(I sent the following letter to Bill Pettit, president and CEO of Merrill Gardens, and Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride).

What does Kirkland mean to you? Over the last 50 years my children and I have lived in and around Kirkland and I have watched this wonderful city lose that wonderful ambiance that brought visitors from all over the state.

I have been one of the silent ones – those who watch the condos go up, the businesses leave, the parking become more and more of a problem, and the lovely old homes torn down and mega palaces go up (and up), and I’ve done nothing. I actually live in Merrill Gardens (five stories) and watched the 101 Apartments being built.

However, now I want to have my say and encourage you to at least think about what is going on in Kirkland that will certainly impact you or your family.

On Lake Street between Hector’s and Milagra, Mr. McLeod is erecting an office building and garage. It will take in the whole area between those two buildings and back to where the Portsmith Condominiums begins, taking in what is now a parking lot for several businesses. This building will be six stories in height and will have businesses on the ground floor and top floors for offices, plus a parking garage and loading platform on the alley between 101 Apartments and Hectors.

This alley is used for food deliveries (for Hectors, Milagra, Volterra, Tully’s and Merrill Gardens), service deliveries for the same businesses, plus the Bank of America, garbage trucks, mail and package deliveries from FedEx and UPS, not to mention the moving vans for both Merrill Gardens and Apartment 101.

Most importantly it is used for EMS services largely for Merrill Gardens, but also any other emergency occurring in this vicinity. This alley also is an access to the Apartment 101 underground garage, as well as the drive-in service for the bank.

Now, I’m sure you all know the width of a normal alley, two normal-sized vehicles have a difficult time passing, right? I want you to consider in the morning hours having any number of these vehicles arriving for their normal business day in this alley, which is slightly wider than two normal-sized vehicles, and the residents from the apartments leaving for their jobs, the garbage trucks (on certain days) doing their thing (which is very important), plus an emergency vehicle at Merrill Gardens, sometimes two!

Can you imagine the chaos? Throw into that the normal traffic at that time of day, both on Lake Street and Kirkland Avenue – draw your own conclusions.

What were they thinking? Everyone in the federal, city, county governments and whatever are always doing a study about this and that – did no one consider the impact of the traffic on this one little alley?

Please think about it now! Don’t be one of the silent ones – consider your children’s future in Kirkland.

Betty J. Compton, Kirkland