2023 Kirkland State of the City Address
By Mayor Penny Sweet
Good afternoon and Happy New Year to my favorite Chamber of Commerce! As many of you know my husband and business partner is Representative Larry Springer who is working hard in Olympia as I speak on issues for our city and for our business community. He and I have been proud Kirkland Chamber members for almost 40 years, and it is such an honor to stand before you all for the fifth time as your Mayor and share the 2023 State of the City in person for the first time since COVID-19 struck our community on February 29, 2020. As we approach the third anniversary of that fateful day, it is important to remember just how our City survived those terrifying months that stretched into years. The answer is actually quite simple. We were prepared! And PREPARED, my friends, is the word of the year.
Over the preceding years, the City made the commitment to assuring systems were in place to address emergencies and we invested heavily in emergency preparedness. We hired an exceptional Emergency Manager. We remodeled city hall and created a new Emergency Operations Center. We trained the organization to respond to any emergency. We had prepared for the worst. And when the worst came, we were at our best!
COVID-19 has not left us. But President Biden will end the national declaration of emergency on May 11th of this year. The virus is now considered endemic.
As the City and the nation move beyond COVID, economic uncertainty is the NEW challenge. The high cost of housing impacts every aspect of our economy. Too many families are experiencing homelessness or are one paycheck or a broken leg away from it. Inflation remains stubbornly high. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates at an historic pace to tamp it down. They may be doing their job too well. The red-hot technology sector that has driven unprecedented prosperity and growth on the Eastside is rapidly cooling off. Microsoft and Amazon have announced the layoffs of thousands of employees. And Kirkland is not immune. In January Google announced it will not proceed with the purchase and redevelopment of the Lee Johnson property on NE 85th Street.
We know this decision was made at the highest corporate levels of Google in Mountain View, CA. And it is just as disappointing to our local friends from Google as it is to all of us. On behalf of the Council and the City staff, I want to thank the entire regional Google team particularly Mark Rowe and Ian Goodhew who spent over a year working closely with the city and the Lee Johnson family. Together we created a vision for a world class campus that would have been a global model of sustainability and innovation. While we were not able to make this vision a reality in 2023, I am confident we WILL achieve a similar vision if not better in the not-too-distant future.
Why am I so confidant? Because as Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden once said – “Confidence comes from being prepared.” My friends, we will overcome these new challenges today and secure Kirkland’s even brighter tomorrow. Because once again, the State of the City is Prepared!
We are prepared financially. This past December, the Council approved our first ever one-billion-dollar budget! We built our budget on the foundation of Sustaining Services and Building A Community Where Everyone Belongs. In keeping with our conservative financial practices, we did not assume any revenues from the Google development. We enhanced many services while fully funding our reserves. We have retained our AAA credit rating and buffered ourselves against lost revenue. We have set aside staffing stabilization funds to ensure our police officers, our EMT / firefighters, our public works and parks employees and all members of our organization will be retained to serve our community through any downturn.
We are prepared to create a more equitable Kirkland that increases the safety and respect of Black people and all people. In 2022 the City adopted our first ever Equity Roadmap to guide the way to a community where everybody belongs. One historic Roadmap achievement was sunsetting the Houghton Community Council last year. While controversial, it was absolutely the right thing to do. A city cannot be equitable if one person’s vote counts more than another’s. We hired Erika Mascorro as our first DEIB Manager to implement the Roadmap. We made our highest ever contributions to human services grants, record setting investments in affordable housing, and added a new Homelessness Coordinator to help those who need it most.
There is so much more but not enough time today to describe each our equity accomplishments of 2022 and so I have included a copy of the roadmap at each table, and it is easily located on our website.
However, there is one new program that deserves special recognition and to be part of this conversation today.
Last year Kirkland hired our first four community responders – mental health professionals that respond along with police and fire to aid those community members in crisis. Our Council also approved evolving the community responder program to a regional partnership with the cities of Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and Shoreline. The “Regional Crisis Response Agency” we created and fondly nicknamed “Racer” was approved by all five cities last fall. Soon Racer will put ten total mental health professionals in the field to help us all. We five cities have also joined forces to site a behavioral health crisis clinic in the north end. By 2024 we will have a 24-hour crisis facility operating in conjunction with our Racer program in redirecting those in crisis with appropriate care rather than clogging up emergency rooms. For her efforts to stand-up Kirkland’s community responder program and crisis clinic, Deputy City Manager Beth Goldberg received an award from the National Alliance on Mental Health. And all five cities who created RCR were awarded the inaugural “Building Bridges Award” by the North Urban Human Services Alliance.
