Dear Editor: What is the purpose of adding/increasing parking lot fees downtown? If it’s to raise revenues, the idea of charging for parking downtown or other business locations is ridiculous. It will probably reduce sales tax revenues or maybe drive out business or cause them to locate elsewhere. Since when did the Council quit supporting [...]
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LETTER | Governor wants an increase in state sales tax (poll)
Dear Editor, If everyone knows there is a budget shortfall then now is a good time to float an increase in the sales tax… Just a fraction of a cent, not real greedy, and it’s only for non-edible items so won’t affect those citizens living hand to mouth… much. The fact is, there has been [...]
LETTER | Public asks Council Members for Records Request Help
Dear Editor: In a very open and transparent letter, I am reaching out to Mr. Nixon to see if he might help in what has been a very difficult records request saga that is of great significance to hundreds of Kirkland Citizens. He recently commented on the importance of this right (see Councilmember [...]
Op-Ed | How should Kirkland pay for the Eastside Rail Corridor?
Citizen opinion survey provides “quick read” on preferred ways to pay for the “Kirkland Segment” Authored by City of Kirkland Council Members Dave Asher and Amy Walen Kirkland is on a path to buy the “Kirkland Segment” of the Eastside Rail Corridor as a first-step in completing the long-planned cross-Kirkland Trail. Faced with [...]
LETTER | Kirkland Library denies public use
Letter to the Editor: It has come to my Attention that the KCLS Public Library in Kirkland has denied the request of the use of their meeting rooms to local mothers groups. Stating there is no educational value, and the library is not a free play date space. Local Mothers groups provide a service to [...]
LETTER | TOD Does not improve our quality of life
Dear Editor: At [Tuesday] night’s Council meeting Mayor McBride issued the following statement: Speaking of the [Transit Oriented Development at the South Kirkland Park & Ride] TOD and its associated high density affordable housing in Kirkland, “It was a great thing.” Yes it would be a great thing if the Council developed the infrastructure [...]
LETTER | Vandalism strikes downtown Kirkland business
Dear Editor, We are Bubble Me, the newly opened bubble tea shop at Kirkland Square and we have a story to share. On Feb 6 around 6:20, a customer at our shop heard a big bang from outside while he was enjoying his strawberry chocolate crepe. What happened was that someone actually threw a big [...]
UPDATED — LETTER | Unlimited Density Along Residential Shoreline Must Be Stopped
UPDATED Eric Shields, Kirkland Planning Director has written the following to address this letter: Letter to editor: Kirkland City Council – UNLIMITED DENSITY ALONG ALL THE RESIDENTIAL SHORELINE PROPERTIES??? Do you know that you approved this on December 12, 2011??? Many of us doubt that this was your intention… and if [...]
LETTER | Should Smoking Be Banned in Kirkland Parks? (Poll)
UPDATED To the Editor, On February 7th the city council will be voting on banning cigarette smoking in the parks. Smoking in the parks is not the issue, the real issue is; do you want an outside group to make the rules in OUR parks? Do you want this outside group called CDC, Center [...]
LETTER | Support HB 2610; Ignore the Petition
Please ignore the petition currently being circulated and vote for HB 2610. Citizens of Houghton deserve no more rights than my family and I do. We live less than 500 yards from the border of Houghton in the Moss Bay Neighborhood. We should not have to help pay for their bounty (read “extra rights”) which slows [...]
LETTER | The Houghton Community Council is an Anachronism
Dear Kirkland Views: I served on the Houghton Community Council and the Kirkland City Council for a number of years. For a long time I have believed that the HCC is an anachronism. My wife and I have been citizens of Houghton for just over 37 years. It is time to stop this undemocratic favoritism given to the citizens [...]
Opinion | Councilmember Penny Sweet’s Thoughts on the Houghton Discussion
Dear Kirkland Views: I think it is important that I weigh in on the Houghton Community Council Discussion. To be clear, I did know that there was going to be a bill forthcoming. My husband, Larry Springer said as much last session when the original bill was killed and he told Rick Whitney, HCC President, [...]
Houghton Community Council Meet Your Maker: State Legislature Pulls the Plug with HB 2610 (Poll)
Ralph, you have kids, right? Don’t you hate it when they use your own words to try and outsmart you? One of my kids failed a math mid-term and I didn’t hear about it until I got their report card. Made me so angry, I said “no more surprises!”. Then guess what, younger sibling fails [...]
Snow Day (photos)
Kids and adults alike took advantage of the heavy snow on Wednesday and enjoyed a stroll (or a cross country ski) through downtown, along the boulevard and in Kirkland’s parks. Thank you to Chuck Pilcher and Shawn Thornsberry for sharing their photos.
LETTER | Governor’s tax hike on oil produced in WA is a bad idea
Maintaining transportation infrastructure, funded by fee increases, including a $1.50 per barrel fee on oil produced in Washington State. Dear Editor, What is the difference between a “fee” and a “tax” if the money goes to the government? Our Governor is all about “finding new revenue sources” so the pain of cutting her growing budget [...]
Fire Chief Nalder’s Response to Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance
The following letter is from Kirkland Fire Chief Nalder in response to this letter: http://www.kirklandviews.com/archives/31517/ Good afternoon Mr. Morris, I truly appreciate receiving your letter, dated January 13, 2012, voicing the concerns of the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance (FHNA) regarding the elimination of the limited emergency medical response by the Reserve program out of fire [...]
A Snowy MLK Day in Kirkland
Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos. Please keep them coming!
Finn Hill Neighborhood Expresses Concerns About Fire Station 24 Closure
UPDATED The following letter was sent to Kirkland Fire Chief Nalder: RE: Finn Hill Fire Station 24 Closure Dear Chief Nalder: On behalf of the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance (FHNA), I would like to thank you for meeting with Ted Marx, Jeff Hoerth, Jon Pascal and me last week to discuss the upcoming [...]
Public Invited to Olympia Lobby Day Against Costly Death Penalty
Many people don’t know that Washington State still has a death row. On January 25, a coalition of over eighteen organizations will head to Olympia to lobby for an end to Washington’s death penalty and to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Senate Bill 5456, which would abolish the death penalty. Free transportation is [...]
Rob Butcher, Editor
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