Grading Work at The High Streets
You can expect to see grading work during August and September at The High Streets Block 1, which is the site of the future grocery store. This grading will be done before the wet season begins in October to prepare for future construction. You may recall that last year, grading crews spent time preparing the site in anticipation of the construction of the Central Market store. After Central Market cancelled its lease, the grading needs for the site changed. In recent months, Port Blakely Communities has been working with leading grocers to discuss expansion into The High Streets. Port Blakely Communities has recently signed a letter of intent with a premium grocery store and design work has begun. As a result, the grading plans for the site have changed to meet the needs of the new grocer and building design. This particular site continues to be a prime location for several reasons, including its location on the Sunset Interchange and the growing population of the surrounding areas. For grocers, this “geography” is vital because it offers them the opportunity to serve residents of both Issaquah and Sammamish. We look forward to sharing updates with you this fall.

Swedish Grading Work
In August and September, work will continue in the area of the grocery store site as Swedish begins ground work for the first phase of its hospital campus. During this time, trucks will be moving dirt from the Swedish site to the grocery
store site. The movement of dirt from one site to another – several blocks along Discovery Drive – will reduce the environmental impact of the ground work at the Swedish site. Trucking dirt and rocks from a construction site to a landfill burns more fossil fuels because of the long distances traveled. It also adds to the growing amount of  construction waste in landfills. By reducing the miles traveled to a few blocks, the environmental impact will be greatly reduced. In October, the graded and prepared grocery store site will be hydro-seeded (grass seed will be laid) and fenced for the winter months. Please feel free to contact Chris Hysom at chysom@portblakely.com if you have questions or concerns regarding the grading or trucking operations on Discovery Drive.

Congratulations to the Issaquah Highlands Toastmasters Club for becoming a fully chartered organization under Toastmasters International, adding to the number of over 10,000 existing clubs worldwide! Currently at 20 members, this club elected the following participants to serve on the executive team to lead the club:

President: Renee Zimmerman
VP of Education: John Bridge
VP of Membership: Chris Hare
VP of Public Relations: Amanda Predmore
Secretary: Irma Dore
Treasurer: Rick Reininger
Sergeant at Arms: Steve Cooke

The mission of this club is: “to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.”

What’s in it for you?
Toastmasters will give you the skills and confidence you need to effectively express yourself in any situation. Toastmasters is the most efficient, enjoyable, and affordable way of gaining strong communication and leadership skills. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Renee Zimmerman at reneez@ihmail.com or 425.369.2919.

You are invited to join us anytime! The Issaquah Highlands Toastmasters Club meets the 1st and 3rd Wed’s from 7-8 am and the 2nd and 4th Wed’s from 12-1, all located at Blakely Hall, 2550 NE Park Drive.

As promised the goats zeroed in on the weeds and tree seedlings first. Watching them devour a tall bull thistle before its purple blooms could even open was a gratifying sight! Well, OK, it was gratifying for those of us whose jobs include weed control. I suspect many residents agree the air is nicer when it isn’t filled with thistle seeds scattering across their yards, too.

To illustrate the efficacy of goats as weed-eaters please examine the accompanying photos – before and after shots of one of the many tracts we put the hungry goats into. If you have the opportunity you really must visit these areas in person to better see for yourself just how thorough the goats are. Certain weed species were annihilated – actually pulled out of the ground as the goats ate. Other species were heavily damaged or killed by having buds, leaves, stems and bark removed. July was a bad month for weeds at Issaquah Highlands! Many of our weeds have been significantly slowed as this year’s seed crop was mostly consumed by the goats. As part of the process we have also identified some
new weeds as problems – in several places some relatively innocuous species of weeds had managed to create a  monoculture. When the weeds were eaten we were left with bare ground in their place. These areas will be reseeded with grass and wildflowers later in the season.

A recurring question about our goat weed-eaters concerns the cost. The thorough nature of their work makes an apples-to-apples comparison difficult, though not impossible. The goats were hired to treat about 12 acres for $27,000 including tax, or about $2,250 an acre (total treatment area may be slightly different by the time the project is complete for the year). Hiring contractor labor to weed-eat inaccessible slopes of knee-high and higher grass and weeds, then paying to rake and remove the clippings, runs between $4,000 and $10,000 or more per acre. When using a machine any ripe seed will fall to the ground to add to the seed bank. Goats eat the seed and flowers first as
they’re tasty and highest in nutrition. That’s only the beginning of the difference between the two approaches.
A human crew would need weed-eaters with both string and brush blades, fuel cans, loppers, rakes and barrels to cut, collect and remove the unwanted vegetation.

