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SPECIAL ELECTION | Early Lake Washington School District levy results [5]
Founders’ Week | Celebrate Founders’ Week FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011 in Kirkland with walking tour Feb. 13-19 [17]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Post season | Wrestling teams qualify athletes for regional 3A tournament [13]
Part 5: The future of Totem Lake BY MATT PHELPS AND CARRIE WOOD Kirkland Reporter
T
he Totem Lake Malls, lake and surrounding neighborhood have a storied past. The area also has great potential. The malls’ future is directly tied to the state of the surrounding neighborhood. Traffic flow and access to the malls from the freeway and surrounding area can hinder or positively impact economic growth. The environmental impacts and potential recreational benefits from Totem Lake could bring in more people to the area on a regular basis or even physically prevent people from being able to get to the malls due to flooding. The expansion of
the surrounding business district can take away economic opportunities from a potential redevelopment of the malls or can help to bring more shoppers to the area. These and many more issues cloud the future of the once-vibrant malls. In this final piece of the ongoing five-part series on the Totem Lake Malls, the Reporter will examine what may lie ahead for one of the most important pieces of retail real estate in Kirkland.
Totem Lake Symposium The desolate sight of the malls makes it look as if the City of Kirkland is doing nothing to help redevelopment along. [ more FUTURE page 9 ]
Totem Lake has a lot of potential as a recreational destination but the build up of silt over time has led the lake to over stretch its original boundaries. CHAD COLEMAN, Kirkland Reporter
Reporter’s Totem Lake Malls survey results provements you would like to see in the Totem Lake Business District?” Getting a feel for what The overwhelming votes the public wants to see at were for more places to the Totem Lake Malls site shop, more things to do is apparently really easy. in the area and the direct The Reporter ran a survey redevelopment of Totem with the Totem Lake Malls Lake Malls. Flood control, series asking residents for parks and traffic circulatheir ideas and 333 readtion and more gathering ers replied. That number places were not at the dwarfs all surveys pubtop, but still important lished by the Reporter in to respondents. The least the past five years. important thing to the maThe ideas submitted in jority of the respondents of the survey were as diverse the survey were pedestrias the types of stores that an-bicycle improvements residents want to see and more places to at the malls. The live. Reporter received 333 Among the top29 handwritten ics covered in the responses and 303 survey was what online surveys. businesses responResponses came from dents would like to see as far away as Florida and at the malls. The response New York and included 10 was amazingly diverse states and Canada. And with 102 different busiwhile not every person nesses mentioned in the that filled out the survey 233 written responses to completed every section, the question. Forty-nine it was obvious people stores garnered multiple were passionate about the mentions. neighborhood and the The Reporter tallied malls’ current state. up how many times the The main section of the individual businesses survey asked: “What are were mentioned in the the most important im[ more SURVEY page 16 ]
Moyer partners with YES
BY MATT PHELPS
mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
RESPOND
REPORTER STAFF
World Series champion Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen, visited with 20 kids at Camp Mariposa as part of The Moyer Foundation’s partnership with Youth Eastside Services (YES) to serve kids affected by the drug or alcohol addiction of a family member. The kids got the chance to meet the Moyers on Jan. 28 and enjoyed a blend [ more MOYER page 8 ]
Former Mariner Jamie Moyer, center, and his wife Karen visit with a 12-year-old Kirkland girl Caitlyn D. CONTRIBUTED
AHELP for animal’s end-of-life care BY CARRIE WOOD cwood@kirklandreporter.com
With her 7-year-old Boxer, Michelle Nichols didn’t have a choice. Her dog, McKenzie, who suffered from a hereditary heart condition, dropped
right in front of her with a heart attack and died several years ago. “So that was devastating to me,” recalled Nichols, who has since founded the Bellevue-based non-profit organization AHELP - the Animal Hospice End of Life Project
Find us at KirklandWindermere.com 737 Market Street Kirkland, WA 98033 | 425-823-4600 460663
– a coalition of veterinarians, allied animal service providers and pet owners interested in providing education about in-home caregiving, hospice care and end-of-life options for beloved pets. AHELP will host a free, pet-friendly “Friend in Need” open house from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland. As an avid pet owner, Nichols has been through so many “dogs, cats, animals that I loved and have done
the typical euthanasia because they had cancer or whatever condition they had,” she said. “I just felt that was so unfulfilling. It felt so insignificant and empty and disrespectful – not the ending to a life that I had shared with a friend for years and years. That is not what I wanted for my animals.” So when her Boxer, Brodie, faced the end of his life two years ago, Nichols turned to a natural death. [ more AHELP page 2 ]
Windermere Real Estate/Central, Inc.