Lockwood Road Closure Extended
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Construction | 1 Comment
Personally, I don’t know why anyone would ever want to leave Kenmore. However, if for some strange reason you are planning on leaving, and you were thinking of driving Lockwood Road to the north to do so, you’re going to have to wait a little while longer.
The original road closure notices that were mailed out stated that the road would be closed “throughout the summer until school reopens in the fall,” which is just two days from now on September 2nd. This date was also posted on the orange construction road closure signs.
However, the orange construction signs have now been updated with a new date: September 30. The Snohomish County Public Works website is even less optimistic, putting the completion at October 30 (although the page for this specific project states that the road will re-open “approximately the first week in October”).
So for all of you that are really excited to drive on the new and improved Lockwood Road, you’re going to have to delay that gratification just a bit.
It is also worth noting that in 2011 Snohomish County plans to “improve” the intersection of Lockwood Road Carter Road by turning the existing four-way stop into a full-fledged roundabout. Clearly this is some strange usage of the word “improve” with which I’m not familiar.
Tags: Construction, Lockwood Rd, not-Kenmore, roads
City Councilmember Allan Van Ness Responds to Our Questions
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Politics | 2 Comments
Allan Van Ness, current councilmember running for reelection to Kenmore City Council position #6 (campaign website), has responded to our questionnaire. Following are his unedited answers.
- Why are you running for Kenmore City Council?
It has been an honor to serve the Citizens of Kenmore on the City Council. After years of planning, improvements are being implemented. We are completing the first phases of SR522 improvements, and our new City Hall is underway. We need more park improvements, more sidewalks and better flood control. The downtown revitalization is on hold due to the national economic problems, but ready to go once things turn around. We’ve just begun. I hope to continue being a part of the civic process and seeing to completion the many plans that are underway.
- What will be your top priority should you be elected to this position?
My top priorities in Kenmore: continuing to improve our parks, improve the traffic flow, citizen access to a green waterfront, revitalization of downtown, etc.
- What is your favorite thing about Kenmore?
My favorite “thing” about Kenmore is the citizens who make our city one of the “Ten Best Towns for Families” in the country. Kenmore is a great city in which to live, play, raise a family and to retire, and it is getting better.
- What is your least favorite thing about Kenmore?
The industrial waterfront, except for the marinas and air harbor.
- Arrange these nearby cities in order from your favorite to your least favorite: Woodinville, Shoreline, Bothell, Kirkland, Brier.
I’d add Lake Forest Park to the list. I don’t think it is appropriate to rank them. They all have their assets and all six are great neighbors.
- What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing Kenmore in the next 5 years?
The biggest challenge will be to obtain funding for all the projects we would like to complete. Hopefully we can continue to progress without an increase in property taxes. The City has not raised property taxes for the last five years.
- What’s your favorite restaurant in Kenmore?
They are all my favorites. We have a good selection of the Asian restaurants and Teos and Mazatlan are good. However, I would like to see some additional moderately priced restaurants like Anthony’s, Olive Garden, Marie Callender’s, etc.
- Why should voters select you over your opponents?
As your Councilmember, I’ve worked to upgrade our parks, pass a critical areas ordinance, establish infill and height regulations, improve safety and traffic on SR-522, and ensure that the new City Hall is environmentally friendly and affordable.
I’m running for reelection to see to completion the revitalization of Kenmore. I envision a vibrant mixed-use community that’s easy to access and pedestrian friendly while maintaining single-family neighborhoods. As development proceeds, we must safeguard our environmental resources. Our parks are a rich asset that we must improve for all ages and interests.
City projects must be accomplished with fiscal responsibility, transparency, and citizen participation. My goal is for Kenmore to remain affordable without increasing the tax burden.
With four years experience on the Council and regional committees, I’ve gained the skills and knowledge to best serve our city. I’m excited about Kenmore’s future and humbly request your continued trust, support and vote.
For more detailed information on the above and other subjects please go to: www.vannessforcouncil.com, and/or contact me by email or phone: allan@vannessforcouncil.com, (425) 398-1040
Thanks for joining in the discussion, Allan. I requested short answers from the candidates to my questions in order to keep these posts from being too long, but if you would like to read more about where Allan stands on local issues, be sure to check out his campaign website, where he has written up his thoughts on just about any local issue you can think of.
FYI, I have also sent a request to Patrick O’Brien, Allan’s November opponent for position #6, but have not yet received a reply (however, he has responded to a similar request over at James Lupori’s “Kenmore Undressed”).
P.S. – Allan had one more issue that he wanted to speak on: council / citizen communications. Here are his thoughts on this.
