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KIRKLAND
Finalists | Kirkland businesswomen nominated for prestigious 2014 Nellie Cashman award [9]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
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Political battle for Senate seat heats up with Supreme Court decision BY SAMANTHA PAK
spak@redmond-reporter.com
O
n Sept. 11, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a court order, holding the state Legis-
lature in contempt for failing to make enough progress in addressing the state’s constitutional requirement to fully fund public education. According to court documents, the state is
not “meeting its ‘paramount duty…to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.’” In response to the order, Sen. Andy Hill of the
45th Legislative District, which includes Redmond and Kirkland, released a statement saying he is “glad the court has again confirmed its commitment to making education funding a priority for
this state.” “As our primary constitutional duty, funding education must come first when it comes to the budget,” he said in his statement. “One of the main reasons I first ran for
office as a PTA dad was to end Olympia’s decades of neglect in prioritizing our schools.” Hill (R) is chair of the State Senate’s Ways and Means committee and a [ more SENATE page 3 ]
Alleged gang member’s visit to Kirkland City Hall raises concerns
A Rebel rousing victory
Firefighters hold emergency safety meeting BY TJ MARTINELL tmartinell@kirklandreporter.com
Above, Juanita sophomore Dean Sise is pulled down by Lake Washington senior Riley Simonson. Left, Alex Archer, right, and Jared Holden celebrate following the team’s second touchdown against Lake Washington on Friday. Below, the Kang student body cheers on Lake Washington. Juanita defeated Lake Washington, 47-19. For the full story see page 8.
Photos by Chloe Ekberg, Kirkland Reporter
Safety concerns have been raised at the city of Kirkland after a suspected gang member and recently convicted felon arrived at City Hall on a work/education release program from King County Jail. Dorond Alfred Bray of Los Angeles, 39, who recently pled guilty to promoting prostitution after an incident involving a Kirkland firefighter, showed up to Kirkland City Hall in late July asking for his belongings and requesting to speak with a member of the police department, according
to emails obtained by the Reporter through a public information request. Bray’s visit to City Hall raised concerns by staff as well as firefighters, prompting an emergency meeting of the fire department safety committee on Aug. 27 to discuss possible solutions. During the February incident involving the Kirkland firefighter, who is now on paid administrative leave, Bray allegedly threatened to kill both the firefighter as well as a Child Protective Services worker assigned to one of Bray’s prostitutes. Both the firefighter and the CPS worker were notified by the city of the incident. Bray was charged by King County prosecu[ more SAFETY page 2 ]
Google developer SRM to install crosswalks and lights near new facility BY TJ MARTINELL tmartinell@kirklandreporter.com
By the end of 2015, Everest kids will be able to walk a safer route to Lakeview Elementary near the new Google campus thanks to new agreement between the city of Kirkland and SRM
Developers. As part of the $1 million agreement approved at the Kirkland City Council’s Sept. 16 meeting, SRM Developers will construct two new traffic signals, as well as build a crosswalk for children walking to and from school across 6th Street
South from 9th Avenue South, rather than Northeast 68th Street. SRM Developers is currently constructing the Google Complex at 6th Street South, a new 180,000-square-foot, twostory building. As part of the construction, they are required to
conform to requirements under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Several of the traffic signals and crosswalk, however, were not a part of the SEPA requirements, according to Dave Tomson, the development manager at SRM Development, but based
on requests by Everest neighborhood residents who asked for a pathway for school children. “We said to our neighbors that we’re going to be good neighbors,” Tomson said. One of the new traffic signals will be located at the intersection of 9th
Avenue South and 6th Street South. It, too, was not required by SEPA, but intended to help mitigate traffic for Everest residents, Tomson said, as the traffic study revealed Google employees would impact traffic at a different time when most Ever[ more GOOGLE page 2 ]