When I moved to Kirkland in 1992 our population was roughly 42,000. We moved to Kirkland for the hometown feel. We raised our children here. When they were little, they toddled through our parks, they learned to swim in our public pool, when the Kirkland Parks and Recreation catalog came, it was a seasonal opportunity for growth; art classes, ballet, basketball, soccer, tennis and of course summer camps. And, as parents we used the facilities too, like when I managed to break my leg skiing, I rehabbed it by swimming at Juanita pool.

Our family has been the beneficiary the Kirkland parks and recreation that were created by the citizens who came before us. When my daughter took her love of swimming and turned it in sport, I was deeply concerned when I learned that we were scheduled to lose our only indoor public pool, Juanita Aquatic Center.

As a parent, I believe it is our right and our obligation to teach our children to swim. It is a basic public safety issue and in a community with miles of waterfront, each citizen should be protected. It should not only be the right of those with private club access. I also want other children to grow up with the broader parks and recreation experiences my children had. Our public facilities were built for 40,000 people and don’t support our current population of 85,000, let alone any growth.

I believe in the sentiment so aptly expressed by John F. Kennedy, “For those to whom much has been given, much should be expected.” So, I spent the last 2½ year volunteering to preserve the opportunities my children had. I have put in hundreds of hours. I have attended nearly every Kirkland City Council meeting and Parks Board meeting on the topic. I have reviewed the traffic studies, the architectural drawings, the cost estimates and the location proposals. I believe the Metropolitan Parks District is the best method of funding the project. MPDs have been around since 1907 and there are 17 of them working in our state, providing the types of recreation that Kirkland needs and deserves. Opponents suggest that a MPD is some new-fangled way of getting something over on the tax payers. They suggest we need a bond measure because it’s the way we’ve always funded public projects in Kirkland. I understand how Bonds work and how MPDs work. I’m satisfied that the MPD is the best tax method to fund the ARC.

Most of all, I believe the ARC is essential for our community. So, since women got this new-fangled right to vote in 1920, 13 years after MPDs were created, I’m using my right to vote and I’m voting YES.

Jamie Rector, Kirkland