Downtown Snoqualmie Flood Pictures

Many “old timers” are saying this is the biggest flood historic Snoqualmie has seen in years.     Our town had a nice turnout of volunteers to help the many folks who were getting  disposing there water-soaked items.    They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few pics of the flood and the aftermath.

Snoqualmie Falls – Flowing Wide Open

After a week of rain that was preceded by a huge snow fall during the Christmas break, Snoqualmie Falls is flowing at a rate in which I have not witnessed in my 10+ years in the area.   The picture shows what the falls looked like in July and then earlier today (Jan 10, 2009).  What a difference a few months and a mountain of snow/rain make!      Also to be noted – -  a swarm of people visiting  the falls.  Generally the summer weekends bring out  a lot of tourists and the winters are fairly sparse.   Today there was a steady stream of people – - this while some roads were still closed.   The road from Snoqualmie to Fall City (Hwy 202 / Railroad Ave) was closed just north of the Salish Lodge.

The Top 6 Reasons to vote “No” on CC Athletic Club/Pool

There are many people who are passionate about this issue.   I for one do not think this is the right time to build this facility as it is currently proposed.     Let me put my top reasons I am voting ”NO” on the Community Pool/Athletic Club/Center in reverse order:

6) If we were to build the swimming pool we expect much of the financial support to come from outside of the city.  We need other from areas like North Bend, Fall City, and Preston to become members in order to make this financially feasible.  It’s ironic that we expect others to drive here, while we have two pools nearby that we could use.    The swimming pool is the biggest cause for divide on the whole issue.  I will continue to drive the 10.7 miles to the Issaquah pool (my roundtrip gasoline cost is just $3 as I get 25 miles to the gallon and a gallon of gas is $3.50 – - do the math, it’s three dollars roundtrip.)   I will never ask anyone to pay for my swimming habit.

5) The Snoqualmie Casino has pledged $100K a year for 3 years to help support human services.   It seems we  have somehow deemed that providing families with subsidized memberships the best use of these funds.  What about helping needy families  & seniors with their heating, water, and/or electricity bills?   I’m sure there are numerous other “human services” that may be more vital to the community than helping our underpriveledged develop six-pack abs.

4) The $3 Million dollars that Quadrant has earmarked for a Community Center does not mean we need to spend at least $10 Million to fund initial construction.   In addition the City has pledged another million dollars in REET fees.   There are many homeowners in our town that over-reached on their homes because they thought they could afford them.  Sadly, some people in our community have lost their homes and are in need of a bailout.    Given these economic times, will a Community Center someday be in need of a bailout?  If so, those of us left in the community will be the ones funding it.     Not sure what a $3 million dollar community center would look like.  I’ve seen some pretty big & nice million dollar homes in the area, we might need to leave out granite countertops and stainless steel appliances but I imagine some folks in construction could turn out a nice, big meeting hall for $3 million. Can someone get Charlie Connor or William Buchan on the line? 

3) Face it, we’re sticking it to private businesses. The city says they will “partner (not compete) with private businesses” – - check out your voter pamphlet page 105.   I belong to the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge as a Social member.  They have a nice workout facility.   If the Community Center & Workout Club is passed, I will be giving up my membership there and join the YMCA.  This is a FACT.  I am sure many others fall into the same camp.     If we start going this route, what is next?  I can only imagine.  I pay a guy $20 a week to do my lawn, yet the city already has a crew out mowing the parks and median strips. How about city-subsidized gardening services.   I’m sure my lawn guy would understand that the city is not competing with him.  Around the holidays, the city puts up a few lights and decorations – - maybe for a few bucks they’d add my house to the list. 
  
2) When I was a kid, we actually used the public school gyms for community meetings and after-school sports and programs.    Not sure how much after-school use Cascade Elementary School gets but they’ve got a gym, a stage and a kitchen.  School let’s out at 3 o’clock.   Check out page 15 of the school handbook for an overview of our public school facilities (see this link:  http://cves.svsd410.org/07-08%20Student%20Handbook.pdf  )  Speaking of schools, don’t we have shortfalls in our public education needs and since city funds are somewhat limited, shouldn’t we commit funds only to vital areas.  

