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| Mayor Angela Birney / redmond.gov |
Mayor’s Biography
Term: 2020-2023
Elected as Mayor in 2019, Angela Birney is now in her first term as Mayor of Redmond. The community of over 72,000 is home to a variety of several large industries such as aerospace, high tech, video game production, and biotech, as well as thousands of small businesses where over 85,000 people are employed.
As Mayor, she is the executive leader who develops the vision and implements the strategies for Redmond. She oversees eight departments and over 700 employees. The Mayor collaborates with Council to set policies for the City of Redmond.
The Mayor serves on the Sound Cities Association Board as President, King County Council Regional Policy Committee, Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board, Cascade Water Alliance Board as Vice Chair, King County Regional Homelessness Authority, OneRedmond Board, Hopelink Board of Directors, King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C), I-405/SR 167 Executive Advisory Committee, and Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee as an alternate.
Mayor Birney was elected to City Council in 2015 and served as Council President from 2018 to 2019. Prior to her Council service, she was the chair of the Redmond Parks and Trails Commission and volunteered her time at several different organizations throughout the Redmond community. She is a 2017 Leadership Eastside graduate.
Angela is a Washington native and grew up in Eastern Washington. She moved to Redmond in 1998. Formerly a middle school science teacher, she earned a Master of Education from Heritage University and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology Education from Eastern Washington University. She lives on Education Hill with her husband and daughters.
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Per "Redmond 2050" Mayor Birney is working with two visioning concepts:
1) Vision is "the intersection of community aspirations, market input, and physical opportunities."
2) Vision is "Where growth will go and what it will look like."
Mayor Birney is asking for community feedback. I like the following Vision definition: "What Redmond will look like after we're finished changing it."
-- Bob Yoder, 6/16/2022
Mayor Birney has no vision. She was simply elected as a Marchione crony after only one term as a council member. Redmond is the apartment block community for Microsoft and Amazon. Redmond is no longer a family community. It's all about apartment buildings and posturing. Where's the vision in that?
ReplyDeleteMayor and City Council:
ReplyDeleteSubject: Vision of the Urban Centers
I just finished reviewing the vision for both the Downtown and Overlake Urban
Centers. What I observed is that the visions seem to imply we are trying to create
high density neighborhoods that function very similarly to single family
neighborhoods. The primary activities occur during the day and are very quiet
during the evening. Yet there is a statement that says “two vibrant urban
centers.”
Neither vision statement refers to the people living or visiting the urban centers. I
encourage you to adopt language like building
a diverse physical environment, small city blocks with more
pedestrian interactions, a good mix of people and buildings, and a
mix of low and high rent structures. A good mixture of places for
people to gather and interact during the day and evening.
I believe we are lacking vibrant centers in the evenings. The nighttime activity at Redmond Overlake and Downtown is negligible. It turns out
70% of business income comes from the evening sales. There needs to
be policies and zoning regulations that supports businesses being
successful to have vibrant Urban Centers,
The focus of the Urban Centers should be a place people want to be day
and night. Here are some thoughts about creating this environment.
1 Availability of community center that provides diverse services and
acts as a gathering place (ex-Library satellite, Town hall, Community
Theater). Lacking in Overlake and focused more on the City Hall
Campus and then Downtown.
2 Having a Saturday Market in Downtown and children’s play area
Overlake.
3 Availability of cultural venues like Movie Theaters, Museums, Art
Galleries and Music venues that are available during the evening.
4 Regular series of ongoing outdoor festivals and community
celebrations during the year. The City does a good job in Downtown
but what about Overlake.
5 Community bulletin boards and other centralized information sources.
It would be interesting to see what the Citizen’s would like to see. Either
Urban Centers that are similar in activity to single family neighborhoods or
vibrant Overlake and Downtown areas where you would like to spend time
outside your residence enjoying vibrant urban activities like cinema,
performing art, music, art galleries and sculptures, etc.
The City of Redmond is doing a great job in many areas but I believe there
is a great opportunity to provide a more vibrant City.
I have attached some information of what characteristics are of successful
downtown areas. I highlighted areas where I think Redmond needs
improvement.
I also have included our focus on the need for pedestrian activities in the
original approval for the RTC and the current visions for Overlake and
Downtown.
Thanks for the opportunity to provide you with my thoughts and I look forward to your discussions on what the vision for Redmond should be in
2050.
Arnie Tomac
arnold.tomac@gmail.com
18119 NE 30th St
Redmond, WA
425-276-3635