Transportation Commission

I am a registered civil engineer with over 36 years of experience in the transportation consulting field, serving primarily local agencies (State, County and Cities) within the Puget Sound Region. As a Senior Project Manager in the Perteet Everett office, I have been involved in highway, transit, and non-motorized improvement projects for improving safety, mobility and capacity. These projects typically involve multiple public and regulatory agencies, numerous stakeholders and ever increasing public outreach. I find that my profession is rewarding not only for seeing projects successfully completed, but also the opportunity to work as a team and to create synergy and endorsement with stakeholders.

As a resident of Highlands for over 20 years, I have seen considerable growth and change in the greater Kirkland area and the challenges to maintain the spirit and atmosphere that is attractive to not only residents but local, national and international visitors. The growth of traffic and congestion and decreasing parking particularly downtown reinforce the need to make the community more livable and walkable. Improvements that make the city more attractive to pedestrian and bicycle traffic has the benefit of reducing the vehicular demand on limited infrastructure. I am excited by the opportunity to be part of the creation of short and long term solutions to transportation issues we face within the City.

My family moved to the Finn Hill neighborhood in Kirkland from Seattle in 2011 so that I could be closer to my office in Bellevue. We are a one car family, and I bike commute year-round and use public transportation often. We chose to buy a home in Kirkland over Bellevue because Kirkland is a more walk-able and bike-able city, full of beautiful trees and green spaces. I hope to not only keep it that way but make it even more so. I believe providing people safe, multi-modal alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle transportation is the fastest, most cost-effective way to address the growing traffic problems in our region while maintaining its natural beauty and improving the health of our citizens.

I am a board member of Kirkland Greenways, the bike-to-school coordinator at Thoreau Elementary, and I contributed to the Finn Hill Neighborhood Plan. I look forward to bringing the problem solving skills I practice as an engineering consultant in the energy efficiency industry to the Transportation Commission and collaborating with my fellow commissioners, city staff, the Council, and other regional stakeholders. 

I moved to the Seattle area in 2012 and have been living in Houghton the entire time. I'm now 17 and am majoring in Political Science and Economics at the University of Washington. Since I moved here, development on the Cross Kirkland Corridor began, and I grew up watching it, only a few blocks away. I understand its importance and value to the community as a public space, part, and multimodal transportation corridor. As the youth member, I will bring a more forward thinking view, 5, 10 years down the line, rather than being solely focused on how something impacts us today or next year.

My experiences as a daily commuter across the 520 Bridge to the University of Washington were what first drove my interest in transportation. I understand and experience first hand the changes to and importance of public transportation. Traffic and congestion are byproducts of cars, and we need a future without them. To that end, I am committed to advocating for sustainable transportation solutions and development, in addition to promoting accessibility and inclusion across our city.

I have been a resident of Kirkland since 1978, living in Houghton since 2003.  I am now retired.   I am a licensed Civil Engineer and have served five cities in the Puget Sound area as City Administrator and/or Public Works Director.  I have represented municipalities on study teams concerning I-405, SR 520, the Eastside Rail Corridor, King County Transit and Sound Transit.  I hope to bring my experience to the deliberations of the Transportation Commission.

I understand we can never build our way out of traffic congestion.  I will be an advocate for improvements and programs that will reduce dependency on automobiles and enhance the movement to pedestrian and bicycles around Kirkland.

I believe that Kirkland is a community of special places -- neighborhoods, the shoreline, downtown, Totem Lake, Juanita Beach, the Cross Kirkland Corridor and many parks and trails.  As a transportation commissioner, I want to make sure that these places are preserved, enhanced and served by a transportation system that is safe, sustainable, and offers travel choices.

From 1990 to 2012, I worked for the City of Redmond as a city planner focusing on transportation policy, development impact fees, transportation concurrency regulations and better public transit.  My work included planning the Sound Transit East Link light rail alignment between Seattle and Redmond, the Metro B-Line bus rapid transit line between Redmond and Bellevue, and the new State Route 520 Bridge connecting Redmond with Seattle.  Since then I have worked to promote economic development, and currently work as a real property specialist selling, buying and managing property for the City of Redmond.

I am a member of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and have degrees in economics and urban planning.

I have been a resident of the Houghton neighborhood since 1997.  Currently the co-chair of the Central Houghton Neighborhood Association, I have also held other positions, as well as representing my neighborhood in KAN.  I have participated in our neighborhood plan update, park bond exploratory committee, and am a Green Kirkland Park Steward for Carillon Woods.  I have been a longtime advocate for the development  of a world class trail for pedestrians and bikers on the Cross Kirkland Corridor.  I hope to bring an average citizen and neighborhood perspective to the Transportation Commission, as well as share information from the Commission out into the community. 

I am a community advocate for more inclusive bike infrastructure and an occasional guest author for Seattle Transit Blog. In 2019 I was recognized as Policy Volunteer of the Year by Cascade Bicycle Club. I'm also chair of the Moss Bay Neighborhood Association and have represented my neighborhood on the Neighborhood Safety Program panel.

I have a passionate love of public transportation. As someone who rarely drives I rely on almost every bus which serves my neighborhood, and I try to appreciate what it's like to be dependent on public transportation to get around. I believe that in order to meet challenges like climate change and increasing population Kirkland needs to make public transit a practical and desirable transportation option.

I'm active on social media, and through it I've been able to connect to many amazing people in the Seattle advocacy community. Before joining the commission I used to sit in the audience and live tweet the meetings because I wanted more people to understand and participate in the process which shapes their transportation system. As a commissioner I'm hoping to continue this work by connecting with the public on a variety of platforms and starting conversations with anyone who is interested in talking to me about what we do.  

Transportation is a passion of mine and has been ever since I was a kid. That passion led me to a career in civil engineering where, today, I am a Senior Transportation Engineer in HDR’s Bellevue office and an expert in complete streets design. I truly enjoy taking an active role in applying evolving trends in the industry to make transportation facilities safer, more welcoming, and more sustainable.

My family came to Kirkland in 2013 because we wanted to live in a community is committed to being walkable and a wonderful place for our young children to grow up. Over time, I’ve become an avid volunteer building community as a Board Member of the Juanita Neighborhoods Association (JNA), making our streets safer through the Neighborhood Safety Program (NSP), and as an Adopt a Pedestrian Crosswalk Flag volunteer. On the Transportation Commission, I am excited to apply my expertise as an engineer and as an engaged member of the community help Kirkland maximize investments into transportation to make our City an even better place to walk, bike, travel, and live.