Union trash haulers offer to end strike
April 22, 2010
NEW — 4:05 p.m. April 22, 2010
Waste Management trash haulers represented by the Teamsters Union offered to return to work at midnight Friday.
The union said haulers plan to return to work without conditions “to prevent a public health crisis” and reduce service disruptions.
Waste Management trash haulers represented by Teamsters Local 174 went on strike Wednesday morning. The company picks up garbage in most of Issaquah, except for the Greenwood Point and South Cove neighborhoods. Altogether, Waste Management serves more than 1 million customers across King and Snohomish counties.
Longtime City Administrator Leon Kos will retire April 30
April 22, 2010
NEW — 1:01 p.m. April 22, 2010
Longtime City Administrator Leon Kos will retire next week.
Kos has served as city administrator — the No. 2 official in the city administration — for 33 years. Issaquah has grown by more than 22,000 residents since Kos started in 1977. Issaquah now claims about 27,000 residents.
Kos will step down April 30. Deputy City Administrator Joe Meneghini will serve as acting city administrator while the city works with a search firm to recruit a successor to Kos. The process could last four to six months. Read more
County officials encourage residents to celebrate Earth Day
April 22, 2010
NEW — 6 a.m. April 22, 2010
Earth Day turns 40 on Thursday, but local officials plan to keep the annual eco celebration fresh with events and initiatives.
King County Council members proclaimed Thursday as Earth Day. The county will host the Earth Day Expo at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle.
The event will feature speakers and vendors to help attendees learn more about how to reduce their carbon footprints and live a “green” lifestyle. Participants will also receive discounts and incentives for eco-friendly products and services.
“Annual Earth Day celebrations have been very successful at raising awareness about the challenges we face in preserving our natural environment as well as the many solutions available,” Councilwoman Kathy Lambert — who represents Issaquah and other parts of the Eastside — said in a statement. “For example, it is great to see people taking many steps to help our environment, such as bringing their own cloth bags to the grocery store.”
Officials urge Waste Management, union to resolve garbage strike
April 21, 2010
UPDATED — 5:10 p.m. April 21, 2010
King County leaders urged a quick settlement to the strike against Waste Management by garbage haulers represented by Teamsters Local 174.
County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn sent a joint letter to Waste Management and the union Wednesday.
Waste Management trash haulers represented by the Local 174 went on strike Wednesday morning. The company picks up garbage in most of Issaquah, except for the Greenwood Point and South Cove neighborhoods. Altogether, Waste Management serves more than 1 million customers across King and Snohomish counties.
State budget: School officials breathe sigh of relief
April 20, 2010
Issaquah School District officials announced that with the state’s supplemental budget they will be able to maintain programs and class sizes at existing levels and will not have to lay off teachers this year.
State legislators approved the state’s supplemental budget late April 12 and adjourned for the year.
The compromise took nearly the full 30-day special session to orchestrate, but will raise just less than $800 million in funding over the next year.
The funding will come from additional taxes on cigarettes, beer and soda. Lawmakers also extended a sales tax to bottled water, candy and gum. Other tax initiatives include ensuring that out-of-state companies pay Washington taxes.
The budget cuts about $755 million, including about $120 million in kindergarten through 12th-grade education. In the 2009-11 budget, the original apportionment for kindergarten-through 12th-grade education was $13.56 billion. With the reductions, its 2009-11 allocation is about $13.44 billion during the biennium, according to information provided by the Washington State School Directors Association. Read more
Plan for overnight SR 900 closures
April 20, 2010
Crews will close lanes on state Route 900 overnight through April 23 for roadwork. Workers will close up to two lanes in both directions of SR 900 between Newport Way Northwest and Southeast 83rd Street from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The work will take place as crews near completion of the yearslong effort to widen SR 900 and improve access for bicyclists and pedestrians through the corridor.
The state Department of Transportation opened two new lanes on almost a mile of the road between Southeast 82nd Street and Newport Way Northwest on April 14. But workers will wait for drier, warmer weather to add the final layer of pavement and road striping. Expect more activity in the weeks ahead as workers complete the $33.9 million project.
Crews widened the road from Newport Way Northwest to the vicinity of Northwest Talus Drive and Southeast 82nd Street. Narrow shoulders bracketed the old, single-lane roadway.
