Showing posts with label op-ed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label op-ed. Show all posts

Op-Ed: Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Diane Pottinger, P.E. is the Distirct Manager of the North City Water District, which serves Shoreline east of I-5 and an eastern section of Lake Forest Park.


Remember the Skagit River Bridge collapse, when every media outlet couldn’t stop talking about our state’s serious infrastructure problem? Fast forward three years, and our legislators are considering eliminating funds and the funding source that were dedicated to infrastructure improvements.

Known as the Public Works Trust Fund, this source of funding has enabled over $2.6 billion in infrastructure improvements since 1985 — including 21 low interest loans for $23 million dollars of infrastructure projects right here in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. The Public Works Trust Fund is key to helping us to keep rates low for water, sewer and stormwater services.

What caused our legislators’ priorities to shift, even though our infrastructure is still in crisis? Two words: educational funding.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul: what schools, bridges, and water systems have in common.

We at North City Water District are huge supporters of schools, and recognize the serious financial crisis that our educational system is facing. Something must absolutely be done. However, taking funding away from infrastructure does not seem wise, nor is it a sustainable solution.

Without funding for infrastructure repair and upgrade, the safety of bridges (over which school buses traverse), the safety of our water system (from which our children drink), and the safe removal of waste from homes, businesses and schools are all at risk—and no less critical to our childrens’ well-being—especially when you consider the risk of an aging infrastructure during a major emergency event like an earthquake.

Sadly, the “invisibility factor” of infrastructure (the majority of which is underground) has led to Public Works Trust Funds being diverted to other uses: this was the 7th year in a row that legislators used money from this fund to balance the budget, hoping that infrastructure systems will keep functioning with minimal or emergency-only attention.

Here at North City Water District, we believe a significant reduction in financing for infrastructure improvements is not the best way to address the financial shortfall in our educational system. We believe BOTH education AND infrastructure are imperative to the well-being of our children and our state.

If you too feel that infrastructure and schools are important, we urge you to contact your Legislator.



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Op-Ed: Mayors say it’s time to strengthen the Public Records Act

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Cities need tools to appropriately handle complex and broad requests 

By David Baker, Mayor, City of Kenmore and Jeff Johnson, Mayor, City of Lake Forest Park

Our cities, and cities throughout the state, are committed to open and transparent government. We dedicate significant time and resources to uphold these principles.

Both the cities of Kenmore and Lake Forest Park receive about 250 requests each year. Responding to the public’s inquiries is what we do – it’s just one of the many services we provide. We also build and maintain streets, respond to victims of crime, prepare for emergencies, plan for growth, and provide safe parks.

The Public Records Act is an important law that protects citizens’ right to know about government activities and decisions. It provides strong protections for public access to records and penalties for agencies and officials who fail to comply.

However, the Public Records Act isn’t as strong as it could be.

The law was adopted in 1972 by Washington state voters. Today, our world is vastly different, and the law has failed to keep up with new realities and changing technologies. In order to be accountable to our community members, we need tools to appropriately handle complex and broad requests from a minority of requestors who monopolize public resources.

The Public Records Act, as currently written, lacks provisions to protect the public from those who use the law for financially-motivated, punitive, and retributive requests. These requestors exploit the act for their own purposes, creating a costly burden for local governments and taxpayers alike.

The growth in requests that monopolize city resources cannot be overlooked. In the City of Kenmore, the number of complicated requests grew from eight percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2015. Examples of these requests include those that were either broad or vague, part of a series of requests made by a frequent requestor, not easily identifiable, or required legal review.

These large, complex requests take staff time and resources from other government responsibilities, and result in longer response periods for other requestors.

The Legislature is currently considering HB 2576, sponsored by Rep. Joan McBride (D-Kirkland) and Rep. Terry Nealey (R-Dayton). This bill is a modest proposal to provide some alternatives for local government and requestors.

Some open government advocates admit that a problem exists with certain types of requests and requestors, but remain opposed to this bill. Now is the time for us to work together and support legislation that strengthens this law in response to those who monopolize limited public resources for personal gain.




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Op-Ed: My faith in humanity has been shaken

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Ruth Gronvold and her husband are regular "stair walkers" at Saltwater Park.

On Saturday, January 30, 2016 about 4:10pm, my husband and I went to Richmond Beach Saltwater Park to walk the stairs. We placed our water bottles on the north side of the stairs three flights down from the top. As I warmed up I took off my jacket and rolled it up and placed it next to the bottles.

As we did our laps on the stairs my husband and I would stop and get drinks from our water bottles.

On my ninth lap up the stairs, my husband was ahead of me on the stairs, I looked over and noticed that our bottles and my coat were gone. I asked him if he had taken them and moved them. He said no.

We ran up to the top of the stairs to see if we could see anyone one walking away with them and then down to the parking lot. No luck.

The stairs had multiple groups of adults and adults with children waking up and down the stairs while we were there. We have been to the park to walk the stairs many times and have always left our bottles and jackets to the side of the stairs without ever having them stolen.

We are most distressed to think that a fellow stair walker would steal our possessions. It turned into what was a great hour of exercise into a most unfortunate event.

We lost two blue REI Nalgene bottles, one wide mouth and one narrow mouthed. The wide mouthed bottle had three stickers on it. Two black and white REI stickers and one green sticker that said 'Evergreen' on it. The wide mouthed bottle also had a mouth piece in it. My women’s black Eddie Bauer wind breaker with a hood was also taken.

The value of this items will not break us to replace them, but it is just the idea that they were taken while we were out walking the stairs at Richmond Beach enjoying what this great area has to offer.

I have never had anything like this happen to me and my faith in humanity has been very shaken. People need to know that their possessions are at risk if left by the side of the stairs while exercising and to be on the watch.



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Editorial: How much density do you have to have to support a coffee house?

Saturday, December 19, 2015

By Diane Hettrick

The Bounty, the last coffee house in North City, closed its doors on December 15. It had previously reduced its operating hours in an attempt to cut costs, but that was not enough to keep it financially viable.

