Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, October 31, 2014
www.issaquahreporter.com
The Bond Defense
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Opinion........................Page 4 Education....................Page 9 Arts...............................Page 10 Sports..........................Page 12 Classifieds.................Page 16
Critics assert Tiger Mtn. High closure violates 2012 bond package vote. District officials say that’s simply not the case.
Sports
BY DANIEL NASH ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
Arts
Taking Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF to the next level BY BRYAN TRUDE
ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
John Lennon exhibit to benefit Hopelink Page 10
Weather The forecast for today, Friday, calls for a 90 percent chance of showers expected to let up in the evening. The high will be near 56 with a low near 46. The weekend is expected to be partly sunny on Saturday, with rain likely on the succeeding days through Tuesday.
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At this time of year, as kids hit the streets in costume looking for candy, many also take the opportunity to trick-or-treat for charity. However, a pair of Sammamish kids are taking their efforts to the next level for the benefit of the United Nations International Childrens’ Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Ajay Gupta, 11, along with his sister Reva, 9, are in their third year campaigning for “Trick or Treat for UNICEF,” distributing small orange donation boxes through-
out the community to be collected after Halloween. “UNICEF takes that money and helps children in need,” Ajay said. “It helps children in places where there is war, where there is not enough water or where they can’t go to school.” What sets the Guptas apart is that while many kids just bring the box with them on Halloween night, Ajay and Reva distribute hundreds of boxes. Last year, their efforts raised about $2,000 for UNICEF. SEE UNICEF, 7
Balanced budget for Samm. BY BRYAN TRUDE ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
When City Manager Ben Yacizi presents his preliminary 2015-2016 budget to the public, he will present a balanced budget that utilizes a projected $4.7 million increase in tax revenue. The preliminary biennium budget for 2015 and 2016 will be presented for a first reading and public hearing Nov. 4, during the next regular meeting of the Sammamish City Council. “Consistent with years past, this budget holds the
line on taxes as it reflects not taking the one percent property tax allowable by state law for the seventh consecutive year, despite constant economic and mandated challenges,” Yacizi wrote in a letter to councilmembers that accompanied the preliminary budget packet. As proposed, Yacizi’s 52-page budget will allow for more than $92 million in expenditures in 2015, drawing from more than $137 million in projected revenues and leftover balances from 2014, according
to documents provided by the city of Sammamish. While revenues and leftover balances are expected to fall by about $37 million for 2016, expenditures are also set to fall by about $26 million, leaving city coffers more than $34 million going into the next biannual budget. One of the goals of the budget was to keep a strong reserve of at least 26 percent of the total budget, even after 2015-2016 obligations are met, Yacizi wrote.
SEE TIGER MOUNTAIN, 2
EASTSIDE SENIOR
EAuLT idHe HOUSING HG
The Upside of l Over the Hil e Adult Day Car
ur ManageatiYo Medic ons
Beating Winter Blues
Medicare
Tips Enrollment
A SUPPLEME
SEE BUDGET, 16
NT OF
Bellevue • Bothell
re • Kirkland
• Issaquah • Kenmo
• Mercer Island
• Redmond •
Sammamish •
Snoqualmie Valley
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EASTSIDE SENIOR
HOUSING HEALTH AND
Issaquah girls soccer finishes undefeated Page 12
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BRYAN TRUDE, Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter
Ajay (left) and Reva Gupta have teamed up for three years now to raise money for UNICEF during Halloween. Last year, the Guptas raised about $2,000.
At its Oct. 22 regular meeting, the Issaquah School Board voted unanimously to close Tiger Mountain Community High School at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. In the more than month-long public hearing process leading up to the vote, many speakers appealed to the heart: how it helped them or their child change their lives, how it helped them escape bullying or how it put them back on track to earn their diploma or a place in the job market. But some protesting closure questioned the very legality of a school board vote. Call it “the bond defense”: The theory that, because Tiger Mountain High was included in a bond package approved by voters, it is the voter’s will that it stay open and is thus immune from closure. That was the defense put forward by Mitchell Reed, the parent of a Tiger Mountain Companion student. “It’s that very information opinion many of us voted upon,” Reed article, [4] said. “Clearly and unambiguously the (election) FAQ told the voters Tiger Mountain would be improved and strengthened and would continue, in terms of its programs, to exist.” The renovation and relocation of Tiger Mountain Community High School was included as a project in the $219 million construction and maintenance bond approved by voters in the April 2012 special election. The Tiger Mountain project called for the campus to be relocated to a portion of the Issaquah Middle School campus to expand career and technical education offerings, at a cost of $3.9 million. Critics of the closure have said Issaquah School District needs to stick to the bond package’s promise. But school board members countered before their vote that they would, in fact, be sticking to their promise — minus the Tiger Mountain name.
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