The nine Sammamish City Council hopefuls facing a primary this August went head-to-head Monday at the Sammamish Candidate Forum in City Hall.
The forum was moderated by the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter’s regional editor Carrie Rodriguez. The city of Sammamish provided the venue and rebroadcast the forum on the city’s website and YouTube account. Plateaupians For Peace also streamed the event live on Facebook.
Positions 3, 5 and 7 will see a primary in August. Primary ballots, which King County Elections mailed out on July 12, are due Aug. 1.
There are three active candidates gunning for each position.
Program and project management consultant Melanie Curtright, retired businessman John Robinson and senior program manager Pam Stuart have registered for the Position 7 seat. Roger Chapanis recently dropped out of the race due to health reasons, but his name will still appear on the ballot.
The Reporter asked eight questions, which it solicited from the community beforehand, ranging on topics from traffic to the environment to housing. The Reporter did not share the questions with the candidates before the event. Near the end of the event, there was time for three questions from the audience, which covered the 42nd Street barricade, whether or not the two water districts should be combined — generally the candidates thought the barricade should remain in place and that the water districts should remain separate entities — another question on traffic and finally a question on how these candidates would make the city more inclusive.
Traffic
Congestion is an issue on the plateau — that’s clear. But how these City Council candidates propose to fix it vary from making the community more walkable to working with the neighboring cities and utilizing technology.
In Position 3, Ghassemieh, Howe and Moran agree there should be an inter-city shuttle that busses people around within the city.
Ghassemieh and Moran said there needs to be some cooperative work done with the cities of Issaquah and Redmond.
Howe and Ghassemieh would see the city become more walkable — Howe is in favor of the idea of a “walking school bus” where children walk in groups to school whereas Ghassemieh would see the city’s trail systems and sidewalks become more connected.
Moran would also see the city work with larger businesses like Microsoft and promote a ride share program.
Above all, Ghassemieh said the city needs to improve the roads, Howe said the ultimate solution would be to bring more transit options to Sammamish and Moran said it’s time to finish projects that have been sitting on the city’s Transportation Improvement Plan.
Related to concurrency, Ghassemieh wants to have a more collaborative discussion and to review data and road capacity before making any decisions. Howe, too, wants to hear more from the community on what the level of service should be; she also said the city should be measuring both a.m. and p.m. peak traffic counts to get better data moving forward. Moran called the city’s current concurrency standards “watered down.” “I do not believe the city is in tune with what is mentioned in the Growth Management Act,” Moran said.
In Position 5, Hooshangi said there are no easy solutions to fixing traffic, but that the city cannot do it alone, which is why she promotes working with neighboring cities to combat bottle necks outside of Sammamish. She said she would also see more King County Metro options come to the plateau and that the city needs to find more creative solutions to traffic.
Indapure pointed to creating an inter-city shuttle taking people from neighborhoods like Klahanie to the city’s shopping center, as well as connecting more streets and trails.
Hooshangi and Indapure agreed there needs to be some kind of prioritization of projects.
“I have parents come and tell me their kids can’t walk to Sunny Hills [Elementary School] because there’s no sidewalk,” Indapure said. “I see people from the retirement homes walking on 228th on the side of the road and that is not right. We really need to listen to our community and we need to prioritize our projects and make sure we’re doing something for the benefit of everyone.”
Ross said the major problem is that everyone is leaving and returning to the plateau at the same time. He strongly encouraged working with large industry businesses to promote a telecommuting program. He also said concurrency standards need to be stronger.
In Position 7, Curtright said it takes a long time to build roads, which is why she would be focusing on shorter term solutions, like bringing an inter-city shuttle to the plateau, creating more bus turnouts and working with businesses in creating a telecommuting program.
Robinson, too, thought bringing a telecommuting program to the plateau would be a good solution to the backups — he said the major problem is everyone is leaving and returning to Sammamish at the same time. “There really is a scheduling problem,” he said.
“As a Microsoft employee, I can tell you that I think trying to coordinate everyone’s schedules at a company around the city’s traffic problems is probably not going to be the answer,” Stuart said. “But technology partners are part of the answer.”
Stuart advocates for using technology for “on demand and point-to-point ride share” as well as increasing the capacity of roads.
All three of them want to dive deeper into concurrency standards.
“It appears all of our roads pass concurrency, but we know that’s not true as we’re stuck on Sahalee Way in the morning,” Curtright said. She said the threshold of six years to complete concurrency projects is too long.
“The issue of concurrency hits the heart of transparency and accountability of our local government,” Robinson said. “City Council needs to be strong because City Council is the one that sets the level of service for concurrency.”
Stuart said she would be the right person to dig into the math to find the right level of service related to concurrency, pointing to her mechanical engineering background.
Environment
Nearly all the candidates would support a plastic bag and Styrofoam ban in Sammamish.
