White Center Now: The blog about White Center

King County certified the final results of the August 18 election today, and here’s how the annexation measure ended up:

FOR ANNEXATION 1380 55.56%
AGAINST ANNEXATION 1104 44.44%

39.5% of voters in the area turned in their ballots. The election, Evergreen Pool, and more are bound to be part of the discussion tomorrow night at the next meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ. And the next meeting of the Burien City Council – for those who will soon be Burien residents without even moving – is Monday, Sept. 14.

Just follow the audio links from this page. We’ll add some more notes later; before the discussion ended, talk turned to the fate of still-unannexed White Center — Burien City Manager Mike Martin said he and the City Council are still discussing next steps, and he also noted that the Seattle mayoral race would have quite an impact, given that ousted Mayor Greg Nickels was an annexation supporter. We’ll be checking with both candidates, Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn, to see where they stand.

If you’re near a radio – or near a computer with speakers! – in the 9 am hour tomorrow, check out KUOW, which will take a closer look at the North Highline South Annexation. I’m scheduled to be among the guests on behalf of WCN; according to KUOW’s website, Burien City Manager Mike Martin and former NHUAC president Gerald Robinson will be on the panel too. Any points you think should be made? Anybody else you know will be on the show? Please post a comment (or e-mail us at whitecenternow@gmail.com) – thanks!

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for White Center Now

The votes are in; the southern portion of North Highline says it wants to annex to Burien (56 percent yes, as of the latest count).

Now the work begins.

Myriad details have to be sorted out in the next few months before the Burien City Council officially adopts an ordinance annexing the new area to the city.

It might be early spring before the council is ready to officially approve the annexation.

In the meantime, nothing changes as far as public safety, sewer or water service.

During a special meeting of the city council Monday night, there were already hints of just how complicated working out all the details will be.

For example, as vacancies arise on boards and commissions, should citizens of the soon-to be annexed area be eligible for appointment? Or do they have to wait until annexation is official to apply for a seat?

City Manager Mike Martin said he is already working on the steps leading up to the annexation, including modifying contracts with police and fire.

“We need a little bit of time, then we will name the date that we plan to bring the new area into the city,” said Martin.

But Martin already had some good news for residents of the unincorporated area, it looks like the county parks, threatened with closure because of King County budget cuts, will remain open and maintained while the annexation is made official.

Annexation will be a topic on the city council agenda throughout the next few months, giving incoming citizens a chance to comments as the process moves along. Council members encouraged citizens to be active.

We still need to get a handle on costs and revenue, put it all into the hopper and see what comes out the other end,” said Councilmember Gordon Shaw.

“Burien already has a vision; we have to see how to accommodate the new ideas into this vision and bring them all together,” said Shaw. He reminded the crowd gathered for the special meeting that about 40 percent of the voters opposed the annexation.

“We don’t want them to be disgruntled citizens of Burien,” he said.

Mayor Joan McGilton encouraged residents to stay involved as details including sewer and water are worked out.

Citizens like North Highline Unincorporated Area Council member Ray Helms, who will be annexed into the city, said councilmembers can count on seeing him.

“Welcome to Burien,” said Ed Dacy (above), a Burien resident, active on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

You can find out more about Burien city government at burienwa.gov.

We’ve received this City of Burien notice from two people, via People for Burien (peopleforburien.org), asking that we share it:

On behalf of the Burien City Council we welcome you to Burien! The early election results show that voters in the southern portion of North Highline have approved the measure to annex to Burien. Many of you supported this measure and we thank you for your efforts. If you did not support the annexation measure we still thank you for your interest and hope that you will continue to engage with us. We intend to serve the entire community to the best of our abilities.

The Burien City Council has scheduled a Special Meeting on Monday, August 24 at 7:00 p.m. to take a moment to congratulate ourselves and welcome our new residents to Burien. The meeting will be held at Burien City Hall located at 400 SW 152nd St. in Burien [map]. We invite you to attend the meeting or you can view the meeting online at http://www.burienmedia.org. You can also learn more about the City of Burien by visiting our website at www.burienwa.gov.

One segment of our plan moving forward will be to conduct a community visioning process sometime in 2010. You can play a role in uniting North Highline with Burien by thinking about what you would like to see in your neighborhood and community. If you have any questions or suggestions before that time please feel free to contact me at 206-439-3165 or jenniferr@burienwa.gov.

King County has just released today’s vote count; annexation remains ahead, 58 percent “yes.” And in the King County Executive race, it’s still Susan Hutchison-Dow Constantine, but she’s slipped a bit and he’s gained a bit – she is now at 36 percent, he’s at 23 percent. More votes to be counted tomorrow.

