Letter | Does Kirkland have its priorities confused?

By on June 24, 2010 in Archived, Headlines

I wish someone would explain to me how we can afford in these very difficult times to pay our new City Manager $174,000 a year when we can’t even afford to keep trash cans in our parks because we don’t even have employees to pick it up. From what I hear from a relaible source we let half of the kids go who worked over the summer picking these up, etc. because we couldn’t afford their part time salaries of $9.00 per hour.

Do we have our priorities a little confused or is my thinking confused?

Patty Tucker

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  • harryberlin

    I was in downtown Kirkland this weekend, and it was sad to see a lot businesses closed. Vacant stores and foreclosed houses all around, many struggling to survive, but there is no sense of urgency in the government at all.

  • Ann

    I think our first priority should be economic development in Kirkland. The majority of what we have presently in the downtown is salons, used clothing shops (consignment), a few galleries plus a few restaurants.
    Totem Lake is languishing. Why do we not have an big anchor store, other than Trader Joe's, there? Redmond and Woodinville have already beat us to it by bringing in most of the major anchor stores which is our great loss. Of course, Bellevue has them all.
    Why not try to convince Ikea to open a store there? Perfect location for them to build and serve the north end of the area.
    It would be a real pity to have Kirkland fade away into trinket shops like Coney Island instead of a charming town like we find in New England (for example).
    Our new, over paid, city manager should make that his first priority.

  • Poselander

    Fully agree! Totem Lake (with maybe slightly modified freeways access) would be a great location for IKEA. There's been rumor about a new store up in the Lynnwood area for years, but a TL location would much better serve the ever expanding Eastside.
    Even though IKEA might be a pipe dream, the City has to work on getting business to locate here. We are perfectly situated for everyone tyo work elsewhere (Kirkland is pretty good to commute away from), so there's really nothing that would hinder this to also be a location to cummute “to”.

  • harryberlin

    The city is not doing its best to help business. Juanita Beach park is shut down the whole summer, hurtin business in that area. This bus stop makeover by the library is resulting in one of the main north-south routes through downtown being ripped up for over a year! Would Bellevue allow such a minor project to take that long?

  • Ann

    Read this in the Times about what Bothell's plans, where are our city planners?

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2…

    Bothell teams with McMenamins for visionary urban re-development
    The city of Bothell's ambitious redevelopment plans include conversion of a historic downtown school site into a 70-room hotel by a family-owned Oregon business, McMenamins, famous for its brew pubs, hotels and preservation skills.

  • Rlstyle

    The cost for the new city manager is not worth it. He's a smart man looking out for himself. The manager has plenty of credentials. It’s too bad he didn’t use them at the county to clean up the mess they are in. Was he part of the problem or part of the solution?

    He is replacing a city manager who was already overpaid at $160,000 a year. Now the pay scale for the new manager is $174,000 plus benefits that bring his cost to more than $225,000. With what we are paying department heads, assistants, and consultants to advise and support the manager’s decisions, it doesn’t take much to be a manager in Kirkland. They don’t even have to speak. All they have to do is nod.

    It remains to be seen if he will put the people of Kirkland first. He should have filled out the Service Matrix to show his priorities before he was hired. But the Council didn’t pursue it. Now, as stated in the latest city publication, the City Update, on August 4th the Council will once again complete the service matrix to determine what “core services” deserve support by on-going revenue. He should complete the matrix without consulting Council or staff if we really want to find out where he’s coming from.

    Some Councilmembers even said it would be nice if the citizens had a chance to participate in the selection process. That was shot down. Council priorities were more important than people priorities. It would have been an act of a democratic society. Instead the Council was autocratically eager to pursue his nomination without knowing the consequences of what he thinks Kirkland’s priorities should be. We were denied any input into the process.

    As for the Councilmembers who approved his appointment and denied us access to the selection process, they should be held accountable for their bad decision. The newspaper, the Kirkland Reporter took a poll of whether or not the people approved of hiring this manager in this economy. The response was 100 percent NO. The early results showed that not a single citizen thought it was a good idea.

    The Council wants to continue business as usual by ignoring the voice of the people. It makes you wonder who they represent. I appears they want the people to serve them instead of them working for the people.

  • Per-Ola

    @harryberlin: Probably not, but in all fairness, the (minor) “bus stop makeover” is also a complete upgrade of the sewer pumpstation on the corner across from the ball fields. That project is really taking time since it is “major”. Could it be spaced differently in time? Likely, but in my mind, it is probably better to get “a lot done” while at it, instead of coming back and having to dig up newly upgraded infrastructure (=streets) after a short while. Nothing can be more upsetting than poor cross-departmental planning for infrastructure projects.

  • harryberlin

    Sound Transit announced completion of the underground work back in May, yet the project is scheduled to finish at the end of the year with bus service restored in 2011. Too slow.

    http://projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/…

  • myopinion

    I couldn't agree with you more Patty!
    If we can afford the city manager's salary, annexing unincorporated areas and a new $48 million dollar city building, we can certainly afford to have “basic services for our parks.”

    The city council needs to be held accountable for this ruse.

  • Guest

    I agree.
    I think a major limitation for people shopping and eating in downtown Kirkland is that there is little free parking. You don't have to pay for parking in Madison Park for example. It's easier to head to Bellevue where restaurants, shops, movies and free parking are plentiful.

  • Ann

    totally agree. Between Bellevue and Redmond with their free parking, why should anyone have to pay for the priviledge of eating or shopping here? Remember not long ago when they charged us for parking during the day? I complained to the Wed.market people who's sales must have been impacted, esp. when all the other markets have free parking.

