If you wonder why the public holds elected public officials in such low esteem at all levels of government, you don’t have to look any further than the Kirkland City Council.

Their 6-1 vote endorsing transit on the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC), against the wishes of the citizens of Kirkland is just another example of their “we know better than the public” attitude. And if you feel that the City Manager and City Council already had made up their minds before the community meeting at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center, and the subsequent meeting at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, you are right.

They were pretending to listen, but it was a forgone conclusion. To add insult to injury, the Council authorized a $250,000 design study in advance of the public meetings, so you really knew it was fixed decision. The Kirkland Council is out of touch with their own community.

The Council threw their support behind the community pool, assuming that the public would “trust” them to build a pool with unknown cost at an unknown location. The voters overwhelming rejected the ARC and then the Council wondered why it didn’t pass. It’s a trust issue with our tax dollars.

When the Council paid for a public survey regarding whether there was support for banning plastic bags, the public response was overwhelmingly against banning plastic bags, but Amy Walen knew what was “best for our community” and the Council voted for the band. Joan McBride, former mayor of Kirkland, served on the Eastside Transportation Committee and supported the I-405 tolls. How is that working for Kirkland citizens? More than 28,000 people have already signed a petition asking that the tolls either be eliminated or altered significantly.

SaveOurTrail.org participants should now channel the energy and resources into voting the City Council out of office. Please remember how the Council voted on this CKC transit vote and other important issues and vote them out of office. Deputy Mayor Jay Arnold was quoted as saying, “doing nothing for the next 40 years is not an option.” Our community wasn’t asking you to do nothing, we were asking you to do the right thing.

I applaud Toby Nixon for being the lone no vote on transit on the CKC. At least he was considering the community. The other council members are not listening.

Pat Harris, Kirkland