On Monday, more than 600 elected officials, business owners, nonprofit agency representatives and others from the greater Eastside gathered to discuss the future of the region.
The event was held at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue and was the final event for host organization Leadership Eastside’s (LE) 10th anniversary celebration. Those in attendance included Kirkland City Council members, Mayor Amy Walen, Rep. Joan McBride, Rep. Larry Springer and newly elected King County Councilwoman Claudia Balducci, among many others.
Throughout the working lunch — as moderator and LE CEO James Whitfield dubbed it — attendees were asked to discuss and voice the issues they feel are most pressing for the Eastside and need to be addressed. Whitfield — along with LE board chair Jeff Borgida — stressed to the audience how important their thoughts and opinions are about the Eastside’s future.
“Today’s event is about you and what you think,” Borgida said.
The afternoon started with attendees sharing their most pressing issues of concern with their tablemates. Following these discussions, attendees dispersed into caucus groups to discuss things further in seven specific areas: arts and culture, basic needs, economy, health and wellness, environment, education and neighborhoods and community building.
During the arts and culture breakout session, participants discussed arts in schools and how it is not being prioritized.
Una McAlinden said the funding districts receive goes into a general fund. The money is not specified for any particular subject or department and she said one of the biggest issues is that funding the arts — even though it is a core subject — is not prioritized at the local level.
“In many cases, (districts are) not putting money into the arts,” she said.
In the health and wellness breakout session, one area of concern that was brought up was mental health among youth and teens. Participants discussed how diagnoses have to be taken just as seriously as other diagnoses such as cancer. They also expressed concern about how parents don’t always know how to deal with mental health issues either.
“It’s really tough being a kid,” one participant said during the discussions.
One of the things the environment group discussed was how they wanted to see more focus on a reduced use, per capita, of natural resources. They also discussed how protecting the environment cannot only create more sustainable cities, but can also help attract businesses to the area.
With basic needs, participants discussed a website that acts as a central location for various resources and how important it is to have it translated into multiple languages in order to be accessible to as many people as possible. They also said it is important to teach parents and families how to work the system so they can advocate for themselves.
In the neighborhoods and community building group, transportation was a big topic of discussion. One participant said having services such as a light rail station and line close to where she lives or works may be nice but that convenience becomes more complicated if she can’t park her car nearby. Members of this group said they would also like to see more affordable housing in the area.
Those in the education group voiced the importance of acknowledging that you cannot approach education with a one-size-fits-all mindset — from everything ranging from teaching style to discipline. They also discussed the value of volunteers but how difficult it can be to get and retain willing and able individuals as most parents work during the day nowadays. In response to this, some people suggested tapping into the senior citizen or recently retired population who do have the time to volunteer.
While discussing the economy, group participants focused on livable-wage jobs as well as the importance of public-private collaborations when it comes to economic development.
Following these breakout sessions, highlights from the seven caucus groups’ discussions were shared with the entire room. The crowd was then asked to vote on which issue is most important to them in each category. These issues were determined based on what was brought up during the breakout sessions.
Whitfield told attendees that their feedback and input will drive LE’s Civic Incubator to drive innovation and collaboration in the Eastside’s future.
