At a recent Sammamish City Council meeting the Parks and Recreation Department and some of its allies on the council took issue with a suggestion for a system to count the number of citizens making use of the parks, and to use this counting in planning current and future city parks and recreation budgets.

I want to commend John Curley and other council members who are in favor of the very logical idea of setting up a process to count how many people actually use the city parks and in what way. The Parks Department lobbies for ever increasing spending for parks but objects to counting how many people actually use the parks. Really? A classic example of out of control spending by unelected bureaucrats.

As one would also expect, the Parks Department and its allies on the council are eager to have the so called Community Center project put up for a vote of the taxpayers, but what exactly would the taxpayers be voting on?

Last year a wildly optimistic plan and budget was created by advocates for the center. Many questions remained unanswered and the cost was still too high. But look at the history of city projects: Even a relatively simple project like the East Lake Sammamish Parkway Phase B, or adding a simple driveway to the Activity Center run wildly over budget. What does this imply about the city’s ability to accurately determine the cost of building and operating a complex like the Community Center? A valid ballot initiative for the Community Center isn’t possible based on the current plan.

Saying “No” to new projects will never be as exciting or rewarding in the short term as envisioning, constructing and operating shining new city recreational monuments. But saying “No,” and maintaining a balanced fiscally responsible city budget that delivers the TRUE “vital city services” during the coming decades is the highest duty of our city government. Those on the council and a city manager who pursue this proper goal by saying “No” are to be commended.

Jeffrey Weems, Sammamish