Annexation is alive and well within the city council.

The council has scheduled two more workshops, also referred to as informational open houses, in January. They are geared toward the residents of North Highline.

The council makes the decision on annexation, North Highline residents get to vote, and the residents of Burien are given the opportunity to pay.

The council has already made up its decision about annexation. Now they are trying to sell the idea to North Highline residents. The questions such as "How much will annexation cost?" and "How will annexation be funded?" have been addressed but never answered.

The council mode of operation is full speed ahead.

Within the new Burien Web site there are two statements - the City Vision and the City of Burien Goals. Both of these are well written for the city of Burien as we know it.

The council has extrapolated the statements to include annexation. The council seems to have the belief that as a result of annexation the additional areas will begin to resemble the current city of Burien.

This is not a putdown of North Highline, because they have been on the short end of everything for many years at the whim of county decisions, but there is a better than a 50-50 chance that the current city of Burien will take on a North Highline appearance because the current budget will have to be stretched over twice the area and twice the population to cover the current county shortfall.

The city of Burien is just now beginning to reap the rewards of incorporation. This has taken 15 years. Now the council wants to start over by doubling everything.

Would it be a bad thing if Burien decided not to annex and if Seattle saw fit to add North Highline to its boundaries? The council seems to think so.

The current situation reminds me of an actual event that took place quite a few years ago. The county owned a steel bridge over a river in south King County and the bridge had to be replaced because the county could no longer afford to maintain it.

The bridge was put up for sealed bids. About a half-dozen bids were received. All bids but one were negative. There was one positive one. Guess who the bid was rewarded to?

James Sharkey

Treasurer