We are prepared to be there when you need us. To provide emergency medical services, pry you out of a car or save your home from flames. We are fulfilling the promises of Fire Proposition 1 passed by the voters in 2020. New Fire Station 24 opened for service in January of 2022 already demonstrating a more appropriate coverage for the north end of our city. The construction of new Fire Station 27 and the renovation of Fire Station 22 are well underway. Both projects will be completed this year. And we have hired dozens of new and diverse firefighters with another large cohort about the join the line.
We are prepared to provide attainable housing for Kirkland residents of all ages, abilities, and incomes.
We have set affordable housing targets and are tracking our progress each year. The Council has required that “abundant affordable housing” emerge from the new Station Area Plan on Rose Hill. Kirkland is a founding member of A Regional Coalition for Housing known as ARCH. At our Council meeting two days ago, we approved the largest Trust Fund round in ARCH’s 30-year history. Over 900 new or renovated units of affordable housing will come online in Kirkland over the next four years.
Polaris in Totem Lake near Fred Meyer will include 442 affordable units near shopping and transit.
Kirkland Heights Apartments, a 180-unit King County Housing Authority apartment complex near Kingsgate will see rehabilitation of all existing buildings and third story additions to most of them. The completed project will have 276 new or renovated two three and four-bedroom apartments for families.
The Ardea project in Totem Lake near the I-405 HOV ramps includes 170 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors aged 62 and older, including an estimated 45 units for senior veterans.
The Friends of Youth Landing Shelter and Service Center project converts an empty office building along Willows Road into a safe drop-in center and shelter with 26 beds and wrap around services for young adults.
The Attain Housing Six-plex will build six two-bedroom units of transitional housing for homeless families.
And finally, along the housing front, King County purchased the La Quinta Inn for a permanent supportive housing site in January of 2022. We will soon approve a carefully negotiated operating agreement with King County that will keep our community safe AND provide a home for over a hundred of our residents in Kirkland and on the Eastside experiencing chronic homelessness.
We are prepared to create more options for more children to walk and bike to school. In 2022 the Council activated the Transportation Benefit District and authorized a $26 million dollar pedestrian and bike safety bond to create safer routes to school and complete active transportation projects. This bond will be financed by a $20 vehicle license fee that will start in 2024.
We are prepared to protect the quality of our air, land and water through actions identified in our Sustainability Master Plan. Not just for those of us here today, but for all future generations. In 2023 we will help low-income households convert to energy efficient heat pumps and start transitioning leaf blowers from gas power to electric. We will incorporate a significant sustainability emphasis into our 2044 comprehensive planning process which is starting right now.
We are prepared to provide a parks system where everyone belongs and wants to be. The Council funded new events like the Harvest Festival, The Taste of Kirkland and El Día De Los Muertos and a fabulous holiday celebration for Winterfest at Juanita Beach Park. We invested in new indoor and outdoor teen programs that served hundreds of youths willing to put down their phones and explore recreation and fitness activities. Right now, PFEC – our Parks Funding Exploratory Committee, an amazing and dedicated group of over forty residents from across the City and led by Councilmember Kelli Curtis – will be making a recommendation to the Council in March how to go to the ballot in November to fund a new aquatic, recreation and community center that will address so many of Kirkland’s civic, cultural and recreational needs.
We are prepared to assure our streets, our utilities, and our parks support our growing population and keep Kirkland one of the best places in America to live, work and play. Bike lanes, sidewalks, and safety improvements for 100th Ave NE and Juanita Drive will go to bid in 2023. WSDOTs new 132nd and I-405 ramps to Totem Lake are under construction. Sound Transit’s once-in-a generation Bus Rapid Transit station investment at NE 85th Street is moving ahead. And Kirkland partnered with King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci to secure millions of dollars for the K-line RapidRide line which will connect Totem Lake, the BRT station and Bellevue.
The Totem Lake Connector Bridge will open this year, linking Woodinville and Snohomish County to our beloved CKC. And a brand new 132nd Square Park with turf fields and lights that will triple the amount of playing capacity will be completed in the next few months.
And to support the crown jewel of Eastside arts and culture in providing a dazzling array of performances from around the globe, we set aside $1.25 million to replace the rigging at the Kirkland Performance Center. We are partnering with our state legislators to secure grants to upgrade the electrical systems and build a new stage.