Assuming labor could even be found to perform this work under the conditions found on our slopes it is highly likely that there would be a number of injuries over the course of the work. While this would not necessarily raise the contract price at first it would surely increase the price in subsequent years. In the past your community association has tried manual and chemical invasive species management in these areas with two or more different contractors. None of the approaches were very successful and managing and “enforcing” the work was difficult to say the least – it was as far from weekly mowing and the like as possible. Navigating many of these tracts is also very difficult, both on the ground and as part of the overall Issaquah Highlands project. The goats and their handlers with their portable electric fences and herding dogs offer a highly effective service for an excellent price and the goats seem to have no trouble finding their way through the weeds. For the first year it appears safe to say the experiment was a success.
The next step will be expanding the program to reach more suitable open spaces while maintaining the control we are gaining in the spaces “treated” this year.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The first day of school is September 2nd at Grand Ridge Elementary for first through 5th graders. Kindergarteners begin on September 3rd. Kindergarten parents are invited to the “Tea & tissues” reception from 9:15am – 9:45pm or 12:30 to 1pm on that day.

Don’t miss Curriculum Night! Curriculum Night for Grades 3rd through 5th will be held from 6pm – 7:15pm on September 16th. Kindergarten through 2nd grade Curriculum Night will be September 23rd from 6pm – 7:15pm.

According to the Puget Sound Blood Center, the Issaquah Highlands Contribution Club’s first blood drive held on Aug 1st was a success! Our community blood drive registered 28 donors and collected 24 pints of blood, which have been tested and divided into three separate components: red blood cells, platelets and plasma. This means that, in the coming weeks, our donor contributions may benefit as many as 72 local patients.

The other exciting news is that the IHCC blood drive registered 18 first time donors – 64% of our donors. 80% of first time donors will donate again, in fact, multiple times in their lives. So this means that at least 14 of our donors will give again and again. The Issaquah Highlands Fire Station was a comfortable–and air conditioned–facility for donors and the Puget Sound Blood Center which unfortunately had to cancel a number of blood drives at other locations during the previous week’s extreme heat.

The Issaquah Highlands Contribution Club would like to thank all blood donors who participated in the August 1st blood drive. IHCC is planning to host future blood drives for Puget Sound Blood Center so stay tuned for dates
and consider participating! If you would like to be added to IHCC’s donor contact list, please contact Kirsten Wisdom at kwiz@ihmail.com.

Three years ago, Aimee wouldn’t have considered needing affordable housing. She was living with her two children in Woodinville and sharing rent with a friend when a job loss forced her to move and find someplace else to live. She
wanted to live in the same area as her children’s school but affordable housing options were limited.

With help from the YWCA, Aimee and her kids were able to get settled again at the YWCA Family Village in Redmond. The stability of a roof overhead made it possible for Aimee to find a new, better paying job and get back on her feet. Today, she works as a medical assistant at Overlake Hospital and is renting a small house near her  children’s school.

People like Aimee, and families like hers, will benefit from the YWCA Family Village at Issaquah: teachers, utility workers, postal workers, medical assistants and retail staff. Although their employment is vital to the local economy
and the services they provide make the quality of life better for everyone, salaries for these occupations range between $27,000 to $45,000 – well outside the living wage for a family – and makes it almost impossible for them to find homes near their jobs and forces them to commute long distances.

Construction of new affordable housing is more important than ever on the Eastside. The statistics are startling: 20,000 families are at risk of becoming homeless; meanwhile existing temporary and affordable housing capacity is
overburdened. The primary cause of homelessness on the Eastside is lack of affordable housing – higher than anywhere else in King County. The second most common cause is lack of a living wage, indicating a significant gap between housing prices and wages for many families. The average rent for a one bedroom apartment in Bellevue is $1,120. A person has to work 78 hours per week at $11.11 per hour to afford that. In fact, the living wage in Washington for a family of three is $23.39 an hour, nearly three times the minimum wage.

It is specifically families struggling with this gap between wages and the cost of housing that the YWCA hopes to welcome into the Family Village at Issaquah in 2011: working families, people with disabilities and seniors, seeking an affordable place to live, raise children, age comfortably, build fulfilling lives and contribute to their community.

