Press Editorial
March 9, 2010
No Saturday mail beats another price increase
The United States Postal Service is projecting a $7 billion loss this year, and the picture looks even more bleak over the course of the next decade. Saturday delivery is on the chopping block, but is controversial among many. It shouldn’t be. Read more
Press Editorial
March 2, 2010
Klahanie Park users must share in solution
The decision about the future of Klahanie Park has gone on long enough. Long enough to keep Klahanie residents awake at night, wondering if their central park will become a field of weeds. Read more
Press Editorial
February 23, 2010
School tax change bears consideration
A proposal in the state Senate that would shift property taxes from local districts to the state in order to fund education has the seed of good public policy, but must be explored further. Read more
Rapid Response
February 23, 2010
What benefits and problems do you see regarding the coming Swedish Medical Center campus? Read more
Press Editorial
February 16, 2010
In a perfect world, state Republicans would be right. The Democratic-controlled Legislature is on the verge of relaxing a voter-approved referendum that requires a two-thirds majority to raise taxes. The House version of the bill would return the two-thirds majority requirement in July 2011. We like that. Read more
Press Editorial
February 2, 2010
Library levy request misleads voters
Seattle Public Libraries are cutting costs by cutting hours at most of its libraries, while adding hours at other key library locations. The King County Library System should do the same. Instead, it is asking voters for more taxes, to return its maintenance and operations levy to the highest allowed levy rate of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Read more
Off The Press
January 26, 2010
Community center’s youth mentors shine
Greg Farrar Press photographer
There’s nothing like wading into the frenetic craziness of more than 500 newly minted teenagers at districtwide middle school dances, like the one held Friday night at the Issaquah Community Center.
Hundreds of gyrating, cheering, talking kids crowd the dance floor. Rock and pop music is being played loudly enough to bust an eardrum. Rainbow and mirrored disco balls and strobes turn the darkened floor into a spectacular light show for the students. Music videos by their favorite bands generate screams that remind an older generation of Beatlemania!
It presents a timely opportunity to express appreciation to the people with Parks and Recreation, who put on events all year. Wonderful folks like Cathy Jones, Stephanie Shimek, Brian Berntsen and Ross Hoover have been working with kids as long as or longer than I’ve been working at The Press. Read more
Press Editorial
January 26, 2010
School levies deserve your attention, your vote
If your Feb. 9 election ballot is still sitting in a pile of unopened mail, dig it out and mail it in. The No. 1 concern with passing the levies is getting enough voters to care. If you have kids or grandkids in school or soon to be in school, you probably do care. If you don’t, then care anyway — because the kids in the neighborhood today don’t deserve any less of an education just because the economy is in turmoil. Read more
Off The Press
January 19, 2010
Musical honors Kentlake teacher’s career, legacy
As a Press reporter for four years, it has been my privilege to recount residents’ stories of trials and triumph. I actually look forward to the sometimes-long Issaquah School Board meetings.
What I enjoy most, though, is being welcomed into your schools to talk to your children and grandchildren. Whether they are learning to invert a fraction or hosting a penny drive, they have taught me more than I have taught them.
In the past year, I have worked extensively on a story for our Living magazine, due out Feb. 10, about Issaquah’s mini philanthropists.
In the course of interviews, I have uncovered a truism to living a successful and complete life — give yourself, your talents and your ideas to the world to make it a better place.
This may not be a revelation, but I have found that taking the step to take a risk and share yourself determines your success. Read more
Press Editorial
January 19, 2010
Welcome back, Tent City residents
Tent City 4 residents move back into Issaquah on Saturday, to the same parking lot at Issaquah Community Church where they lived in summer and fall 2007.* Some of the longtime campers said Issaquah was one of the most welcoming towns they’d ever stayed in.
There is no doubt that they will be just as welcome this time around. Why wouldn’t they? Many of them became community volunteers while they were here last time. These are men and women who have no criminal backgrounds of concern, they are mostly employed and mostly self-sufficient, but without much in the way of material wealth. And whatever job they have isn’t enough to afford them the luxury of a heated apartment.
And so they will arrive to spend the remainder of winter living in little tents under blue vinyl tarps, using portable toilets in the cold of night, relying on an outdoor microwave to heat soup and water.
Volunteers are what make it possible and welcoming. Volunteers bring in hot meals, provide labor for moving day and offer friendship, smiles and encouraging words.
Issaquah will welcome the residents at the library and in our stores, as seatmates on the buses on our streets.
In return, Tent City 4 residents welcome you to come by for a visit to the little city they cobble together for the short time they are here. Their lifestyle is an opportunity to learn a bit about the different roads where life leads us.
*This editorial contains corrected information.
