during shows.

Read More

Source:  King County Web Site
List and times of Concerts

The names of 23 Redmond establishments cited during the liquor sting on June 3.

From Jim Bove
Redmond Police Department

Below is a list of establishments where an employee was issued a citation during the liquor sting on June 3, 2010 (in no particular order)…..


Watercress
Top Foods
Chipolte Grill
Jade Dragon
Fat Burger
Bandidos Mexican Café
Pallino
Fine Wine & Cigars
Thai Ginger  (read more)