We dropped in on the victory party tonight for annexation supporters, who you can imagine are jubilant. The second and final vote total of the night is out:

FOR ANNEXATION 862 58.84%
AGAINST ANNEXATION 603 41.16%

For King County Executive, the results haven’t changed – Hutchison in first, Constantine second, Jarrett third.

ADDED 11:23 PM: When we dropped in on the pro-annexation victory party, we got a written statement from North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Greg Duff. Here’s the transcription:

This is a great day for the citizens of North Highline. By casting your votes and choosing to annex to Burien, you have exercised your most basic right as citizens of this great country. By annexing to Burien, you have chosen to be a part of one of the best cities in the State of Washington.

No longer will North Highline be at the mercy of a county government who threatens to sell off our parks or our services to balance an inflated budget.

In choosing to annex to Burien, residents of North Highline confirmed the survey conducted by the NHUAC. A majority of the council supported the wishes of the North Highline residents.

Many people participated in this victory tonight. I would like to thank a few of them. To Mike Martin, Burien City Manager, and the Burien City Council, thank you for having the vision to see North Highline as an asset.

To the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, each member has worked tirelessly for this annexation. Your belief in the system has not faltered.

The victory tonight is only the first step. The northern half of North Highline is still waiting for annexation. We believe the citizens have spoken loudly in the survey and at the polls. We will continue to work hard to serve North Highline and support their wishes.

Now is the time for the public to get involved. Visit our website at northhighlineuac.org. We hve a long hard fight ahead of us and we need you.

(ballot box getting locked at White Center Library at 8 pm)
Results here.

First ballot run just after 8 pm – 59 percent for annexation, 41 percent against.

9 PM UPDATE: Another race of huge interest to White Center – King County Executive. We are covering it for partner site West Seattle Blog, and I’m at Dow Constantine’s party at Pike Place. He gave a stirring speech – since it appears he is making it to the general election, since he is in 2nd, relatively far ahead of 3rd place runner Fred Jarrett – and he said, “We must keep King County Parks open.” Here’s the first minute of his speech at Kells Irish Pub, around 8:40 pm:

That’s the ballot dropoff box outside White Center Library. If you don’t want to vote until the absolute last moment, that’s where to take it – till 8 pm (or another dropbox – here’s the full list). Then, the vote-counting begins. According to the Monday night update from King County Elections, 23.35% of the ballots have been received – that’s 1,492 of the 6,390 ballots issued in the proposed annexation area. Be heard – get yours in. On ballots in this area, the King County Executive race is huge too – county government is in a financial crisis among other challenges. Since it’s an all-mail election, we won’t get final results tonight, but vote totals will go public starting shortly after 8 pm, so check back here for results.

Just looked at the King County Elections Department‘s updated-daily count of returned ballots – and noticed that at the very end of the list, they’ve got a breakout for the area voting on the North Highline South Annexation. Only 19.5% of the ballots were in as of yesterday.

It’s been a week and a half since ballots started arriving – and only one week is left to get yours in. If you’re in the North Highline South Annexation zone, of course, you know you are making a decision that’ll affect people for decades to come – so don’t let your ballot gather dust. If you’re not – still some big decisions to make – including who’ll make it to the general election in the King County Executive race. Your ballot needs to be out of your hands by 8 pm Tuesday, August 18. The county King County Elections Department is publishing nightly 8 pm updates on how many ballots it’s received. According to last night’s update, just under 8% are in so far: See the count here. (It includes breakouts by various jurisdictions; among County Council districts, the one including White Center, District 8, has returned the second-highest percentage of ballots so far, 9.2%, second only to 9.4%, from District 6 (metro Eastside). If you would prefer to drop off your ballot rather than mail it, there’s a White Center dropoff box available 24/7 till the voting cutoff time — the King County Library‘s White Center branch (11220 16th SW; map). Work somewhere else, and rather drop it off near your workplace? Here’s the full list of dropboxes countywide. Once your ballot’s on its way, keep checking here to look for confirmation it’s arrived. To review voter guides online, the county/port guide links are here.