This is the third coffee house to close in North City. Brown's Coffee, with a charming decor, great food, and coffee roasted and ground on site, closed its location down the street three years ago.

The Bounty took over from a  previous business which was also failing, the Laughing Ladies.

The North City business district has high density housing, with half a dozen high rise apartment buildings within walking distance.

All three venues had experimented with live musical performances, play spaces for children, different kinds of food. All had wi-fi, various size of tables. A couple were friendly to groups meeting on their premises. Some had friendly staff, some were said to be a little grumpy.

Brown's had terrible parking, the others had a generous parking lot. Brown's had gourmet food; The Bounty had egg muffins stuffed into plastic cups.

In other words, their business models had little in common, but all ended up closing their doors.

It makes me wonder how much density you have to have to support a local business like a coffee shop.

I worked in downtown Seattle for five years. I discovered that every high-rise office building had a small cafe. Some were on public streets. Some were entered from loading docks on alleys. The Columbia Center had at least two cafes on the mezzanine - and possibly more. For the most part these cafes had no decor, but they did have great food.

All had long lines during lunch time and did a booming business.

Our residential buildings are not enough to support coffee shops. Will it take 12 story office buildings to support a cafe?



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Op-Ed: Shoreline Preservation Society on the outcome of the Growth Management Hearings Board case

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

From the Shoreline Preservation Society

Today, Wednesday, December 16th, the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board announced a decision on an important case affecting Shoreline and surrounding communities. The decision of the Board is to rule in favor of the City.

The Shoreline Preservation Society had filed a Petition in an Appeal challenging “the 185th Street Subarea Plan and Development Regulations, and accompanying EIS, because they are concerned about the future of their city, and how growth will be managed and paid for.” SPS believes that the City’s actions do not comply with the Growth Management Act and therefore must be invalidated and remanded back to the City Council by the Board.

The results of this decision will be that SPS will look at all options and consider whether an appeal is warranted.

“The Shoreline Preservation Society is proud of the efforts we’ve made and we respectfully disagree with the Board’s decision. We are grateful to our hundreds of supporters and our wonderful legal team Dykes-Ehrlichman who presented a very credible case.
"We still have a Superior Court case pending on the validity of the Planned Action Ordinance. Our Board will be considering our options and conferring with our legal team. We continue to believe that the City’s gigantic rezones are not right for our community and do not have the support of those most affected. There are at least 6000 households impacted and these citizens have not received justice here today with this decision” stated Janet Way, President of Shoreline Preservation Society.


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Op-Ed: City of Shoreline on the outcome of the Growth Management Hearings Board case

From the City of Shoreline

On December 16, the Growth Management Hearings Board (the Board) denied the Shoreline Preservation Society’s appeal of the City’s adopted 185th Street Station Subarea Plan. The Shoreline Preservation Society challenged the ordinance adopting the Subarea Plan and the Final Environmental Impact Statement for failing to comply with provisions of the Growth Management Act (GMA) and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The Board denied the Preservation Society’s appeal on all counts and dismissed the case.

The Preservation Society asserted that the City failed to complete required capital facilities planning under the GMA. The Board disagreed finding no violation of GMA requirements for capital facilities and transportation planning. The Preservation Society also alleged both procedural and substantive violations of SEPA. Again, the Board disagreed concluding “the record does not support Petitioners’ complaints of insufficient analysis of environmental impacts or mitigation for transportation, water, sewer, and stormwater management.”

 “The City engaged the public in a robust planning process for the 185th Street Station Subarea Plan spanning almost two years,” stated City Manager Debbie Tarry. “We are pleased by the Board’s decision and will continue to engage the public in the planning process as we continue planning for the 145th Street Station Subarea.”


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Op-Ed: Keep toddlers out of dog parks

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Off-Leash dog parks allow dogs to be dogs, together

By Susan Will, Richmond Beach Community News Editor

Besides having wide open space to play with your best bud, off-leash dog areas provide a long list of enriching opportunities, many of which come from your dog interacting and playing as part of a pack. The pack teaches individuals what is socially appropriate dog behavior. Watching increases your understanding of canine communications. Just seeing each dog’s personality crystalize and shine is a big treat. 

Lately, some dog owners are expressing concern about increased sightings at off-leash areas of a creature so nerve-wracking it can clear the park: an off-leash toddler.

You don’t have to be a dog or toddler handler to understand that excited, playful dogs of almost any size are not a fair match for small, unstable humans. What’s worse is that small humans react to excitement in ways that can ratchet up a dog’s excitement. Running and yelling invites most dogs to chase and catch you, after all.

While everyone who enters an off-leash area does so at their own risk, dog owners are responsible for any damage or injury their dog does.

You can be confident of how your dog behaves around other dogs, adults and children, and yet it is far too easy for him to knock over and trample a toddler while he’s in play mode. It is easier to make those types of introductions in a controlled setting.

In the interest of safety, some Richmond Beach residents are asking Edmonds and Shoreline to provide better signage. Though both cities have rules posted at their off-leash areas, the single points in each regarding children are nebulous and buried in a long list.

More prominent and clear signage would at least help ensure parents know what they are walking into. That might go a long way to making everyone more comfortable and able to enjoy the park.

More info
To learn about nearby off-leash dog areas, visit the city websites as well as the nonprofits that support the off-leash areas.

Shoreline

Parks Department
Follow the Off-Leash Dog Area link from the Parks page
Edmonds

Parks Department
Follow the Dog Friendly Parks link from the Parks page
Express your opinion

City of Shoreline
17500 Midvale Avenue N
Shoreline, WA 98133-4905


City of Edmonds
121 Fifth Avenue N
Edmonds, WA 98020





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Op-Ed: To Stem Shortfall of Math Competencies, Start Early

Monday, October 26, 2015

Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-32
By Rep. Ruth Kagi, 32nd Legislative District

During my 17 years in the Washington state legislature, I’ve made it a priority to fight for our public education system. We’ve made substantial progress in transforming classrooms across the state into inclusive environments that foster learning and prepare our children for adult life, but the job is far from finished. The legislature must fully fund our K-12 schools, including science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs.

