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NEWS | First round of Metro bus cuts are on the way [8] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [3]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
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Frontier officials meet with customers to discuss outages ANDY NYSTROM anystrom@redmond-reporter.com
As Bret Larsen glanced at the screen displaying photos of the mangled underground cables, he noted, “It’s not a pretty sight.” Melinda White added, “It’s a major catastrophe that happened in our network.” On Wednesday night, the two Frontier Communications executives addressed a crowd of about
100 Redmond residents and business owners about what happened at 9:30 a.m. last Saturday and what the plan of action is to repair the unpleasant situation. An IMCO General Construction crew working on the Redmond Way Stormwater Treatment Facility project on Saturday cut through fiber and copper cables and disrupted Frontier’s FiOS and copper services for phone, television and hi-speed Internet, as
well as some 911 services. The crew caused the outage at 15802 Bear Creek Parkway at the corner of Bear Creek Parkway and Redmond Way, affecting about 6,000 residential and business customers. “The contractor was excavating a trench and installing a storm drainpipe — it was a mistake, the contractor hit cables,” said Linda De Boldt, City of Redmond Public Works director, as the crowd listened
at the meeting that took place in the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center auditorium. She said the outage is under investigation. Seconds before De Boldt took the microphone, Redmond resident Norman L. Wherrett Jr. shook his head and asked aloud, “Where’s the mayor?” De Boldt noted that she was representing the city at the meeting and would supply information. De Boldt said the city is
working closely with Frontier to restore all services as soon as possible. Frontier repair crews restored 911 services by 7 a.m. on Sunday. As of Wednesday afternoon, Frontier’s Vicky Oxley said that 100 percent of FiOS services had been restored, but not all of their copper services. Frontier began working on restoring copper services on Tuesday night and Oxley said the process could last into the
weekend. “Frontier Communications continues to work diligently to restore services in the Redmond area,” Oxley said. “Frontier understands the importance of staying connected. We appreciate our customers’ patience as we work around the clock to restore services to the Redmond community.” Businesses are taking the brunt of the outage as evidenced by the owners [ more OUTAGES page 6 ]
Political battle for 45th District Senate seat heats up with Supreme Court decision SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
On Sept. 11, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a court order, holding the state Legislature in contempt for failing to make enough progress in addressing the state’s constitutional requirement to fully fund public education. According to court documents, the state is not “meeting its ‘paramount duty…to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.’” “This ruling provides districts with renewed assurance that the Legislature will be held accountable to act to ensure that it is meeting its constitutional obligation to fully fund basic education by 2017-18,” said Lake Washington School District Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce. “This includes funding all-day kindergarten for all students across the state.” She said the district is counting on, and planning for, the Legislature to follow through on its paramount duty. In response to the order, Sen. Andy Hill of the 45th Legislative District, which includes Redmond, released a statement saying, he is “glad the court has again confirmed its commitment to making educa-
tion funding a priority for this state.” “As our primary constitutional duty, funding education must come first when it comes to the budget,” he said in his statement. “One of the main reasons I first ran for office as a PTA dad was to end Olympia’s decades of neglect in prioritizing our schools.” Hill (R) is chair of the State Senate’s Ways & Means committee and a member of the Early Learning & K-12 Education committee. Hill’s statement continued, saying, the court states that the state “’has known for decades that its funding of public education is constitutionally inadequate.’ The ruling adds, ‘This proceeding is therefore the culmination of a long series of events, not merely the result of a single violation.’” Since he was elected, Hill said in his statement that he has “taken steps to end this period of neglect, writing and passing a budget that invested $1 billion more in education, added $4 to education for every $1 of non-education spending increases, and froze college tuition rates.” “While these are simply first steps, they represent the first steps [ more EDUCATION page 6 ]
PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING
Corn-maze exploration
Jocelyn Warrick and her children take a stroll through the corn maze at Dr. Maze’s Farm in Redmond last Saturday. Courtesy of Roger Calhoon