|
Notes for November 20, 2008 SLSA Meeting
The November 2008 meeting of SLSA (South Lake Sammamish Association) was called to order at 7:10 by David Bangs (chairman). The meeting was held at the home of Becky Stenzel in the Meerwood neighborhood.
In attendance from the South Lake Sammamish area were: David Bangs (Chair of SLSA); Joan Probala (Co-Chair of SLSA); Becky Stenzel (Secretary of SLSA); Caleb Tarleton (Sammamish View); Ted Gibbons (Sammamish Beach Club); Kathy Magner, Lynda Nielsen and Doris Ong (Greenwood Point); Wayne Eddy (Weatherwood); Jean Feilen, Mary Victory and Carole Barceloux (Meerwood); Eric Endres and John Schmidt (South Cove); Dan Albertson (Meadowbrook Pointe); and Deb Freng, Joe deCuir, and Carolyn Bader (SE 42nd Street). Our featured speaker was Debbie Berto, publisher of the Issaquah Press (accompanied by her husband).
1) David Bangs explained the function of SLSA.
2) Introductions were made by each person attending the meeting.
3) Debbie Berto gave a presentation on "Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness via Community Emergency Response Teams."
A) Issaquah is located along a major fault line. If we had a major earthquake, the fault line which generally travels in an east/west direction along I-90 could create a 10 foot split along I-90. This would isolate neighborhoods, especially on either side of the freeway. The freeway would in all likelihood be closed or impassible. A program called Map Your Neighborhood (MYN), promoted by the Washington Citizen Corp (www.citizencorp.gov) and the state of Washington Emergency Management Public Education (www.emd.wa.gov) is summarized in a pamphlet distributed at our meeting. We currently have two individuals in the South Lake Sammamish area who are trained CERT personnel (CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team). Both individuals live in Greenwood Point, and one (Lynda Nielsen) attended tonight's meeting. The more localized CERT program has an Issaquah website: www.issaquahcitizencorps.com.
B) Neighborhoods should be divided into areas which are small enough so that all homes can be checked within an hour at most. In our area, this would likely be individual cul-de-sacs within the subdivisions, or groups of 15 to 20 homes. Each group of neighbors forms a team. A neighborhood gathering spot is designated and all neighbors write it in their pamphlet. A map of the homes is made which labels the shut off valves for each home for both gas and water. Emergency information is shared, i.e. cell phone numbers, who has children home alone after school, who will take kids into their home if children are home alone, which elderly neighbors need attending to, etc. All information is kept with each individual home owner's MYN pamphlet. Anyone with CPR training should be identified, along with any other areas of expertise (medical, electrical, carpentry, equipment, etc.). One initial meeting of the home owners is all it takes to get this organized if people are prepared to furnish information at that meeting. In case of emergency, the first person to show up at the neighborhood gathering place can act as "leader".
C) Every household should have a pair of shoes, a flashlight, a hard hat (bicycle helmet will do!), and the MYN pamphlet located beneath the bed of the primary adult(s) living in the home.
D) There are nine steps outlined in the manual. The first six steps are for your own home: take care of family; protect head, feet and hands; check gas lines and shut off only if necessary (turning back on will involve pilot light, etc., so be sure it's necessary); shut off water main to the house; place sign in window (provided on last page of MYN pamphlet) indicating "help" or "OK"; place your fire extinguisher outside at the curb so neighbors can see it and use if necessary. The last three steps involve meeting at a neighborhood gathering site (to be pre-determined by home owners), forming teams to take action among homes in your area, and then returning to neighborhing gathering site to report what you've found.
E) Fire extinguishers should be at least 5 pounds (they only last 15 seconds, so more than one is desirable).
F) More CERT trained people are needed in our community. The City of Issaquah holds classes in CERT training, the cost of which is $35. The program is held for either eight Wednesday nights, or three full Saturdays beginning in March. Check the www.issaquahcitizencorps.com website for information. As of now, the two CERT trained personnel in the South Lake Sammamish area have designated Meerwood Park as their meeting place. These CERT trained personnel are one level under the primary emergency responders (firemen, police, etc.) This would be an area where triage is performed, etc.. It is NOT a neighborhorhood gathering place for individual groups of neighbors. Rather, it will serve a larger purpose in a true emergency.
G) Attendees at our SLSA meeting were encouraged to take this information back to our individual subdivisions and neighborhoods with the hope that the entire South Lake Sammamish area will eventually participate in this kind of neighborhood planning. Find information on the www.issaquahcitizencorps.com website to request pamphlets, etc.
4) The next area of discussion was West Lake Sammamish Parkway issues. David presented a 70 page Needs Assessment Study completed by the City of Issaquah in the Fall of 2007 which outlined the problems with traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists who use the parkway. Several recommendations were proposed by the city, including widening the pedestrian and bicycle paths. Instead, Newport Way is now being improved with additional paths and West Lake Sammamish Parkway has been ignored, with no funding or plans to make any improvements by the city. The city has cited difficulties due to the steep slope on the north side of the road, which creates difficulty working with individual home owners. Discussion ensued as to how we can encourage the city to address the problems they identified in their own report. It was noted that land along the parkway is zoned for medium-density multi-family, which if developed in the future will create additional traffic on this road. In addition, future redevelopment of Lake Sammamish State Park will also bring more traffice. The proposed condominium project to be located at 4615 West Lake Sammamish Parkway (west of Sammamish Bluff) was noted, which project will be 44 units in four stories over two levels of parking. Due to economic conditions and difficulty with financing, it appears nothing is imminent with this project (Wayne Eddy called the city last summer to inquire). Wayne will continue to track the proposed condo, and Caleb Tarleton and Eric Endres will meet with city officials to determine what we can do to solve the problems outlined in the Needs Assessment Study done by the city. Joan Probala and Ted Gibbons will also help on these road issues.
5) We next discussed the neighborhood sign issue. Doris Ong reported that the sign concept has been revised and down-scaled so that it includes more volunteer elements to keep the cost down. The original estimate was that each sign would cost $15,000. The cost is now estimated at approximately $12,000 for two signs, one at 188th and one at 192nd. They will resemble the new Greenwood Point sign along 188th. The committee is still finalizing funding of the sign by those neighborhoods who choose to participate. The goal is to begin construction in March 2009. Funding and payment will be routed through Pomegranate, which Craig Kinzer (SE 42nd Street) will help organize. Trees currently hang over the street signs near 188th along W. Lake Samm. Parkway. Becky Stenzel volunteered to call the city and ask for them to be trimmed.
6) A discussion of the future of SLSA followed. David Bangs indicated he will step down as chair of SLSA, so a new volunteer is needed. We have approximately three or four meetings per year. All agreed that SLSA fills a need and provides a good opportunity to connect the various neighborhoods within the South Lake Sammamish area.
7) The next meeting will be held in late February and Doris Ong volunteered to host the meeting. Dan Albertson volunteered to present a discussion about individual disaster readiness (compared to neighborhood readiness).
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Minutes compiled by Becky Stenzel, SLSA Secretary