In Seattle’s high-tech economy, it’s critically important that we create a STEM-skilled workforce that is prepared to meet the needs of our local employers — from Boeing to Microsoft to Amazon and beyond. Since 2005, King County alone has added more than 50,000 technology-related jobs. In 2011, 20 percent of all U.S. jobs – 26 million positions – required knowledge in at least one STEM field. That number is estimated to grow 17 percent by 2018, compared with only 9.8 percent growth for all other fields combined.

In my role as Chair of the Early Learning and Human Services Committee, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges of ensuring that our youngest learners are getting the early education opportunities necessary to prepare them for elementary and secondary classroom environments. The budget we passed this year makes a historic investment of $159 million in early learning, which will increase educational success and save millions of dollars in special education and repeated grades. Even still, by the time our students reach high school, their math and science scores will lag behind dozens of other developed countries unless we do a better job creating STEM programs for our littlest learners.

I’ve had conversations with numerous educators in my district, and when I ask them how they account for our nation’s sliding competencies the answers almost always come back to classroom funding. While the legislature must significantly increase funding for K-12 education, many citizens, local businesses and community organizations are working together to fund innovative initiatives that provide students with hands-on learning opportunities and arm them with the critical skills they will need to succeed in jobs of the future.

Students need materials like games, science projects and books to explore science, math, engineering and technology, but too often teachers end up using their own money to buy these materials for their students. Nationally, teachers spend an average of $400 annually for materials and supplies for their classrooms. Based on my conversations with teachers at Broadview-Thompson K-8 School, (in North Seattle) our local teachers typically spend more than the national average to ensure their students have the necessary learning materials.

Community-based organization and corporations can play an important role in making it easy for communities to support their local schools. For example, I recently participated in a classroom event at Broadview-Thomson K-8 School in Greenwood that was put together by the Fuel Your School program, a collaboration between DonorsChoose.org and Chevron.

During my visit to Broadview-Thompson K-8 School, kindergarteners were deeply engaged in a lesson using hands-on materials provided with help from this funding program. The classroom received a large box of games, books and project materials because our neighbors filled up their tanks at local participating Chevron stations during the month of October.

Here in King County, residents helped generate $600,000 last year that funded materials and school supplies, requested by local teachers for their classrooms. The Fuel Your School program is taking place again – right now – donating $1, up to another $600,000, to K-12 public schools when consumers fuel up with eight or more gallons at participating Chevron and Texaco stations during the month of October. (See previous article)

I’ll continue the fight in Olympia, but I’m also asking you to support the many outside funding opportunities that exist to support our children’s education. I encourage all of you to spread the word about the opportunity to support STEM, donate to charities and online funding organizations like DonorsChoose.org, contribute to your school foundation and volunteer at your local school. A little goes a long way. We all have the opportunity—and responsibility—to work together to ensure our students receive a world-class education from the very beginning.

Updated 10-30-2015

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Op-Ed: Late School Start Means More Stress for High School Students

Friday, September 25, 2015

By Marianne Deal Stephens

In the first week of school, my 16-year old daughter had a chapter quiz and several major assignments due: two essays, two problem sets, and a writing assignment. Why? She — like hundreds of Shoreline students and thousands of Washington students — is enrolled in Advanced Placement “AP” classes and had summer homework.(1) Are AP teachers academic overlords? Is our district trying to prove something? No on both counts. These assignments are simply an attempt to make up for the calendar. Students have to start studying in the summer because they start the school year already behind much of the rest of the country. 

Advanced Placement courses, which have college level curriculum and optional exams, have become a nearly standard offering in American high schools.(2) Students choose if and how many AP courses to take. Students can potentially earn college credit, and consequently save on college tuition, depending on exam scores. These exams are given the first two weeks of May — May 2-6 and May 9-13 in 2016 — in all locations, no matter when particular districts begin the year. So, a student taking AP Calculus in West Lafayette, Indiana has five weeks more to learn the material for the exam than a student in Shoreline, Washington. 

National Start Dates
In this example, Indiana is not the exception: Washington is. In my own unscientific look at start dates around the country and on this CNN map, the Northwest and Northeast appear to be “after Labor Day no matter when it falls” holdouts, with a few exceptions in the Midwest. 

Source:  Back to School:  Why August is the New September, CNN, August 5, 2015. 


State Start Dates
In Washington, most school districts (77%) started before Labor Day, while Shoreline and the rest (23%) started after the holiday.(3)  If we created a map of Washington school district start dates, Eastern Washington would on average have earlier start dates than Western Washington. 

Local Start Dates
Of the three Districts that border Shoreline, Edmonds and Seattle share the September 9 start date (scheduled, not actual in Seattle’s case) while Northshore started September 2. Puget Sound has a similar mix of start dates, with schools on the east side of Lake Washington tending to start September 1, and schools on the Seattle side tending to start September 8 or 9. 

The AP Race
While many — and perhaps most — American AP students have 32-35 weeks to prepare, Shoreline and many other Washington students have 30 weeks, and 10 of those weeks are partial, with one or more days off. It is as if we ask our students to run a marathon on the same course as their national peers, but with a staggered start. Our students start last and have to cover the same distance and terrain, only faster. 

Not Only AP Students
Negative ramifications of the late start also affect students who: play fall sports; plan to apply to college; and intend to work in the summer. If we created a Venn diagram — with the overlapping circles — of these groups, a majority of Shoreline high school students would be included in at least one circle, and some in all four. 

Athletes, College-Bound Students, and Working Students
High school athletes begin practices well before school starts, with football players suiting up August 19 and other athletes starting August 24 this year. In order for the athletes to compete (WIAA  rules require football players to have 12 practices and athletes in other sports to have 10 before competition), those families cannot go on vacation at the end of August or beginning of September. It is summer yet not summer, school yet not school. 

