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Residents want Sound Transit held to strict standards City working to update land use code developed years before light rail issue BY CELINA KAREIVA BELLEVUE REPORTER
Trevor Marshall, a street outreach worker at Friends of Youth, passes out flyers to alert teens and adolescents to the services available. COURTESY PHOTO
Young – and homeless Schools, service agencies working to help students BY CELINA KAREIVA BELLEVUE REPORTER
Imagine spending the night in your car with your parents and siblings; doing homework without a desk; or having your school peers ask why you’d worn the same shirt every day for the past week. Spotlighting homelessness has long been an issue for the Eastside, says Terry Pottmeyer president of Friends of Youth, in part because of misconceptions that all Bellevue residents
are wealthy. But this year the Bellevue school district reported 142 homeless students. While that’s down from 185 last year, Betty Takahashi, the district’s homeless liaison, says that the number of homeless students in 2012 is nearly three times as many as when she first started in 2006. Statewide, the numbers are even more alarming: 27,000 homeless students. “We’ve seen a 48 percent increase in the number of young people,” said Pottmeyer of the entire Eastside, “a staggering increase in two years.” While those trends mirror other school districts, calculations are
thought to be a gross under-estimate of the real issue. The problem is twofold — districts rely on students to self-report and youth, sometimes out of embarrassment, and sometimes because they think of homelessness as an “urban problem,” don’t identify. Under the federal McKinney-Vento law, school districts are required to track the number of homeless students. They’re also obligated to provide them with the same academic opportunities as any of their peers. “The kids are usually very emotional,” says Takahashi. “It’s a trauSEE HOMELESS, 5
Holding a red streamer of crepe paper high above the Bellevue City Council chamber room Monday night, Renay Bennett, joined by two neighbors, showcased the 30 foot buffer proposed by Sound Transit for the space between the East Link line and private residences, really is. “There’s more setback between my teenager’s room and my kitchen,” said Bennett. “Thirty feet is not enough of a setback to address the visual, safety and noise impacts of a train in front of people’s homes.” It was a presentation deputy mayor Jennifer Robertson later called illuminating. In the nearly three hour public hearing that followed, many residents echoed Bennett’s concern about noise, traffic, granting permits and the need to uphold strict city standards. When East Link wraps construction in 2023, it will pass through at least 20 different land use districts. To account for a code developed years before light rail was planned for the Eastside, council has been reviewing and revising its land use code in a series of meetings that began last October. The new section, SEE LAND USE, 7
VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR OVERSIGHT PANEL Sound Transit is seeking Eastside volunteers for its Citizen Oversight Panel. The 15-member group independently monitors Sound Transit to make sure it meets its commitments to build and operate a regional bus, light rail and commuter rail transit system. The group meets twice monthly during normal business hours with the task of digging into agency details, asking hard questions and reporting its findings to the Sound Transit Board of Directors. Those interested must be a registered voter within the Sound Transit District and reside and/ or work in East King County. They should have skills in one or more areas related to the panel’s responsibilities: business and finance management; engineering; large projects construction management; public facilities and services; government processes; and public policy development or review. More information is available via email at main@soundtransit. org or by writing Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104 A completed application and resume must be sent to Pat McCarthy, Sound Transit Board Chair, 401 South Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98104-2826 by March 6.
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