September 27, 2010 Spokesman

Posted by Jim Styner 
on Sep 27, 2010
 

President Pat promptly brought the meeting to order at 6:30pm with Sue Greenfeld leading the pledge of allegiance.  Thanks were given to Sue for greeting and Jim Styner for scribing.  Shirley Metcalf provided the inspirational moment talking of the Back to School Shoes program where 75 pairs of shoes were given out to students of the JohnMuirElementary School this past week.

 

Many guest were introduced:

  • Christine Addison from Bellevue Bkfst Club and KITH Development Director.
  • David Walter, CPA
  • Jerry Lucas, owner East Urban Auto (contributor to Duck Dash coupons) and member of the Kirkland Breakfast Club.
  • Nick Nickocaychur, former member of the Redmond Rousers
  • Jason Wang, our club's international exchange student, provided a quick recap of his trip to Leavenworth this past weekend where he had a great time and commented on the beautiful blue skies there.
  • Gail Auslander, wife of member Bob.
  • Dr. Eric Murray from CascadiaCommunity College
  • Scott East visiting from the Bellevue club
  • Michele Petitti visiting from the Sammamish Club
  • Connie Sizemore visiting from the University District Club
  • Joan McBride, mayor of Kirkland

Announcements:

  • Dan Bartell announced the Rotary First Harvest work party on Sat Oct 9 and the Cabernet Classic Wine Tasting event on Oct 20 (proceeds Rotary First Harvest)
  • President Pat announced the Warm Coats program taking place this Friday.
  • Patti Smith announced that the candidate forum (45th District) is next Monday (10/4) and the 48th District Candidate Forum will be on the following meeting (10/11).  Both meetings are co-sponsored by our Rotary Club and the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce so attendance is expected to be high.  Please email Patti Smith if you intend to attend either meeting so she can get an early head count.
  • Shirley Metcalf announced the Pathways to Learning Benefit Breakfast to be held at the Lk Washington Technical College on Oct 27 featuring a keynote speaker Eddie Barbini, executive producer of Dirty Jobs.
  • Steve Shinstrom asked for Greeter and Scribe signups and announced the date for Bunko night to be Nov 6.
  • Guest Christine Addison gave a nice thanks on behalf of KITH (Kirkland Interfaith Transitional Housing) for all that Rotary does and made an announcement for the upcoming KITH fundraiser auction, details can be found at www.kithcares.org .
  • Guest Connie Sizemore offered up CD's of fellow Rotarian Lisa Fox.  Lisa is a member of the University District Club and all proceeds from the CD sales go directly to the Polio Plus foundation.

 

Program:

Patti Smith did her usual stellar job of introducing the honorable Mayor Joan McBride highlighting her many accomplishments as a long standing member of the City Council, living in Kirkland since 1960, and participates on many boards.

 

Joan gave an update on the city of Kirkland with first expressing excitement over the bold new city council now in place and ready to tackle economic development, improving the business climate, and to convey to the rest of the region that the city is "Open for Business".

 

The city recently held a TotemLake symposium with very good attendance.  The goal is to develop an action plan to present to the city council.  This is considered very important as the TotemLake area businesses account for 40% of the city's sales tax revenue.

 

Council just recently approved the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) at the South Kirkland Park & Ride.  The city has recently received a $6.5MM grant to work on planning activities.  Currently plans call for two buildings that will contain housing and retail space as well as adding an additional 250 parking spaces to the existing park & ride.  This development is considered critical as the upcoming 520 expansion will certainly tax this park & ride's capacity.

 

Regarding the Parkplace development by Touchstone, the Council recently approved the plan to proceed which was considered the last roadblock.  The council is very supportive of this development and anxious to see it happen quickly.

 

Joan talked of the very difficult challenges over the past year including the necessity of laying off 10% of the city workforce, but also handed out many kudos to certain individuals and businesses who have stepped up to maintain some of the benefits such as Concerts in the Parks.

 

The city is in the mid-stages of completing the 2011/2012 budget and they currently anticipate a $6-$7MM gap between revenues and expenditures.  The City Manager has recently asked all departments to reduce their budgets another 5%.  The mayor expects we will see further reductions in personnel and services.

 

At the conclusion of the city update, President Pat presented Mayor McBride with the gift of 500 pounds of food being donated to the First Harvest in her name.  Jim Goings conducted the Poker Pool drawing with Bill Woods holding the winning number but failed to pull the winning card.  The pool stands at $302.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:35pm.