Background

Born and raised in a small town in Kansas, Yanez began his involvement in public service while in high school when he developed a basketball program for residents of a nearby mental hospital.

He attended a teachers college in Kansas before being drafted during the Vietnam War, in which he served three tours of duty in the Navy. Yanez moved to Issaquah in 1980 on a friend’s recommendation.

Working in the computer field, Yanez was involved in the Issaquah Parks Department until a job took him to California. There he met his wife Linda and moved back to Washington in 1985 after accepting a position at Boeing, settling again in Issaquah.

In 1991, he and his family moved to Snoqualmie and he got involved with the city’s parks department. Elected to City Council in 1994, Yanez was on the board that drafted the city’s Comprehensive Plan and approved several projects including the Snoqualmie Ridge Phase I development and the 205 Flood Project.

His job then took him to England to teach the Royal Air Force in 1996, but four years later he and Linda returned to Snoqualmie.

He currently works as the lead training instructor for Boeing. Together, he and his wife have five grown children.

Growth and finance

If elected to the City Council, Yanez will use his experience to develop solutions to the city’s budget problems.

He said that uncontrolled growth of the area is a large part of the budget issues, and management is needed in order to balance the business and retail percentage of growth to the population growth.

“Houses don’t pay for themselves,” he said, noting that while the Growth Management Council advised that the city can only manage 300 homes a year, the city currently builds more than 550 homes per year.

“There’s two ways you can grow,” he said. “You can grow and end up in debt or you can grow and you can be fiscally sound.”

Yanez said when a city grows too rapidly, it increases costs and forces revenues to deplete more quickly. He advocated reducing home building to 300 a year, which he said would secure property taxes and permit fees, in addition to stretching the one-time revenues to 2014 or 2015, instead of 2010, the currently expected year the revenues would end.

“That gives us more time to work on our revitalization plan; more time attract more retail; more time to have money coming in so that we’re not at the short-fall after about 2015,” he said.

To increase revenues, Yanez said that the first thing to do is have the city agree on what parts of the revitalization plan to implement. Then, use that to attract businesses and retail to the area, which would then attract tourists.

He said that a city makes more money on retail than on businesses, and retail shops are easier to design to keep the town’s character.

Retail shops would entice businesses to relocate to the area. He said that the city needs to protect the current business park area to avoid filling the space with storage units that don’t earn revenues.

Tourism

Yanez said that as retail and businesses develop in the community, tourism could be expected to increase. He suggested developing the nearby water and land to make it more visually appealing to people passing through town. “If the people leaving the Falls see the river manicured, pristine and they see trails, they see bicycles, they see picnic areas, they’re going to go that way and they’re going to stay,” he said.

He would like to see the city’s annual Railroad Days celebration use the downtown gazebo to feature live bands, starting with high-school bands. He also mentioned developing a similar space in the Ridge neighborhood. He suggested celebrating the holidays with live music, as well.

Community center

As a member of the Snoqualmie City Council when the subject of a community center was initially brought before it, Yanez helped approved the original funding needed for the center. He said at first the center was defined as a place with meeting rooms, a kitchen, basketball courts and showering facilities. There was no pool or exercise room included in the plans.

Based on numbers from the National Recreation Association, Yanez said that a community center without a pool can be supported by a population of 5,500, while a pool would need a population of 20,000 and would increase costs past the originally slotted amount.

He would like for the city to get back to the original community center plans; perhaps adding a roller skating rink for children and families in the area.

Though he thinks there may be a time in the future to revisit the pool idea, he does not advocate putting one in at the current moment.

Yanez said while he advocates looking into joining North Bend for other shared interests, he would not suggest it solely for a pool, as the city already has one under the Si View Metropolitan Park District. He is interested in looking into sharing costs for administration and equipment, though he would take this issue to the community for input.

He said that once Snoqualmie decides whether to build a pool, then North Bend can develop its plans for updating the Si View Community Center’s pool.

Police and fire

Yanez said that bringing in police from King County is not necessary.

While the county presents a basic bid, Yanez said there are hidden fees to consider. Such fees include protection not included in the basic bid. He also noted the decreased response time as a detriment to transferring services to King County. However, he is interested in connecting with North Bend to find out if they are interested in sharing services.

Vote for me,

not the other guy

Yanez has a history with the city dating back to 1991. He also has experience as a former member of the City Council. Involved with the origins of many issues currently before the council (including Ridge development and its ramifications for the city), Yanez said he learned a lot during his first round of service on the council and he would like to bring that to the table for a second round.

“I know what was promised and what we haven’t received,” he said. “I bring the knowledge of not only knowing all the policies for the federal, state, county and city [levels], I’ve implemented them. I know how to use them.”

He is intent on researching each issue and sharing his research with other council members and the community.

He said that his endorsements speak to his character as far as his experience and work ethic in representing people. He is endorsed by current mayor Fuzzy Fletcher, among others.

He would like to use his dedication and understanding of the city to benefit the citizens, noting that he is running for the city of Snoqualmie, not the Ridge; not downtown.

“I’m going to represent the city,” he said. “This is your community, the only thing I bring is my commitment.”