Letters To The Editor

No progress on Hicks Lake

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Bureaucracy in Government is a well-known fact and is used in many ways, but when used incorrectly who do you turn to for help?

Case in point, with the rains this past winter, many tons of material from the inlet stream washed into Hicks Lake which created a three-foot high waterfall plus the lakewater contamination. (Hicks Lake is located near White Center in King Counties Lakewood Park)

As a member of Friends of Hicks Lake, an on-site meeting was arranged with the acting director of King County Parks, acting supervisor of park operation, Evergreen District maintenance director and our King County councilman legislative aide.

A tentative agreement was reached-- a few loads of rock would be placed in the washed-out inlet to the lake to stop further erosion.

Then, evidently bureaucracy stepped in and what happened-- nothing, here it is seven months later and we still have no resolution to this problem.

This is only one of the many problems or items that need resolution in Lakewood Park/Hicks Lake. Either they fell through the cracks or fell into the bureaucracy trap.

Dick Thurnau

North Highline