A stakeholder at the local and regional table, Councilman Bob Sternoff is running again for his position No. 2 seat to continue the work he’s done on behalf of the City of Kirkland over the last six years.

Sternoff will face off against Kingsgate resident Jason Gardiner in the Aug. 16 primary.

The city currently faces several issues, from the community’s top priorities – public safety and parks – to others such as transportation, economic development and annexation, Sternoff said.

He noted the top issues are both budget-based and “I’ve worked very hard over the last 15 years to do our budget in a different way. So now we’ve finally allocated $25,000 of our budget to look at ways and hopefully put together a framework for a citizen-based budget like other cities have done,” he said.

Another major issue for the city is transportation. Through the city’s Complete Street Program, council members and staff try to figure out ways for multi-modal means of transportation, he noted.

“Those are issues that everyone in the region faces and it’s one of the reasons I’m at the table,” said Sternoff, who is a city representative as chair of the Suburban Cities Caucus to the Puget Sound Regional Council Growth Management Planning Board.

He is also an executive board member of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and a board member of the PSRC Transportation 2040 Prioritization Working Group.

“We’re trying to come up with a framework for how you would evaluate transportation projects that there may be federal funding for if it comes back,” said Sternoff.

The city also faces economic development challenges as Kirkland businesses struggle, he said. He has seen this challenge firsthand as the owner and manager of several diversified real estate development companies.

“I think that one of our efforts by the council needs to be to try and understand first what these struggling businesses are going through, and secondly to figure out if there are things that we can do,” said Sternoff, who is on the city’s Economic Development Committee.

And helping local businesses to survive is important to the city’s economic well-being as surrounding areas compete for business.

“I can tell you that in my meetings – just one I came out of this morning – the City of Renton produced their urban center plan and it’s pretty phenomenal what they’re doing,” he noted. “So we’re competing not necessarily with cities right next to us – although everybody always brings up Bellevue – we’re competing all over this region. Businesses are going to go where they can make a living and that will never stop. So we have to be aware of that and make that a priority if we’re to continue to try and have a balanced revenue source from our businesses and our property tax.”

On the annexation issue, he said the city’s absorption of the Kingsgate, Finn Hill and North Juanita neighborhoods has gone “extremely well.” However, annexation will continue to be a challenge.

“There’s still some leftover projects from King County and things we need to deal with out there,” he said, noting the unfinished seven-and-a-half story Bel Lago condominiums on Northeast Juanita Drive he visited the other day. The behemoth building, which King County allowed to be built in 2006 despite neighbor’s objections, blocks several residents’ views of Lake Washington and many argue, has devalued the neighborhood.

Sternoff said his biggest accomplishment while serving on the council was the annexation.

“I worked very hard on annexation. That was something where sometimes when people sit in the same room for a long time, they breathe the same air and atrophy happens,” he said, noting he worked to develop the financial model and to push for the fourth council vote that was needed to pass the annexation measure. “For me, it had been the right thing to do for a lot of years and not only for the city where we could amortize our costs much better and really give some sustainability to our police and fire in our city, but also the ability for the people (in the new neighborhoods) to get direct representation. “

One thing Sternoff would have done differently on the council, however, would be to push harder on the annexation budget much sooner.

Sternoff said he is the right choice for position No. 2 because he has devoted the past 16 years to the city in many ways. Prior to serving on the council, he served eight years on the Kirkland Park Board. He also was a founding member of the Downtown Action Team, where he served as vice chair of the Executive Committee, chair of the Parking Subcommittee and vice chair of the Lakeshore Plaza Design and Development Sub-Committee.

He said he looks forward to bringing his depth of experience to the council for another term.

“The next couple of years are going to be very important. Kirkland with the annexation will gain our own seat on the Puget Sound Regional Council Board. It’s important for someone to be there and I’ve stepped into that and put myself in a position where the city gets a say.”

For more information about Bob Sternoff, visit www.BobSternoff.com.