PIM electric-Bike demo at "down pour coffee bar."

I'm not waiting for Santa!

I and Council Member Steve Fields are meeting Justin Roberts, the brand manager of  PIM and  at "down pour coffee bar" today for an electric bike ride (demo)! The public is invited to all of Steve's Coffee Time meetings!  Merry Christmas!

B. Yoder

Justin just lent me a bike to try!  My maiden voyage was awesome.  Climbing 166th is now in my sights.  After I conquered it I'll write you.  

UPDATED: Three LWSD Ballot Measures on February Ballot

Lake Washington School District will have three measures on the February 13, 2018 election ballot. The measures are a bond and two replacement levies.   Read more about these three upcoming ballot measures.

The $299 million bond in a large way addresses the capacity needs of Kirkland schools. It would fund: 

1) an addition at Lake Washington H.S.; a new elementary school in the Lake Washington Learning Community; the remodel/rebuild and enlarge Kamiakin M.S. the creation of special education learning spaces.

2) a choice high school in Sammamish, the remodel/rebuild and enlarge Alcott Elementary School; the creation of special education learning spaces; land; and site-specific capital projects/contingency.  

According to the district, the replacement "Bond and the Capital Projects Levy" will maintain the current tax rate while the replacement "Educational Programs and Operations Levy" will reduce the current tax rate. The total tax rate for all three measures will be reduced from the current amount of $3.16/$1000 of assessed value to $2.93/1000 of assessed value.

"This is a great way to sell these ballot measures -- we're raising the $299 million for school construction, and the tax rate is actually going down!"

-- Comment by Toby Nixon

Source:  Kirkland Facebook group

  

Redmond Lights

"Redmond Lights" Luminary Walk on the Central Connector Trail.

Twas a cold, rainy, nasty night full of good cheer.  Thanks to Kiwanis hot chocolate and caroling for keeping us warm.  

Microsoft plans to rebuild Redmond campus and hire 8K more workers

King 5 sound-bite, 11/29

Microsoft plans to rebuild the Redmond campus -- with creative innovations -- for 8K new workers.

Redmond will be on the map drawing visitors and companies from all over the country (and world) making the mayoral election in two years a prize for the winner.  We can surmise housing prices will continue to rise even further and perhaps a need for even more than four new hotels. The crunch on our schools will be dramatic.  And the list goes on.....

Don't miss this "Microsoft Live" article by Natalie Singer-Velush. Good video clips here too.  (Thanks to Rachel King for bringing this article to our attention on Chat Cafe and EdHNA facebook sites)

Rachel Lerman of the "Seattle Times" published a story yesterday titled "Microsoft plans multi-billion dollar expansion, renovation of Redmond campus."  Find it here.

B. Yoder

Redmond's Station Designs

Seattle Transit Blog

November 21, 2017 at 11:51 am By Dan Ryan

Hand sketch of the Downtown Redmond station (Image: Sound Transit)

Last Thursday, Sound Transit and the City of Redmond held an open house to share the latest designs for the two stations on the Redmond Link extension, planned to open for service in 2024. Following a Sound Transit Board decision in June to ratify alignment recommendations from the City of Redmond, the agency has moved quickly advancing design on stations in Downtown Redmond and Southeast Redmond.

The Downtown Redmond station is a simple elevated design between Cleveland St and NE 76th St. Elevating the station eliminated conflicts with pedestrians and vehicles crossing the line. The Redmond Central Connector trail is diverted very slightly to the north. There will be space for bus access and layover on both sides of the station area. The station platform is centered above 166th Ave NE, with entrances at either end.

Councilmember-elect Jeralee Anderson asks for feedback on infrastructure projects

The following is a letter from Dr. Jeralee Anderson, Redmond Councilmember-elect demonstrating the thorough community engagement process her company, Greenroads, requires to achieve sustainable certification on infrastructure projects like the King County Sewer Update project.  After reading her Letter it's quite clear Dr. Anderson should be looked upon as a key Redmond community engagement expert and leader for ALL aspects of city government.

