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Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods – Car License Fees, School Walk Routes, Neighborhood Picnics and More

By on May 18, 2010 in Archived, Featured Slideshow, Headlines, Neighborhood News

Here’s the latest from last week’s Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods (KAN) meeting:

A $20 car license renewal fee for Kirkland residents?

This was one of the key points brought up at the KAN meeting last week.  Ray Steiger, the interim head of Public Works mentioned a proposed $20 fee on license renewals for Kirkland residents.  The fee would go directly towards road repair in the city.  Currently, excise tax and taxes on gas help pay for transportation fees, but there’s not enough money to pay for all the needed road repairs. Road maintenance is  expensive. According to Steiger, the cost to pave a mile of roadway is about $1 million.

Extensive road maintenance is needed in Kirkland, according to Steiger.    He likened roads in disrepair to a home in need of paint and caulking.  If neither the road or the home is maintained, water can get in or under a surface, causing continual damage and the need for even more repair at a later date.  The money raised would be used to repair and overlay the roads.

Will this fee go up for a public vote?

The fee is not required by state law to go up for public vote, however, the City would like people to be aware this fee is under consideration.  The fee is already used for road repair in both Edmonds and Olympia.

Which elementary school would you like to see get its sidewalks first?

On May 18th, the Kirkland City Council will be considering neighborhood updates.  The Council has a study session scheduled in the Peter Kirk room of City Hall at 6 PM  to begin the review process for the CIP-Capital Improvement Plan.  One of the issues in the plan is neighborhood traffic control, which includes adding 1/4 mile of sidewalks by each elementary school in Kirkland by 2019.  Part of this week’s  study session is to prioritize which schools get the sidewalks first.  Councilman Asher, who was at the KAN meeting,  encouraged people to contact the City Council or attend the study session to make their priorities known.  Which elementary school would you like to see get its sidewalks first?

Other important items discussed at the KAN meeting:

It’s picnic season in Kirkland.  Check out the City website in the near future for updates on your neighborhood picnic.

Don’t forget to “pack in and pack out”  when using Kirkland’s parks.  There are no more trash cans.  Please clean up after yourself and your dogs.

There will be another city wide food drive for local food banks this fall.  Stay tuned!

KAN is talking about how to give a proper Kirkland welcome to all our new neighborhoods coming as a result of the Kirkland annexation.

About Debra Sinick

I've lived in the Kirkland Highlands for 16 years, been a Realtor with Windermere for over 20 years, and have been blogging about the Highlands, and Kirkland in general, for over 3 1/2 years on my Kirkland blog: www.kirklandhighlandsrealestatebuzz.com. Blogging for me started out as a way to talk about real estate issues, trends, and statistics. But blogging has become far more to me. It's given me an opportunity to combine my work, my volunteerism, and my passion for Kirkland together and have a place to talk about it all. I look at the city, literally and figuratively, with far different eyes than I did just a few years ago. Kirkland is a great city with a unique ambiance and I have fun writing about it.
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  • http://www.kirklandhighlandsrealestatebuzz.com Debra Sinick

    Hi Rob,

    One change in my post above. I believe it’s the CIP-Capital Improvement Plan, not the Comprehensive Plan under discussion tonight.

  • Bob Style

    Roads, police, and fire protection are essential. They need to be funded first, not other services that reduce our ability to provide core services in a sustainable budget. If the Council is considering raising taxes for roads, they have evidently forgotten which services need to be paid for with existing revenues without raising taxes. If more money is needed for other services, let them put that on the ballot.

    To help them understand the problem, I wrote the following letter.

    Honorable Councilmembers:

    It seems that park acquisition funding in the CIP is not consistent with our current budget shortfalls. At a time you're locking doors and removing trash receptacles from our parks, you are considering taken on more parks even though you can't support what you have now.

    What you're doing doesn't make economic sense. What do you mean when you say we need a sustainable budget or is that just more political poppycock?

    Sincerely,

    Robert L. Style
    6735 Lake Washington Blvd, NE
    Kirkland, WA 98033
    425-827-0216

  • Mavio

    Yes, Robert, I agree.

    I believe that road repairs should be paid for by those who use the roads. Gas taxes should be used to pay for road repairs. This is something our legislature is afraid to tackle. I am a fiscal conservative who believes government should stop growing but I have long advocated higher gas taxes to fix our roads and bridges. This would also encourage people to drive less and drive more fuel efficient cars and trucks. Seems like a no brainer to me.