Ross, in Position 5, would not support an all out ban but said he would support 100 percent recyclable bags in stores. He said the city needs to make it easy on the consumers of Sammamish, saying that “an all out ban is not practical.”
Ross’ counterparts, Hooshangi and Indapure both said they would support the ban.
“Anytime we reduce the use of plastic consumption it’s pretty much a win for everyone,” Hooshangi said. “If my 4-year-old can remember to do it in Issaquah, I think we can start indoctrinating ourselves to do it in Sammamish as well.”
All the candidates in Position 7 and 3 support the ban.
Robinson, Position 7, said he would take it a step further and want to partner with the schools. Curtright said she would want to look at what other cities have done to learn from them, and that she would want to make it easy on the consumers, too. Stuart said Sammamish has an “obligation to leave this planet in the same, if not better, shape than we found it” and that “if we’re not careful we’re going to have plastic bags, Styrofoam, Twinkies and coach roaches and that’s all that’s going to be left.” Stuart also said that she would not support businesses charging extra for paper bags, were a bag ban in effect.
In Position 3, Howe said the city should “take a page out of [school children’s] notebooks” and support a ban, as many children in school are learning about recycling and composting at an early age. Ghassemieh said she didn’t see a downside to a bag ban. Moran said she would support it but she said there needs to be some kind of education, as harmful bacteria can grow in reusable bags if they’re not washed regularly.
Regarding the tree canopy, all the candidates agreed protecting the city’s natural environment is a top concern.
In Position 7, Curtright applauded the city’s work on the Urban Forest Management Plan; she said the city needs to reexamine how development is allowed to handle trees, referencing clear cutting, and said it’s important to save rare trees.
Robinson said it’s more than the tree canopy that needs protecting, but the environment as a whole, as everything is inner connected. Again he pointed to the fact that the city needs a “strong City Council” to set rules for development.
Stuart said that the city needs to be prepared to move on the Urban Forest Management Plan when that data comes in and that the city needs to rely on its experts. She said the city needs to encourage clustering trees, saving mature trees and making sure developers replace growth with appropriate trees.
All three candidates in Position 3 are for bringing on an arborist as city staff.
Ghassemieh said she would also consider creating some kind of task force to monitor the tree situation around the city. She said there needs to be some more education about what the Urban Forest Management Plan should look like.
Howe and Moran both aim to become a “tree city,” which includes bringing an arborist on as a full-time staff member. Howe called this goal “aspirational.” “Let’s set our sights higher,” she said.
Moran said the first thing that needs to happen is stopping the clear cutting: “Sometimes I come down 228th and think the only tree that’s going to be left is the tree that’s on the water tour.” She also said the city needs to be careful it doesn’t inhibit property owners’ rights, pointing to the fact that she’s trying to remove a dead tree on her property.
In Position 5, Hooshangi, too, would see an arborist join city staff. She also said that “too much old growth is coming down.”
Indapure laid out a three-pronged system to save the tree canopy: have species diversity, encourage private businesses and residents to plant more trees, and to partner with organizations to work within the community to maintain tree structures and to educate residents and businesses on the importance of trees.
Ross said he would like to see more strategic development, pointing to transfer of development rights and up-zoning in exchange for preserving trees. He also encouraged the planting of trees in strategic places and to look at the health of trees, pointing to laminated root rot.
Around 140 people attended the forum Monday. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Around 140 people attended the forum Monday. Megan Campbell/staff photo
The Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter moderated the event. Megan Campbell/staff photo
There was standing room only to hear the primary candidates speak at the forum Monday. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Position 3 candidates, from left to right, Minal Ghassemieh, Karen Howe and Karen Moran. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Immigration attorney Minal Ghassemieh, 36, has lived in Sammamish with her husband and three young children for six years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 3, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Marketing consultant Karen Howe, 61, has lived in Sammamish with her family for 25 years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 3, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Sammamish Plateau Water Board President Karen Moran, 54, has lived in Sammamish for 30 years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 3, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Position 5 candidates, from left to right, Ryika Hooshangi, Rituja Indapure and Chris Ross. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Ryika Hooshangi, 37, has lived in Sammamish for five years with her husband. They have a 4-year-old and baby on the way, due in November. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 5, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Rituja Indapure, 44, has lived in the Klahanie neighborhood with her family for 15 years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 5, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Chris Ross, 55, has lived in Sammamish for seven years with his wife and raised two of his four children on the plateau. He’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 5, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Position 7 candidates, from left to right, Melanie Curtright, John Robinson and Pam Stuart. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Melanie Curtright, 57, has lived in Sammamish with her two sons for 14 years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 7, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
John Robinson, 68, has lived in Sammamish with his wife and four daughters for 28 years. He’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 7, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
Pam Stuart, 48, has lived in Sammamish with her husband and two children for 15 years. She’s running for Sammamish City Council Position 5, which will see a primary in August. Megan Campbell/staff photo
