First of all, I’m not anti-parks. In fact, I am a frequent user of Kirkland’s parks; however, I am against having my taxes raised to pay for parks because there’s already plenty of money in Kirkland’s budget to do that.

It’s a matter of priorities. Instead of using money in the budget for parks, the council gives $3 million to human service agencies such as HopeLink and KITH. These are very worthwhile agencies and those allocations from the city budget aren’t required by law. In fact, they are private agencies that should be supported by the private sector, not with our tax dollars.

Parks are available to everyone so it’s reasonable that our tax dollars go to support them. The human services agencies serve specific groups of people, but everyone is being taxed to support them.

By voting NO on Proposition 2, we aren’t saying we don’t support parks; we are saying we don’t support how the council is spending our money, especially in today’s economy.

Laurel Saromines, Kirkland