Seniors applying to colleges have a stressful year ahead of them, filled not only with the usual complement of classes and activities, but with college essays, applications, deadlines, possible trips, and other components of the pre-college process. Because there is a lot to do, the Common Application, used by more than 600 colleges, opens August 1. However, in Shoreline and surrounding districts, there isn’t anyone to help students with college applications until much later. 

In Shoreline, our counselors begin working three weeks before school starts (August 20 this year), yet they are immediately inundated with high school schedule requests. The contracts of our College and Career Readiness Counselors do not begin until the day before school starts (September 8 this year), a full five weeks after the Common Application has opened. If seniors want to get a head start, they have to work independently in the summer and hope that school staff and systems are ready to supply the school portions of college applications. Some scholarship deadlines have already passed, and early application deadlines start October 15

It is a credit to Shoreline and Washington educators that students here do as well as they do with considerably less time to learn content.(4) This situation of maintaining quality despite having considerably less time parallels how Washington manages to have, on average, well-performing schools even with inadequate funding .(5) My conclusion — that teachers’ expertise routinely overcomes deficits of time and money — is not scientific, yet should not seem a stretch to anyone intimately familiar with our schools.  

Six Week Lull
By the end of April, our AP teachers have managed to cram an entire year’s content into 30 weeks. Following AP exams the first two weeks of May, the hundreds of students in Shoreline AP classes still have six weeks left in school after they have covered the curriculum. Many of our dedicated AP teachers use those weeks for activities like the Physics Olympics (AP Physics), or a student-choice Passion Project (AP World History). Some AP classes do not do much, yet almost nobody complains: the relative idleness provides a well-deserved break. Even though these six weeks can be used for learning or recovery, I would think that teachers and students would rather have the buildup be not quite so crazy and the break after AP exams be not quite so long. 

Latest End Date
Shoreline’s “likely last day of school” is June 24. This date also is weeks later than most of the rest of the country, and even though Shoreline shares the September 9 start date with many other state districts, only two districts in Washington — Shoreline and Auburn — have such a late scheduled end date.(6) As the last in the state to get out of school, our high school students have a disadvantage when seeking summer employment.  

Move the Start Date—Slightly 
All of these pressures and consequences could be partially eased by a calendar change. A drastic change would not work; in some areas with early start dates, “take back our summer” movements lobby for later dates.(7) Even a minor change of starting one or two weeks earlier would: lighten the summer homework load; spread out the AP workload; increase the overlap of student-athletes’ academic and athletic calendars; increase staff readiness for and reduce stress for college-bound students; and give teen job seekers more opportunities. Students in AP courses could potentially do better on AP exams, with the possibilities of college credit and saved college tuition more within reach.(8) These and better summer employment opportunities would be lasting, positive effects for a majority of our high school students. 

Shoreline’s Role
Instead of following surrounding districts, Shoreline should lead surrounding districts. I realize that calendar details are worked out during contract bargaining and are constrained by WIAA (athletic) and OSPI (academic and state) regulations. It may be too late for a change in the near future, but perhaps we can change priorities now. Concrete, lasting consequences should take precedence over factors such as “we like to take vacations in late summer”—a major reason circulated in the Shoreline community during a previous late start (September 12, 2011). The district likes to tout our high schools’ achievements: our kids’ AP scores and participation recently got the district on the AP Honor Roll.(9) It is a contradiction to simultaneously promote our kids’ achievement and also make that achievement more difficult. 

If we are truly serious about preparing our young adults for the world and minimizing teen stress, then we should respect the calendar’s effect on our students and student-athletes and make this relatively innocuous change. Families’ Labor Day traditions may be affected, but once families hear about or experience the effects of a late start school year on their high school students, the prospect of a more reasonable workload (including more sleep) and better opportunities will outweigh the inconvenience of shifting a vacation. 

As the Seattle Teachers’ Strike stretched over several days, my daughter and I wondered about its effect on AP students and teachers. Then, the irony of our concern struck us: students and educators who live elsewhere must look at our students, barely out of the starting blocks, with the same sentiment. 

Best of luck to our educators and students; the race is on!


Notes
1. In 2013, 21,583 Washington State high school graduates left high school having taken at least one AP Exam. 10th Annual AP Report, Washington Supplement
2. In 2013, over 1 million U.S. public high school graduates, 33.2% of the of total public high school graduates,  took at least one AP Exam. College Board News Release 2.11.14  and 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation.  

3. In Washington, 35 districts, or 12%, started the week of August 24-28; 186 districts, 64.3%, started the school year the week of August 31; 67 districts, 23%, started the week of September 8-11. Washington has 295 districts; 289 reported data to the OSPI.  

4. Washington AP performance is slightly better than U.S. averages. 

5. Washington school performance exceeds national averages in average scale scores as shown by the Nation’s Report Card, National Center for Education Statistics.   . However, once analyses take into account Washington’s per pupil funding (and, in some reports, the relatively high pupil-teacher ratios), quality assessments fall. Education Week’s Quality Counts 2015

6. While 67 districts (23%) started the school year the same week as Shoreline, only 11 districts, or 3.8%, anticipate finishing the school year the week of June 20-24. Shoreline has more days off during the school year than most districts. The Seattle Teachers’ strike may extend the Seattle academic calendar.  


8. Colleges’ AP credit policies vary. Look up particular policies on AP Credit Policy Search.   


Corrected city name 09-26-2015

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Op-Ed: Statement from local legislators regarding the educators’ strike in Seattle

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The following statement is from Representatives Farrell, Pollet, Walkinshaw, Santos, Pettigrew, Tarleton, Carlyle, Ryu, Kagi, Fitzgibbon, and Bergquist, and Senators Frockt, Pederson, Jayapal, Kohl-Welles, Chase, and Hasegawa. (names in bold represent Shoreline or Lake Forest Park)


The Seattle educators’ strike has highlighted that it is the responsibility of the Washington State Legislature to fully fund education and avert future strikes. If the state had done its job of fully funding education, our kids would already be in school. The lack of funding runs contrary to our core value that public education is the ladder for opportunity in our society.

