White pipes irrigate tiny shrubs of the Bear Creek floodplain |
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Atmospheric River Flooding Event in Redmond, 12/5/2023
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Pentatonix - Hallelujah - Praying for Peace
Thursday, November 30, 2023
UPDATED: Redmond Lights Festivities, No rain, Good Times!
The Ukrainian carolers at Redmond Town Center |
Underneath the RTC Christmas Tree Merry Christmas from Bob, Pam and Zoey Yoder! |
Dr. Holmen Remains Superintendent at LWSD
Announcement on the Peoria Unified School District website:
"On November 29, the Peoria Unified Governing Board voted unanimously to enter into contract negotiations with Dr. Kenneth Christopher Sommers to serve as the district's next superintendent, pending the result of successful contract negotiations and background check. The Board is expected to official approve him as superintendent at a future meeting."
Though Dr. Holmen didn't get what he wanted we are most fortunate to have him and his expertise on board during these challenging times. -- Bob Yoder, Opinion, 11/30/2023
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Exciting Changes Coming to Redmond Town Center
Exciting changes coming to Redmond Town Center...
... but you'll have to wait until 2027
Timeline |
Click to see what's in the works (and give feedback)
Monday, November 27, 2023
Emotions fly at LWSD Board Meeting
The Board members of the Lake Washington School District held a very emotional public meeting on November 20th in their chambers.
- Superintendent Holmen gave Board member Siri Bliesner high praise, gratitude and recognition for her 11 years of community service on the Board.
- During Public Comment over eight parents gave very emotional talks about the Israelis - Palestinian tension at LWSD and in their families.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Superintendent Jon Holmen Finalist for Superintendent in Arizona School District
Saturday, November 25, 2023
City Hall Protest: "Bring Them Home Now."
Bob, Around noon today, I was on my way to River Trail Roasters for a cup of coffee, when I spotted a demonstration in front of Redmond City Hall, just across the street. I quickly crossed the street and fished out my cell phone camera and discretely snapped a few photos.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
UPDATED 12/5/2023: Angie Nuevacamina Upsets Incumbent David Carson for Council Position #7
Angie Nuevacamina defeated David Carson, 53.67% (5937) to David's 46.07% (5097.) |
The meaning of the butterfly is cultural to current day Mexico and Senegal- where I have heritage from. It signals transformation, hope, and are quite a force when moving together. In the design, my name is in the middle- acting as a bridge and being able to hold multiple perspectives. - Angie Nuevacamiona.
The demographics of Redmond have changed dramatically in the last five or so years (~ 50% brown.) Angie ran on "inclusive," "welcoming," and "equity," and it paid off. She also prioritized affordable housing, safety, a healthy community and transparent government. She rallied the voters with a call for "Nothing about Us without Us." Angie is a member of the LBGTQ community, a queer artist, and small business owner, as a financial services professional. She currently volunteers on the City planning commission.
David M. Carson, the conservative incumbent of 16 years placed most of his cards on safety: 1) extra police coverage for light rail users, 2) keeping the county accountable for a drug-free homeless facility in Overlake. 3) he flipped flapjacks for the fire fundraiser at every Derby Days. 4) he served on regional emergency coalitions. As Presiding Officer on the Parks Council he advocated for access to Redmond's seven "String of Pearls" park properties. He is a OneRedmond Board member, Foundation member and Kiwanis member. He praised the Police Department "Sniffer" canine in his political statement. All this, and Marymoor Village, the new fire station, Senior Center and other facility improvements weren't enough to win over the voters.
The voters chose values embracing the Redmond's welcoming culture, over a developer/business centric incumbent valuing safety.
-- Bob Yoder, Opinion, 11/25/2023
Find 16 years of articles and opinion on Councilmember David Carson HERE
Friday, November 10, 2023
EvergreenHealth -- "America's COVID Hospital"
EvergreenHealth / Seattle Times |
EvergreenHealth's website...
"On February 28, 2020, EvergreenHealth's Kirkland campus became the first hospital in the U.S. to respond to the first known cases of community spread of COVID-19, marking the beginning of the global pandemic in the U.S. Given that we had been actively engaged in disaster readiness planning for many years prior to the pandemic, our hospital system was ready to face the challenge."
