BELLEVUE
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SPORTS | Bellevue’s undefeated streak continues as Wolverines knock off another national football power [12]
Business | Bellevue’s Bungie celebrates launch Community | $500,000 pledge boosts Boys and Girls Clubs new of first post-Microsoft title, Destiny; fans get downtown clubhouse [3] glimpse of inner workings [10] FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014
Council spars over new shoreline plan High water mark passes by slim margin BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
State Rep. Cyrus Habib shares his story of becoming blind at age 8 with Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci, whose son uses hearing aids. BRANDON MACZ, Bellevue Reportert
Rotary hits milestone for Inspiration Playground Downtown Park play area to be inclusive of children, adults of all abilities BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
Washington Rep. Cyrus Habib lost his sight when he was eight years old while attending Somerset Elementary in Bellevue. As a child, he said he wanted to play on the jungle gym as much as any 8-year-old. "They kept me by the side of the school with the recess lady and the teachers while the rest of the kids played," he said during Tuesday's Rotary Club of Bellevue luncheon at
Bellevue's Downtown Park. Habib's mom took him to the principal, where she told the administrator she would teach him how to navigate the playground. "She said, 'I can fix a broken arm. I can never fix a broken spirit.' " The occasion at the park was to celebrate the club reaching its Inspiration Playground funding milestone of $1.8 million. A public-private partnership with the city, the rotary club hopes to raise $4.3 million for the outdoor play environment that will be accessible to children and adults of all abilities. Not only will the park offer sensory-rich play and equipment that allows children with disabilities to interact with their peers, it will let disabled adults play with their children and grandchildren, said former
Mayor Claudia Balducci took offense to several Bellevue councilmembers calling the city's 2004 high-water mark "arbitrary" and a "guess" during Monday night's discussion on how to finalize a shoreline master plan for state review. City staff sought input Monday on how to finalize the shoreline plan, mandated by the state Department of Ecology, which will ultimately have say in whether it sufficiently protects Washington’s shoreline. Balducci opposed a motion by Councilmember Jennifer Robertson to amend the ordinary high water mark to 31.2 feet for Lake Sammamish, the mean elevation determined under a 2004 study. The city has been using a standard deviation of 31.76 feet since 2006, which was meant to ensure at least 95 percent of shoreline properties weren't measuring setbacks below the true OHWM. "It's an actual measurement. It's scientific," Balducci said, upset several councilmembers felt the study set an arbitrary high water marker. "Again, I don't think it's the hill we need to die on tonight." SEE SHORELINE, 7
Condo owners don’t buy city’s flood explanation BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
Rotary Club of Bellevue President Rob Rose. Drawing from similar experiences volunteering with the club's Nepal Disability Awareness Project, Rose said children with disabilities are initially pitied on the playground. "Within a half-hour (children) see
Newport Villas condo owners don't buy the city of Bellevue's assertion that a 1,000-year flood event was responsible for flooding in Factoria that damaged their properties Aug. 13. "We're adamant about the fact that the city of Bellevue is at fault," said Betsi Selset, who has been living on the second floor of her condo on Southeast 42nd Street for more than three weeks now. "My oven hadn't even been used and I had mud all the way in my oven, and my dishwasher and my refrigerator." Distrust of the city mounted when Tresa Berg with the city's transportation department initially said filtering wa-
SEE PLAYGROUND, 11
SEE CONDO, 6
A passerby looks at an artist rendering of the Inspiration Playground. BRANDON MACZ, Bellevue Reporter
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