The Burien City Council had a retreat on January 28, 2012 at the Environmental Science Center. These retreats are open to the public but most citizens do not know about them and the retreats are not broadcast or videotaped. However, it is important to know what is going on at them. For example at this last retreat, Jack Block put forth the idea that the City Council meetings should be changed from Monday to Tuesday or some other night of the week. The reason for the change that was given by Jack was that the City Staff needed more time to prepare for meetings. However, Mike Martin/City Manager told the Councilmembers that there was no need to change the meeting night and his staff could be ready on Mondays just as they have been ready for more than 11 years. Councilmember Lucy K. made it clear the she could not change the night of the meetings from Monday on her calendar due to other professional, business, community and personal commitments. One of the councilmembers attacked her for daring to say this.

So what is the change of the Monday night meeting really about? Well one of the councilmembers – maybe jokingly –said that it was so that some councilmembers could watch Monday night football. However, it is important to remember what happened in the last election cycle, Nov. 2011. Five of the city councilmembers joined together and held a fund raiser to defeat Lucy K. Why? Because she dared to question or voted against their pet projects-the annexation of Area Y, the problematic, badly run animal control program in Burien and against renewing the City Manager’s contract. She won the election by 64% of the vote. Citizens like her because she represents their vote on many issues. The four remaining Councilmembers who wanted her gone are still looking for ways to get rid of her voice and the citizens she represents. Changing the meeting night so that she can’t attend seems to be one way to eliminate her voice and vote. This Council is desperate to silence anyone who questions or speaks out against the annexation of Area Y. They forced Doug Moreland off of the Economic Development Partnership Advisory Board -because he and members of that group presented a report to the Council that stated the annexation of Area Y did not make good economic sense for the City of Burien in the long term. This is exactly what the Berk Report and what some members of the Boundary Review Board have also noted.

So if you are concerned that your citizen elected representative voice, Lucy K., will be silenced by this squeeze play of four Councilmembers, now is the time to email your new mayor. Brian Bennett-the man who ran on the ticket that he believes in quality animal control and animal rights. Email Brian Bennettbrianb@burienwa.gov about this issue. Better still write to Joan M., Rose C., Jack B. or Jerry R. who are pushing to have the meeting night changed for no apparent or emergency reason. Oh Jerry R. mentioned at this retreat that the only legacy that he wished to leave Burien is the annexation of Area Y. Interestingly, he failed to put that on his campaign flyers this last fall. because he was afraid that posting that statement might cost him the election to Debi Wagner. Stay tuned to TV tonight to see what new tricks are unfolding with these four councilmembers. But speak out or email, if you want your vote and voice represented on this Council.

- Roger DeLorm

[Have something you'd like to share with our 50,000+ Readers? Please send us your Letter to the Editor via email. Include your full name, and, pending our review, we'll most likely publish it.]

Our poorly Photoshopped portrait of the current Burien City Council.

The Burien City Council will be holding its annual Council Retreat “for the purpose of discussing Council goals and priorities” this Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Environmental Science Center at Seahurst Park (13476 24th Place SW, Burien).

The meeting is open to public observation.

However, despite the fact that it’ll be held in the heart of Seahurst Park, we’re doubtful there will be any Moonlight Beach Walk at this event.

Here’s the agenda:

Burien City Council Annual Retreat
January 28, 2012

8:30 Welcome/Introductions (15 minutes)
• Review objectives for the day
• Ground rules

8:45 SWOT Update (20 minutes) [In small mixed groups]
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
Full group debrief (15 minutes)

9:20 Kids and Cops- Mike
Presentation and discussion

9:50 Leadership Team and Council Small Groups (90 minutes with 10 minute break)
[The topics identified in #6 and invite additional ideas]
• Introduction, instructions and top issues for discussion (10 minutes)
• Recommendations and next steps
• Two rounds (35 minutes each)

12:00 Full group debrief and summary (15 minutes)
• Identify Action Items

12:15 LUNCH

12:45 Review of 2012 Workplan (30 minutes)
• What questions do you have?
• What else needs airtime with Staff?

1:15 City Department Managers depart after they have completed retreat evaluation

1:30 Councilmember Session
• Work Session (90 minutes)
• Review of remainder of Councilmember Interview Summary
• How we do work together as a Council: Working agreements
• Moving the work forward
• What else?

BREAK

• Council Committee Appointments

3:45 Wrap-up and evaluation

4:00 Adjourn

At the beginning of the council’s first meeting since Jan. 9 – which was the same day the 2012 Legislature convened – Councilman Jack Block Jr. asked that the matter be added to the evening’s agenda.

In the meantime, Gov. Chris Gregoire voiced her support for legalizing gay marriage in the state, and earlier Monday it appeared the Senate had enough votes to pass the act – virtually assuring its passage by the Legislature.