Read more about EvergreenHealth's response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- The New York Times: A Rare Look Inside the Hospital Where 15 Coronavirus Patients Have Died
- The Seattle Times: Kirkland's EvergreenHealth, where coronavirus outbreak was first identified in February, gets first vaccinations
- American Medical Association: How EvergreenHealth, in early U.S. hot spot, responded to COVID-19
- NPR: U.S. Hospitals Prepare For A COVID-19 Wave
- The Hospitalist: At U.S. Ground Zero for coronavirus, a hospital is transformed
Thursday, November 9, 2023
City of Redmond Television Is Packed With Community News
Redmond City TV (RCTV) is available on both Comcast (channel 21) and Ziply (channel 34) cable systems. You can also catch RCTV live online 24/7 or replay OnDemand programming from city video archives.
At the top and/or bottom of the hour from 8 - 10 a.m. the following block of helpful and interesting programing is run continuously. I highly recommend tuning in. No commercials! ☝
- The Mayor’s monthly video “Our Stories, Redmond Connects”
- “Bird’s Eye View,” a poem by our previous poet laureate
- Homelessness and panhandling message from Tisza Rutherford, Redmond’s Homeless Outreach Administrator
- Heat pumps and Energy Smart Eastside
- Green Redmond
- Recycling Plastic Bags
- King County House Repair
- Connected by Water, How Redmond protects our water
- Meet Redmond’s new K9 Officer
- Redmond Senior & Community Center tour
- Licensing your pet in King County
- Being visible after dark
- The Together Center
- Redmond’s Stream Team
- King County Jury system
City Council and Planning Commission meetings are available on RCTV, as well. They are also live streamed on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/CityofRedmond) and YouTube (www.YouTube.com/CityofRedmond).
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Rumble in Redmond Robot Competition
The East Lake Sammamish Trail is ready to walk, roll, and bike
UPDATED: Esterra Park Opens in Overlake Neighborhood
REDMOND, WA - Recently, Esterra Park (2808 Calder Avenue NE), celebrated opening in Overlake Urban Center. This 2.67-acre park is the first major privately-owned public space (POPs) in Redmond and helps meet the needs of the growing neighborhood.
The park was created by leveraging developer incentives written in Redmond’s Zoning Code, with the goal to benefit the entire community. Together, the City, Capstone Partners, and JLL worked with care and intentionality to determine how the community would engage with the space.
From its layout to its accessibility features, as well as the selection of plants and reclaimed wood seating areas, the design elements were meticulously selected to be welcoming and accessible to the community. Notably, the inclusion of a wildflower native pollinator mix aligns with the City and partners’ shared commitment to supporting local ecosystems and providing a haven for the birds and bees.
The completed park, which was designed and approved by the Parks and Trails Commission in 2014, includes public art, a plaza, an accessible elevator, tree groves, a meadow, an amphitheater, and integrates a hill climb to the north of the park to easily access the nearby light rail station.
To learn more about the project, visit redmond.gov/1979.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
UPDATED OPINION: Teacher Diversity at LW School District Deserves Study
Homeless Hotel Will House 35-65% Adults With Local Community Ties
Redmond Silver Cloud Homeless Hotel credit Kirkland Reporter |
King County is partnered with Redmond to provide emergency and permanent housing for up to 100 individuals experiencing, or at risk of chronic homelessness. Redmond's "Homeless Hotel" will open in early Winter 2024 after ramping down its temporary use for the refugee resettlement project.
Q: Who will be considered to live in the building?
A: The target population is adults whose income is at or below 30% of the area median and who are experiencing or at risk of chronic homelessness. 35-65% of units are prioritized for individuals with local community ties.
Q: Will the building have 24/7 staffing?
A: All Health Through Housing buildings have 24/7 on-site support staff and comprehensive, wraparound services, including: • Employment navigators • Behavioral health services available on-site • Connection to physical and behavioral health care • Assistance in enrolling in Apple Health and other public benefits
Q: Will The Salvation Army provide these services?
A: The Salvation Army will provide property management and 24/7 support staffing services in-house. The Salvation Army will also partner with King County’s Department of Community and Human Services and local service providers to provide the wraparound services.