As noted recently, White Center Now is offering to publish “letters to the editor” for those who would like to share their views on the North Highline South Annexation vote (ballots have been mailed, and must be postmarked by the official primary-election day, August 18th). First one was here (with 17 comments as of right now); this one has come in as a rebuttal:

I would like to refute Mr. Lamphears comments. And also to say, shame on you for lowering the debate with statements about “steamy, smelly pile of bovine fecal matte”, please spare me your potty comments:

Pile #1 — Mr. Ufkes does not live in the voting area – but he does live in Area 2 which Burien makes no secret that it will attempt to annex if they are successful in Area 1

Pile #2 — The Westwood Village and White Center areas are not included in the voting area, In the voting pamphlet there is no reference to Westwood village. But if we are going to try to find relevance this is the point. If you want to do a search for a home in Seattle once Seattle annexes North Highline your home will show up in the search. This will elevate your property value. Also, as Seattle and King County allow greater density homeowners who want to subdivide will have more options. Either way King County or Seattle your home will be worth more without a Burien address

Pile #3 — Mr. Ufkes has been a vocal critic of the North Highline Fire Department. Once again, there is not direct relation between customer satisfaction and response times.

Pile #4 — Burien has no plans to hire more police officers AT THIS TIME because it’s not necessary. As a resident of Area 1 I personally feel underserved and believe we do not have adequate police coverage.

Pile #5 — Burien has no budget deficit — No but Burien does have a looming tax crises. With Auto sales tanking and sales tax revenues down Burien needs a greater tax basis this is really the issue. Burien would like to ‘sell’ annexation as some type of ‘affinity’ issue. It is insulting to think the city council would like to annex North highline out of the goodness of their hearts. Burien is about to have a fiscal crises and they are casting about for an increased tax base. North Highline can live without the higher taxes a future in Burien will assure

Pile #6 — If Burien decides to build a new community center with a tax, the law requires the voters to approve any new taxes. There is no new tax on the horizon. Same as above, Burien wants access to a larger tax base

Pile #7 — There is no such thing as a Burien downtown fire department tax for Town Square. Not having personal knowledge about this I will defer to others to fill this in

Pile #8 — There is no evidence that property values have any relationship to your address. Once again, I do not agree zip code and city matter. Minimum lot size matters. King County 5000sq/ft versus Burien 7800 sq/ft. Do the math.

I urge my fellow residents to vote no annexation, there will be no benefit in being annexed to Burien. Vote for no change, no potential new taxes, and no to the Burien City council who consistently ignores the wishes of its constituents who do not wish to annex North Highline.

David Feinberg

If there’s something you’d like to say, e-mail it to whitecenternow@gmail.com – thanks!

With ballots arriving in King County homes starting today, voting begins, and everything’s going to get pretty intense for the next two-plus weeks till voting ends and vote-counting starts on August 18th. We are welcoming any “letter to the editor” format comments on the election – as long as it’s an issue or position that White Center voters will be considering in this election. We start with one received from Stephen Lamphear:

Attention North Highline Annexation Voters: your voters pamphlet contains
a steamy, smelly pile of bovine fecal matter about annexation to Burien.
Here are some of the dung piles dropped by opponent Mark Ufkes:

Pile #1 — Mr. Ufkes does not live in the voting area – he is not affected
by the annexation vote. [full disclosure: I, too, do not live in the voting
area, but as a Burien resident will be affected by the vote.]

Pile #2 — The Westwood Village and White Center areas are not included in
the voting area, but I’m sure you can find a particular home in N. Burien
that is valued lower than a particular home in Westwood. So? Truth is: the
homes in unincorporated North Shorewood, Salmon Creek and Boulevard Park
(neighborhoods within the voting area) and similar to their long-time N.
Burien neighbors’ homes

Pile #3 — Mr. Ufkes has been a vocal critic of the North Highline Fire
Department. That despite the huge satisfaction level of residents. The
city of Burien does not provide fire services. All of Burien and North
Highline are served by independent Fire Districts — voters elect
Commissioners who set policies and standards. You will continue to be
served by Fire Commissioners you elect.

Pile #4 — Burien has no plans to hire more police officers AT THIS
TIME because it’s not necessary. Burien and North Highline share police
services provided by King County. That will continue after annexation. The
size of Burien’s police force will always depend on need.

Pile #5 — Burien has no budget deficit — in the state of Washington, all
governments are required to have balanced budgets; Burien always has. What
Burien doesn’t have is debt – it has operated as a cash basis city.

Pile #6 — If Burien decides to build a new community center with a tax, the
law requires the voters to approve any new taxes. There is no new tax on
the horizon.

Pile #7 — There is no such thing as a Burien downtown fire department tax for
Town Square. Town Square is a private development. No taxes have been or
will be used for this private project. There is also no massive property
tax giveaway to potential Town Square residents.