Jeralee Anderson

LETTER:  I'm including an excerpt from Greenroads (my company's recipe book for sustainable infrastructure projects) about community engagement, which is a required practice in order for projects to qualify to achieve certification for sustainability performance in our program. I thought you [and others] might find it helpful when framing feedback to council. What specific areas (the four bullets) noted below need work, in your opinion? If it's "all of them," what is the priority you would place on making improvements in each area? It will be helpful information for me to bring your perspective on the system in place with me Jan 1. Based on what I heard from a number of people and other candidates, this is a major issue. 

I'll ask Councilmember-elect Steve Fields if he can schedule a public coffee time to study Jeralee's needs. BY

Goal

Promote active participation from community, agency, and business stakeholders in Project decision-making.

Instructions

Create a Community Engagement Plan (CEP) and implement it at the beginning of the Project’s initial scoping, land acquisition, and design development activities. The CEP should extend for the duration of project planning through completion of design.

The primary components of the CEP are:

2018 Redmond Citizen Police Academy

REDMOND, WA -Redmond Police Department is accepting applications for our 2018 Citizen Police Academy, where community members are given a hands-on opportunity to learn about police procedures and investigation techniques.

Internet photo "ride-along"

The behind-the-scenes look into the Police Department will include demonstrations, presentations and field trips at a weekly meeting that will be held Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m., and will conclude with a graduation reception on Thursday, April 5th, 2018.

Some of the activities may include going on a ride-along, learning about SWAT, meeting our K-9 team, learning crime scene processing, and taking a tour of the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Interested candidates must be at least 21 years old and have no felony convictions. Priority will be given to people who live or work in the City of Redmond. Space is limited to 25 people and will fill up quickly.

Information about the course and the application can be found on our website here.

For questions regarding the Citizen’s Academy, please contact crimeprevention@redmond.govor 425-556-2632.

                                                                                                                         Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, for health and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us. -From The Catholic Prayer Book

UPDATED, 11/13, LWSD parents comment on the Re-Boundary Proposal

Minute 35 -- John Muir overcrowding comments

 Minute 41.10 -- Public Comments on Proposed  Re-Boundary

Hour 1:09  -- Superintendent Dr. Pierce's Boundary comments

***Hour 1:36:15 -- Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jon Holmen's Boundary presentation and Board President Dr. Chris Carlson's input.

***Hour 3:11:20 -- Superintendent - Director talk time.

Source:  November 6th School Board Meeting

The Boundary Committee is composed of 10 Principals and 8 Administrators -- no parents.

November 7th local election results

KING COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS

STEVE FIELDS
55.63%  3501 ballots
Byron Shutz
43.47%  2792 ballots

TANIKA PADHYE
61.07%  3893 ballots
Eugene Zakhareev
24.73% 2473 ballots

JERALEE ANDERSON
65.67%  4113 ballots
Jason Antonelli
34.33%  2150 ballot

CASSANDRA SAGE, LWSD #3

KATHY LAMBERT, King County Commisioner

Results as of 8:15 pm November 7th.  
Now, as a community, let's get all those campaign signs removed!

Candidate Jason Antonelli Speaks Out About Lack of Redmond City Council Accountability

Sammamish AM policy breach from Sammamish on Vimeo.

"Love this video -- Sammamish Council members actually holding City staff accountable. All I ever hear watching the Redmond City Council study sessions is how wonderful and peachy everything is and what a fantastic job everybody is doing." - Jason Antonelli

Source:  JasonForCouncil facebook site, October 26th

Council Candidate Steve Fields Addresses Emergency Preparedness

Steve is active in the City of Redmond CERT Neighborhood Program.

"Community Emergency Response Team"  

King County 2017 General Election Guide

King County 2017 General Election Guide

Redmond City Council Candidate Websites:

Steve Fields, Position 2: 

Byron Shutz, Position 2

Jeralee Anderson, Position 6

Jason Antonelli, Position 6 

Tanika Padhye, Position 4 

Eugene Zakhareev, Position 4

VOTE BY NOVEMBER 7TH (TUESDAY) BY MAIL OR DROP BOX!

Happy Halloween!

