Are the residents of Burien going to be silent spectators while the annexation event slowly unfolds?

At one time the Burien City Council stated that they would no longer consider annexation as a viable option if the financial picture came up as a negative. The current Berk report shows that "no annexation" has the smallest deficit, but the council is still hotly in pursuit of the annexation route.

The council seems to have put a positive spin on the report to support their pro-annexation position. The city has spent many hours and dollars on reports that have had no impact on the council's position.

The residents of Burien have no vote on annexation and the council has taken the position that they and they alone were elected to make tough choices on everything including annexation. If the residents of Burien are satisfied with doubling the size and population of Burien, they must be prepared to assume a permanent large deficit in the process.

The council keeps throwing up police and fire protection and loss of utility control as major factors. In the meantime our neighboring cities seem to be able to come to terms on merging police and fire protection services. Such mergers have been continually dismissed by the council as impossible or impractical. The council is marching to its own drummer, not trying to fold in the concerns of the citizens.

James Sharkey, Treasurer

Burien Residents

Against Annexation