Kirkland Weblog

Cross Kirkland Corridor- Lawsuit for Kirkland

Just saw this letter from the City Manager's office I thought you might be interested in...huh...

April 2, 2013

Important
message about the Cross Kirkland Corridor

Dear Community Member,

It is with great disappointment
that I share with you that the City of Kirkland was served on April 1, 2013
with a Federal lawsuit which seeks to stop the City from removing the rail
tracks and ties along the Cross Kirkland Corridor. The lawsuit was filed by
Ballard Terminal Railroad Company (“Ballard”) in Federal District Court in the
Western District of Washington.  In addition to the injunction, Ballard
has filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board (“STB”)
seeking to reactivate the Eastside Rail Corridor for freight service from
Woodinville to Bellevue, WA.  These actions make it necessary for the City
to carefully evaluate Ballard’s claims and to consider our legal options.

As you may be aware, the City has
hired a contractor to remove the rails to make way for an Interim Trail along
the Cross Kirkland Corridor.  The removal has been anticipated to begin
this month; with construction of the Interim Trail to begin this fall. We
intend to keep with the community’s desire to allow use of the trail as soon as
possible, even if it requires us to put our plans on hold as we take time to
better understand the impacts of the lawsuit and petition.

The Cross Kirkland Corridor is 5.75
miles of the 44+ mile Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC).  Apart from the
segments owned by the City of Kirkland and the City of Redmond, the ERC has
been recently acquired by King County. 

It is our initial understanding
that Ballard seeks to keep Kirkland from removing the rails on our Corridor so
that freight use can be re-established.  We are hopeful that the Federal
District Court will rule on the injunction case in the coming weeks and that
the STB decision regarding Ballard’s request to reactivate our Corridor as a
freight (not transit or excursion train) corridor will also be expedited.

We are confident that Kirkland will
ultimately be able to carry out our citizens’ vision for the Corridor. 
However, there are many complexities to this issue and your understanding and
patience is appreciated.  Updates will be released through the City’s
email notification subscriber lists and posted to the Cross Kirkland Corridor
webpage at www.kirklandwa.gov/crosskirklandcorridor.

If you have a specific question,
please send it to Pam Bissonnette, Director, Public Works Department, at
425-587-3802 or pbissonnette@kirklandwa.gov.

Sincerely,

 

Kurt Triplett

City Manager

City of Kirkland

Natural Yard Design Classes (and they're free!)

 
Fall is the perfect time to plant and prepare your yard for winter, so it's opportune that the City of Kirkland is offering free natural yard design workshops.  They are  conducted by expert yard care professionals, and will help you create a beautiful healthy yard.  With all the sunshine we've been having, it's all I can do to remember to water my grass!  Seriously, though, it looks like they have a lot of professionals ready to share all their secrets with you, so take advantage if you can.

Here's the lineup: 

Dates and
Topics:   

 October 4, Garden Design and Growing Healthy Soil

October 11, Designing with Plants and Natural Pest Control

October 18, Edible Gardening and Smart Watering

October 25, Natural Lawn Care

Time:                           
7:00-9:00 p.m. each Thursday

Location:                    
Our Redeemer Lutheran church, 11611 N.E. 140^th Street, Kirkland

 To Reserve
a Seat:   Call Betsy Adams at 425-587-3858 or email badams@kirklandwa.gov.

 

 

Eastside Vitality Health Month- Kirkland Event 9/15

There is a Community Health Fair this Sat Sept 15th from 9am-12pm at the Overlake Medical Clinic in Kirkland (290 Central Way). Meet neighborhood physicians and staff while receiving the following FREE services:

• Cholesterol/Glucose screenings. Fasting is recommended, but not required.
• Body Mass Index (BMI).
• Blood Pressure checks.
• Cardiac and Diabetes Risk Factor Assessments.
• Consultations with Overlake physicians.
• Clinic tours.
• Giveaways.
• Free smoothies after your FREE screenings.

All of the appointments filled up quickly,  but fear not, they are still holding 30 walk-in appointments which will be granted on a first come, first serve basis.  425-635-6470

Youth Suicide Prevention Forum in Kirkland

Not something we typically like to talk about, but given recent circumstances I think it's important to make sure that we are all paying extra close attention.............

