Letters to the Editor

Fourth of July

Lynnwood’s celebration not very patriotic

I took my family to the July 4 celebration sponsored by the city of Lynnwood expecting to have a great time, just as we did the last time we went. However, feelings of patriotism and reflections on the birth of our great nation were hard to come by. The reason? The incessant drum beats and the accompanying music with which no one was familiar. For the 2-3 hours prior to the fireworks, the city of Lynnwood arranged for us to hear first a band playing Brazilian music (Show Brazil!) and then a band playing drum-heavy Latin and Caribbean (?) music (Johnny Conga &Sabor Tropical with vocalist Danny Olaizola). Wow. How patriotic…

Was this the tragic result of having both “Parks and Recreation” and “Cultural Arts” in the same department? Come on, guys. It’s the Fourth of July! You’ve got 364 other days of the year for “diversity” or whatever reason was behind this hair-brained idea. On this one day, this one single day of the year, please don’t be afraid to be proud of this great country. Give me some “Stars and Stripes Forever,” some John Philip Sousa, some barbershop quartets, maybe even some good ol’ country music, just please give me something American to listen to while celebrating America’s birthday.

Eric Brown

Edmonds

Griffey’s return

Let’s show respect to all former players

I was at SAFECO Field to see the first Mariner vs. Cincinnati baseball game. I did not attend to pay homage to Ken Griffey, Jr. Actually, I tried to avoid all the hoopla before the game. Nothing against Griffey but he was playing against and trying to defeat our team. He has had a fine career and is an outstanding player but does not and never has owed fans anything more than performing his best who ever he played for.

Since the early 1990s Seattle has had four of the greatest ballplayers of all time: Griffey, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson and Ichiro. All except Ichiro have moved on to improve themselves through the only honest method allowed a professional athlete, money.

A few years ago Rodriguez returned to play against the Mariners. He had signed as a free agent with Texas for a reported $25 million/year. This is still the largest contract for any athlete in any sport. Alex was greeted with boos and catcalls of the vilest kind. One would think that his life was in danger because he had “betrayed” the beloved home team. He is still the target of the same ill manners and disrespect at every Seattle appearance.

Based on fan voting the starting lineups for this year’s All-Star game include Griffey, Rodriguez and Ichiro. The top vote getters are Griffey for the National League and Rodriguez for the American League. I hope the local fans will remember that when Rodriguez next plays here. It is our good fortune to see one of the greatest baseball players of all time perform.

Go Mariners!

Steve Olsen

Lynnwood

Terrace Town Center

City doesn’t have a magic wand for money

I commend Lorayne Ham for reading the lengthy, repetitious Draft Environmental Impact Study about the Town Center in Mountlake Terrace. It took me two hours a day for four days reading and I am still not done with it. I wonder if any of our council members read it through. Nothing in this study shows that they are paying attention to what we want in our city so why should we care about what they want? Do they care about re-election?

We have 1,324 signatures on a petition to limit building heights in our city and that amount of signatures is a historic first. How many signatures from residents does the Mountlake Terrace City Council have to justify ignoring residents? There is no magic wand to wave to produce up front the $13–$20 million for service improvements to implement this plan under the Growth Management laws. Our voters have a right to know how much is going to come out of our pockets. Do we have it? What we don’t need is to be the third one in the state to be sued by Growth Management for not paying attention.

Shirley Malloy

Mountlake Terrace

City should take a page out of Mill Creek’s book

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the new Town Center in Mill Creek. Except for one five-story condo, most of the buildings were individual retail establishments. There were also two parking garages providing adequate parking for the vehicles accessing the area, thus avoiding parking problems and impacts onto residential areas. Furthermore, the entire center was accessed by a four-lane highway, which provided adequate ingress and egress to the area. There were at least three open space areas, and the entire development had an open spacious feel to it. Although the Town Center was recently constructed, Mill Creek was able to construct their Town Center without a plethora of new high rise housing. Anyone interested in the MLT Town Center process really needs to inspect what appears to be a successful Town Center development in Mill Creek.

The proposed town center for Mountlake Terrace is very different from the one constructed in Mill Creek. That design will result in increased residential density, and very little open space for residents. Not only will there be no allowance for the significant increase of traffic, but plans call for the reduction of current parking spaces required for each unit. Hopes and dreams that a significant part of the population will avail themselves of public transportation never come true, and as a result adjoining neighborhoods will be seriously impacted by both traffic and parking woes.

So why did the chicken cross the road? To show the possum that it was possible to do. Thus the Mill Creek chicken can show the Mountlake Terrace possum that a successful town center can be constructed with open space within current three-story parameters. But both better not try to cross the street if the new Mountlake Terrace town center as envisaged is developed. Because with all the increased traffic on inadequate roads, neither is likely to make it to the other side.

Eric S. Soll

Edmonds