We call on the negotiating team convened by the Governor to reach an agreement that addresses teacher compensation and supports urban school districts as soon as possible.

As representatives whose districts cover Seattle, many of us are either current or former Seattle Public School parents. We are committed to fully funding our public school system, but must do so without making devastating cuts to our social safety net. We support state programs that keep kids fed and housed since we know that hunger and homelessness are major obstacles to learning.

In 2012 the State Supreme Court ruled that our state was not meeting its paramount duty of fully funding basic education. Since the original ruling, the state increased K-12 education funding for important elements of basic education such as student transportation, K-3 class size reduction, materials and supplies, and all-day kindergarten. The Legislature is on pace to fully comply with these components of the McCleary ruling by our next budget cycle.

One major hurdle remains: teacher compensation, and more specifically, who should be funding teacher salaries. In the simplest terms the state is constitutionally obligated to pay teacher salaries. But, for decades, the Legislature has underfunded these allocations, forcing school districts to use local levies to make up the difference. On average across the state, districts are paying about 25% of the cost of teacher salaries.

This cost, which needs to be addressed by the 2017-18 school year, is estimated to be $3.5 billion over a two-year budget cycle. 

There are several solutions on the table, but there is no single magic bullet. It will take the commitment of all four caucuses (House and Senate Democrats and Republicans) and the Governor over the next months to develop a solution that addresses teacher compensation and provides additional resources for urban school districts. Every year we wait is another year our children are not receiving the education they deserve and that we expect as a society. Our kids, our teachers, and our families deserve better.



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Op-Ed: Giving every child a fair shot at success

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Rep. Ruth Kagi
Rep. Ruth Kagi represents the 32nd legislature district, which includes all of Shoreline, and Woodway, and parts of North Seattle, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, Lynnwood, as well as parts of unincorporated Snohomish county. Sen. Litzow represents the 41st district east of the lake.

By Rep. Ruth Kagi and Sen. Steve Litzow

Half of Washington’s children are set up to fail.

On the first day of kindergarten, they’re behind on math and language and don’t have the social and emotional skills to succeed.

These kids are starting a lifelong race 20 yards behind. Most never catch up.

If you’re a mom or dad, a business owner or a taxpayer, you should care. 
Because when children fail, we all pay the price.

Children who drop out of school, do drugs and end up in a life of crime cost taxpayers, on average, $2.5 million each.

That money could be spent making college affordable or fixing our schools. It’s as simple as pay now, or pay a lot more later.

The good news is, we have a solution: high quality early learning.

Research shows that children who participate in high quality early learning have lower rates of: special education placement, grade repetition, obesity and teen pregnancy, abuse and neglect and juvenile detention. They also have higher test scores and higher rates of high school graduation.

Scientists say 92 percent of a child’s brain is developed by age five, before he or she sets foot in a kindergarten classroom.

Washington has an ethical imperative to prepare all students to compete in the 21st-century job market and fully participate in democracy. With the legislature under a constitutional obligation to fully fund K-12 education, we cannot ignore highly effective programs that move children toward higher student achievement. Because we take our duty to the entire educational continuum – early learning, K-12 and higher education -- so seriously, we must invest in both high-quality early learning and our K-12 schools.

If we continue adding billions more dollars into our K-12 system without ensuring our children are ready to learn when they arrive, everyone loses. We’ll have a very expensive K-12 system and still over half our children will be set-up to fail.

We have an obligation to ensure every child – even children who are victims of abuse, neglect or poverty, have the opportunity to succeed.

That’s why we sponsored the bipartisan Early Start Act -- a comprehensive childcare and early learning quality improvement plan.

Early learning helps kids be ready on that first day of kindergarten and puts them on a path to success.

Lawmakers also have an obligation to taxpayers. We know every tax dollar must be spent as wisely as possible.

And early learning has the highest return on investment of any education - between $4-$17 back for every dollar spent. Yet, our state currently spends less than one cent of every tax dollar received on early learning.

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  If we want different results, we must change our spending. We must invest in high quality early learning.

If world-class brain research and many economic studies do not convince you, consider the real-world experience of those who see the need firsthand. Law enforcement, the business community and military leaders agree that investing in high-quality childcare & early learning is the most effective step we can take to prevent crime, ensure a thriving economy and protect our national security.

This year's passage of the Early Start Act along with a new budget that adds $159 million for early learning and care with 1,600 more slots for the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program -- the largest early learning increase in state history -- will bring the high quality programs that we know work, to all of Washington’s childcare centers and preschools.

A strong start for children leads to more successful schools, stronger families, more self-reliant adults and safer communities.



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Op-Ed: Deception should not deter Planned Parenthood from vital work

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Mike Kreidler
Mike Kreidler, Washington State Insurance Commissioner

The continuing deceptive attacks on Planned Parenthood cloud the long-term benefits that this organization provides in Washington state as well as the rest of the nation.

In Washington state, Planned Parenthood’s 35 health centers reach more than 107,000 patients, many of them low-income. Without Planned Parenthood, many would likely receive no care at all.

Planned Parenthood also works to make sure that insurance companies in Washington state provide the free preventive services and maternity benefits guaranteed to women under the Affordable Care Act. My office is following up with insurers this fall on their progress in providing the proper information.

Besides family planning assistance, 95 percent of Planned Parenthood’s work in the state covers other services. These include:
  • Cancer screenings.
  • Exams for sexually transmitted disease to prevent and contain them from spreading.
  • Detection and prevention of other illnesses and diseases.

Congressional opponents of Planned Parenthood are likely to try again in September to eliminate funding. They say the money and care provided can quickly shift to other organizations – ones favored by the opponents.
I am proud of my longtime association with Planned Parenthood. I will continue to strongly support its work on behalf of millions of Americans, including many in our state.

But the state Department of Health says such a change would be disruptive to the individuals and families whom Planned Parenthood serves. Opponents of Planned Parenthood again are not being upfront about the consequences.

False and deceptive claims should not be allowed to disrupt the public funding of this vital health care organization.