Q: Will there be security?
A: The Redmond Homeless Hotel will have experienced, 24/7 on-site staff who are trained in trauma-informed care, crisis support, and de-escalation techniques. As an evidence-based model, permanent supportive housing does not feature security guard services, but it does call for clinically trained staff to be on-site and on-duty around the clock. Further, The Salvation Army will be responsible for developing a Safety and Security Plan as required by Redmond Zoning Code
Monday, October 23, 2023
UPDATED OPINON 10/26: Seattle Times Spotlights City Of Redmond Planners
Post and photo by Bob Yoder, 10/22/2023
Under construction, Redmond Square Apartments (aka The Grand) located in the heart of Redmond (Redmond Way and 166th Avenue NE); narrow sidewalks, limited bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian and street shadowing, flat facade. Legacy Partners ($3 billion) partnered with a Bejing-based company to build this monolith. They didn't partner with the community as are the Redmond Town Center owners.
"As Redmond has grown to 76,000 residents, a proper downtown has sprouted up around the city center’s handful of pre-World War II buildings. This kind of reinvention is happening around Puget Sound and across the country, a phenomenon called “retrofitting suburbia” in a 2008 book of the same name. Some argue multimodal Redmond is a national model for the trend.
Planners like the city of Redmond’s Jeff Churchill are tasked with a tricky job: figuring out how to revamp an outdated, car-dependent suburban template into a place that’s easier to get around on foot, bike or transit.
“The vision for this area becoming what it’s becoming has transcended multiple mayors and city council members,” Churchill said. “It’s been a very durable vision with a fair amount of buy-in.”
** “We’re going to put all our growth into downtown,” Churchill said. “That’s been the plan since the 1990s.”
Civic interest in Redmond’s future remains high. On a September weeknight, several dozen people — local residents, civil servants and elected officials — joined advocacy group Move Redmond to see highlights and lowlights of navigating downtown Redmond on foot.
The existing transit center, where express buses whisk residents to Microsoft’s Overlake campus or further along Highway 520 to Bellevue or Seattle, generally won praise. A curbless shared street between two apartment buildings, also known as a woonerf, elicited interest. A block lacking sidewalks near the new light-rail earned a “thumbs down.”
“Redmond is a suburb but downtown is trying to be a city,” Stevens said. “But it could be so much more.”
For example, Redmond touts itself as the bicycle capital of the Northwest, with its annual Derby Days races and its cycling velodrome at Marymoor Park, but on-street bike infrastructure is lacking.
“I’m comfortable riding in the street, but I want the kids I see riding on the sidewalk to feel comfortable being out on the street, especially because that’s something cool about Redmond: families are living downtown,” Stevens said.
These were the kinds of insights that Move Redmond Executive Director Kelli Refer hoped to hear. Folks are eager to see what’s next, provided downtown Redmond keeps sticking with the plan.
That kind of steady hand offers lessons for retrofitting suburbs everywhere.
“Redmond is setting itself up to be a national model,” Refer said."
Gregory Scruggs: gscruggs@seattletimes.com; Gregory Scruggs is the outdoors reporter at The Seattle Times.
###
** What's coming next... (City of Redmond)
** Redmond 2050 is evaluating higher densities by allowing taller buildings (generally between 10 and 19 stories depending on the Overlake station area). This would accommodate 19,000 to 23,000 new housing based on the development alternative options selected. (Draft: Future Vision for Redmond: Urban Centers.)
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Redmond Middle School Teacher Diversity
(click image to enlarge) |
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Spectacular "Spectra at Marymoor" Apartments
click photo to enlarge |
click photo to enlarge |
click photo to enlarge |
click photo to enlarge |
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Bird's Eye View -A Poem by Redmond's Poet Laureate
The Redmond Historical Society invites the community to an exciting conversation with Redmond Poet Laureate, Laura Da’, on the topic of “Currents of Time and Place: Poetry that Engages with History and Image in Cascadia.”
Saturday, 10:30 AM, October 14, 2023. Doors open 10:00 AM.
Location: Old Redmond Schoolhouse, 16600 NE 80th St., Redmond, WA 98052.