The Council has recently added a town hall meeting format to the first regular council meeting of each quarter. This is a big step toward better communication with the citizens, however I think we can do a better job publicizing these meetings. I’d like to see more opportunities for two way discussions between the Council and the citizens. To that end I have proposed additional meetings dedicated to the town hall meeting format that are well publicized and hopefully better attended.
Tags: Allan Van Ness, city council, election, Politics
Corner Comics and the Loss of Small Business in Kenmore
Posted by John Reiher | Filed under Business | 14 Comments
A brief note from the Kenmore Crow: The following is a guest post from John Reiher, who pens the local blog Living Sustainably. The views expressed below are John’s. Thanks for participating, John!
Kenmore is losing small, mom and pop businesses one by one thanks to a city council that either doesn’t care or isn’t willing to help keep these small businesses here in Kenmore, or even to assist them in any way with relocation.
Case in point: Corner Comics
http://www.cornercomics.com/
6575 NE 181st
Kenmore, WA 98028
(425) 486-XMEN (9636)
Corner Comics is moving to a new location thanks to the imminent shuffle of public buildings that will eventually relocate the Kenmore library to their current building. Corner Comics’ last business day at their Kenmore location is coming up quick: Saturday, August 29th, 2009. They are moving to Kirkland, into a rental space they can afford.
I talked to the owner, Paige Gifford, while she was closing up shop. I asked her if it was her choice to move out of the current location. “No,” she replied, “we were told to move by the end of August.”
I then asked her if the City of Kenmore offered her any assistance. “Not one bit,” she said, sounding a little angry. “They never offered any relocation money or any other kinds of assistance.”
She pointed out that the available rental space in the current Kenmore Village is priced far too high, around $40 per square foot. This is nearly double the $20 per square foot that she had been paying at the store’s current location. “None of the local businesses can afford that kind of rent, nobody makes that much money,” she explained.
In Gifford’s opinion, the City Council only wants big box stores and major franchises. She believes that there is no room in the council’s plans for local small businesses.
And she’s not too far off. Ostrom’s went so far as to buy their current location so that they have some control over it. The construction of Kenmore Village by the Lake is stalled indefinitely because the developer, Urban Partners, has been unable to find an anchor store and keeps begging for more time in their search.
Of course it now turns out that even many citizens’ favorite store, Trader Joe’s, was seemingly never invited or courted by local government in any way. It took the initiative of local citizens to get the franchise’s attention, as well as City Council member Laurie Sperry.
She recently sent an email out to subscribers to her blog, KenmoreBlog.net, on August 21st, asking readers if they wanted a Trader Joe’s in Kenmore. If you did, please click a link and voice your opinion. (I do have to note that she misspelled “Trader Joe’s” as “Trader Joes.” One would think she’d get that right.)
Of course I clicked the link and voiced my opinion. But I also think that we need a PCC or a better grocery store in our neighborhood than Safeway or Grocery Outlet.
It would be even better if we had our own Farmers Market. I dearly love the Yakima Fruit Market in Bothell for its variety and types of fresh vegetables. It would be great if we had something like that right here in Kenmore. A grocery store that dealt in locally grown or raised food.
One way we could encourage and support local small businesses such as Corner Comics or a fruit market rather than chasing them away would be to create a business incubator here in Kenmore. It would be a way to encourage and nurture new local businesses in Kenmore, founded by its citizens for its citizens. That’s something our City Council could do, if they could see past Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand of the Market.
Sometimes the Invisible Hand works and sometimes it gives you the invisible finger.
[August 28 update from the Kenmore Crow]
Mayor David Baker responds to some of John’s criticisms in a comment below, which I will duplicate here in the post in order to provide better visibility.
Mayor Baker’s response:
In order to provide accurate information in response to the matter raised by Mr. Reiher. Corner Comics rents on a month by month basis from King County Library System, NOT the City of Kenmore. The library wants to demolish the building in November and is asking all tenants to vacate that are on a month by month basis. If Corner Comics wants relocation expenses then they should contact the King County Library System
The City is not responsible for property owned by the King County Library system. It is not the City of Kenmore’s, responsibility pay for relocation expenses for another governmental agencies action. The only time the City could legally consider relocation expenses is when the city is acquiring the property under state and federal regulations.
The current Kenmore Village rental rates are NOT $40.00 square foot, but range between $5.00 to $17.00 per square foot with several in the $10.00 to 11.00 per square foot range.
The Kenmore City Council, years ago, decided that big box stores did not fit in Kenmore’s long range plans and preferred small local businesses. That is written in to the Cities Comprehensive Plan, Downtown Plan and elsewhere.
