The City of Kirkland just released an Annexation Update stating, "After nearly two years of study, the Kirkland City Council signaled its intent to susspend the City's annexation efforts." The Update goes on to explain how annexation was found to be ...

The reply of this month is by I got out...  He or she was responding to a post I wrote on May 8 titled, Help solve Kirkland's serious budget problem. The post includes a reader poll on options to balance the City budget. It is your right as the owner of this blog to create a survey but let’s acknowledge that the wording and layout of your survey will lead to predictable results. The term “raid” on the fleet suggestion will reduce people that chose that answer. I agree that is not a good source to find money, but the wording could have been more neutral.

Be sure to visit Juanita Beach this Friday night as the Friday Night Market at Juanita Beach opens for the first time this season. The market has approximately twenty vendors lined up to kick off the market's second season. 

Everyone knows that neither public transportation infrastructure or traffic congestion mitigation are core competencies of the Puget Sound region. Whether you ride the bus or drive a car, you know you spend far too much time in traffic. In fact, Seattle area drivers spend about 45 hours in traffic delays - equivalent to more than a week of vacation! The transportation system as a whole is a mess. An article in the Seattle P-I dated May 22 titled, "We're stuck with nation's worst road funding gap" noted that "by 2040, the population of the Seattle area is projected to grow by 1.7 million new people, with 1.2 million new jobs... that's like dropping the population of greater metropolitan Portland into the Puget Sound area." Scary stuff. The article goes on to say that "the Seattle-Puget Sound area has the largest gap between transportation infrastructure needs and secured funding of any metropolitan area in the country." The shortfall amounts to nearly $800 per person.

At the May 20 Kirkland City Council meeting, a motion was passed to table resolution R-4706, relating to the decision of the Kirkland City Council not to place the question of whether to annex the Potential Annexation Areas (PAAs) on a ballot at this time. During the debate, Council members referred to a letter from King County Executive Ron Sims in which he urged the Council to reconsider their decision:

The City of Kirkland has published the following news release (kirkland-survey PDF): The City of Kirkland is completing a study to assess the sustainability of its economy.  The study results will help the City to create an economic sustainability strategy that focuses on development of a robust, resilient, environmentally sound, and diverse Kirkland economy.  The City has scheduled a community meeting to review the early study findings and gather additional community feedback.  Kirkland residents and business representatives are encouraged to attend the meeting on June 4, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Kirkland City Hall, Council Chambers. 123 Fifth Avenue, Kirkland, WA 98033.   A formal presentation begins at 7 p.m.  Surveys will be accepted until Friday, May 30 and can be completed on line at www.ci.kirkland.wa.us.

At the May 20 Kirkland City Council meeting, the City Council passed a motion to table Resolution 4706, relating to the decision of the Kirkland City Council not to place the question of whether to annex the Potential Annexation Areas (PAAs) on a ballot at this time. The motion was approved on a five to two vote.  The result of this motion is to delay the formalization of the Council's April 15 straw poll vote to end annexation until after the current budget deliberations have ended. This move allows the Council to avoid the tough decision to end annexation based upon the City's own financial analysis -- Kirkland simply cannot afford annexation at this time. Annexation will survive until the end of the year in an effort to re-work the numbers.

After recent events we wont belabor again, the City of Kirkland has opened up the application process for Design Review Board. The City is accepting applications for the four open board positions until June 6 ...

In yet another stunning turn of events, last night the Kirkland City Council reversed its previous decision to deny the Bank of America application by a vote of six to one. Council member Tom Hodgson was the lone "no" vote. Council member Asher introduced the motion in favor of tabling Resolution R-4707, adopting findings and conclusions and reversing the decision of the Design Review Board (DRB) granting design review approval to the Bank of America project map. This action, in effect reversed the Council's May 6 vote (4 to 3) to deny the project.