Youth Eastside Services (YES) is hosting a Youth Suicide Prevention Forum on Wednesday
July 25^th from 6:30 to 8 p.m.  The forum is in response to several youth suicides in Kirkland over the
past year and will take place at Kirkland City Hall’s Peter Kirk Room, 123 5^th Avenue.

 “Research has shown that kids who attempt suicide are in intense emotional pain, and most just need someone to recognize and respond to that,” explains Debbi Halela, Director of Youth and Family Counseling Services at YES. The forum will help
parents and those who work with youth identify common signs and take steps to
prevent another tragedy.

Halela also acknowledged that many youth are still working through their grief over the loss of a classmate, and that the potential for copycat actions exists. “Our goal is to shed some light on this little-talked-about issue and provide people
some tools and resources in advance of the upcoming school year,” explains Halela.

The forum is free of charge and open to parents from any community.  It will last approximately 90 minutes, with
time for questions. For more information, contact YES at 425.747.4937 or info@YouthEastsideServices.org .

 

 

Kirkland Crime Mapping App

This is a pretty cool app- sorry if you already get the city updates and have seen this, but thought this was really useful.  Mr. Safety (my husband) will certainly have an close eye on it.  And it's much more user friendly than the 5-0 radio iPhone app I downloaded recently that a friend told me to check out- which is a police scanner and I can't understand a word they are saying.  Anyway- this is cool- check it...

Starting today, Kirkland residents can search various types of crime by location or city-wide through the online website www.crimemapping.com. Through a grant from the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority, the Kirkland Police Department can provide crime data near a resident’s home, a Kirkland business, or school to those who create an online account with CrimeMapping.com™.  Browsers can view crime incidents that have occurred within the previous 180 days.  Data is transferred from approved police case reports to the system.  The system is updated Tuesday through
Friday.  Crimes types displayed include arson, assault, burglary, public disturbance, robbery, motor vehicle theft, and various other crimes. Users can also subscribe to receive free automatic customized crime alerts viae-mail for their neighborhood.  In addition to incident data, browsers canclick to crime prevention tips.  To directly access Kirkland data, go to http://www.CrimeMapping.com Washington State, and then select Kirkland or link to the portal from the City’s website at www.kirklandwa.gov/crimemapping.

 The Kirkland Police Department is encouraging residents to begin familiarizing themselves with the
program.  A detail presentation is planned for the Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods on June 21, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 123 5^thAvenue.  Kirkland neighborhood associations that would like a demonstration can contact Neighborhood Resource Officer Audra Weber at 425-587-3451 or aweber@kirklandwa.gov.

 “We are pleased to host this web based community crime mapping program as it promotes trust and transparency by keeping the citizens of Kirkland well informed regarding recent crime activity in the city,” notes Kirkland Police Captain Bill Hamilton. 
“We genuinely want our community to be the eyes and ears of their police
department and to do so, the community needs to be familiar with crime
incidents where they live and work.” 

Kirkland Police officers will also be using the program to help them more easily identify crime trends
in their assigned patrol districts.

 

Do you DeRu?

You should.  What a cool little concept for a  neighborhood artisan market!   A few people have mentioned it to me, so I decided the seek them out.  You have to look carefully because I barely spotted DeRu Market when I was staring straight at it on 723 9th Ave, east of Market.  This  renovated space has an awesome kitchen where they focus mostly on catering and renting out their kitchen to other businesses, hosting corporate events and putting on cooking classes.  But lucky for us, they also have a daily take out menu for people like me that don't like to cook. 

Check out this custom made wood fire pizza oven. Their local organic menu changes frequently so check the website for the daily offering- when I was there they were serving up 4 different thin crust pizzas: margherita, chicken pesto, apple & arugula and chorizo.  They also have soups, sandwiches and salads along with some fun and always changing items from the deli case (chicken roulade, roasted baby carrots, roasted sunchokes perhaps?).  There is nowhere to sit down- but it's a great spot to call and pickup.  We had a meeting at our house the other night and didn't feel like dealing with dishes, so we ordered up some stuffed pork loin ($8/ea), skillet potatoes and onion ($4), and pizzas for the kids ($11-14/ea).  We told them we'd be there at 6:15 and Jordan (photo at top), one of the owners, had it all warmed up and ready to go.  Everything was delish, including the chocolate chubby cookie that I got to sample (oink oink).  