“We have an important role as a city council to protect the equality of all our citizens,” Block said to begin their discussion. Recalling passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, he added, “It’s the right thing to do.”

Block asked them “to continue the proud tradition of the city council to advocate for all our citizens.”

Among those actions, the council approved in 2005 benefits for same-sex partners of city employees. That legislation was sponsored by Block, along with then-Councilman Stephen Lamphear, who is openly gay.

Councilman Gerald Robison said it was important for the council to go on the record as supporting the Marriage Equality Act.

Block moved to adopt his motion to make it so, and Councilwoman Joan McGilton seconded it, adding, “I voice my support for it.”

Council members Bob Edgar and Lucy Krakowiak were absent.

City staff will draft a letter stating the council’s official support of the measure, which will be sent to the governor and the Legislature.

Michael Stein-Ross, Burien Councilmembers Lucy Krakowiak and Bob Edgar, and his 6th grade class.

by Michael Stein-Ross

Following the November elections, a number of my sixth grade students at St. Francis of Assisi School wrote to two Burien City Councilmembers – Bob Edgar and Lucy Krakowiak – congratulating them on their wins in the election.

They also related their concerns about how Burien deals with the homeless and poor in the City of Burien.

So this last Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, Mr. Edgar and Ms. Krakowiak visited with Mr. Stein-Ross’s sixth grade students to discuss these topics. Students wanted to know why Burien does not have more homeless shelters, why some of Burien’s vacant storefronts were not being used to shelter people when the weather got really bad and why there were not more community garden spaces to grow food for the poor. Another issue for the students was the availability of medical service to the homeless and poor in Burien.

The class session with the Councilmembers involved a discussion on awareness of who was really homeless, what were some of the reasons for why people become homeless and how each individual student could help the homeless. The St. Francis of Assisi students currently collect food for our local food banks, run a clothing drive and do community service at a number of our local charity sites. Any items that readers of this article want to donate to support these homeless community drives or causes can be dropped off at the school.

Some other community service projects that my students have been involved in include: building a rain garden at the school and stenciling the storm water drains around the school. You may have seen the white marking around drains in Burien’s streets. These markings are to remind people not to put things like soaps, fertilizers, chemicals and oils down them.

The students of St. Francis of Assisi plan to continue to work for the homeless in Burien.

Isn’t that what the concept of citizenship is really about?

by Ralph Nichols

As Gordon Shaw departs from the Burien City Council today (Monday, Jan. 9), he looks back with conviction at his “major accomplishment” as a councilman – and warns of the costs of not annexing unincorporated North Highline.

“Helping get Mike Martin hired as city manager [in 2007] is the best thing I did,” Shaw told The B-Town Blog. “Overall, Mike is bringing forward-looking ideas to council members for their consideration and is putting Burien on sounder footing than it was before.”

Martin replaced former City Manager Gary Long and, said Shaw, “if I had the chance to do it over, I’d hire him again. The city council and city manager have a better working relationship today, and that’s good for Burien.”

Another key effort by Shaw during his eight years on the city council, which remains a work in progress, is the inclusion of Burien businesses in the Northeast Redevelopment Area (NERA) under the flight path north of Sea-Tac International Airport.

This land, owned by the Port of Seattle, is in Burien. Shaw has been quietly working for development of an auto center there just off State Route 518. This would give car dealers on First Avenue South a lot more space that could become a sales magnet for the region.

Shaw called locating an auto center and other Burien businesses in NERA, where the Port will develop air cargo support services, “a vital link for economic development in Burien.

“I’m encouraged with the progress of discussions and believe the city and the Port will reach a mutually beneficial development agreement.”

Gordon Shaw getting dunked during a recent fundraiser.

Turning his attention to the major decision facing the city council as a new year begins – annexation – Shaw noted that “opponents of making the White Center area part of Burien are concerned about the cost.”

One of those opponents, Bob Edgar, defeated him in his bid for election to a third term on the city council last November.

“In the long run, and it won’t take that long,” Shaw said, “the costs to our city will be a lot more if we fail to annex North Highline – especially if Seattle ends up annexing the area – because of higher crime just north of Roxbury.”

Currently, criminal activity in this area of south Seattle, a consequence of limited police resources there due to budget constraints, spills over into White Center where it is largely contained by King County Sheriff’s deputies, he continued.

“But if Seattle ends up annexing the area, that crime will take root in White Center and spill into the existing North Burien, and that will cost Burien taxpayers a lot more as they pay more for increased police services without the additional North Highline tax base,” Shaw added.

“In my estimation, this would make it necessary for Burien to hire four or five additional police officers, which would cost the city about $600,000 to $750,000 including their cars and other equipment.”

Shaw agrees that the costs of annexation present a major challenge for Burien – especially with the threatened elimination of the state’s annexation sales tax credit – and said he still opposes annexation without state help.

