The Kirkland City Council and our appointed officials have a duty to represent all of the taxpaying residents of Kirkland. I want you to represent all of us, not just a few opposed to the Potala Village project.

Our land-use plan, zoning and regulations on land use were developed through a public process intended to serve all of the residents of our city.

The owners of the Potala Village project have rights to develop their property, and those rights were vested to the owners through a timely application for permits. The owner’s right to develop should be protected, not opposed by the city of Kirkland.

In hindsight, a few residents of our city that will be affected by the development may see our zoning and development regulations as wrong.

However, they were created through a public process intended to benefit all of us. Those few residents of our city opposing the project had the opportunity to affect the process, or to leave the area if they did not like the result of our city’s effort to equally protect the interests of all residents.

I have pointed all of this out to City Manager Kurt Triplett and the council previously in a Jan. 14 email. It would have been easy for the city to confirm the law and its application to this situation. Now a judge has confirmed the law.

It is wrong to attempt to circumvent our regulations through moratoriums and legal actions. It is a waste of taxpayer money. It is attempted theft.

Roger Lowe, Kirkland