DeRu is open Weds-Fri 11-8pm and Sat 11-6pm.  Daily menus are on their website or it's easy to call 425-298-0268 and they will tell you what's cookin' for that day.    Go ahead and comment if you've given it a try. ~j

Why is PSE always picking on me?

It can't just be me.  So I'm throwing this out there at the risk of being a bad example because I am curious if EVERYONE gets that same letter from Puget Sound Energy declaring that they are terrible awful energy wasters.  Every quarter I dread opening the "home energy report" that tells me that I use 49% more energy than my neighbors, which is then illustrated in colored bar graphs and breakdowns by electricity and natural gas.  I also apparently used 74% more energy than my neighbors in the past 12 months- ack- shoot me now. Is this true?

Do they have to start name-calling?? PSE tells me here's what the "energy efficient" neighbors use, "all neighbors" use and then "YOU." It really is bold and capitalized like that so you feel like someone is pointing a finger at your nose.  REALLY?!  Although we are a family of 5 which means lots of laundry and dishes, we are also energy conscious (turning lights out, only running full loads, etc) and our recently remodeled and relatively small home has newer/energy efficient components.  We're good people- we recycle and do our best to lessen our environmental footprint.  But I think PSE keeps us on their whipping board.  Does anyone out there get a letter saying, "you are doing a fantastic job conserving energy! Way to go!" ?? I need to know. Maybe my kids are secretly sucking up energy when I'm not looking (we know they steal mine).

Kirkland Holiday Guide 2011

Once you have finished eating all of your Halloween candy and checked all the election results, you will realize that the holidays are quickly approaching (grinches, insert cringe here).  The darkness at 4:30 is a good indicator too.  I've decided that this is the season I am going to stay ahead of the curve and shop early.  For 2011 I will be a whirring machine of both thoughtfulness and efficiency that will be unmatched. By the way,I am addressing holiday cards with my toes as I type this post. 

 So, let's kick off this season with a gift for you! Tell me  your favorite thing to do in Kirkland during the holidays.  First five responses get a free prize!  aaahhh- giving feels so good.  Include your address b/c I will mail it to you. :-)

My next gift to share with all of you is my friend, Lacie Powell, who will be guest blogging with me through November and December.  We will team up and do a "Kirkland Holiday Series" of posts that will run every Thursday through the season. Don't worry, you'll still get my usual banter in between there too.  I wanted to be sure to be polite and introduce you to Lacie.... 

Lacie, these are the Kirkland Weblog readers.  They are smart and funny and like a good laugh and don't even mind my Jersey humor.  They ALL love Kirkland and they love to be in the know. They are also savvy and insightful andsometimes correct my spelling and grammar and send funny notes.   They are loyal and kind and will often reach out to share stories and info of their own.  You will really like them- I just know it.  A few of them even advertise with me which makes me feel like I'm appreciated (thank you!)

Kirkland Weblog readers, Lacie is a local lifestyling expert whose company, POSH by Lacie Powell, was born out of a passion for all things chic; fashion, events and home.  Lacie offers styling services to a discerning clientele whose crazed "rock star" lifestyle is matched by the desire for quality and resistance to sacrificing beauty and class just because life gets busy.  She also wrote some of the yoga guests posts last year which you all had a chance to check out.  She lives here and loves Kirkland too. I think you'll enjoy her style and holiday tips!  We can learn a lot from her. I can hardly wait to see what great events, gifts/sales and decor she is going to discover in downtown Kirkland for us.

Together, Lacie and I will bring you festive events (11/10), hot happy hours (11/17), go-to gifts (11/24),  decor to die for ( 12/1), seasonal dining (12/8),  and beauty tips (12/15).  Each post will include a fun giveaway that you didn't know you could live without.  Oh my gosh.   Look at all of those deadlines.  I have got to get to work.  Enjoy this series- and Lacie, thanks in advance for being part of the Kirkland Weblog this holiday season!! ~j

Get Ready with RED Emergency Prevention

Here is an interesting new company with services in our area that you need to know about.  County RED is committed to emergency prevention and disaster preparedness.  Any friend of my husband Steve knows that he takes his nickname of "Mr. Safety" pretty seriously.  So, you can imagine our excitement when we heard that a local firefighter and a pair of UW students have started doing household safety reviews and disaster plans at no cost. Did you know that over 90% of homes in WA state are not prepared for fires or other residential emergencies?  Yikes.  Not a good stat with all the natural disasters there have been lately. 