Located directly east of the Highlands Drive Park and Ride, the YWCA Family Village at Issaquah will be made up of three buildings with 146 apartments ranging in size from studios to three-bedrooms. The YWCA is also bringing additional community amenities, including space for a licensed child care and community gathering spaces. There will be program space for parenting classes, computer education and financial planning to help strengthen the independence and stability of all residents. These family and community support services are a signature of the YWCA’s programming.

Financing efforts have already yielded substantial public and private commitments, including: $4 million from the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund, $1.5 million from King County’s Housing Finance Program and eastside city support through ARCH (A Regional Coalition for Housing). These efforts have been impacted by the turbulent financial markets and economy; however, the YWCA continues to move forward on its plans to start site work during 2009 on the parcel of land donated through the City of Issaquah. The bulk of construction is expected to occur in 2010 with families moving in the following year. More information on the YWCA can be found at www.ywcaworks.org.

In Washington state, over 16,000 children go through the foster care system each year. Summer camp is unavailable to most of these children, as there is a limited availability of funds in the social services sector for non-essential enrichment programs.

RFKC is a 5-day overnight camp filled with success-oriented activities to provide a positive environment and future for abused foster children of ages 7-11. The Issaquah chapter of RFKC impacts at least 40 students each year as the staff raises their own funds for each child. In just five days, volunteers host a myriad of activities like covered wagon rides, woodworking, field games, hiking, and arts and crafts. Some of the childrens favorite activities include swimming, climbing the rock wall, bike riding and jumping on the big bouncy inflatable. All activities are specially designed to help the foster children experience success and to feel loved. “We want to make them feel like a kid,” says Emmett.

RFKC started in California and in 1998, Emmett created the Issaquah chapter of RFKC, impacting more than 450 children over the years. The Issaquah chapter is one of 164 camps located across the country. There are also 19 camps internationally. Emmett and his daughter, Heather Gehrke, are the only two volunteers who have been to all 11 camps since it started in Issaquah. Not only does the program provide camp speakers, take-home prizes and presents, and delicious meals, but RFKC also hosts A Birthday Party for all the Campers. Most of the children have never celebrated their birthday, so during this event, each child gets to celebrate their special day through games, presents, and of course, cake. “At RFKC, they feel safe, loved, special… and this week of positive memories can last them a lifetime,” said Emmet.

When Emmett was a camp counselor at RFKC, there was a boy crying at the campfire as the campers where talking about positive things. As he and the boy were walking back to the cabin the boy told Emmett “I was crying because I know you love me.” These children who have been outcast and hurt, feel better because they know people like Emmett, volunteer with no benefit of their own. As Emmett has worked with these children, he comments that it has, “opened my eyes to how blessed I am, to how many hurting people there are in the world, and to want to make a difference.”

So, why is this camp called Royal Family Kids’ Camp anyway? The campers have been abused, neglected, and unloved; RFKC aims to make them feel important and treats them like royalty. Instead of driving the children to camp on a yellow school bus, a top-notch starline cruise bus pimps their ride.

This year’s 11th annual camp took place in western Washington, July 6-10, as 70 trained and compassionate volunteers supported 62 foster children from across King County. Of the volunteers who made sure RFKC could happen, Raechelle Rodriguez, a resident of the Highlands, shares her experience as the Child Placement Coordinator for RFKC. Rodriguez works with Little Wishes, a program by Treehouse that provides summer camp funding for foster families and coordinates the necessary paper work for foster children to attend the camp. Emmett and Rodriguez both agree that volunteering for RFKC “touches your life as much as it does the kids.” Rodriquez comments, “that’s the best part about it; being able to step away from your life for a short time to realize how blessed you are and show love [to the campers].”

Rodriguez is also the co-owner of the Highlands Curves, and eagerly shares how members of Curves always support RFKC by donating clothes, supporting the camp financially, and simply being an encouragement. Rodriguez believes it is a monumental experience to work with the children, “there’s so much that happens in [the campers] in 5 days, anybody who sees it walks away witnessing a miracle.”

You Can Help
It costs $35,000 every year to host Royal Family Kids’ Camp in Issaquah and it costs $500 to send one foster child to camp. If you would like to help raise funds, RFKC will be hosting their first annual fund-raising event for Foster
Children in King Co. through the 5K Fun Run on Saturday, August 29, 2009 at Marymoor Park. The run begins at 8:00AM and the walk begins at 8:15AM. The cost is $30 and on-leash dogs, strollers, joggers, walkers, and runners are all welcomed. To register or to learn more about the event, please visit www.fosterkids5k.org. You can also sponsor a child by donating online at www.rfkcissaquah.org. For more information on the whole RFKC program, please visit www.rfkc.org.

