White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Mark does not speak for the majority of NH residents nor does he speak for the City of Seattle. The pamphlet states his one opinion with no facts to back it up. Every time I pick up a paper or read a blog online, I see many comments and responses from people in favor of a Burien Annexation, in turn, I only see Mark opposing it. 4 years ago I asked the City of Seattle to provide me with facts and documentation regarding what, and how the City of Seattle is willing to contribute financially to North Highline regarding providing all services.
An employee that is employed by the City of Seattle, and who is authorized to speak for the City of Seattle handed me a 6 page document in 2005 explaining what they will provide. 5 pages consisted of guesses and estimates of dollar amounts and projections that they thought would be sufficient levels of services cost wise. 4 years later, still there is no update of an actual plan with real figures existing to date. For NH residents to see the real picture I would suggest going to the City of Seattle’s web-site and look under their annexation section, read for yourself how well they plan on taking care of your community, then check Burien’s. You will be quite surprised with what is on their web-sites and to read the facts. If Seattle had actual info on their web-site or showed the slightest interest in our Residents and our area regarding annexing our area, and if an actual Seattle City employee was the one stating the figures in the pamphlet, then it would be different in the respect that I would actually have some facts to base a decision on , but because there is limited info on annexing our area with no real facts listed financially from Seattle and the info given in the pamphlet is an opinion of one, I would go with the facts I am presented with and make my decision based on which City presented me with the facts of caring for our area in our best interest pertaining to community oriented planning, community desires, services offered, financially, and flavor.

I was refering to Mark Ufgus as the jackass but accidentaly entered Stephen’s name inadvertently, see how easy misinformation can be, even unintentional, sometimes.

@Raymond – I’ve been called a lot more colorful names than ‘jackass’. Both my parents wore Army boots!

As a community activist and a Burien City Councilmember, I’ve gotten telephone calls threatening my safety. My property has been vandalized because of who I am.

Regardless, I’m not afraid to stand and state the truth though I may suffer slander for it.

Oh, and one final comment

I was asked by Burien City Manager Mike Martin to prepare the anti-Burien statement in the Voter Pamphlet, and his request was approved by the Burien City Council. I took the liberty of getting content and editing input from my many friends who do live in the area that Burien is attempting to annex. So, Mr. Lamphear, Burien asked for the statement from me that you are ranting about. Mr. Martin will confirm all this too.

Mark Ufkes

Look, Seattle City web-site says nothing about annexation other than some old notes about past meetings 3 years ago, so the point is, if their so interested in annexing this area, Mark..why is their web-site not reflecting it! Safe Child Care’s I do support, Seattle annexation “NO”

In his personal attack on Mr. Lamphear, Mr. Uffkes refers to a bit of hate mail that was circulated by an individual in Burien who is opposed to annexing North Highline into Burien. It was full of the kind of exaggeration and lies that have become an earmark of annexation opponents.
But I will limit my comments to just Mr. Uffkes’ oft repeated yet unsupported assertions regarding property values and fire services.
Mr. Uffkes (who moved to White Center about eleven years ago and has since purchased two more view properties with development potential) probably would see a surge in the value of his property if it was annexed to Seattle then rezoned for high density development under. But that effect would not be the result of any inherent increase in property values. The myth that he promotes, that the same property will have a higher value if it has a Seattle address, is simply not supported by any factual comparison. The comparison is easy to make in this area. Find two houses that are in close proximity and essentially equal otherwise and compare the sale prices. What becomes obvious is that property values are affected by factors like proximity to amenties and separation from undesirable influences (like Seatac Airport), not which city the house is located in.
As for fire services. Seattle has a top notch fire department, especially with respect to specialized situations like shipboard fires, high rise buildings and hazardous substances, but is only marginally able to provide adequate protection for its residential neighborhoods in the southwestern corner of the city (Arbor Heights). Seattle has run through two special levies to modernize its stations and equipment, and still hasn’t finished that job. What the people of NH need is a fire department that can and will respond to their emergencies when needed, and in which they can have a say on how the department is run through elected commissioners. They have that now, and the best way to keep that is to annex into Burien.

My goodness! Ufkes is certainly an angry man when his deceptions are layed bare. As they say in the law: if the law’s on your side, pound the law; if the evidence is on your side, pound the evidence; if neither is on your side, pound the table.

So, Ufkes pounds the table and takes the personal turn on issues because he has nothing to offer but his own opinion.

And to repeat, Ufkes does not live in the annexation area. He has no dog in this race.

I’m sure Ufkes is qualified to determine who needs counseling.

But, what does that have to do with the piles of poop he spread, anyway?

I would like to respond to the tone of this blog. I think that it is possible for all of us to communicate our opinions without reaching the level of incendiary or hurtful comments. I think most of the people who have posted are all good people, who happen to disagree.

I think Burien is a great city, and I think Seattle is a great city, but they are very different. Small town politics is different from big city politics. Burien has not had a long history of working with large diverse communities. Seattle has.

It doesn’t help to use the politics of fear to persuade people to vote in a certain way. Yes, the Growth Management Act has encouraged cities to annex unincorporated areas, but North Highline is still going to survive if we are not annexed. King County now has only 300,000 residents to govern as opposed to over a million a few years ago. It would be convenient for Burien to annex us, but it is not the only option.

Yes, it is true that Mark Ufkes doesn’t live in the voting area for annexation, but he has been an advocate for those of us in North Highline who didn’t have a NHUAC or city government to help us with support. Mark really didn’t have to be help us in any way, and he has a better chance of being annexed by Seattle than Burien.

I think the larger issue is that the residents of North Highline do not want to be separated. Burien can’t afford both Area X and Area Y, and I have strong opinions that they can’t afford to annex Area X.

I think the residents of North Highline have been sold on the utopian idea that things will be so wonderful when “we have voice” in government as opposed to big, bad Seattle.

I lived in Seattle my entire life until four years ago. When we wanted a traffic circle in our neighborhood, we were able to access the excellent services of the Department of Neighborhoods so that we would have safety for children in our area. Please don’t tell me as one blogger did to Mark to tell me to move back to Seattle. That is cruel and unnecessary.

There is an important election coming up, and I feel that if we treat each other respectfully, we can work together more productively, however this election turns out.

@Mark — Let’s get back to the points made in your AGAINST statement. I haven’t seen a defense of any one of them.

Although I don’t know Burien City Manager Mike Martin as well as you would seem to, I know him well enough to say that he would not be supportive of lies and fantasy framed as an argument. Martin neither supports nor opposes your statement; same goes for the FOR statement.

Also, to continue Alcina’s comment, it was West Seattle Democratic King County Council Chair Dow Constantine who proposed endorsement of the Annexation vote at the 34th Democrats meeting.