1) We already have a high property tax rate in Snoqualmie. For example a $550K home on Mercer Island pays $3800 in property tax,   My property tax is already $4500 and my home valuation is under $550K.   Based on my home valuation, I’ll be paying about $155 a year in extra property taxes.    Should we continue to burden more homeowners with more taxes, especially those who do not intend to use the Community Center/Athletic Club/Pool facility.   (I will use the facility but as stated earlier at the expense of the Golf Club.)  

1A)  It’s not like the City has a huge surplus of funds.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.   Shouldn’t we be prepared for a “rainy day” especially since our state has more than its share of rainy days?

Twenty Percent Rise Expected This Halloween

The stars are aligned perfectly and this Halloween is forecast to be the biggest ever on the Ridge. According to the Fairway Avenue Index (FAI) we expect 616 children to visit. This is a 20 percent increase from last year’s record of 512 children.  The tsunami of children that hit in 2007 was unprecedented and unexpected – - as it was a whopping 57% increase from 2006 which saw 326 children.  Reasons for the 2007 wave of humanity are derived from several factors which include the following: good weather (crisp but clear) and a booming housing market (lots of newbies on the Ridge came in late 2006-2007) .

Records in 2005 are spotty since the methodology for counting was rather primitive. Prior to 2006, each kid was counted and with the roving packs of ghouls coming in an endless stream this was challenging especially manning the door solo (bathroom breaks always created havoc and no shortcuts were made getting back to the front door.) A break-through came about in 2006 when we went to the “count-the-candy-not-the-kid” method. We’ve always handed out one candy bar per kid but never really thought enough to actually count the candy bars (insert Costo endorsement here) prior to the big night. There are several reasons to expect this to be the biggest year ever. First all, in anticipation of the big day I have never seen so many houses looking so scary – - spider webs, pumpkins, ghosts, etc. Secondly, with Halloween being on a Friday this should make for a banner year. The only wildcard in the 616 estimate is the weather. The current long range forecast has us for cloudy, partial showers.

Oregon Beats Washington In So Many Ways

 

A Winning Tradition - Oregon Wins 5 in a Row Against Huskies

Attention high school football recruits, if you’re trying to decide between the University of Washington and the University of Oregon the choice is easy. It’s Oregon.

Prior to Saturday’s Opener a friend of mine reminded me that the UW Huskies “owned the Ducks” and that they had won 51 games compared to just 33 for the Ducks. Make that 34 wins for the Ducks after the blow-out victory Saturday night. So while I must admit that the Washington Huskies have “dominated” the Ducks during the history of the two teams playing, this is like bragging that you have a bigger music collection and then revealing that the songs are all on 8-track tape. This “dominance” means nothing to today’s recruits and to today’s football programs.

A Winning Tradition

During the last ten years the Ducks have beaten the Huskies 7 times and they have won the last 5 games they’ve played against each other. Overall the team’s overall records since the 1998 season also heavily favor the Ducks. They’ve won nearly 68% of their games (74-36) while the Huskies have won less than 45% of their games (49-60). The reality is that for today’s high school recruits the tradition of yesteryear does not matter. The only tradition they know is that the Ducks are now a powerhouse and the UW is not and the future points to more of the same. The fact that the UW is behind Oregon was recognized by Washington Athletic Director Todd Turner, when he noted that the UW needed to “catch up” to Oregon. Advantage: Ducks

Coaching Stability

A high school recruit wants to know that the coach that’s pursuing him is going to be there. Mike Bellotti has been the head coach since 1995 and on the Oregon staff since 1989. Meanwhile during the past 10 years the UW program has brought us the Jim Lambright, Rick Neuheisel, Keith Gilbertson and now the Tyrone Willingham eras. UW Alumni have been undermining Willingham for the past year-and-a-half, expecting instant success. The lack of patience and vocal grumbling in Seattle is detrimental to any coaching staff and recruiting efforts – - and what recruit would commit with this instability? Who will Washington be rebuilding with next year? Advantage: Ducks

A Tale of Two Programs

Exciting Innovative Offense

Oregon runs a high-flying, no-huddle offense and is always innovating. Meanwhile, the UW has kept to a vanilla offense that is predictable at best. So far it appears Washington’s top talent Jake Locker has squandered his time at the UW. One can only imagine what he would be doing in Eugene. Last year, when Dennis Dixon went down so did the Ducks. Had Locker been a Duck, there would be a Heisman campaign in the making this year. Instead he’s trying to carry the team on his shoulders. In the past top recruits have chosen Oregon over Washington with great success. Most recently Jonathon Stewart and JR Hasty came out of high school as the top recruited athletes in the state. Stewart chose Oregon, had 3 great seasons before leaping to the NFL as a junior as a number one draft choice. JR Hasty never made an impact on the UW Football team and has left the program. While the offense is exciting and innovative, the defense just might be the strength of the team this year. Advantage: Ducks