Recently, while visiting Norma and Raechelle, the mother/daughter owners of Curves, it was interesting to learn they have gone “high-tech” and “Go for Green” which is a perfect match in our community. We asked the ladies for
an update to share with the community so you can learn more about this business. Through the High Street Association Merchant’s Committee, we will continue to feature “Issaquah Highlands Retail News”.

Smart Workout Ahead of the Curve
Imagine having the world’s most advanced fitness coach at your disposal. This coach customizes workouts based on your body structure and endurance and adjusts each exercise machine’s intensity based on your recent progression. It monitors your energy level and range of motion continuously to ensure you are achieving your personal potential. Then the coach automatically computes your workout data to produce a progress report, including the number of calories you burned and 3-D anatomical diagrams to show which muscles you’ve worked and how successfully.

This is exactly the role of the CurvesSmart™ personal coaching system, a new technology pioneered by Curves and powered by MyTrak that offers a custom, individually tailored workout, moment to moment feedback and progress
reports to keep members motivated while they work out. Curves of Issaquah is pleased to offer its members this revolutionary equipment upgrade.

After a member’s personalized profile is determined by a Curves staff member, the member is issued a CurvesSmart ID Tag. The tag is electronically recognized by the monitor at each station, automatically retrieving the member’s
profile to determine the specifications for her workout.

The monitor indicates: whether her heart rate is in the target range; whether the member is achieving her target intensity level; the range of motion for each repetition; and the number of repetitions. If the woman is exercising
correctly, all indicators on the monitor will be green. Members are enthusiastically encouraged to “Go for Green!” Following the workout, the system produces a progress report which allows the member to see, instantly and in quantifiable terms, her strengths and weaknesses.

“The CurvesSmart technology offers women the benefits of a highly skilled personal trainer without the expense,” said Norma. “It’s the world’s most advanced fitness training system. We expect our members to be thrilled with how this amazing workout will help them achieve their goals even faster.” Curves of Issaquah is taking new appointments to get started on the CurvesSmart workout on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please call 425-392-2330 or visit the Issaquah Highlands facility at 1091 NE High Street.

About Curves
Curves works every major muscle group with strength training, cardio and stretching in every 30 minute workout. And now there’s CurvesComplete.com: an online diet and fitness solution based on founder Gary Heavin’s New
York Times bestselling book Curves, Permanent Results Without Permanent Dieting, and the results of an ongoing university study. Heavin and his wife Diane are considered the innovators of the express fitness phenomenon that
has made exercise available to more than four million women worldwide. With more than 10,000 locations in dozens of countries, Curves is the world’s largest fitness franchise. For more information, please visit: www.curves.com or www.curvescomplete.com.

Issaquah student Erin Kim, a Junior at Issaquah High School, and Highlands resident, recently returned from Harvard University, where she attended a People to People Leadership Summit. Kim, along with fellow delegates from around the world, participated in leadership activities with other student leaders, toured Harvard University and the city of Boston, and created a community service action plan called Tunes for Tots to benefit her community.

During the week-long program in Boston, Massachusetts, Kim learned about effective leadership and how to develop her own leadership abilities to make a difference at home. Hands-on activites such as ropes courses, community service projects, professional speakers, workshops, and visits to significant local venues gave Kim a new perspective on what it takes to lead. “The prestigious environment of the Harvard and New England area was enthralling, and meeting positive student leaders from around the globe inspired me to be a more active leader in my own community of Issaquah and Washington. It was a blessing to be surrounded and embraced by other positive and enthusiastic student leaders from Mexico, Macedonia, Canada, Bahamas, South Africa, Peru, and other countries I had never even
heard of. The ebullient attitudes and potential that would flood the rooms by the 260 students was an experience in itself,” says Kim. People to People Leadership Summits are designed to allow students a chance to explore the various
aspects of leadership in specific contexts, and they are held in prestigious venues around the country.

Programs focused on the role of young women as leaders, politics, or community service help young people discover their own potential. The programs offer students a unique blend of specialized educational, leadership, and cultural
exposure as well as an itinerary filled with the highlights of the hosting community. Participants in these programs often experience life-changing attitudes toward individual and shared responsibilities, global leadership, appreciation of culture diversity, enhanced personal growth and self-confidence. For more information contact: People to People
Program Office, 888.275.5061 or info@peopletopeople.com, www.peopletopeople.com