City further discusses goals and objectives
May 15, 2009
Snoqualmie’s City Council resumed its preliminary budget work at an April 11 meeting, discussing goals and objectives documents that set out city priorities.
This was the second time the council has worked on these documents. At the last council meeting in April, they looked at public works and planning projects. At the first meeting of May, they examined the city’s list of community and economic development projects.
The goals and objectives document is one of the guiding documents for determining which projects will get funded in next year’s budget. It is also provides a snapshot of the status of different projects.
Snoqualmie hopes to begin parking construction soon
May 14, 2009
Snoqualmie has to start building improvements to downtown parking by September if it wants to take advantage of a $1.4 million Economic Development Administration grant.
Downtown businesses could benefit from the roadwork that would create new angled parking spaces for customers. The angled parking spaces will be built on the west side of Falls Avenue between King and River Streets and on River Street between Railroad Avenue and Falls Avenue. The city is calling the project the Falls Avenue Plaza.
The city has until September to start construction on the Falls Avenue Plaza project or it could lose the grant.
Healthy youth forum starts conversations
May 14, 2009
More than 100 students and community members attended the Healthy Youth Forum at Mount Si High School May 11. The purpose of the forum — to promote critical conversations — soon had the attendees talking about what sorts of expectations youth and adults should have toward teenage behavior.
Between conversations, the Snoqualmie Valley Community Network presented data from the Healthy Youth Survey and gave a crash-course in parenting techniques encouraging openness, honesty and trust between children and adults.
Several students spoke to the crowd, explaining why they choose to stay drug-free. Senior Bethany Frieler credited her close relationship with her parents and described how her four years of involvement in volleyball have “kept me so busy, I haven’t had much free time to get involved in these activities.”
Plans for climbing tower in North Bend change again
May 14, 2009
Plans for the centennial climbing tower in North Bend’s Torguson Park are growing in both size and cost.
City Council members approved a design concept for the climbing tower at their May 5 meeting. The design concept will expand the planned climbing structure from 1,200 square feet to 1,600 square feet.
The new price tag for the structure is approximately $190,000, an increase of $40,000 over the original $150,000 cost city and community leaders were fundraising for. However, costs per square foot will actually be lower for the larger structure than for the smaller one. Contractor Rockwerx told the city that a 1,200-square-foot structure would cost $105 a square foot, whereas a 1,600-square-foot structure would cost $95 for a square foot.
Waste specialist teaches students about recycling
May 14, 2009
The recycling push may well be on its way, but King County Waste Education Specialist Debbie Tully wants students to take the other two steps in the three R mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Tully uses her love for coffee as an example.
“I go to Starbucks every day,” Tully said. “I could use 365 cups a year, or I could use a travel cup and get a discount, too.”
She applies the same logic to students and their water bottles. Many students use disposable water bottles every day, but even if they recycle the bottles, they’re still using quite a lot of plastic.
During a two-day workshop April 28-29, King County Solid Waste educated Chief Kanim Middle School seventh-graders about ways they could help the planet. Meghan James, who applied for the free workshop, said her students enjoyed the sessions.
Chief Kanim students Chris Annette, Jake Archambeau, Quinn Oster and Tanner Stahl hold up advertisements after analyzing how ads encourage them to buy more products, which in turn causes them to use more resources.
Soccer team ousted from league tournament
May 14, 2009
Mount Si boys soccer coach Darren Brown finally pin-pointed what his team needs to work on in the offseason.
Problem is, that work is coming a little sooner than all of the Wildcats anticipated.
In a physical, rough-and-tumble battle with Sammamish at home May 11, Mount Si was beaten 1-0 in the first round of the Class 3A league tournament and eliminated from the postseason.
The game was full of plenty penalties, shoves and even a thrown punch that was missed by officials. What it wasn’t full of was scoring opportunities by the Wildcats. Sammamish scored the game-winning goal with 22 minutes to play, then let its physical style do the rest to preserve the shutout.
A Sammamish player slides under Mount Si defender Willie Jensen during a KingCo 3A tournament game.
Wildcats rally on their way to postseason
May 14, 2009
Better late than never — if the Mount Si softball team adopts that perspective as well as it did against Interlake May 8, the Wildcats will be a force to reckon with down the stretch.
Battling for positioning in the upcoming KingCo 3A tournament, Mount Si mounted an unlikely comeback in a 2-1 victory against Interlake. The Wildcats trailed, 1-0, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, when they put together a rally that won them the game.
Now they head to the league tournament, where they’re scheduled to face Liberty in the first round at 7 p.m. May 14 at Inglemoor High School.
Expansion of landfill not acceptable
May 13, 2009
Editorial:
King County wants to extend the life of its regional landfill — located about 14 miles southwest of the Valley — for another three to 13 years. There is a better way.
The county has been dealing with the 920-acre Cedar Hills Landfill since it opened in 1964. Most of King County’s garbage comes home to this monstrous dump. The landfill was supposed to close in the 1980s when the county said it would become a park.
Letters to the editor 5-14
May 13, 2009
Teacher layoffs
are hurting
Student group tours Snoqualmie
May 13, 2009
International group hopes to learn more about flood control
Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson had to think on his feet May 7 while giving a tour of the city to a group of Chinese and American urban planning students.
“Not only are we getting local and national recognition for what we’ve done, but we’re getting international interest, too. I think it’s a feather in our hat,” Larson said.
The tour was arranged on short notice. The mayor was told that the group was interested in hazard mitigation issues; especially flood control and earthquake related planning issues. They wanted to visit Snoqualmie, because the city experiences frequent flooding.
Mayor Matt Larson explains how a wetland conservation area works to a group of Chinese and American planning students who toured Snoqualmie on May 7.