  • Bill Henkens

    The master plan does not allow for a big box store. Also, the plan includes low cost housing. IMO those two policys are keeping Totem Lake just like it is… a big waste of space.

  • Tia

    Are you sure about that, Bill? I remember quite a buzz about Target being the desired tenant in the new, big retail section of the upper mall.

  • Ann

    I'm horrified, if it's true. Who's plan is that, the city's or the developer's or both? Can we afford to ignore a prime area for future businesses, esp. an anchor store to bring in the shoppers and tax dollars? It's bad enough that downtown Kirkland is not growing and developing but a ready made shopping center will not either? Can someone please explain to me what's going on here? Even Bothell has some wonderful plans to expand as I read in the times. I'm incredibly impressed with Redmond's growth and the charm of their downtown with nice hotels, anchor stores, varied businesses and an area in the center for children and musicians to play, etc.
    Was our new councilwoman, Dorine Marchione, instrumental in the planning there when she was mayor? If so, we have a gem to advise us. Being relatively new here, I don't know the politics going on to restrict our growth.
    sigh.

  • Bill Henkens

    This was true during the last election. Check with the city. Low income housing is what the city wants wrapped around a mall. I have never seen that in any city. I would love to know if the city has changed it's plan.

  • Editor

    Patty,
    You know I love every inch of you (55 at last count), but I have to point out that we get what we pay for. $174,000 is cheap if it hires and keeps a manager that can keep us OUT of an $8,000,000 fiscal hole like the one we currently find ourselves in.

    If, however, the city manager serves as a rubber stamp for everything that comes across his/her desk, then a salary of even $17,400 would be too much.

    BUT… if the new manager has the chops for the job and comes with his guns fully loaded then he has a chance to save us far, far more money than he costs. It will take a strong personality and the ability to work with people – or work around them. Dead wood needs to be cut. Stupid people making stupid mistakes that lead to unnecessary expenses. Crooked people making self-serving choices are even more expensive.

    You pay big bucks for Ichiro, Bobby Ayala was cheap.

    If staff, the city council, the city manager and the unions don't wake up and smell the coffee – by force if necessary – then next year's hole will be deeper yet with deeper cuts and fewer services.

    And a 'For Sale' sign on Peter Kirk Park.

    John Gilday

  • John Gilday

    Patty,
    You know I love every inch of you (55 at last count), but I have to point out that we get what we pay for. $174,000 is cheap if it hires and keeps a manager that can keep us OUT of an $8,000,000 fiscal hole like the one we currently find ourselves in.

    If, however, the city manager serves as a rubber stamp for everything that comes across his/her desk, then a salary of even $17,400 would be too much.

    BUT… if the new manager has the chops for the job and comes with his guns fully loaded then he has a chance to save us far, far more money than he costs. It will take a strong personality and the ability to work with people – or work around them. Dead wood needs to be cut. Stupid people making stupid mistakes that lead to unnecessary expenses. Crooked people making self-serving choices are even more expensive.

    You pay big bucks for Ichiro, Bobby Ayala was cheap.

    If staff, the city council, the city manager and the unions don't wake up and smell the coffee – by force if necessary – then next year's hole will be deeper yet with deeper cuts and fewer services.

    And a 'For Sale' sign on Peter Kirk Park.

    John Gilday

  • Publisher

    Patty,
    You know I love every inch of you (55 at last count), but I have to point out that we get what we pay for. $174,000 is cheap if it hires and keeps a manager that can keep us OUT of an $8,000,000 fiscal hole like the one we currently find ourselves in.

    If, however, the city manager serves as a rubber stamp for everything that comes across his/her desk, then a salary of even $17,400 would be too much.

    BUT… if the new manager has the chops for the job and comes with his guns fully loaded then he has a chance to save us far, far more money than he costs. It will take a strong personality and the ability to work with people – or work around them. Dead wood needs to be cut. Stupid people making stupid mistakes that lead to unnecessary expenses. Crooked people making self-serving choices are even more expensive.

    You pay big bucks for Ichiro, Bobby Ayala was cheap.

    If staff, the city council, the city manager and the unions don't wake up and smell the coffee – by force if necessary – then next year's hole will be deeper yet with deeper cuts and fewer services.

    And a 'For Sale' sign on Peter Kirk Park.

    John Gilday

  • JohnGilday

    Patty,
    You know I love every inch of you (55 at last count), but I have to point out that we get what we pay for. $174,000 is cheap if it hires and keeps a manager that can keep us OUT of an $8,000,000 fiscal hole like the one we currently find ourselves in.

    If, however, the city manager serves as a rubber stamp for everything that comes across his/her desk, then a salary of even $17,400 would be too much.

    BUT… if the new manager has the chops for the job and comes with his guns fully loaded then he has a chance to save us far, far more money than he costs. It will take a strong personality and the ability to work with people – or work around them. Dead wood needs to be cut. Stupid people making stupid mistakes that lead to unnecessary expenses. Crooked people making self-serving choices are even more expensive.

    You pay big bucks for Ichiro, Bobby Ayala was cheap.

    If staff, the city council, the city manager and the unions don't wake up and smell the coffee – by force if necessary – then next year's hole will be deeper yet with deeper cuts and fewer services.

    And a 'For Sale' sign on Peter Kirk Park.

    John Gilday

  • Ilive4water

    With the exception of Redmond Town Center, I would not wish the rest of downtown Redmond on Kirkland. It is a mish-mash of strip malls, and big box store. The new condo's downtown look shabby and cheap and will be eyesore within 10 years. That said, DT Kirkland and TL can use much needed TLC.