Workers added a lane in each direction and a left-turn lane in the center of the roadway, as well as a bike lane and a raised sidewalk on the west side of the road.
Crews also installed a synchronized signal system to help smooth traffic for the 16,000 or so drivers who use the road every day. Workers replaced the culverts at Clay Pit Creek and the west fork of Tibbetts Creek as well. The updated culverts should improve fish passage through the waterways and protect against storm damage.
City ordinance cuts number of false alarm calls
April 20, 2010
Percentage of false alarms remains high
Issaquah Police officers race to dozens of alarm calls each month — only to discover homeowners or new employees who inadvertently tripped their alarms and triggered almost all of the alerts.
Police and city officials took action last year with a city ordinance to reduce the number of false alarms. The number of false alarm calls dropped by 63 percent between January 2008 — 18 months before officials approved the ordinance — and January 2010.
Officers received 71 false alarm calls in January 2009, compared to 36 in January 2010. The police department said the measure saved 20 hours in officer time during January.
The number for February dropped from 40 to 28, and the calls fell from 84 to 47 in March during the same timeframe. The city released the data April 14.
Police consider a false alarm to occur if officers respond to a call triggered by a security alarm and — after officers investigate the scene — find no evidence of a criminal offense or attempted criminal activity. Read more
Pet owners, beware of distemper outbreak
April 20, 2010
King County and state wildlife officials encouraged residents to avoid feeding wildlife, keep domestic pets away from wild animals and ensure pets have updated vaccinations, in response to a canine distemper outbreak last week.
King County Animal Care and Control responded to a report of a raccoon believed to have distemper in Gilman Village just after noon April 9. Officers took the animal into custody and had the animal euthanized by a local veterinarian. King County spokeswoman Christine Lange said officers did not take the animal to a shelter due to the highly contagious nature of canine distemper.
Officials also received reports of sick raccoons in Bellevue, Redmond and Renton. Officers also picked up three raccoon carcasses on the Eastside in recent days.
The county then submitted samples from a raccoon collected in Bellevue to Washington State University for disease testing. Results from the university lab confirmed the animal had canine distemper, Lange said.
Humans cannot contract canine distemper, but the disease spreads among dogs and ferrets, as well as wild animals, such as raccoons, coyotes, skunks and weasels.
Police arrest three suspects for Talus burglary
April 20, 2010
A fast-food run landed three Issaquah residents in trouble with the law April 5.
Issaquah Police arrested the suspects — a pair of 16-year-old boys and a male, 18-year-old exchange student — after officers said they burglarized a Talus home March 31.
Police said the men entered the occupied residence in the 700 block of Bear Ridge Drive Northwest between 8 and 9 p.m. The homeowners realized the incident had occurred after a victim discovered a purse missing from the kitchen. They determined someone had entered the home through an unlocked door.
A credit card from the purse was used at a fast-food restaurant not long after the purse disappeared. Police used surveillance video from the restaurant to identify the suspects.
Officers arrested the suspects April 5, and then booked them at the Issaquah City Jail and released them.
Tea Party activists and opponents rally in downtown Issaquah
April 20, 2010
Tea Party activists came to downtown Issaquah on a cloudy afternoon last week to brew discontent with the policies of Congress and the Obama administration.
Issaquah and Eastside residents gathered for about 90 minutes for the Tea Party rally and a smaller counter-rally organized by the 5th District Democrats. The dueling events attracted about 120 people — about 100 for the Tea Party rally and about 20 Democrats.
Participants held aloft colorful signs at the corner of Front Street and Sunset Way to cacophony of honks as drivers passed the intersection. Others carried U.S. and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags — a yellow banner with a coiled snake and a symbol of anti-government protest.
Issaquah resident Tim Ooyman said he attended the Tea Party rally to protest federal spending and the way President Obama and lawmakers handled the healthcare-reform bill.
“The silent majority needs to stop being silent,” he said.
Ooyman and other activists picked April 15 — the federal deadline for filing income-tax returns — for the rally. Local activists also held events in Bellevue and Seattle. Washington State Patrol officials estimated the Tea Party crowd at the state Capitol in Olympia at 3,000 people. Read more
