Law could help tourism in the Valley
May 30, 2009
Snoqualmie is looking at partnering with other cities to better market to tourists after a recent amendment to state law, which now allows King County cities to create tourism promotion areas.
The governor signed the amendment into law May 11. Before the new legislation, King County cities were barred from creating the tourism promotion areas. Now Snoqualmie hopes to take advantage of the new legislation and create a tourism promotion area, or TPA for short.
TPA’s allow cities to collect hotel room taxes of a few dollars per night to pay for marketing and promotion efforts. Snoqualmie’s TPA is in the preliminary planning stage, and the proposed per room tax rates have not been set.
Scott Hodgins announces bid for Valley school board
May 29, 2009
Scott Hodgins has announced his plans to run for the District No. 1 seat of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board. He is the second person to throw his hat in the ring — Geoffrey Doy has also announced plans to run for the seat.
Hodgins, the director of development for CMTS Inc., a project and construction management company, has lived in North Bend since 1988. He and his wife, Cindy Hodgins, a Snoqualmie Elementary teacher, have a 17-year-old daughter at Mount Si High School and a fourth-grader at Snoqualmie Elementary.
As director of development, Hodgins said he has built more than $1 billion worth of schools in the past 20 years and has worked with 12 different school districts as a consultant or an employee.
North Bend set to construct trail at Meadowbrook Farm
May 29, 2009
The city of North Bend’s planning staff got the go-ahead on May 19 to use its share of King County’s open space acquisition and trail construction levy to build a trail at Meadowbrook Farm.
In 2008, North Bend received $9,133 from the county’s levy. The city has not used any of the funds yet, and instead put the money aside to work on a future project. The money is not enough to pay for an entire trail construction, but city staff recommended that the money be used as matching funds for seeking a grant to complete the project.
Based on service levels at the city’s existing parks, North Bend’s Parks Commission does not think that the levy money should be used to acquire more open space, and instead would like to spend the money on trail construction. The Parks Commission made the recommendation to the City Council after considering other trails that could benefit from the levy funds.
New hotel tax would benefit Valley tourism
May 28, 2009
Editorial:
Snoqualmie Falls. The Northwest Railway Museum. Mount Si and its hiking trails. Fly fishing on the Snoqualmie. Beautiful golf courses.
Whatever the reason, there’s no question that the Snoqualmie Valley is a one of the gems of Washington state.
Letters to the editor 5-28
May 28, 2009
Vandals should stay away from Middle Fork
Federal law shouldn’t impact Si View pool operations
May 28, 2009
Si View Metro Parks does not think that a relatively new federal law mandating new safety features for pools will have much impact on the operations at the park district’s pool.
“It shouldn’t shut us down. We might have to drain the pool one day to install covers, but it would be an insignificant downtime,” said Travis Stombaugh, executive director of the Si View Metro Parks district.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act went into effect Dec. 19, 2008. The law requires covers over pool drains to keep people from getting trapped under water. The bill was named after the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III, who died in June 2002, after being trapped underwater by the suction of a spa drain.
Children learn to swim at the Si View Metro Parks District pool in North Bend.
School district successfully sells bonds for repairs
May 28, 2009
In March, Snoqualmie Valley School District voters approved a $27.5 million school bond with a 67 percent approval rating. As soon as the measure passed, the school district teamed up with D.A. Davidson & Co. to sell the bonds.
Each bond sold would bring in money for various school projects, such as repairing North Bend Elementary’s roof, fixing Chief Kanim Middle School’s track or providing funding for Mount Si High School’s new 12-portable complex.
During the early morning hours of May 13, D.A. Davidson & Co. Senior Vice President Jon Gores and his associates sold nearly all of the $27.5 million in bonds.
North Bend dealership not affected by GM closures
May 28, 2009
On May 15, Chevrolet dealerships across the country received letters from General Motors Corporation telling them whether or not their franchises were going to close.
Those letters were sent via Fed Ex to 1,100 dealers. Chaplin’s Chevrolet in North Bend did not get a letter.
Frank Protzman, general sales manager, said that he was a little worried on the day that the letters went out, but it turns out that he had nothing to fear.
Valley students learn about elk and ecosystems
May 28, 2009
Elk were the name of the game as Snoqualmie Elementary students explored the fields of Meadowbrook Farm under the tutelage of Mount Si High School students and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on May 21.
The fifth-grade students rotated between three stations to learn about elk habitat, elk tracking and elk anatomy.
At one of the stations, WDFW outreach educator Kalli Willson and several Mount Si students led a workshop about ecosystems and animal skulls. Holding up each skull, Willson asked the fifth-graders if they could identify it as a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
Kalli Willson shows a collection of skulls to Snoqualmie Elementary students Alexa Humphrey, Maddy Jacobs, Samantha Brimberry, Zoie Bel and Christian Diaz.
Obituaries 5-28
May 28, 2009
Jean Shultz