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Op-Ed: Free college helps build strong, globally competitive middle class

Monday, August 10, 2015

Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D
President, Shoreline Community College
By Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D
President, Shoreline Community College

Erosion is a slow process that, if left unaddressed, eventually requires strong and immediate action to counteract.

In many ways, this is where public higher education finds itself today, something that President Obama and elected officials in both houses of Congress fully understand. The foundational bargain struck more than 50 years ago, that higher education is so important to the health and strength of society that it should be publicly supported and available to all citizens has been slowly eroding for years.

In January, President Obama used his State of Union address to reinforce the idea of making community college tuition free for many students. Earlier this week, legislation was introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to do just that: Provide significant new funding that, in partnership with the states, would help all Americans get the education and training they need to live successful, fulfilling lives in a globally competitive world.

Shoreline Community College supports and applauds the efforts and is already using existing abilities to implement its own local version of free college, the Shoreline Scholars program. Launched just this spring for qualifying students arriving for fall quarter 2015, Shoreline Scholars provides up to two years of free tuition. The program focuses on local students who have worked hard to achieve academic success in high school, but don’t have the financial resources to attend.

Shoreline’s program aims at local students and families and will have significant and positive impacts on many lives. Moreover, Shoreline Scholars sets a goal for younger students by saying that hard work and achievement will be recognized and supported when it is their time to go to college.

These effects would be multiplied thousands of times by President Obama’s America’s College Promise proposal and the similar legislation introduced in Congress this week. However, while the scale is huge, the beauty of applying such a level of resources toward the mission of community and technical colleges is that the impact is local.

Shoreline Scholars and similar programs started by forward-thinking colleges across the country are lifting up their communities. The proposal to expand free tuition for community college is a national effort with local consequences.

And, America has seen it work before.

Out of the sacrifices made by service men and women in World War II came the GI Bill. Hundreds of thousands of returning soldiers parlayed the college benefit of the GI Bill into education and training that fueled an explosion of advancement, innovation and productivity, pushing the United States and the world farther and faster than ever before. It was a bold move, one that not only set our trajectory to the moon, but also   trajectory set charted a course to the middle-class for more Americans.

And, in Washington state we see the power of education now.

Each year, Washington’s community and technical college educate and train nearly 400,000 students for well-paying careers, to start along the path toward a four-year degree or update their skills and knowledge. During the recent economic downturn, community and technical college were flooded with students looking to find new ways to achieve their dreams.

President Obama’s proposal and the legislation introduced this week represent a dramatic swing in support for publicly funded higher education. Just as the GI Bill following World War II helped create the workforce for the 20th century, this new initiative in higher education can launch the workforce for the 21st century.

Shoreline, and the community and technical colleges in Washington and across the nation have proven for more than 50 years that they help build prosperity. These proposals are an investment in America.



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Op-Ed: Seattle City Light statement on President’s Clean Power Plan

Monday, August 3, 2015


Seattle City Light has been carbon neutral since 2005

Seattle City Light Interim General Manager and CEO Jim Baggs issued the following statement in support of President Obama’s new Clean Power Plan after the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) released final regulations that will, for the first time, set federal carbon emission limits for existing power plants: 

“Seattle City Light, a carbon neutral utility since 2005, has long advocated for action to address climate change and supports EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. 

“We believe that the impact of climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the electric industry. Research we have undertaken and our recently developed Climate Adaptation plan shows that climate change has significant effects on the reliability of our system. 

“Utilities such as Seattle City Light that depend on hydropower face loss of snow pack and glaciers as well as increased frequency and severity of floods on our rivers. Overall, the industry will face increased risk of fire, sea level rise, severe storms and landslides that threaten power lines.  For these reasons, we urged the Obama Administration to ensure that the final rule delivers meaningful emission reductions from existing power plants and encourages investment in clean energy technologies.

“Seattle City Light will continue to invest in energy efficiency for our customers and in environmentally sound renewables.  While we are still reviewing the details of the plan, we are confident that the final rule provides the states the flexibility needed to design their program implementation to address state specific characteristics and impacts.  Seattle City Light looks forward to working with Washington State and other stakeholders as we develop a strong and effective state implementation plan.” 



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Op-Ed: City Council has chance to limit neighborhood traffic - will they do the right thing?

Sunday, June 14, 2015

SaveRichmondBeach.org is a community-driven non-profit organization dedicated to preserving our communities and Puget Sound through responsible and sustainable planning.


On Monday evening, June 15th, the Shoreline City Council is considering which Comprehensive Plan amendments to send to staff for further study and which to reject. This year there were nine potential amendments submitted. Of particular interest to those wanting to preserve the character of their local neighborhoods is the first amendment, submitted by Richmond Beach resident Tom McCormick. This proposed amendment adds a limit to the amount of traffic allowed on neighborhood collector arterials.

Quick Lesson on street classification
Shoreline assigns each street in the City to one of four classifications; on a general level, the classification denotes the level of traffic expected on the street.

  1. The busiest streets are classified as principal arterials (like Aurora Ave. or NW 175th St.)
  2. Streets that are a little less busy but still carry considerable traffic are classified as minor arterials (like Meridian Ave. N or Dayton Ave. N).
  3. Below minor arterials are collector arterials (like 20th Ave. NW or NW 195th St.); collector arterials are located in neighborhoods and are used to connect local streets to minor or principal arterials.
  4. The lowest level streets with the least amount of traffic are local streets.

Why do we need a traffic limit on collector arterials?
Every street has a calculated capacity based on the number and width of lanes and other factors. To ensure smooth traffic flow, Shoreline already sets a limit for principal and minor arterials: traffic on these streets should be less than 90% of their capacity. The Shoreline Development Code refers to this as a volume / capacity (v/c) ratio of 0.90. But Shoreline does not have any limit set for collector arterials. That means a neighborhood collector arterial could end up with more traffic than a supposedly busier minor arterial.

