Article
Afternoon Jolt: Another Shakeup in Bellevue
Today's Winner: Bellevue City Council Member Kevin Wallace.
In a heated meeting Monday, Bellevue city council members made two high-profile appointments to the Bellevue Planning Commission---former state Republican Party chair Diane Tebelius and conservative KOMO radio talk jock John Carlson, hardly two names that spring to mind in the context of local and use and zoning deliberations. Tebelius and Carlson will replace veteran commissioners William Lai and Douglas Mathews.
Both Tebelius and Carlson were nominated by Kevin Wallace, the Kemper Freeman-backed developer who opposes Sound Transit's proposed rail route south of Bellevue and whose family owns numerous properties in downtown Bellevue and along a controversial alternate light-rail route. (Wallace supports running rail through a wetland and to the east of Sound Transit's proposed alignment, away from most jobs and residents---the so-called B7 line.)
Both Carlson and Tebelius are solid Republicans who are likely to support Wallace's agenda: Promoting density in areas where he owns property and pushing light rail away from the central part of south Bellevue.
The most contentious recent issue before the planning commission was a proposed local-improvement district around a Wright Runstad transit-oriented development project in the Bel-Red corridor, a major light rail hub. The LID would have charged local property owners an extra tax to pay for road improvements in the area, on the grounds that they would benefit financially from the improvements. Wallace and his allies on the council opposed the original LID on the grounds that it would cost businesses too much. (The LID was subsequently cut in half and ultimately killed.)
[pullquote]The company he owns with his father, Bob Wallace, owns a large chunk of downtown Bellevue, giving Wallace an incentive to push for development there instead of along the Bel-Red corridor.[/pullquote]However, Wallace may have had another reason for opposing the road improvments around Wright Runstad's development: The company he owns with his father, Bob Wallace, owns a large chunk of downtown Bellevue, giving Wallace an incentive to push for development there instead of along the Bel-Red corridor. Wallace's benefactor Freeman is also the largest property owner in downtown Bellevue.
The planning commission, which makes recommendations on zoning and land use, will have a huge impact on zoning changes downtown as well as the development of the Bel-Red corridor.
Only one council member, Claudia Balducci, voted against the appointments. In explaining her vote, Balducci said that she didn't support replacing two veteran commissioners at a time when the city is just about to wrap up an update to its shoreline master program, an argument that planning commissioner Hal Ferris also made during public comments before the vote.
"Three years of work, hundreds of hours of testimony, public hearings, expert testimony---I just don't think you can make up that kind of experience by reading the record. I just don't," Balducci said. "We are three years into a process that will end by the end of this year. ... We have held commissioners over previously and that's what I think we should do in this case: Hold Commissioners Mathews and Lai over and appoint these exact two commissioners [Tebelius and Carlson] at the end of the year."
Although frequent Balducci ally John Chelminiak ultimately voted for both appointments, Chelminiak noted that Tebelius is a board member for the Washington Sensible Shorelines Association, a homeowners' group that lobbies against shoreline regulations. Tebelius has frequently spoken on behalf of the group before the planning commission and the Bellevue council. Chelminiak said it might be appropriate for Tebelius to step down from her position at the property-rights group, adding that "that might be something [Kevin] and Diane could involve the city attorney in"---a reference, perhaps, to the fact that Wallace is under investigation for potential conflicts of interest.
Most council members (including Balducci) expressed confidence that Carlson, at least, would be dedicated to his new position without trying to push an explicit political agenda. Contacted by email today, Carlson---a 25-year Bellevue resident---said he was interested in the planning commission because "it melds neighborhoods, the economy and the environment together.
"When you have watched a city evolve over time as you yourself do the same, you develop a longer, broader view about what makes the city work. I hope that perspective will be an asset on the commission," Carlson said.
The council has several more appointments coming up over the next few months. One rumor has it that the council majority is hoping to rout supporters of Move Bellevue Forward, a group that supports Sound Transit's preferred rail route over Wallace's, from various city boards and commissions. Chelminiak said he'd seen some suspicious "anomalies" in the appointment process for various commissions in recent days---noting that one parks commissioner found out he was not being reappointed via voice mail, which was "that's not the way things were done before. .... We need to treat people correctly."
Additionally, Freeman is rumored to be supporting a slate of council candidates this year---much as he did two years ago, when Wallace and Jennifer Robertson were elected and Don Davidson and Conrad Lee were reelected with Freeman's financial assistance. —ECB
Today's Loser: U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee
Despite doing much better in the latest poll than in the previous one against Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna, Democratic U.S. Rep Jay Inslee still gets a jolt today.
While the poll, by a Democratic polling firm, is a virtual tie, 40-38 McKenna (it was 48-41 earlier this month in a Survey USA poll ), lead PI news guy Chris Grygiel adds this telling comment to his write up of the poll between the two apparent rivals in next year's governor's race:
Grygiel's comment highlights an unsettling truth for Inslee: Close observers aren't convinced Inslee is his party's best candidate.—Josh Feit
In a heated meeting Monday, Bellevue city council members made two high-profile appointments to the Bellevue Planning Commission---former state Republican Party chair Diane Tebelius and conservative KOMO radio talk jock John Carlson, hardly two names that spring to mind in the context of local and use and zoning deliberations. Tebelius and Carlson will replace veteran commissioners William Lai and Douglas Mathews.
