I am outraged that our Kenmore City Council will be spending my tax dollars to pursue legal action against Councilman Hendrickson. I have attended City Council meetings on various occasions and always felt that Councilman Hendrickson represented my views on fiscal and other issues. I’ve spoken with him on a few occasions to thank him for standing up for me and the other citizens of Kenmore who feel as I do.

One such issue is the assessment of the $20 license-tab fee, which I read about in horror in a recent Kenmore Reporter. First and foremost, this is not the time to be raising taxes on citizens who have been socked with recession impacts. Secondly, the city squanders resources and I cite two examples.

The first is street sweeping. The city of Tacoma’s Web site describes the purpose: “To remove sediment and associated contaminants from the street surfaces before they can enter the stormwater collection system.” I live in an area with drainage ditches. Bio-retention ditches are incorporated into the state’s current best management practices for stormwater to slow stormwater and remove pollution. Many of Kenmore’s roads are designed to drain to these ditches. And yet, Kenmore sends street sweepers down my road, sometimes on Saturdays. And they make more than one pass. One pass of the street sweeper (per lane) is, by “definition,” appropriate where a stormdrain COLLECTION system exists — that is, pipes and catch basins. To use a street sweeper on streets that drain to ditches is a waste of resources.

The second example also relates to stormwater. Kenmore insists on installing pallets of sandbags in my neighborhood, which is at one of the highest points in the city and not near any channel that experiences flooding. If Kenmore needs a supply of sandbags for stormwater events, is the city so large that these cannot be kept at the city’s maintenance facility and easily accessed? Such siting would eliminate the need for the city to move these pallets into and out of place every autumn and spring.

Now we are being asked to pay more money in order to have a Cadillac system of roads. Enough is enough. Kenmore does not need to meet and beat the highest standards (and fees levied) found in cities such as Kirkland and Mercer Island, which the city often uses to try to convince us that we should be paying more. We do not need to be like the California cities from which City Manager Stouder proudly cites as the source of his experience. Thank you, Mr. Hendrickson, for representing me, and shame on the City Council.

Susan Gardner, Kenmore