The Development Code states the v/c limit on principle and minor arterials is designed to maintain an adequate level of service on city streets as new development occurs. It prevents a large new development from being placed in a location where the resulting additional traffic from the development overloads a street that is already almost at capacity. The City has that protection in place for proposed developments located on principal and minor arterials, but not on collector arterials; this could actually encourage developers to place their developments further inside neighborhoods instead of along the larger arterials where they belong.

Save Richmond Beach has never been anti-development, we have always been for responsible development. This proposal to put a v/c limit on collector arterials is exactly that - a way to encourage responsible development at locations where the street infrastructure is able to handle the traffic.

What you can do
The vote Monday is not to set a v/c ratio limit on collector arterials, it's simply to direct staff to study the proposal and report back to Council. A final vote to set the limit would occur later this year. Comprehensive Plan updates are only considered once a year, so Monday's vote is important because if we lose, we'll have to wait another year before we can propose this change again. We encourage you to contact the City Council (you can email them at council@shorelinewa.gov) and ask them to approve Comprehensive Plan Docket item 1, directing City staff to investigate setting a v/c ratio limit on collector arterials.



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Op-Ed: Make infants and toddlers a priority in the state budget

Thursday, June 11, 2015

By Joe Cunningham

The budget negotiations in the Washington State Legislature are stalled over a basic disagreement about revenue needed to fund budget priorities. Unfortunately, many vital programs hang in the balance while the debate continues.

To date, the number of infants and toddlers with developmental delays and disabilities has increased 58% since 2006 while funding for early intervention services has increased only 18% during that same time period. Studies show that these critical services are cost effective and actually save taxpayers money--over a third of the children that access early intervention therapies before age 3 reach their developmental milestones and no longer need ongoing support later in school. That’s an amazing return on investment by any standard!

Increased funding for this program to keep pace with the increase in children utilizing the services was in the Governor’s and House budgets but not ultimately included in the Senate budget. This comes at a time when Washington State just slipped from 38th in the nation to 45th in providing fiscal effort for people with developmental disabilities. We need to do better!

It is human to hope, when times are lean, that we can meet the needs of our state without additional revenue. But these are not lean times--Washington State has rebounded exponentially from the dark days of 2008, yet more and more children need help. Please don’t leave infants and toddlers behind in the final budget negotiations.


Joe Cunningham, Briarcrest resident, and Coordinator of King County Family Coalition of Arc of King County, and Co-Chair, Children’s Campaign Fund



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Op-Ed: Time to end high-stakes tests as graduation requirement

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

This op-ed is written and supported by Senators Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline; Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver; Karen Fraser, D-Olympia; Bob Hasegawa, D-Beacon Hill; Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle; Karen Keiser, D-Kent; John McCoy, D-Tulalip; and Pam Roach, R-Auburn.


The more than 60,000 high school seniors who graduate here in Washington state this month are to be commended for 12 years of successfully completing dozens of courses. Thousands other high school seniors will not graduate with their classmates, however, even though they successfully completed the same courses as the students who are graduating. These thousands of seniors will not be allowed to graduate solely because they failed one or more state-required, high stakes tests. 

This is neither fair nor sensible. Some students are simply not very good at taking high-stakes tests — even when they know the material and did well in their courses. There are students who earn A’s in courses only to freeze up and forget on the day of a high-stakes test. This is not a test of knowledge, it’s a test of who tests well.

Numerous studies confirm that some students — especially low-income and minority students — do much worse on high-stakes tests than students in the same school, in the same courses and with the same grades. A study of thousands of California students in 2009, for example, found low-income and minority students with matching grades were 19 percent more likely to fail a high stakes test than their peers.
  
Some argue that we need high stakes tests to determine who is career and college ready. But numerous studies over many years have found no high-stakes test has ever been able to predict college readiness. Indeed, the most accurate predictor of college readiness is high school grade point average. If we want students to do well in college, we should encourage them to do their daily homework and do well in their courses — not spend months of time worrying about test prep trivia for a misleading high-stakes test.
  
Mind you, we're not opposed to testing per se. We still want to be able to gauge how our students do compared to students in other states, as we did with the Iowa tests — but high-stakes tests are not the answer.

Academic achievement is not measured by a single test. It is measured by the diligence of students who master the curriculum. How a student performs over the course of a 180-day school year is far more telling than how a student performs on a 180-minute test.
  
Despite the evidence that high-stakes tests have little value, Washington requires high school students to pass four high-stakes exams — in reading, writing, math and biology — to earn a high school diploma. House Bill 2214 would eliminate the biology exam as a graduation requirement, a change that would allow 2,000 additional high school seniors to graduate. Information recently released by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction indicates there are more than 10,000 students who will not graduate this year due to failure to pass one of more high stakes tests. But only a few of these students would be helped merely by waiving the biology exam because most of the affected students have failed two or more of the required high-stakes exams.

There is another, better option. Senate Bill 6122, co-sponsored by 11 senators, would allow all 10,000 students to graduate — provided they have completed all of their course requirements — by eliminating all high-stakes tests as a graduation requirement. 

Half of all states in our nation do not require high-stakes tests for graduation. It is time Washington was one of them.



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Op-Ed: Standing Up for Shoreline's Neighborhoods

Monday, April 6, 2015

Janet Way is a former Shoreline Councilmember and President of the Shoreline Preservation Society, a local non-profit, grassroots volunteer organization dedicated to fostering the preservation of historical heritage, cultural and environmental assets throughout the Shoreline, WA Area.

By Janet Way

Today, the Shoreline Preservation Society (SPS) took action for justice for our neighborhoods, which will be hard hit by the recent Planned Action Ordinance passed by the City Council.

SPS filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment in Superior Court against the City of Shoreline’s ill-conceived and irresponsible decision to radically rezone several single-family neighborhoods for high density. We are also filing a parallel challenge to Ord. No. 707 with the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, in an abundance of caution. We are represented by the Dykes-Ehrlichman legal team, which has extensive experience in these matters.

