Ugh, downtown Kirkland looks like a war zone. With all the construction and street closings, it feels like Fallujah. With the new BofA building and the new bus station going in, construction and destruction seem everywhere. And a rash of restaurants have closed. OMG, what a bummer!

The following restaurants have closed their doors in downtown Kirkland: Third Floor Fish Café, Mixtura, Harlequin, Calabrisella, Marina Park Grill, Kahili Coffee, Tullys, Shark Club, Fridays, World Wraps, Pasta U Gotcha, Sasi’s Café, and Blue Fin; and at Carillon Point, Blue Water Bistro & Yarrow Bay Grill. Luxury goods like restaurants seem to have been hit hard by this recession. Fifteen restaurants closed. I miss the old Kirkland.

LWSD Feeder Pattern Changes

I went to A.G. Bell Elementary from 1969-75, and it fed into Kirkland Junior High. Now this feeder pattern is changing and Bell kids will graduate and now must go to Finn Hill Junior High, a lot farther away. I used to walk to KJH (1976-78) from my house near A.G. Bell, but Finn Hill Jr. High is way too far to walk for Bellers.

This feeder shift exemplifies what is wrong with the centralized planning that is our public school system. Parents should be able to decide where their kids go thru choice and vouchers, rather than central planners deciding.

What if central planners decided where we could grocery shop? Or which hospital we could use? We’d riot. But with schools, we allow this kind of socialist central planning where students are “fed” into state designated schools by district No. 414. Education is the only field that’s like this.

Maybe parents should be agitating for vouchers so they’d control their educational dollars and could vote with their feet and directly choose where their kids go to school (public or private). Parents shouldn’t take this anymore. Think vouchers.