 <--Richie, Jared and Andy

Knock knock knock.  These three handsome young men show up at the door in matching shirts and an iPad in hand.  They have software that has a comprehensive checklist of safety items for the home which will generate a score after our walk-thru the house.  I showed them where our fire extinguishers are, CO2 detectors, flashlights, gas shutoff tool, emergency plan, escape routes, dryer vents,etc.  I was feeling pretty good about it since I've been through the city's "Map Your Neighborhood" program and I do the crime watch for my street AND I'm married to Mr. Safety (bonus).  I thought things were looking up as I scampered around the house proudly producing hardhats and backup water supplies. Then we got an 82%.  Which almost made me cry (yes, I was that kid you hated in school.  I've never gotten an 82 before).  But the RED team praised our efforts and said that's the highest score they have seen so far. 

We also talked to the guys about escape routes from our home and they showed us how to turn off our water meter at the street and had us practice too.  Of course, they offer products and services to get you and your home ready for any disaster.  Everyone always procrastinates on this stuff, but a free inspection is a great first step to creating a household that is prepared.  Why wouldn't you do this?  Especially since I am challenging you to beat my 82.  I have a prize for the first reader that does it (email me kirklandweblog@gmail.com) . Call 888-557-5167 and make an appt. Go ahead, buy all your supplies and beat me.   Even just one more safe household in Kirkland will help me sleep better at night. ~j

 

Emergency Preparedness in Kirkland-What you Need to Know

 
As our hearts and wallets pour open to get help to Japan, recently struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, many can't help but wonder when it's going to be our turn. 700 calls came in to the Emergency Preparedness group at the City of Kirkland last week. And it's true, we are due. So, let's talk about what the city is doing and also what your household should be doing to be prepared (without me freaking you out).

I spoke with Stephanie Day, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (Fire/Bldg Dept), who helped clear up that question that... NO there cannot be a tsunami in Lake Washington.  Tsunami by definition requires a sea floor and the lake is not a sea.  We could have what is called a seiche, which sounds fancy but only equates to some foot high waves for a short while. So, Kirkland is safe from the big wave.

More troubling would be the Seattle fault line running along I-90 which could deliver the most damage and destruction.  A significant quake would likely sever gas lines, water, sewage, rail and impact the transporation of supplies and groceries, much of which comes from the Kent Valley.  The good news is that Kirkland is on pretty solid ground so our potential for landslides is generally less than in other areas. We also have a lot of new construction which is built to more stringent codes. 

The city has a Comprehensive Emergency Mgmt Plan that is available online.  If you want to see topographical info and some details like if you are in a landslide area, check the document called "hazard vulnerability assessment." We have a team of people that think these details through every day. There are many different elements that go into emergency planning- police, fire, utilities, and also meeting with regional partners such as Evergreen Hospital and Lake Washington School District so we're all on the same page. One important point is that our Comprehensive Emergency Mgmt Plan assumes that citizens are helping and prepared also.  Are you?

I helped take my street through the "Map Your Neighborhood" program recently.  If you haven't done this in your neighborhood, I would highly recommend it. Email Robert Reeves to get started.  You will learn how to compile a list of contacts, supplies/skills, and gas turnoff locations with your neighbors.  Then you figure out your meeting spot and talk about the 9 steps to take immediately following a disaster.  And of course the supplies to have on hand to be ready (yes, there are shoes, gloves and a hardhat under my bed right now).  Having extra WATER is most important.  Some of our neighbors keep an extra garbage can in their garage that they have stocked with emergency supplies. Pretty clever. Oh, and there is a company in Redmond called Prepare Smart that makes kits so you don't have to procrastinate any longer. That's where I got the 3 day kit I keep in the trunk of my car. King County also has a program called "3 Days 3 Ways" which urges the public to get prepared and tells you how. Plenty of resources! You should also sign up for notificiations on RPIN (Regional Public Information Network) so you can get an alert when there is an emergency and updates.

One last link- for those in Japan that need our help. I'm sure they would do the same for us- and this one is a deal too--- Living Social is matching $5 donations to the Red Cross through tomorrow. Get your household and your neighborhood ready. I figure if we're ready it won't come. ~j