Kirkland businesses have an advantage over those in every other city in the Puget Sound region. A delivery ten miles away either north or south during rush hour can have the employee return in about 30 minutes if they pay the Flex Pass rate – usually $1.50 for a round-trip. Businesses in virtually all other cities would not see the employee back in less than 90 minutes. That one hour savings is worth at least $10 to any business. And a bonus for the rest of us is that those Flex Pass payments keep your taxes lower than they otherwise would be. Better to have businesses happily pay a bunch of $1.50 payments than to have your sales tax go up another notch. The DOT uses overpayments on road projects. I hope this attracts enough businesses to Totem Lake and Kirkland Urban so that my taxes actually go down.

Doug Rough, Kirkland