Pile #8 — There is no evidence that property values have any relationship
to your address. Property values are simply the value of your property
compared to similar properties in a similar neighborhood. Fire services are
also not related to your property value — a mansion gets the same fire
truck, the same emergency medical team, as does a modest bungalow.

An 8-year Burien City Councilmember, I live 4 blocks from the proposed
annexation area. I’m anxious to re-unite with my neighbors under one
government that promotes strong single family neighborhoods rather than the
rampant multifamily projects favored by King County and Seattle. Vote ‘YES’
on annexation.

Stephen Lamphear
North Shorewood

Again, other “letters to the editor” are welcome – whitecenternow@gmail.com is our address.

Reminder – Thursday night is the special “got annexation questions, ask ’em now” North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, 6 pm, St. Bernadette’s. We previewed it thoroughly here. You can also get more info at the NHUAC website.

FIRST REPORT: We’ve been at the 34th District Democrats‘ meeting all night covering their long-running endorsement meeting (4 1/2 hours so far). Still to come – whether they will endorse the North Highline South Annexation vote. We’ll publish results here as soon as that vote’s done. 11:36 PM UPDATE: Speaking in favor of the annexation proposal, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine says he believes Burien will do a good job handling the extra area. Sharon Maeda is now speaking against it, saying she disagrees that Burien will be able to handle it. 11:42 PM UPDATE: A majority of those who are still here – 66 out of 70 voters – have voted to endorse the annexation proposal. However, there’s a challenge to whether there’s enough of a quorum here for that to count (it’s less than half the number of people who were here earlier in the evening). Update – They do have a quorum, so the 34th District Democrats officially endorse the annexation proposal.

North Highline Unincorporated Area Council‘s Greg Duff sends word of the next meeting – not early in the month as usual, nor at the usual location, but full of important info and chances to get your questions answered:

The July meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council will be held Thursday July 16 at St. Bernadette’s at the corner of 128th and Ambaum. The time of the meeting is 6:00pm to 7:30pm. This meeting will be an open house intended to inform the public of some pertinent issues. In attendance will be:
The City of Burien
Burien Fire Dept
Burien Police Dept
Emergency Radio Program
King County Code Enforcement
North Highline Fire Dept
White Center Food Bank
Information on the History of Des Moines Drive
and others unnamed at this time.

This is an important meeting for those having questions about the upcoming annexation vote. Ballots for the vote will be arriving in homes around the first week in August.

Any questions can be directed to Greg Duff, President of the NHUAC at 206-235-8966

It’s a busy primary election ballot on August 18th, but few have more at stake than those who will cast ballots on whether to let their section of North Highline be annexed by Burien. If you’re still making up your mind on North Highline South Annexation Area Proposition 1, note that the city of Burien has scheduled two more “open house” format meetings to for annexation information – July 14 and 29; more details on the city’s website. Remember that this is a by-mail-only election (countywide); ballots will be mailed July 29, according to the King County Elections website, where you can find full details on everything else you’ll be voting on..

We’re doing some election research right now and realized that you might not have yet seen what the annexation measure will look like on the August 18th ballot. Here’s the direct link; here’s the language:

North Highline South Annexation Area

Simple majority (RCW 35A.14.080)
Proposition No. 1
Proposed Annexation to the City of Burien

The Burien City Council passed Resolution No. 288 which would authorize annexation of that area of unincorporated King County known as the North Highline South Annexation Area which annexation was approved by the Boundary Review Board with a modification to the boundaries as legally described in Resolution No. 292. Shall that area of unincorporated King County known as the North Highline South Annexation Area as legally described in City of Burien Resolution No. 292 be annexed to the City of Burien?

( ) FOR ANNEXATION
( ) AGAINST ANNEXATION

Just a little more than two months now till the annexation vote in southern North Highline – and another open house is set for next Tuesday, this time at 6 pm, Southern Heights Elementary School, 11249 14th Avenue South (shown above in Google Street View).

Context: As Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels prepares to officially file his re-election campaign documents on Monday, we were granted an interview with him Saturday morning, for partner site West Seattle Blog. We asked one question on behalf of White Center Now: With the Seattle City Council having turned thumbs down on the Memorandum of Understanding his office worked out with Burien (and others) regarding annexation (February WCN coverage here), what happens now? This video includes the entirety of his answer – mostly prefaced with background on the sales-tax incentive vote, which he thinks was the council’s only real sticking point:

If you’re interested in the rest of our interview, we’re parceling it out in multiple reports on WSB; watch the West Seattle Politics archive, where two stories are already posted as of this writing early Sunday.