Newcastle City Council roundup — May 6
May 7, 2014
NEW — 4:05 p.m. May 7, 2014
The Newcastle City Council held its first meeting of the month May 6. Here is the Cliffs Notes version of what happened at City Hall. View the full meeting agenda online here.
Marijuana moratorium coming?
The Newcastle City Council directed city staff to prepare an ordinance placing a moratorium on marijuana-related business in the city. It represents one of the body’s first significant actions on the subject since the drug’s legalization.
Councilman Gordon Bisset made the motion, which passed 4-3. Read more
Hazen senior makes the Sea Gals dance team
May 7, 2014
NEW — 6 a.m. May 7, 2014
Contributed
Hazen High School senior Errin Mekel is the newest member of the Seattle Seahawks dance team, the Sea Gals.
Hazen High School senior Errin Mekel was selected as a member of the Seattle Seahawks dance team, the Sea Gals, for the upcoming season. Read more
Marijuana, impact fees and more on May 6 City Council agenda
May 5, 2014
NEW — 11:10 a.m. May 5, 2014
The Newcastle City Council will hold its first meeting of the month May 6.
The general meeting will begin with a discussion about the city’s traffic and parks impact fees. On April 15, the council reviewed a study on this subject in a session prior to the general meeting.
The council will then review an ordinance that would alter Comprehensive Plan amendment procedures to make them consistent with state law.
Next, the council will review an application to King County’s Public Benefit Rating System (PBRS). The program offers an incentive to preserve open space on private property in the county by providing a tax reduction to the owner. Read more
Spring Home 2014
May 2, 2014
B & E Meats and Seafood to host free weekend barbecue
May 1, 2014
NEW — 12:30 p.m. May 1, 2014
By Christina Corrales-Toy
B & E Meats and Seafood owner Jeff Green prepares samples at the store’s grand opening in October.
Residents are invited to sample all that B & E Meats and Seafood has to offer at a special barbecue May 2-3. Read more
Newcastle teen takes control of spiraling life
May 1, 2014
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Terrence Neese talks at Renton’s Secondary Learning Center about the benefits of the Washington Youth Academy.
Newcastle teen Terrence Neese should have worn a cap and gown on June 13, 2013.
He was supposed to embrace his parents as he emerged from the Kent ShoWare Center with a Hazen High School diploma.
Terrence was there to watch his classmates that day, but with insufficient credits to graduate, he was sitting in the stands, not on the floor.
Neighbors voice concerns about Energize Eastside
May 1, 2014
UPDATED — 9:45 p.m. May 1, 2014
*This story has been updated to reflect the following change: The initial version, and the one seen in the May 2 print edition, stated that Larry Johnson and the Olympus Homeowners Association would get a chance to give their own presentation about Energize Eastside at the May 6 Newcastle City Council. That has now been rescheduled for a later date to be determined*
Upgrades to infrastructure needed
When Newcastle neighbors Larry Johnson and Dave Edmonds peer into the backyards of their Olympus homes, transmission lines and power poles greet them.
It’s not the best view, but residents have learned to live with the 60-foot beams that carry 115 kilovolt power lines. The infrastructure has been there since long before the city was incorporated 20 years ago.
Those poles could get a lot taller, with lines that carry even more power, if Puget Sound Energy upgrades that corridor as part of its Energize Eastside project.
Courtesy Puget Sound Energy
At left, a growing Eastside, especially the area west of Lake Sammamish, is putting a strain on the region’s electric system, as seen in this future growth map. Above, PSE’s solution to the region’s growing power demand is to build about 18 miles of 230 kilovolt transmission lines from Redmond to Renton.
Little Rhody Park comes to fruition
May 1, 2014
The first person to officially climb the stairs of Little Rhody Park’s new playground was, surprisingly, not a child.
It was Corin Carper, one of the neighbors who volunteered his time to help build the community’s new slide and play structure at an April 12 work party.
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Neighborhood volunteers and city staff construct the new Little Rhody Park playground April 12.
Carper has children that will benefit from the new playground, but they will never get to say they were the first ones on it.
Notes from Newcastle
May 1, 2014
For once, I’m not the only one at meeting
I’m used to being the only one at Newcastle City Council meetings.
I sit there, alone, as the council conducts its business in front of an audience of one.
Christina Corrales-Toy
It can get lonely, I’ll admit, watching council members deliberate as I sit surrounded by a sea of empty chairs.
Letters
May 1, 2014
New power line is bad for the community
Puget Sound Energy’s proposal to replace the current 115 kV overhead power line with 230 kV lines on taller poles does not consider the negative impact on our community. Overhead power lines do not belong in residential areas for the following reasons:
- Exposure to electromagnetic fields has been linked to increased rates of certain cancers, such as leukemia in children and cancers of the lymph and diseases of central nervous systems in adults.
- Inhaling charged particles/pollutants around power lines has been linked to an increase in free radicals and many adverse health effects, such as cancer.
- interference with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators.
- power line noise. Read more
