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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015
Mayor proposes property tax increase BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
City property taxes could take another jump next year under Mayor Suzette Cooke’s proposed
budget. Cooke scolded the City Council during her mid-biennium budget presentation on Tuesday night for turning down her plan last fall to
raise the business and occupation (B&O) tax and start a vehicle license tab fee of $20 per year. Cooke said Council President Dana Ralph told her those revenue options were
off the table, so the mayor decided to go with a property tax hike. “I turned to the one revenue source you tapped last year, our banked property tax capacity,”
BY HEIDI SANDERS hsanders@kentreporter.com
While there may not be a fairy godmother to turn a pumpkin into a carriage, the Cinderella Project helps make homecoming memorable for high school students in Kent. Each homecoming and prom season, the Kent Area Council PTA-run program brings its collection of more than 1,000 dresses – varying in color, size and style – to the district’s high schools for girls to borrow at no cost. All that’s needed to borrow one is a student ID card and a form signed by a parent. The program, which has been around for about 10 years, is open to all students regardless of income. When Amy Bickleman took
over as chair for the project in 2012, students had to pick out the dresses at Kent Phoenix Academy, where they are stored. Bickleman wanted to make the process more convenient for students, so she got rolling garment racks to hang the dresses, and started bringing them to each of the schools before the dances. “We wanted to make it easy for the kids to borrow the dress without having to go somewhere,” she said. Girls return the dresses to their school the Monday after the dance. When Bickleman started with the project, there were about 200 dresses. Community members and students have donated previously worn dresses to the project. “I haven’t bought a single dress,” Bickleman said. On Monday and Tuesday, racks of dresses filled Kentridge’s orchestra room. [ more DRESSES page 9 ]
[ more TAX page 8]
Circus to take hiatus from Kent shows
FAIRYTALE GOWNS Cinderella Project loans homecoming dresses to students
Cooke said of her efforts to balance the budget with expenditures and revenue of about $87 million in 2016. The property tax jump would generate about $863,000 per year and cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $20 more per year.
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Don’t expect to see the circus back for at least a couple of years or more to Kent’s ShoWare Center or anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest. Feld Entertainment, Inc., the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses, will soon close down the touring unit that appeared last weekend at the ShoWare Center and Oct. 1-4 at the Xfinity Arena in Everett. “We’re being told they are taking the gold (touring) unit off the road,” said Tim Higgins, ShoWare general manager, during a phone interview last Friday. The circus has appeared every year at the ShoWare Center since it opened in 2009. The first year Ringling Bros. brought their largest unit, known as the three-ring circus, to Kent. That unit travels by train and the stop included a
Hanoor Dhillon, a Kentridge High School freshman, tries on a dress on Tuesday before borrowing it from Cinderella Project to wear to homecoming. HEIDI SANDERS, Kent Reporter
[ more CIRCUS page 4 ]
Siahna Im, a Kentlake High School student, performs NBC’s “The Voice.” Im made it through the blind auditions to the battle rounds of the hit show. COURTESY PHOTO, NBC
Kentlake student shines on ‘The Voice’ BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@kentreporter.com
Performing on a big stage in front of many people is as natural as breathing to Siahna Im. “I just love to make people smile. I was just having the time of my life,” said the 15-year-old
Auburn girl, a Kentlake High School student, who recently survived the first round of blind auditions on NBC’s “The Voice”. Advancing to the battle rounds of the hit television show, Im secured a spot on Team Pharrell Williams. Episodes air
at 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on KING-5. Singing the classic tune, “Fever,” rendered famously by Peggy Lee in 1959, Im pulled off the unexpected, wowing the judges. [ more VOICE page 4 ]
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