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CHILD ABUSE | Kirkland Police Chief Eric Olsen calls for community action during awareness month [4]
Young entrepreneurs | Local seniors turn FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 passions into business opportunities [8]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Bodybuilding | Natural Cascades Bodybuilding Classic coming to the Kirkland Performance Center [11]
Kirkland Wynn’s with new Chamber Executive Director More social networking, street beautification and big events in Chamber future BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
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ruce Wynn has done a variety of things in his professional life. He has been a high school English and drama teacher, done public relations and marketing work for PBS
and the Port of Seattle and owns his own business Wynn For You management. And it is all of those experiences that gives him unique perspective as the new Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.
“I’ve been enjoying Kirkland for 25 years,” said Wynn, 55. “When all my friends want to go out on the Eastside we always go to Kirkland. It is hard to find a city that is so beautiful.” Wynn comes to Kirkland as the former executive director of the Interbay
Neighborhood Association (INA), where he lives on the west side of Queen Anne Hill. He replaces former director Bill Vadino, who left at the beginning of the year to become the “show director” for the Kirkland Concours d’Elegance in Tacoma.
Wynn said he spent a lot of time luring new tenants to Interbay and getting the city to make changes to zoning regulations. Changing Interbay’s zoning was tough because many at Seattle City Hall wanted to keep Interbay an industrialonly neighborhood. The INA wanted to grow and diversify while still main-
taining a light industrial identity. “There were a lot of meetings at city hall,” said Wynn, who started with the INA in 2008 and created partnerships with Boeing and Microsoft. “It took a lot of time but we finally realized our goals.” One of the duties of the [ more WYNN page 3 ]
Bob Graff leads the way as runners come down the home stretch of the Shamrock Run Saturday in downtown Kirkland. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter
First ever St. Patrick’s Day event draws nearly 1,700 to downtown streets BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
The first Kirkland Shamrock Run 5K Race and Family Fun Run took place Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day, in downtown Kirkland with 1,650 walkers, runners and pets taking part.
The event had 40 strollers and about 50 dogs, according to race organizer, Ben Wobker, who owns Lake Washington Physical Therapy in Kirkland. “The (Kirkland Shamrock Run) was very pleased with the volunteers, [ more RUN page 10 ]
Kirkland goes green for Shamrock Run David and Sheri Pickard run down Waverly Way Saturday as a part of the first ever Shamrock Run through downtown Kirkland. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter
City considers taking over animal control
Group looks to restore historic Kirkland clock BY CARRIE WOOD
cwood@kirklandreporter.com
Ferry riders would look up at the tall clock mounted on a street lamp at the corner of Lake Street and Kirkland Avenue to make sure they were on time. A copper plate below the clock etched with a map helped commuters determine if they would get off the ferry at Medina, Sammamish, Seattle or the various other
places where the Kirkland ferries stopped in the 1930’s. An illuminated red arrow directed them west to the ferry dock. More than 75 years later, Kirkland resident Sue Contreras noticed the clock still held the same time as it did the last several times she passed it: 1:33 p.m. “It’s bugged me for a while that our street clock hasn’t worked – ever – in my [ more CLOCK page 6 ]
BY MATT PHELPS
mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
Mark Padgett, with the City of Kirkland Public Works Department, disassembles the ferry clock last September. The clock parts are now at the city’s maintenance center, awaiting restoration. BY MATT MCCAULEY
A Kirkland resident called King County Animal Control to have three guinea pigs removed from the yard. Only two of the three were caught. “The third guinea pig is still at large,” City of Kirkland Intergovernmental Relations Manager Lorrie McKay told the Kirkland City Council during Tuesday’s council meeting.
But while there is humor in escaped guinea pigs, the cost to the city of Kirkland, $2,500, is no joking matter. McKay’s presentation was part of a recommendation for the city to provide its own animal control services instead of entering into another contract, or Inter Local Agreement (ILA), with King County Animal Control when the current ILA expires [ more ANIMAL page 6 ]