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SPORTS | Juanita football team advances to state playoffs [16]
10 years | Leadership Eastside FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 celebrates one decade [13]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Sky | Bellevue police working new leads in Kirkland boy’s disappearance [3]
City to hold meeting at KPC concerning bus transit on corridor
Sound Transit has easement rights, could put light rail on Cross Kirkland Corridor BY TJ MARTINELL tmartinell@kirklandreporter.com
A
t a planned open house Nov. 19, the city of Kirkland hopes to present their vision for future transportation along the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC) as part of Sound Transit upcoming projects.
Right now, Sound Transit is preparing a draft list of ST3 projects that, when approved in 2016, will be sent to the voters for consideration on a ballot measure. While light rail is being considered, city officials have been fighting to get their plan for a bus rapid transit (BRT) on the project list, which they
believe would be more flexible to change as well as more appropriate for the community. The meeting will be held from 6:309:00 p.m. at the Kirkland Performance Center, located at 350 Kirkland Avenue. Staff will be available to
answer questions about high capacity transit from 6:30-7:30 p.m. For the city, the public meeting is an opportunity to not only solicit feedback but also get residents up to speed on the situation and how their plans rely
on getting Sound Transit to embrace their transit vision. As with the rest of the Eastside Rail Corridor, Sound Transit has easement rights that supersedes Kirkland’s ownership of the CKC, according to Public Works Directory Kathy Brown. During a presentation council’s Nov. 4 meeting, Brown described BRT as one of several solutions
the city is using to address traffic congestion due to population growth that is expected to only increase in the next two decades, particularly in areas like Totem Lake that are designated as urban centers. According to Brown, Totem Lake is projected to have 54,266 employees and 12,241 housing units by 2035. [ more CORRIDOR page 7 ]
Police save man after he attacks others with pitchfork BY TJ MARTINELL tmartinell@kirklandreporter.com
A 20-year-old naked man arrested Monday by Kirkland Police for attacking people with a pitchfork nearly bled to death after jumping out of the closed bedroom window of a home. The man, who was eventually transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, had initially left EvergreenHealth in the Totem Lake neighborhood at around noon. The Kirkland Police Department (KPD) was contacted by hospital staff out of concern, followed shortly after that by at least five people in a 30 minute time frame, all reporting assaults by a man wearing scrubs with either his fists, a stick or a pitchfork stolen from a residence. None of the assault victims suffered life-threating injuries. Due to his proximity to Robert Frost Elementary School, police notified school officials, who initiated lockdown protocol.
During the fifth attack, the suspect entered the home and struck the female resident, then crashed through a bedroom window, which left him with severe wounds. He was later found naked by KPD, in the middle of a culde-sac on the 14300 block of 118th Avenue NE, who applied a tourniquet to his wounds while Kirkland Fire Department transported him to Harborview Medical Center. According to KPD Spokesperson Lt. Mike Murray, they were later informed by Harborview hospital staff that if they had not applied the tourniquet the man would have bled to death. “He was barely alive at that point,” he said. An investigation is underway, but Murray said they are already looking at felony charges for assault and possibly burglary as well. It is not known at this time whether the man was high or intoxicated, though Murray said they are awaiting results from a drug test.
Kirkland firefighters work to extinguish a fire early Sunday morning, just blocks from Lake Washington High School, that took the life of Kirkland resident Kenneth Hanson. CONTRIBUTED, city of Kirkland
Former LWSD employee, Kirkland man dies in house fire BY MATT PHELPS AND TJ MARTINELL Kirkland Reporter
KENNETH HANSON
Kirkland firefighters discovered a man who died in a house fire, just blocks from Lake Washington High School, early Sunday morning. Kenneth Hanson, 62, was found in his home, two blocks from the high school where he graduated and
then worked, with the Lake Washington School District, for three decades. “He was very selfless and extremely kind,” said Hanson’s cousin Rachel Shade. “His family and friends meant everything to him. He took joy in the moments and the time he got to spend with family and friends. It’s hard for us but we know that we will see him again.”
A funeral for Hanson will be held at 2 p.m. today at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, located at 1215 145th Place SE in Bellevue. Kirklandreporter.com received many messages regarding Hanson’s contributions to the community. “Ken was an amazingly caring man and this is absolutely heartbreaking,” [ more HANSON page 6 ]
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