SPS is acting in the interests of the community across Shoreline and neighboring cities, with support from hundreds of individuals, many groups concerned about the impacts to the environment and single-family neighborhoods, which have so much meaning to families who live here. The Planned Action Ordinance was adopted, despite substantive procedural problems and with serious violations of the rights of individual residents.

The sad thing is that if the 4-3 Council majority had actually listened to the community, the hundreds of residents who showed up, stood up to testify and wrote extensive comments, this legal action might not be necessary. There were better options they could have approved, but the Council majority obstinately determined to impose the worst possible options, with the most detrimental impacts on these neighborhoods.

They did this relying on a misguided belief that high-density must replace long-established, well-maintained single-family homes and is somehow the “green” option? 

They did it despite the pleas from hundreds of residents who will bear the burden of this unwise decision unless it is reversed.

We are taking this action to stand up for Shoreline’s neighborhoods because it’s the right thing to do. We have heard from hundreds supporters who agree.



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Op-Ed: Don’t let your city turn basic necessities into a blank check

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sen. Maralyn Chase D-32
Sen. Maralyn Chase represents the 32nd Legislative District, which includes all of Shoreline.

By Sen. Maralyn Chase

Our cities and towns are struggling to stay above water these days, with good reason. When the Great Recession devastated tax revenues, the state reduced every funding stream it could to balance the budget during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. As a result, the local infrastructure necessary for economic growth has become the equivalent of a wish upon a star.

So it’s understandable that municipalities would scramble to exploit any potential avenue for raising precious tax dollars—and their target du jour is the special-purpose water or sewer district, which offers fresh revenue streams. So, yes, it’s entirely understandable. It’s also entirely inappropriate.

Here’s what makes it understandable:
These water and sewer special-purpose districts, when taken over by municipalities, can be used to impose utility taxes to fund anything a municipality deems important. Unlike statutory limits on private sector utilities such as electricity and gas (6 percent), there is no limit on the percentage of utility taxes cities can impose on their citizens; rates can run as high as 39 percent. It’s the equivalent of a blank check at a time when municipalities are flat broke.

Here’s what makes it inappropriate:
These special-purpose water and sewer districts were approved by voters for very specific purposes (which is why they’re called special-purpose districts in the first place). They were created by a vote of the people to provide the basic essentials of civilized life — sanitary water and sewage systems. As such, these districts cannot impose utility taxes on water or sewer services like cities do. They operate primarily from service rates charged to their customers and use the revenue only to build and maintain the water or sewer systems — the basic essentials. No voter cast his or her ballot thinking, “I’m going to vote for this so that anybody at any time can raise my taxes to fund anything they like without my consent.”

Yet that’s exactly what happens when a municipality assumes control of a water or sewer district. The voters lose control over how much they are taxed or how their tax dollars are spent.
That’s why I am sponsoring Senate Bill 5048. If this legislation passes, any time a municipality seeks to take control of a special-purpose district, the public will have the right to call for a referendum — to vote on whether the municipality can turn the taxpayers’ dedicated water and sewer taxes into a source of additional revenue.

My proposal is simply a basic component of representative government. But against the landscape of today’s limited dollars and municipal appetites, it’s urgent and essential. Without this safeguard, municipalities will be able to raise your taxes to pay for projects or services you never approved.

If you think that’s wrong — if you think that’s not what you voted for when you approved the creation of a water or sewer district — then you need to let your state legislators know now. Senate Bill 5048 needs to be passed and written into law before any more municipalities turn our basic necessities into a blank check for who knows what.



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Guest Op-Ed: It’s time to reform the formula for funding classrooms

Saturday, March 21, 2015

By Sen. Karen Keiser

With more than a million children in our public schools, many of our school districts are struggling with overcrowded classrooms, growing student populations and aging school buildings. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction estimates that across our state we need more than 10,000 new classrooms, and nearly 75 percent of them would be for Kindergarten through 3rd grade. A growing body of evidence shows that K-3 students learn better in smaller classes. 

When we funded all-day kindergarten and voters passed Initiative 1351 to reduce overcrowding, most folks didn’t consider the pressure it would create for additional classrooms. But adding classrooms is more complicated than just parking a few more portables in the school yard. And we need to find a way to pay for the additional classrooms.

Our state’s formula for determining school space needs dates back to the Eisenhower era, and it hasn’t changed much over the years. Our current SCAP — School Construction Assistance Program — is based on several faulty elements, including unrealistic square-footage-per-student allocations, unrealistic construction costs, and a state funding match dependent on passage of a super-majority bond measure. 

Clearly, we need to “reform the formula.” My solution, Senate Bill 6080, calls for a temporary six-year program to address our schools’ most pressing needs — a Super SCAP, if you will. 

Today, for example, wealthier districts are able to support additional school facilities while poorer districts, especially those experiencing rapid growth, are left out. My new Super SCAP approach would include, for the first time, a poverty rate increment in the state matching formula. Districts with higher rates of students with free and reduced-cost lunches would receive a higher match than districts with lower poverty rates. The old formula is only pegged to property values, not poverty rates, and does not reflect the actual needs of the students. 

This first step would also allow school districts to decide if they needed to build an entire new school or to simply add just a couple of classrooms to an existing school. Under Super SCAP, the use of modern modular and durable portables would, for the first time, be eligible for state matching funds. 

The best way to tackle a challenge of this scope is with fully thought-out steps. Super SCAP’s temporary capital grant program would build 2,200 additional classrooms over a six-year period at a cost of $240 a biennium — a reasonable approach. It is well under our debt limit and preserves our state’s triple A bond rating. As an addition to our usual SCAP program, it adds real capacity for our schools and helps our kids escape crowded K-3 classrooms. 

As Ben Franklin famously observed, “An investment in knowledge always gives the best return.” This is an investment that will pay off for generations of students across our state. I can’t imagine a more important investment. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sen. Keiser is the assistant ranking member on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where she serves as ranking member on the Capital Construction Budget. Democrat Keiser represents the 33rd Legislative District, including Kent, Des Moines, Seatac and Normandy Park. 




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