If we are to believe the importance of neighborhoods in Kirkland as stated by the council on their Web page under Community Neighborhood Resources, the council will not approve the TOD (Transit Oriented Development) at the South Kirkland Park & Ride. If they do, it will violate their policy of supporting neighborhoods. What are we to believe, words or actions?

Mitigating Kirkland’s residential traffic impacts has not and will not be done as long as the council refuses to add capacity to arterials, collectors, and re-designate access streets to support growth and business. Residential streets will suffer.

The council’s actions speak louder than their propaganda. In spite of what they say, their decisions have not and do not support the TOD. TOD’s do not relieve traffic. It’s the fatal flaw in their thinking. TOD’s create traffic jams. Expansion of the Park & Ride means more people will be getting on and off the bus who have to go somewhere in their cars.

The council has not found a way to get traffic through or around downtown. Thru-traffic should not be using residential streets. With the expansion and additional use of the Park & Ride, traffic jams will get worse on Lake Washington Blvd. and 108th Ave. N.E. Bus users will have to use residential streets to get to and from the TOD. The traffic jam downtown is reason enough by itself to disapprove the TOD.

An update of the comprehensive plans for the Lakeview and Central Houghton neighborhoods is required. Advisory committees consisting of the citizens who live there were formed and came up with their recommendations, which are now being ignored. If elected officials approve the TOD, they will be insulting the citizens of those who live there. It will probably become an issue at election time in Houghton and the city. The citizens have determined the impacts of the TOD, the elected officials have not. That’s the tragedy of transit and the TOD.

Bob Style