Cool Uniforms

Yes, Oregon takes a lot of crap for the 384 plus combinations of jerseys, pants, helmets that they can wear and the “cutting edge” designs but the kids seem to like them and that’s what counts. How many other schools are even mentioned when uniforms are discussed? Somehow Oregon always comes up in the topic. Substitute “

 

 

Marketing” for “Cool Uniforms” because of the school’s close ties with Nike – Oregon is always on the forefront. I do remember some comments on a change that was made when the UW went away from it’s Gold football helmets to a darker purple – certainly didn’t make national headlines with that one. Advantage: Ducks

Check out Oregon’s Crib

You’ve got to love the beautiful water and mountain views when you’re at Husky Stadium and it’s great that it holds more than 70K people – - however Eugene’s Autzen Stadium is one of the loudest in the country. Not sure how many top recruits would chose gazing at lovely Mt. Rainier over watching a replay of them scoring a touchdown or getting a sack on one of the largest and newest digital scoreboards in the country. The workout facilities at Oregon are, let me hear you say it – - “Legendary”. Advantage: Ducks

Television Exposure

It used to be that the major markets would get all of the airtime on TV. This used to be an advantage for the LA schools and Seattle. Today almost every game is televised. Last year Oregon got National Exposure numerous times. The Ducks were featured on ABC three times, ESPN three times, Fox Sports Northwest three Times, and CBS once. A recruit can go almost anywhere and “get on tv”.  Advantage: Even

Academics

Both universities have good academics and run clean programs. Sure both universities have had players get in trouble with the law or drop out of school but nothing that is statistically significantly different from other colleges. In this area, both schools are basically even depending on the academic focus for the recruit. Advantage: Even

 

 

 

 

Boeing Classic Golf Tournament / Awesome Flyby / Bad Swag

Boeing Classic Snoqualmie TPC 2008 Fly By

I rarely watch golf on TV – maybe 10 minutes a year but I do enjoy going to the annual tournament here at Snoqualmie Ridge TPC.  My favorite moment was watching the brand-new 777 Boeing circle the course and then fly over at 1,000 feet.   The plane is destined to serve Emirates airlines.   I was able to get several shots with my pocket camera but with the sun glare on the viewfinder it was very difficult to see the plane.  Given the conditions, I was pleasantly surprised by one of the photos.

Perhaps a sign of the tough economic times – - bad swag.   It’s poor manners to complain about stuff that’s being given out for free, however I did overhear one of the people working the Cadillac booth say that some folks were complaining about the free luggage tags being handed out.    In previous years they have handed out umbrellas (last year), fleece blanket with Cadillac emblem (2006).   That fleece blanket was great as I used it throughout the tournament to sit on the grass and watch the tournament.  I’ve used it  other times as well and keep it neatly rolled up in the trunk of my car.      I passed on the luggage tags as I have a “system” for finding my luggage in the carousel.   My black luggage is not unique and as anyone with black luggage knows – - it seems to be a very popular choice.   Now I have several bands of purple ribbon (don’t ask) tied onto the luggage.  It might not be the most elegant solution but the system works.

Music Playlist A

 13 Songs by assorted artists from mid 80s to today

What’s a Typewriter?

Does anyone remember using white-out, eraseable typing paper, or corrective ribbon?    Often people will reminensce about “the good ol’ days”, there was nothing good about trying to type a paper in the pre-computer era.  One mistake and often you’d resort to using some sort of correction fluid or starting over from scratch.   Of course, typing today requires much less thought.   It’s so easy just to crank out some paragraphs and edit them.   I recall having to really think about each and every word that was going onto the paper – - once committed it was such a pain to change a word that often it never happened.     You won’t get too much thought on this blog.  While I promise it won’t be a stream-of-conscious blather, it also won’t be like one of those term papers I used to do – - totally planned out, each and every word carefully chosen.  Then again, changing and updating this is so easy I may actually craft some decent entries.    This was my first.