“The city council entered into this annexation process with the understanding that state help was there, and without that assistance it just doesn’t make sense.”

He hopes, however, that the city will continue with the annexation process and then, if necessary, put the final step on hold while new funding sources are found to pay for bringing the area into Burien without increasing the tax burden on current residents.

Another key aspect of annexation that gets lost in the debate, Shaw added, is the available land in North Highline that would give Burien needed room for the development of additional commercial activity including light industry.

“These vacant areas are critical for the economic future of Burien. And this includes a lot more than just White Center. The South Park area with its developed infrastructure is a prime location for light industry,” he said. “But if we lose them now, they’re gone forever.”

Shaw, a lifelong Burien resident and businessman, joined the city council in January 2004 and served two terms. Before that, he was a long-time member of the city’s planning commission.

Our um, unofficial portrait of the 2012 Burien City Council.

A reception for New and Returning Burien City Councilmembers will be held Monday, Jan. 9 starting at 6:30 p.m., with an oath of office at 7 p.m. at City Hall, located at 400 SW 152nd Street.

This reception is a January tradition, meant to welcome newly elected members – in this case Bob Edgar, who defeated Gordon Shaw in November – as well as welcome back returning members Lucy Krakowiak, Gerald Robison, Rose Clark, Jack Block, Jr., Joan McGilton and Brian Bennett.

The public is invited to this free event.

According to the city’s website (rather incomplete but we chalk that up to a new council), here’s what your 2012 City Council will look like (in alphabetical order):

Deputy Mayor Brian Bennett
* Suburban Cities Association

Councilmember Jack Block, Jr.

Councilmember Rose Clark
* Des Moines Memorial Drive Advisory Committee
* South Correctional Entity

Bob Edgar (NEW)
Bob Edgar was elected in November to Burien City Council, Position 4. His term runs through 2015. He has been a Burien resident for over 20 years, and has been active as a citizen helping preserve the Salmon Creek Green Belt and Seahurst Park. He has been a board member of Shorewood on the Sound Community and Sustainable Burien, a member of Neighbors of Seahurst Park, and a committee member working on the Salmon Creek Neighborhood Plan and Burien Comprehensive Plan. He has a doctorate from Seattle University in Educational Leadership and a Master of Business Administration in Information Systems.

Lucy Krakowiak
Lucy Krakowiak won re-election to Position 2 on the Burien City Council, first elected in November 2003. Here new term runs through 2015. She has lived in Burien since 1988 and has had a local massage therapy business since 1994. She has been the chief organizer of Burien Clean Sweep and a member of the Burien Business and Economic Development Partnership Advisory Board. She also serves on the Suburban Cities Association Board of Directors, the King County Library System Board of Trustees and the King County Growth Management Planning Council.

Mayor Joan McGilton
* Water Resource Inventory Area 9
* King County Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee
* King County Council Regional Transit Committee
* South Central Area Caucus Group

Gerald Robison
Gerald F. (“Jerry”) Robison was appointed by the City Council in early 2011 for Position 6 and was elected to the position last November. Robison has been active in the North Highline area for many years, including service on the Burien Planning Commission as a member and vice chair. His other community activities have included the White Center Kiwanis, founding member of the North Highline Unincorporated Council; and President of the White Center Chamber of Commerce. He is an attorney with a private practice in the Highline area. Robison’s term on the City Council runs through 2015.

by Jack Mayne

Trash on Southwest 128th Street ramps to and from the 509 and the questionable panhandler types who leave it has caused nearby resident Mark Zink to get out his broom and rake, but now he wants some cleanup help from the Burien City Council.

At the Dec. 12 council meeting, Zink said ramps are becoming home to a regular crew.

“We now have them setting up couch cushions under the freeway so they can hang out all day, every day,” he had written in a letter to the council, which included photos. “In one photo, you can notice they walk up and down the freeway off ramp panhandling. This is illegal to be on the off-ramp but (it is) not on the sidewalk under current rules.”

He noted what many Burien residents have seen, that panhandlers leave trash and are usually on the Southwest 148th ramps, also.

He said he has asked for something to be done for years, but to no avail.

“Will the council make a no loitering rule near off-ramps?” Zink asked. “My neighbors and I have suffered with these people and the beer cans and garbage they leave throughout the neighborhood for years now,” Zink said.

“I have volunteered in this neighborhood for years trying to clean it up and spent thousands of hours as Public Works and the Parks Department can verify. I need help. I am tired of picking up after them and don’t feel like I should have to. Please take action now.”

Zink has received no response from the City Council or city staff.

So why does he spend this own time cleaning up the mess?

“The reason I do this volunteer work is that it is healthy for me to give back to my community and gives me a sense of accomplishment,” Zink said in an e-mail. “I also like to see nice things even if I have to help make that happen. Public works and the parks departments do not have the money or the manpower to keep up on all the things that need to be done in this area as far as cleaning graffiti, picking up trash etc.”