Both Tebelius and Carlson were nominated by Kevin Wallace, the Kemper Freeman-backed developer who opposes Sound Transit's proposed rail route south of Bellevue and whose family owns numerous properties in downtown Bellevue and along a controversial alternate light-rail route. (Wallace supports running rail through a wetland and to the east of Sound Transit's proposed alignment, away from most jobs and residents---the so-called B7 line.)
Both Carlson and Tebelius are solid Republicans who are likely to support Wallace's agenda: Promoting density in areas where he owns property and pushing light rail away from the central part of south Bellevue.
The most contentious recent issue before the planning commission was a proposed local-improvement district around a Wright Runstad transit-oriented development project in the Bel-Red corridor, a major light rail hub. The LID would have charged local property owners an extra tax to pay for road improvements in the area, on the grounds that they would benefit financially from the improvements. Wallace and his allies on the council opposed the original LID on the grounds that it would cost businesses too much. (The LID was subsequently cut in half and ultimately killed.)
[pullquote]The company he owns with his father, Bob Wallace, owns a large chunk of downtown Bellevue, giving Wallace an incentive to push for development there instead of along the Bel-Red corridor.[/pullquote]However, Wallace may have had another reason for opposing the road improvments around Wright Runstad's development: The company he owns with his father, Bob Wallace, owns a large chunk of downtown Bellevue, giving Wallace an incentive to push for development there instead of along the Bel-Red corridor. Wallace's benefactor Freeman is also the largest property owner in downtown Bellevue.
The planning commission, which makes recommendations on zoning and land use, will have a huge impact on zoning changes downtown as well as the development of the Bel-Red corridor.
Only one council member, Claudia Balducci, voted against the appointments. In explaining her vote, Balducci said that she didn't support replacing two veteran commissioners at a time when the city is just about to wrap up an update to its shoreline master program, an argument that planning commissioner Hal Ferris also made during public comments before the vote.
"Three years of work, hundreds of hours of testimony, public hearings, expert testimony---I just don't think you can make up that kind of experience by reading the record. I just don't," Balducci said. "We are three years into a process that will end by the end of this year. ... We have held commissioners over previously and that's what I think we should do in this case: Hold Commissioners Mathews and Lai over and appoint these exact two commissioners [Tebelius and Carlson] at the end of the year."
Although frequent Balducci ally John Chelminiak ultimately voted for both appointments, Chelminiak noted that Tebelius is a board member for the Washington Sensible Shorelines Association, a homeowners' group that lobbies against shoreline regulations. Tebelius has frequently spoken on behalf of the group before the planning commission and the Bellevue council. Chelminiak said it might be appropriate for Tebelius to step down from her position at the property-rights group, adding that "that might be something [Kevin] and Diane could involve the city attorney in"---a reference, perhaps, to the fact that Wallace is under investigation for potential conflicts of interest.
Most council members (including Balducci) expressed confidence that Carlson, at least, would be dedicated to his new position without trying to push an explicit political agenda. Contacted by email today, Carlson---a 25-year Bellevue resident---said he was interested in the planning commission because "it melds neighborhoods, the economy and the environment together.
"When you have watched a city evolve over time as you yourself do the same, you develop a longer, broader view about what makes the city work. I hope that perspective will be an asset on the commission," Carlson said.
The council has several more appointments coming up over the next few months. One rumor has it that the council majority is hoping to rout supporters of Move Bellevue Forward, a group that supports Sound Transit's preferred rail route over Wallace's, from various city boards and commissions. Chelminiak said he'd seen some suspicious "anomalies" in the appointment process for various commissions in recent days---noting that one parks commissioner found out he was not being reappointed via voice mail, which was "that's not the way things were done before. .... We need to treat people correctly."
Additionally, Freeman is rumored to be supporting a slate of council candidates this year---much as he did two years ago, when Wallace and Jennifer Robertson were elected and Don Davidson and Conrad Lee were reelected with Freeman's financial assistance. —ECB
Today's Loser: U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee
Despite doing much better in the latest poll than in the previous one against Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna, Democratic U.S. Rep Jay Inslee still gets a jolt today.
While the poll, by a Democratic polling firm, is a virtual tie, 40-38 McKenna (it was 48-41 earlier this month in a Survey USA poll ), lead PI news guy Chris Grygiel adds this telling comment to his write up of the poll between the two apparent rivals in next year's governor's race:
I’d like to see some polling on McKenna versus King County Executive Dow Constantine. Though the Democrat has been lukewarm to cold about about a possible 2012 run for governor’s mansion, he might be a formidable candidate.
Grygiel's comment highlights an unsettling truth for Inslee: Close observers aren't convinced Inslee is his party's best candidate.—Josh Feit