Kirkland Citizens for Responsible Development (KCRD), a group that opposes the Kirkland Parkplace mixed-use redevelopment map,  has sent a formal request to the City of Kirkland Planning Commission asking that the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) be redone before any recommendations or actions are taken on the project. The KCRD submitted an EIS Comments Letter as well as a letter from their engineer supporting their claims. In a press release dated May 19, the group stated, "Citing flawed traffic and parking analyses, as well as a failure to meet the legal requirements of the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA), Kirkland CRD asked that the Planning Commission mandate a new traffic study and parking analysis and the release of a revised version of the DEIS for public comment..."

The citizens of Kirkland have a penchant for appealing stopping projects they don’t like: Lake and Central in 2004 map, the Bank of America Project 2007 map, and most recently, the pending the McLeod Project map. Two of these three downtown developments have been successfully appealed stopped by CiViK. The McLeod project is currently on appeal by another group of citizens and the outcome is still to be determined. A recurring theme of the appeals to these projects has been the emphasis of the impacts on life in general in Kirkland:  too big, too much traffic, too little parking, wrong type of retail, etc. There is one argument, however, that is seldom heard: “it will block my view”.

The Kirkland Parkplace redevelopment has caused a great deal of interest among the citizens of Kirkland and generated much discussion about the City's future. There are many complicated issues involving the project that have caused confusion and left Kirkland citizens asking questions. We have attempted to help answer some of these ...

The City Council’s 4-3  decision to overturn the  Design Review Board (DRB) approval of the Bank of America project in downtown Kirkland has lead to the immediate resignations of three members. The resignation letters of Steve Cox, Todd Kilburn and Phyllis Warman were dated May 7th. When combined with the resignation of Jeff Bates two weeks earlier, this leaves the seven seat DRB with only three remaining members -- and unable to achieve a quorum unless an alternate is available.

An overcast day could not dim the smiles on faces everywhere yesterday on Park Lane East. Farmers and vendors were there to greet the throngs of shoppers, neighbors, browsers, strollers and dogs on the opening day of the Kirkland Wednesday Market. With new hours (2pm - 7pm) and some 60 booths of farmers and other vendors, the market looks to be off to a strong start to the 2008 season. The market's new colorful flags waved in the breeze as shoppers from around the Eastside descended into the downtown core. The new "green" orange bags were quite popular with shoppers (free with coupon, or two dollars at the KWM booth) as they shopped the market stalls.

The City of Kirkland has a serious budget problem. Revenues are down. Spending is up. The economy is slowing. What is a City Council to do? You can answer this question in the opinion poll below. The Council is considering raising taxes and cutting service levels to balance the City's budget. This comes at the worst possible time -- during an economic downturn. Kirkland has lived a fat and happy life during the good times. Now it is time for the City to tighten its belt just like we all have had to do in our personal lives. Raising taxes during recessionary period hurts hardworking taxpayers at the worst possible time.

At 12:37AM the gavel came down as the Kirkland City Council ruled in favor of CiViK in their appeal of the mixed use project on the Bank of America site map in downtown at the corner of Kirkland Ave. and Lake Street South map. This project was to be the second phase of the Merrill Gardens senior housing now topping out next door. The Kirkland City Council voted in favor of the appellant by a vote of 4 to 3.

Round two of the quasi-judicial hearing before the Kirkland City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6th at 7:30PM. Round one needed to be continued as it became obvious that the proceedings could not be completed ...

The KCC will have a special study session on the budget on Wednesday, May 7th at 6:00 PM. The recent reports have shown a decrease in the projected revenues for the city. As a result, the Council will need to ...

What is the role of government? Should city government compete against the private sector? The year old Friday Night Market at Juanita Beach map is Kirkland's second farmer's market, joining the Kirkland Wednesday Market map in downtown. The Juanita market is establishing itself good neighbor and resident of Juanita community. Farmers markets in general are a wonderful source for local produce and act as a gathering place for the public. But one has to ask the question, why does the Kirkland Parks Department operate a farmers market? During a review of the City of Kirkland Services Matrix for the upcoming budget study session on May 7th, we ran across item PK-36, a discretionary expenditure $85,877 for "Special Events". The description includes the following:

Kirkland wants to hear your views. The City of Kirkland has launched an online survey on sustainability. Kirkland residents and businesses are encouraged to take the online Economic Sustainability Survey. The information gathered will help guide what changes will take ...