A collection of emails

In support of the Aquatic Facility:

Oct 18, 2021

Hello

I am Betsi Hummer writing in support of the Aquatic Facility. I am a lifelong Bellevue resident. I learned to swim competitively at Enatai Beach in the early ‘60s when it was a King County Park.  My siblings and I were regular 1st place finishers in the 25 yard dog paddle. Rusty Tivnan from Mercer Island taught us Water Ballet; we competed at the pool in North Bend.  In the winter we swam workouts at Bob Regan’s Olympic Swim School in downtown Bellevue.  Our Bellevue High PE class did water polo with Mrs Zharadnizky at Olympic Swim School.

I swam in the first Girls Swim Team at Bellevue High, serving as Captain my Senior year.  We started workouts at Triangle Pool, then transitioned in October 1972 to the new Forward Thrust Pool at Odle Junior High. My sisters swam at Odle under the tutelage of Klaus, who became a great coach at the Bellevue Club.

I went to college at Seattle University; Kristi Gustafson started a Swim Club at the Connolly Center pool. Jim Wilson, a graduate student, was our coach. My dad, Frank Powers, owner of Seattle Lumber Company, had a carpenter, Ernie Tonda, make starting blocks out of Medium Density Plywood.  A friend, Mike Bates, made us hand paddles out of Masonite Tempered Duolux hardboard and surgical tubing from his mother, Geri Bates, a nurse at Northwest Hospital.   We swam against several colleges in dual meets, including Highline Community College, University of Puget Sound, and Pacific Lutheran University.  That was the first time I made regular flip turns, competed in a 500, and did an IM. 

I have always swum for my exercise, and now swim at Meydenbauer Bay – the water is about 45degrees, and I swim maybe a ½ mile for about 20 minutes, and take about an hour to warm up. Swimming is my passion and my sport. I have paid attention to the interest in building a Regional Aquatic Center in Bellevue.

It will give Bellevue a state of the art Athletic Facility, and provide the State of Washington with more than one Olympic Size Public Pool.  I believe the local high schools could use it for training, and Seattle U would be a good partner, since their meets are held in Federal Way. Seattle U’s baseball team’s home field is at Bannerwood Park; their swim teams could have an easy commute to Bellevue instead of Federal Way. 

Locating the Aquatic Facility close to Lake Hills will give under-served populations access to a water education facility.

Betsi Hummer

In support of Puesta Del Sol

Nov 16, 2020

Good Evening I am Betsi Hummer. I am here speaking as a private citizen. Last week the East Bellevue Community Council reviewed the Puesta Del Sol Hearing Examiners report and held its final Public Hearing and vote on the Puesta Del Sol Conditional Use Permit.

East Bellevue community Council unanimously approved the Puesta Del Sol Conditional Use Permit. Verbal testimony in the Hearing examiner report from Eckardt Schmidt, Bal Simon and Leonard McGhee indicated the Delbrook residents’ traffic concerns were addressed to their satisfaction.

Having the Bellewood school rebuilt for the new Puesta Del Sol will be a good use of this location. The whole permit process could have been handled better if the Bellevue School District and City staff had engaged with the neighborhood residents initially. This lapse led to a lot of friction and one of the few times that EBCC meetings were filled to capacity. The EBCC Courtesy Hearing saw the emotional pleas and outbursts from both the school families and the Delbrook residents. Overall, EBCC served its purpose in this case by providing a platform for all parties concerned to express their opinion.

This resulted in a positive outcome with all around support. Finally, there should be special consideration from the neighborhood residents directly/negatively impacted by any proposed change in the land use.

In support of Shelter LUCA amendments

Jun 24, 2018

Mayor and Council,

As a private citizen of Bellevue, I support the Homeless Services Use Land Use Code Amendments proposed by Councilmembers Robertson and Nieuwenhuis.  They obviously spent careful time considering various possible situations that would negatively impact the City of Bellevue and sought to have the LUCA reflect the needs of the entire Compassionate City that is Bellevue.

The Land Use Codes must be for any applicant of a particular construction type.  Just because the current City Council believes the current Temporary Emergency shelter provider will be do their best to not disrupt neighborhoods, and run a responsive program,  that assumption does not make good Code.  It would be like supposing that all Condo builders 20 years ago would not scrimp on building.  That was not the case, so now there is a state law specifically for Condos regulating their construction that constricts the development of Affordable Housing.  The Robertson/Nieuwenhuis Amendments seek to avoid those types of unintended consequences.

To avoid this same kind of conflict with Homeless Services Use, the Code needs to be a protective blanket for the users of the services as well the neighborhoods that will harbor those service providers.  Council also needs to be responsive to the neighborhoods in which Homeless Services Use may be established.

• To this end, please put a 1000' buffer between schools and residences for LOW BARRIER Shelters.

• Please be SURE there are no drug injection sites allowed at any Shelter compound.

• Expand the Neighbor Advisory Council to include representatives from impacted neighborhoods.

• Make the Process subject to a Conditional Use Permit to ensure greatest public input and transparency

It seems like this could have all been avoided and resolved if the initial process for a Shelter had been addressed by the Citizens Advisory Councils for neighborhoods like BelRed, Downtown, and Eastgate and if the zoning had been clarified in 2015.

I am still sorry that the Planning Commission does not take an active part in the development of the Land Use Code Amendment - they did a fine job with the Marijuana Stores.

Let's get back to "TheBellevueWay" - with citizen input and involvement, not getting derailed by political motivation, and improving transparency at all levels of planning and implementation.  Several candidates in the last election ran and won on the notion that they are all about supporting neighborhoods.  Let's show the neighborhoods that somebody has their back!