(Editor’s Note: The Times/News will run letters regarding ballot measures and propositions but will not print letters on individual candidates.)

As George Santayana said, “Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

Burien citizens and council members were told by City Manager Mike Martin that he knows the annexation of North Highline/White Center area to be financially do-able. He stated, Burien can do things cheaper than Seattle and King County.

However, taxes may have to increase if there’s been a miscalculation in what the costs will be. Everyone will have to share in these increased taxes. Burien citizens may have to accept a lower level of services and increased taxes because they annexed the North Highline/White center area.

All reports state that when the state sales tax credits run out, the city of Burien won’t have enough money to run the North Highline area because the area doesn’t generate enough money to run itself and meet its service needs. Burien will be in a deficit of millions of dollars.

What’s it that Mr. Martin isn’t telling the council and citizens about his past business performance?

The city manager doesn’t have a track record for delivering major projects at the costs they were originally projected. As Project 911 director for the city of San Francisco, Project 911 was supposed to cost the citizens $63 million. On completion, it cost $166+ million—not to mention the labor issues and legal costs that came from the project. The tax rate that was supposed to finance the project had to be doubled to pay for the project—Oct. 7. 1997, San Francisco Chronicle.

Recently, two major road projects were not delivered on time or at projected costs. The city had to pay a legal settlement of $2.75 million for First Avenue, which it could not afford.

A new bond had to be put out for the city to pay off these settlement costs. This means increased costs to the citizens.

The Ambaum project had cost overruns of $500,000. According to Martin’s figures, the annexation of Area X—14,000 people, cost the city almost nothing in new staff. Area X got service, so who paid for the staff? —Strange math.

The Town Square project is an economic bust. The city manager refuses to listen to the business community. Instead, he’s given away all of the park land, open space and public facilities rights that belonged to the citizens of Burien—in the Northeast development Area, NERA—to the Port of Seattle in exchange for exactly nothing.

So why is it that the citizens of Burien should now believe that he is the guru of predicting what the real cost of annexing North Highline/White Center will cost the citizens of Burien?

History doesn’t show him as having a winning track record.

Don Johnson
Burien