In the spirit of Halloween my neighbor celebrates the City's approval of his City Tree Permit  :)

(The city required a photo of this tree to prove it was not over 30 inches in diameter...seriously)  

TIME TO VOTE! ALMOST DONE!

Entrance to the Abby Road and Emerald Heights neighborhoods (click to enlarge)

A compilation of candidate blog reports, stories and opinions is posted at this link.  I hope you find some of this information helpful.

 I support Steve Fields for City Council Position #2.  Mr. Fields is endorsed by - the Eastside Business Alliance, "Friends of Osama Hamdan," King County Democrats (unanimous,) Washington Bikes, former Mayor Rosemarie Ives, among others.  

I endorse Kathy Lambert for County Council, Cassandra Sage for LWSD Director District #3 and Vandana Slatter for the 48th LD. -- B. Yoder

Click "Comment" below-left to read candidate comments 

Seattle Mayoral Debate

Seattle Mayoral Debate between Cary Moon and Jenny Durkan --  both Progressives.
Jenny Durkan is a former U.S. attorney / Cary Moon is an engineer and urban planner

Cary and Jenny have some really good ideas for addressing Redmond's affordable housing crisis, homelessness, and pace of growth issues.

UPDATED: Extensive, disruptive King County Sewer Project Planned For Redmond

King County is upgrading nearly 4.5 miles of sewer pipe in Redmond to meet the needs of your growing community. Construction is expected to begin in 2020. While the sewer pipe is under construction, King County will also install 1.5 miles of pipe to carry recycled water. When complete, the new pipes will provide reliable sewer service and an important connection for the potential future use of recycled water in the area. Segment 1: New sewer and recycled water pipes will be installed along the Sammamish River Trail. There will be temporary trail closures during construction. We are committed to safe detour routes for all trail users.

Segment 2: The existing sewer line runs under the Sammamish River north of Leary Way. We will replace this line with a larger pipe. A recycled water pipe will also be added in the same location under the river. To reduce our impact to fish and wildlife, we are considering underground construction methods that won't require us to dig a trench across the river.

Segment 3: A new sewer line will installed north of NE 50th Way. South of NE 50th Way, a second pipe will be added along the existing pipe to hold more flows. The new recycled water line will stop just north of the West Lake Sammamish Parkway Marymoor Park entrance. We recognize that Marymoor Park is widely used for recreation and events, particularly during the summer. We will maintain park access and try to work around major events, when possible.

Segment 4: Two pipes that currently run under West Lake Sammamish Parkway will be replaced. A third pipe will be added to hold additional flows. Delays and detour routes are expected. We are working closely with the City of Redmond to understand traffic patterns and identify ways to minimize disruptions.

Segment 5: The existing sewer in the Idylwood neighborhood will be replaced. While the sewer route follows roadways as much as possible, it does run along some private property, including Audubon Elementary. To the extent possible, we will conduct work adjacent the school during the summer months, outside of the normal school year.  In my opinion, the city will benefit with Steve Fields on Council during  this 3-year project.  Steve's work experience and connections with the county could be useful towards completing this  project on time and  with fewer mistakes.  Dr. Jeralee Anderson with her civil engineering road sustainability expertise will also be a big asset on council. - B. Yoder Learn more at: kingcounty.gov/KCRedmondSewer

EvergreenHealth Named One of America's 100 Best Hospitals in Five Specialties

Of note EvergreenHealth doesn't have a mental health care specialty. 

Kirkland, Wash. – EvergreenHealth today announced it has been recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s 100 Best™ hospitals in five specialties: stroke care, pulmonary care, gastrointestinal care, general surgery and critical care. These achievements are part of findings released this week in the Healthgrades 2018 Report to the Nation, which studies clinical performance indicators nationwide to illuminate differences in care between high- and low-performing hospitals.

This is the fifth consecutive year EvergreenHealth ranks among Healthgrades’ 100 Best™ hospitals for pulmonary care and for gastrointestinal care, and the fourth straight year of recognition for general surgery. It is also the third year in a row the health system earned the distinction for both critical care and stroke care.