We are prepared to dream! Abraham Lincoln said, “the best way to predict the future is to create it!” This year we are launching a city-wide conversation to create the vision of how Kirkland can be the best possible community where everyone belongs as we update our Comprehensive Plan. Gloria Steinem once said, “Dreaming after all, is a form of planning.” Our community is not complete without the thriving businesses that you all represent, and I urge you to join us in dreaming big on our journey to Kirkland 2044.
The recipe that delivered the results I’ve outlined to you today is not a particularly complicated one. Mix together our Council and our staff and voila! In my humble opinion the members of our city council represent the hardest working and most effective city council on the planet. Here are just a few highlights of their dedicated public service and it’s not a complete list.
Deputy Mayor Jay Arnold is an acknowledged regional expert on transportation, planning and environmental sustainability. He serves as the Chair of the Eastside Transportation Partnership, Cochair of the Eastrail Regional Advisory Council, serves on the King County Cities Climate Collaborative, and was appointed by the Governor to the State Building Code Council.
Councilmember Toby Nixon served as a fire commissioner, a state representative and is a passionate advocate for public safety. He is president emeritus of Washington Coalition for Open Government and in the State Open Government Hall of Fame. He is extensively involved in the boards of Nourishing Networks Central, Attain Housing, and Kirkland Interfaith network. He also leads Kirkland’s Tourism Development Committee.
Councilmember Jon Pascal is a transportation professional and chairs our transportation work group. Jon combines the expertise from 8 years on the Transportation Commission and 6 years on the Planning commission with his time on the Council. He chairs the SCA caucus of the Regional Transit Committee and has been appointed to the Washington State Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council.
Councilmember Kelli Curtis is a Master Gardner and previous member of the Park Board. She is the chair of both our Council Legislative work group and the Parks Funding Exploratory Committee. She serves on the Growth Management Planning Council, the King Conservation District Advisory Committee, WRIA 8 Water Resource Inventory Area and is our representative on SCA Public Issues Committee.
Councilmember Neal Black is a passionate environmental advocate who is both an attorney and an engineer. He serves on our Legislative Committee and is a representative to the Eastside Transportation Partnership. He sits on the King County Cities Climate Collaboration and is a representative on the Regional Law, Safety and Justice Committee.
Councilmember Amy Falcone was a passionate founding member of Kirkland’s Human Services Commission. She is on the Sound Cities Association Board. She is the chair of the Eastside Human Services Forum Board and serves on the King County Affordable Housing Committee. She also serves on the newly formed SCA Equity and Inclusion Cabinet.
As for me, I fill up my calendar with some of the less sexy areas of municipal government. I’m chair of the King County solid waste Advisory Committee and caucus chair of the Regional Water Quality committee which oversees our immense Regional Wastewater system. I also serve as chair of The Cascade Water Alliance. My areas of responsibility represent some of the biggest expenses that the region is looking with the greatest impact on our rate payers at for the near and far future.
This Council, in partnership with City Manager Kurt Triplett and an incredibly talented cohort of directors and managers, has been able to accomplish an enormous amount through the pandemic. We were clear in our objectives and stayed focused on outcomes. Our preparations THEN allowed us to act as a unit.
Our preparations NOW have created an award-winning community that will retain our existing businesses and attract new ones. 2022 was truly a “banner” year for Kirkland. We were named the third best place to live in America by Money Magazine. While we are proud of this award, it has only spurred this Council on make the investments necessary to pass Tempe Arizona and Atlanta Georgia and have everyone recognize what we already know, there is no place better than Kirkland.
We were also voted Best City of 425! in 425 Magazine’s online poll of over 30,000 votes from across the region. We have won this award six of the twelve years that the magazine has held the annual contest.
Last year we also received the Governor’s Smart Communities Award for the amazing Village at Totem Lake. This prestigious award recognizes local governments and their partners for exceptional work in implementing the state’s Growth Management Act. Kirkland received the Judges Merit Award for our creative leadership, public/private collaboration and best practices in developing this economic engine of our City. Smart growth and partnerships are essential for our sustained prosperity.
Our award-winning past continues to lay the foundation for the future! And it is working! Last December, Amazon moved in to the former Nintendo building in Totem Lake. They are transforming it into the most productive and innovative satellite manufacturing center on the planet. Their facility in Kirkland will soon be the home to 250 new engineers and technicians and will produce an astonishing four satellites per day to launch a global network that will bring entire countries across the earth into the digital age.
February is Black History Month. So, I will end with a quote from Muhammad Ali who said, “I run the long road before I dance under the lights.” Kirkland has run the long road. Kirkland is ready. Kirkland is able. Kirkland is prepared. Our preparation will create and sustain our bright future. And all of Kirkland will dance under the lights!
Thank you!