Years of studies and surveys demonstrate that Sammamish residents support a multi-purpose activity/aquatic center. Now, after much planning and citizen input, the City of Sammamish has designed a facility with gymnasiums, indoor track, meeting rooms, and lap and recreational pools for fun, fitness, and year-round swim lessons – in the heart of our city.

This facility can be built and operated with NO INCREASE IN TAXES, NO NEW TAXES, AND NO DEBT.  With a major contribution from the Y, the City can fund the project from reserves, without tapping our fiscal safety net.  The Y will manage the new center, providing affordable membership to Sammamish citizens, and will be responsible for annual maintenance and operating costs.

Much more than a fitness center, this facility will be a year-round, multi-purpose recreation venue for the whole community, including children, young adults, and seniors. It will serve as a gathering place for our citizens - a place for meetings, classes, lectures, games, fun, and much more.

Vote YES, and with no new taxes, the City and Y will join forces to build and operate a first-class, multi-purpose, recreational facility for our use in our growing community.  (This is a non-binding, advisory vote.)

As neighbors and business owners within our City, we strongly urge you to direct the City Council to not waste $25 MILLION of OUR TAX DOLLARS on this project that will benefit less than 10% of the residents and a single non-profit entity. We urge you to VOTE NO on this initiative.

Our City’s savings have taken over 12 years to establish and for those reserves to be depleted on an unnecessary project appears fiscally unsound and reprehensible by our elected officials.

Our City Council should be presenting us options for our tax dollar savings and yet we have only one, a nonessential publicly funded health club. Our tax dollars should be used for providing improved infrastructure and safety needs, broad community based programs or maintained as a “rainy day” fund.

Further, to use our tax money to build a facility that competes with existing private enterprise appears well outside the City charter to provide essential services.

Simply put, our City Council should not spend our tax dollars on this facility. Tell the City Council you feel the same and VOTE NO. Learn more at WWW.VOTENO.NET.

The proposed community/aquatic center is much more than an “athletic club.”  It will bring families closer together, encourage good health, and foster connections through fitness, sports, fun, and shared interests.  Sammamish residents have voiced tremendous support for such a venture, indicating our needs are not being met by local fitness clubs which cater primarily to adults.  Other cities have community centers.  Why not Sammamish?  Let’s build a gathering place for everyone to enjoy.  Vote yes!

Statement submitted by: Hank Klein, Bernie Lucking and Doug Eglington
hdklein@comcast.net

Enough with government’s needless spending!  No one moves to a City because of a YMCA.  What’s important is safety, infrastructure, our environment, parks, ball fields, schools and affordability.  If we make this $25,000,000+ gift of your money, our reserves will be nearly depleted and higher priority community needs that benefit everyone will go unmet.  If preserving Sammamish’s financial stability and ensuring a healthy future for our City is important to you, then Vote No!

Statement submitted by: James W. Wasnick, H. Cyrus Oskoui and Arthur Goldman