These are long-term investments in our quality of life, giving our community places to play, gather, and thrive.

Our favorite local businesses — restaurants, coffee shops, and more — are vital hubs of community life. Through our comprehensive plan, Kirkland 2044, we are planning to preserve and enhance those vibrant, walkable centers that support local merchants, services, and housing as we grow.

Neighborhood grocery stores are an anchor for neighborhood centers. When the proposed merger between the parent companies of Safeway and QFC threatened the closure of several local stores, Kirkland successfully took legal action to block the merger and preserve them.

We’ve opened new neighborhood parks, acquired key properties for the Finn Hill Green Loop, and expanded Feriton Spur Park along the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

Development has stalled on 85th Street with Petco and Google projects not moving forward. The 85th Street Station area is targeted for growth and we have heard from the community on the need to focus here. Like Kirkland did with Totem Lake, I want to do an all-in city effort to promote our vision.

Kirkland is exploring a partnership with the Seattle Kraken hockey team to build a community center and iceplex, a potential catalyst for economic development.

Kirkland leads the region in reimagining public safety. We've added crisis responders: mental health professionals who respond to 911 and 988 calls. These new first responders ease the burden on our police officers and firefighters. Meanwhile, police and fire remain fully funded and staffed.

Through a partnership with neighboring cities to form the Regional Crisis Response agency, our crisis responders are available 16 hours a day. I want to expand to 24×7 coverage.

Kirkland’s Community Court diverts non-violent offenders into treatment and accountability programs. The Council has expanded programs for advocacy for survivors of sexual assault. Kirkland is working regionally on organized retail theft, in partnership with merchants.

Our Homelessness Action Response Team brings together community responders, police, EMTs, park rangers, and human service personnel to respond to reports of people living outdoors in Kirkland. The HART team connects people with available resources while keeping public spaces available for their intended uses. 

With additional firefighters hired and the completion of new fire stations and renovations by the end of this year, we have fulfilled the promise of Fire Proposition #1, passed by voters in 2020. Through Council action, we accelerated these investments to complete in five years, providing resiliency in case of earthquake and better response times.

As part of a strategic review of criminal justice next year, I want to consider bringing the contracted city prosecutor in-house to improve service and be less reliant on the King County prosecutor.

The Cross Kirkland Corridor helped inspire the region to develop the Eastrail,but other cities have now leapfrogged us in paving their segments. Given increased usage, it’s time we fulfill Kirkland’s vision with a paved trail and separate walking path, and pursue other improvements on the CKC.

Light rail will connect the Eastside to Seattle by the end of the year, and Sound Transit 405 Bus Rapid Transit will connect Kirkland to light rail. We now need to develop our local transit strategy to fill in gaps and connect all our neighborhoods. In addition to advocacy with Metro, we need to be creative and innovative, potentially with city-run circulator shuttles.

We will soon complete key transportation investments in Totem Lake, Juanita Drive, and 100th Avenue. Moving forward, we need to turn the the next round of plans into projects to support growth, in addition to mitigation required of developers.

We’re making safety improvements with safer routes to schools, neighborhood greenways, and pedestrian crossings with rapid flashing beacons. I’ve heard from neighborhoods abouts sidewalk gaps and the need to expand funding for neighborhood safety; I will pursue programs for both.

To combat climate change, we need coordinated building, transportation, and energy policies that reduce emissions, protect our environment and provide resiliency. Kirkland has updated our tree code to protect landmark trees and improve enforcement with increased development. I’m proud of Kirkland’s Sustainability Strategic Plan that guides this work.

New buildings need to be built for climate resiliency but also help solve the climate crisis. Heat pumps are central to that strategy. Because building standards are set at the state level, I sought appointment to the State Building Code Council. On the SBCC, I helped pass a nation-leading building code for energy efficiency and am committed to protecting it.

To ensure existing homes also benefit, Kirkland has created the Energy Smart Eastside program to help homeowners switch to heat pumps and install solar through vetted contractors, pre-approved permits, and financial incentives. We also provide support for low-income residents. More than 500 heat pumps have been installed with this program.

Continuing these efforts despite uncertainty in federal funding and is a priority for me.