He says Burien Police have been very helpful “but we still have a problem with the transients who tend to bring illegal activities with them. Drugs, alcohol, sleeping in the parks, leaving bottles, cans, hypodermic needles, used condoms or whatever else they don’t want anymore.”

Zink is finishing his associate of arts degree at Highline Community College.

His wife, Colleen, is a web editor at kirotv.com, the web site for KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. She says she is proud of all Zink’s volunteer work and “agrees that changes need to be made with the panhandlers because they make Burien look bad.”

“To nominate a person(s), describe how the nominee contributes to the community and how these contributions are unique,” reads a note on the city’s website.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, and can be done online here, or via mail:

Burien City Hall
400 S.W. 152nd St., Ste. 300
Burien WA 98166

Please note that this will be the first year that the city is not giving out awards in conjunction with Discover Burien (we’re members), which will hold its own awards ceremony in March, 2012.

For information call Adriene Buckley at (206) 241-4647.

by Ralph Nichols

Burien’s five-member working group, which will negotiate changes to the city’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) required by the state Department of Ecology, has now been named.

Appointed by the city council Nov. 28 Burien Marine Homeowners Association president Michael Noakes, Lake Burien Shore Club president Don Warren, City Councilman Gerald Robison, Planning Commission Chairman Jim Clingan, and at-large member Lee Moyer.

Ecology informed Burien last May that the city must amend four key provisions in its SMP, which council members adopted in September 2010. The amendments are:

• Establishing a 50-foot buffer plus an additional 15-foot setback along the developed residential marine shoreline. The city’s new SMP retains an existing 20-foot marine buffer with no additional setback.
• Limiting a shoreline homeowner’s ability to rebuild if the home is destroyed.
• Removing an outright ban on watercraft on Lake Burien in the event that the public gains access to the lake in the future.
• Imposing an additional step in obtaining a shoreline variance in geologically hazardous areas and wetland buffers.

“The Burien Marine Homeowners Association (BMHA) has advocated that Burien continue to work with [Ecology] to complete the SMP rather than waiting for [Ecology] to formally deny the submission and take over the process,” Noakes said.

“We are grateful that the city council has agreed to appoint a small working group to assist in the completion of Burien’s SMP update rather than allowing [Ecology] to issue a denial and then complete the SMP on their terms.”

Noakes also thanked Ecology “and particularly Geoff Tallent” with the Shorelines and Environmental Assistance Program of Ecology’s Northwest Division in Bellevue.

Calling the negotiations “risky and challenging given the politics among various groups, Noakes said, “We appreciate [Ecology’s] willingness to consider a slightly unconventional solution for collaborating with Burien to finalize our SMP update.”

He added that informal conversations with Ecology suggest “an increasing recognition that protection of developed Shorelines around Greater Seattle requires more flexibility than can be achieved” simply by expanding setbacks and adding new buffers.”

The 2010 Legislature changed a major guideline for shoreline management from “best available science” to “no net loss of shoreline ecological function” – a criteria that has yet to be clearly defined.

Tallent told The B-Town Blog that Ecology is “glad for the opportunity to sit down and try to work through” these issues … “I feel very hopeful that this is something we can work out.”

Ecology believes “it will be very useful and helpful for the SMP, once it’s completed, to have provisions for how existing homes in or that straddle buffer zones will be managed. That was a piece that was missing” from Burien’s revised SMP.

But, Tallent noted, needed will be a balance to offset development that maintains no net loss.

Noakes said the BMHA does “not believe there is any conflict between the requirement for no net loss and for the private property owners to be certain of their right to enjoy and maintain their existing homes.”

By defining the guideline as “No Net Loss of Ecological Function from new development,” Noakes suggested “the no net loss standard can be achieved with simple language that provides the right to maintain existing structures.

“Further we believe it is in everyone’s interest to allow for limited new development and expansion of existing structures” along the Puget Sound shoreline “by reference to a well-defined matrix of mitigation options to achieve no net loss.”

Following a 20-month process, the city council approved in September 2010 Burien’s revised and updated Shoreline Master Program (SMP), then submitted it to Ecology for review.

Ecology held a public hearing on the SMP last December, and then conditionally approved the SMP – but notified the city that four major changes would be required.

On May 23, the city council authorized Mayor Joan McGilton to submit an alternative proposal to Ecology: the city would accept all but four of the required changes.

Ecology has not responded to McGilton’s letter. However, the BMHA began quiet discussions with Ecology and on Oct. 24 presented the city council with a proposal for negotiating the four required changed with Ecology.

The working group was subsequently created by the city council to negotiate with Ecology.

“The next scheduled meeting will be on Monday, December 12, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at Burien City Hall, 400 SW 152nd Street,” reads the announcement.