The last point is that Ostrom’s Drug and Gift store did NOT buy their current location, they are leasing.
Tags: central-kenmore, city council, Corner Comics, fruit market, Kenmore Village, Laurie Sperry, small business, Trader Joe's, Urban Partners
City Councilmember Laurie Sperry Declines Our Questions
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Politics | 2 Comments
Unfortunately, current City Councilmember Laurie Sperry, who is running for reelection this November, has declined to answer our our questionnaire.
We received the following email from Laurie this morning:
Dear Kenmore Crow,
Thank you for your request. I am happy to respond to questions from people who are willing to identify themselves by their real name. I like crows, and they can be quite intelligent, however I do not make a practice of talking to crows, even if they are from Kenmore. http://kenmoreblog.net/?p=620
Sincerely,
Laurie Sperry
Kenmore City Councilmember
I am disappointed that Mrs. Sperry would use this blog’s anonymity as an excuse not to answer a simple list of questions that may help the voters of Kenmore determine whether they should check her name on the ballot this fall or that of Diane Brennan.
I have chosen to facilitate this blog anonymously because past experience has taught me that remaining anonymous can help avoid discussions that devolve into ad hominem attacks. Especially given the emotionally-charged nature of some of the issues that Kenmore has dealt with in the past and is facing in the near future, I thought it best to remove the potential distraction of personal discussions. I will never insult or libel anyone through the anonymity of this blog, and simply intend to facilitate an engaging, focused discussion on the important issues of our town.
There are still 71 days before the election, so Mrs. Sperry could change her mind. The Kenmore Crow will not bother her any further with additional requests, but should any of our readers care to encourage Mrs. Sperry to reconsider her dismissive position on this matter, she can be reached at laurie [at] lauriesperry [dot] com.
Tags: anonymity, city council, Diane Brennan, election, Laurie Sperry, Politics
City Council Candidate Diane Brennan Responds to Our Questions
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Politics | 7 Comments
Diane Brennan, candidate for Kenmore City Council position #2 (campaign website), was the first candidate to respond to our questionnaire. Following are her unedited answers.
- Why are you running for Kenmore City Council?
I ran for this position because I think the current city council is not responsive to the community’s concerns. I would work for a more open and transparent city government. I want to represent people in the community rather than dictate what should be done.
- What will be your top priority should you be elected to this position?
I would propose that the city apply for more government grants for income shortfalls on the 522 project, and to put in infrastructure improvements such as sidewalks in neighborhoods. In 1999, the city had a record-breaking number of grants but since then the number of grants have decreased.
- What is your favorite thing about Kenmore?
The friendly people, the city parks—my favorites are Wallace Swamp Creek Park, and St. Edwards State Park, and the bird-watching.
- What is your least favorite thing about Kenmore?
The Lakepoint industrial area (except for Kenmore Air and the Marina) which is destroying a beautiful lakefront. Also, I could do without the smell coming from the asphalt plant.
- Arrange these nearby cities in order from your favorite to your least favorite: Woodinville, Shoreline, Bothell, Kirkland, Brier.
Woodinville, Bothell, Shoreline, Kirkland, Brier
- What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing Kenmore in the next 5 years?
Keeping from going bankrupt. We have lost too many small businesses and their accompanying sales and revenue streams.
- What’s your favorite restaurant in Kenmore?
Ichiban Teriyaki—they have great pork teriyaki! My other favorite is Tai Ho.
- Why should voters select you over your opponents?
I don’t have any personal agenda for running for city council other than it causes me great pain to see what the city allows to happen to its citizens, the environment, and small businesses. I believe we need to update city codes to align with King County codes. I want to see the city’s code enforcement dramatically improved. I’m not a “yes” man who will rubber stamp everything (including the city budget) that is handed to me. I won’t make decisions behind closed doors.
I have served as precinct committee officer in Kenmore since 2004. During this time, I have spoken with hundreds of Kenmore residents as I went door-to-door to deliver voting information. This has given me deep insight into the unhappiness that people have with the city council. They tell me that the city doesn’t listen to them or care about them, and sometimes they’re called troublemakers for trying to get assistance from the city. The only people I know who have gotten any movement on a problem from the city have been people who hired lawyers.
I’m committed to researching issues, listening to the community, and finding the best possible solutions.
Thanks for sharing with us, Diane. So far I have sent two requests to Laurie Sperry, Diane’s November opponent, but have not yet gotten any response. I will continue to send inquiries to Ms. Sperry, as well as all of the other City Council candidates that will be on the ballot this fall.
Tags: city council, Diane Brennan, election, Politics
