The head honchos up at Sammamish City Hall love to trot out that tired old beast “Money Magazine voted us the 9th best place to live in America…”

Sure, it’s great news the Plateau is the sort of place that readers of Money Magazine like, but, please, the self-promotion gets tacky after about the 50th pat on the back.

(A thought for another time – from memory, Money Magazine gave Sammamish a grade of ‘A-’ for ‘Diversity.’ At last count, the population of the Plateau was 87.8 percent white, with a racial diversity index close to half that of the national average. Raises questions as to what Money Magazine considers the ideal…)

Anyway, the other oft-repeated phrase by Sammamish councilors and officials is that one-third of the population on the Plateau is under 18. It is a statistic they say must inform the development of facilities and opportunities on the Plateau.

Paying lip service is a criticism sometimes leveled at governments of all sizes. While the Sammamish council certainly is fond of talking a good game when it comes to the young ‘uns, the time has come to see if they can walk the walk.

The lack of any facilities or programs for teenagers outside of school hours was the main reason the city was under so much pressure to get moving on a teen center on the Plateau. The 24-hour skate park was a bold and courageous move for which the city is to be commended, as is the annual Teen Fest. But the big ticket was the long-awaited purchase of the old library to be converted into a teen center.

Now, I say “teen center” because during all the discussions I heard in the year prior, that was what people called it. The understanding was that it would be a place for the kids – a place to hold gigs, art shows, to hang out and call their own.

Since then, however, older residents of the Plateau have made the case that the center should accommodate their needs too, for classes, a place to socialize – for much the same reasons that the teens want to be there.

As the seniors started to crank up the pressure, the council made it their policy that the new center would be a “recreation center,” and would accommodate both groups.

For mine, it was interesting to see how quickly they responded to the seniors’ demands, when for years the requests of the teen population fell largely on deaf ears. I guess that’s what happens when you aren’t old enough to own property, or vote.

As I saw at the council’s study session on Monday, in its eagerness to provide a space that is everything to all people, they are in danger of building an underutilized and unpopular mess.

John Curley may have been putting words in the mouth of the Sammamish Youth Board when he suggested they were feeling “cheated” over the teen center, but he had summed up the mood.

“Our concern is that the teen population is not going to be the priority at the teen center,” said SYB Chair Christopher Williamson. “And we’re afraid the Boys and Girls Club might not always know what our interests are. They are not teenagers, and they are not necessarily from Sammamish.”

The board is asking they be more involved with the planning of the thing, rightly concerned that they are being left out of the discussions as the city bends more to the will of those closer to city hall.

But this group of kids is a force to be reckoned with. They are razor-sharp, articulate, organized, and they know what they want. They raise valid points. “There are existing resources in Sammamish that cater to the recreational/social needs of children and seniors, and both these age groups have more options for accessibility,” Williamson wrote in his memo to the council. To wit – active seniors can drive to Redmond, Issaquah or Bellevue. Most active teens cannot, and until the city/county does something about the poor state of bus connections on and off the Plateau, they are held hostage to their locale. It was the entire rationale behind the creation of a teen center in the first place.

The city is demonstrating a lot of formal goodwill toward the youth board, but as yet I haven’t seen that they are actually listening to the message – that having them sit in on council meetings now and then is anything more than a novelty, or lip service.

The ridiculous matter that came before the council on Monday night, to close the skate park between the hours of 1 – 5 a.m., demonstrates that there are enough people on or around the council that can still do a frighteningly good impersonation of a fuddy-duddy.

That may be okay for the people at Money Magazine. But my feeling is the council are staring straight at the real big-value resource of the Plateau. Trouble is, they are not hearing them, too busy smiling and patting them on the head.