Remember when the Kirkland City Council promised not to degrade our level of service? They just did it again during the last council meeting. All but one council member voted to accept the county-wide growth population figures that will become the basis for land use decisions and cost us dearly in money and endangers the existing neighborhoods we worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

The population figures are meant to be guidelines. However, we have council members who base their decisions on conjecture, not facts. They will try to present guidelines as facts, not what they are, phony excuses to manipulate the truth and make up for their mistakes.

Adopting the speculative growth figure will seriously impact the recently annexed three neighborhoods that enjoy a suburban environment. They will have to accept smaller lots, greater densities, more regulations that erode their freedoms and property rights, rezoning that is designed to accept greater growth, more affordable housing, and higher taxes to pay for services.

Adopting the growth figure will affect existing neighborhoods in the same way. Not only will they experience the same impacts, the financial impact will be even greater for existing neighborhoods than for the homeowners in the annexation area. In addition to paying for the $2 million gearing up cost, they will continue to pay more for less to subsidize at least the next 10 years of growth.

Council member Sternoff voted to accept what is probably a spurious figure. He and the others use the Growth Management Act to degrade city service levels, not improve them. Listening to explanations only confirms his disregard to keep Kirkland as we know it. Much of what he said tried to justify decisions made by other official’s decisions outside of Kirkland. He even said Kirkland could do nothing about it. He just doesn’t want to. He thinks Kirkland should take a back seat. How wrong could he be?

Council members Asher, Walen, McBride, Marchione, Sweet, also voted to accept the figure. Most of them opted not to discuss their reasons why. We don’t need silence. We need reasons.

In keeping Kirkland, Kirkland, Council member Greenway was the only voice of reason. It’s worth everyone’s time to listen to what this council member had to say. Refer to the video archived council meeting for May 4 on the City’s Web site and go to “New Business” on the agenda. Kirkland will change. By listening to what each council member said, you can hold them accountable if what they voted for comes true. I for one am not willing to accept the betrayal of those council members who are supposed to serve the citizens of Kirkland. We should control our destiny, not take a back seat to somebody else’s decision. We can do better.

Bob Style is a resident of Kirkland.