Kirkland, Washington
One of the most striking things about Kirkland, the core of Kirkland composed of Downtown Kirkland, West of Market, East of Market, Moss Bay, Norkirk is that they have a vision of what Kirkland should be. Mostly Kirkland should be "not Bellevue". It's pretty much a rivalry.
Bellevue, Washington
While Downtown Bellevue wants to be more like Downtown Seattle, Kirkland wants to be quaint. So far they have pretty much maintained that character and charm. When I first moved here the controversy was over developing the open parking area at Lake and Central. That was struck down with a very big noise that caused at least one City Council Member to leave the room and never return.
The current controversy is over the proposal to expand and improve Park Place. Kirkland Weblog is a great place to go to keep up on the happenings of Kirkland. Not as many comments on this issue as I would expect, but it's early. Personally I think this proposal, even though it requests a variance from 3-5 stories to 5-8 story buildings, has a pretty good chance of making it through. As you will see from the comments on the Kirkland Weblog piece, Park Place is not considered "downtown". Eveyone knows we need closer, drive to services like a decent drug store, a better grocery store, and everyday services that people who live here will utiliize.
For me, it would be great, as I don't have to go on Market or Central to get to Park Place. But I think you will start seeing the downtown merchants speaking up on expanding Park Place, as they won't want Park Place to drive Downtwon pedestrian traffic to another location nearby.
Great towns often have great controversy. Bad things happen when people don't pay attention. Kirkland is a great place to live because its residence do pay attention. It might seem that many fight change, but not all change is for the better. Clearly Kirkland needs some improvements...but not wanting to be Bellevue is a good thing for Kirkland.
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