The City Council appoints three new members to the DRB. A fourth position remains open. Landscape architects are encouraged to apply.

Downtown Bellevue has a new Safeway in a mixed-use project and there are lessons for Kirkland Parkplace to learn from this first of its kind store on the Eastside. The "flagship lifestyle store" includes underground parking that stands out as superior to some...

The Kirkland City Council has has written a draft letter to King County Councilmember Jane Hague and Executive Ron Sims regarding Kirkland's difficulties with annexation. After a meeting with Hague and Sims, it was quite evident from the Mayor's demeanor that they used strong tactics in an attempt to bend ...

The arguments both for and against the three Parkplace development options before the Commission were well reasoned and often filled with passion. Excellent points were made by both the Kirkland CRD and Touchstone sides during the public hearing and the hope is this input will help improve the project.

For the Planning Commision, this is about as big as it gets. We expect the place to be filled to the rafters. Come give your two cents worth. Whatever your stripe, your opinion counts. Express yourself. The future of Kirkland Parkplace is at stake.

At the other end of the 24-hour hotline are the nice people who scrub away all of what some communities call "art" from the face of our fair city. Fortunately, we in Kirkland have this hotrod speeding to the scene as soon as they get the call. Behold Kirkland's own ...

A Kirkland Views reader sent in these drawings representing the three options for Kirkland Parkplace which are before the Planning Commission and upon which our most recent poll was based. Don't forget to mark your calendar for Thursday, June 26 at 7:00 PM to be at City Hall for what ...

Our new look and feel allows for much greater content and comment visibility as well as many goodies under the hood (and our previous theme was struggling to keep up). The same stuff is here, just organized in a little different manner. Let us know what you think!

If you haven't yet seen it, the City's Summer Special Events Guide is available both in print and online. A glance at the calendar reveals that the 4th of July is just around the corner! This year's theme for Kirkland's celebrations is "Space, The Final Frontier" in Honor of the ...

Kirkland Parkplace as we know it will soon be history. The owner of the property has applied for a variance on the current zoning to allow for a planned mixed-use office/retail/hotel complex. In short, there are three possible scenarios for the future of Parkplace: 2 of them are mixed-use and ...

The City Council has not yet resolved the appeal of the Stewart McLeod mixed-use development. At issue was the definition of "two stories along Lake Street", heights and views from a public path between the project and The Portsmith condominiums.

For those interested in attending, tonight at 6:00 PM the Kirkland City Council will be briefed on the progress of the Downtown Kirkland Transit Center during their Study Session. As always, the public is welcome to attend ...

The hearing started with comments on the Orni and Altom PARs. Parkplace was by far the dominant issue. Those who signed up to speak but were not able to do so by the end of the evening will be first on the list for June 26th.

Moving Day Nettleton Mansion/Green's Funeral Home — Originally 400 State St. (Today it looks more like it is located at 500 State St, but it is on wheels so no telling how long until it moseys on down the road.) Originally built in 1914 for Clark Nettleton, then-publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In our on-going effort to promote Kirkland businesses, Kirkland Views would like to congratulate Holly Smith, chef and owner of Cafe Juanita, for winning the 2008 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Northwest! The Seattle Times ran the story in this article on Monday.

  What role does anonymity play in the course of public debate? Does one have a responsibility to identify oneself when making potentially injurious claims against others? Or, is one immune to the mores of a civil society simply because they are able to hide behind a cloak of anonymity? I pose these questions because of the continued blowback surrounding the City Council’s May 6 decision in favor of CiViK (the appellant) over SRM Development (the applicant) in the Bank of America appeal. The fallout has been hitting our local newspapers and the blogosphere ever since. Citizens have written letters from all sides of the issues, most of which have been expressions of opinion. However, there have been a few letters of anonymous origin that have made claims as to the propriety of individuals in our community. These anonymous letters have raised an issue that needs to be discussed.

The City of Kirkland received twelve applications to fill the four vacant positions on the Design Review Board (DRB). The deadline for applications was June 6. At the conclusion of the interview process, those selected will join Carter Bagg, Brian Berg and Michael Stanger as members of the DRB. The City Council will choose those most qualified for the position. The DRB is a linchpin for downtown development and plays a critical role in many pending projects including Kirkland Parkplace, Bank of America and the McLeod mixed-use projects. The following individuals are to be commended for volunteering to join the DRB despite the high level of calamity that has surrounded the body of late.

Sarah Andeen sent in this Kirkland Snapshot from the crosswalk on Central Way at 1st Street. Sarah also brought to our attention an open house the Kirkland Transportation Commission is hosting regarding proposed sidewalk and bicycle lane projects (see below). Thanks for the information Sarah!

UPDATE: The Planning commission has announced a second public hearing on this issue to be held on June 26, 2008 at 7:00 PM. The public will have the opportunity to speak at both events.   The next Planning Commission public hearing on the proposed zoning changes for the Kirkland Parkplace development is to be ...

What will Kirkland look like in 2015? What would you like to keep and what would you like to see changed? I asked myself these questions in the wake of the City Council's recent deliberations. The comments on these pages are testimony to the wide range of views that we, the citizens of Kirkland have for our city. I think we have successfully identified some areas where the process of development could be improved. The question that needs to be asked is, "how do we move forward from here?" What is your idea of a best possible future for Kirkland in just seven short years from now?