Marina Park Restrooms - Neighborhood's question City Process

(Below You will find Two Letters On this Issue)

January 22, 2003

Mr. Larry Springer, Mayor

City of Kirkland

123 Fifth Avenue

Kirkland, WA  98033-6189

 

Subject:  Manner of Decision on Nov. 19, 2002 Regarding The Marina Park Restroom

 

Dear Mr. Mayor:

I believe the City Council erred grievously in two respects when you made the decision on November 19, 2002 to move the location of the new Marina Park restroom from the previously agreed-upon Kirkland Avenue site:

1.      The Council breached an existing contract with the citizens of Kirkland.

2.      The Council did significant harm to the same citizens when no harm was necessary.

In a business relationship, when one party repeatedly behaves in a particular way to satisfy a second party, an implied contract is created between the parties.  Absent appropriate notice to the contrary, the first party has the right to expect consistent performance from the second party.  The courts have held such a contract to be just as valid as a written contract. 

The City Council, when it established, nurtured and trusted the various citizen boards, commissions, councils and task forces that have provided advice, counsel and recommendations to the Council for many years, created an implied contract with the citizens of Kirkland.  The Council has further validated that contract on numerous occasions when you have publicly acknowledged the value of the information, advice and recommendations you have received.

For eleven years the Council contracted with the citizens for numerous hearings, studies and untold hours of devoted, unpaid public service in exchange for your valued promise of a fair and impartial decision regarding the restroom location.  The Council breached that contract when you elected that the unsubstantiated and unsupported, some even say phantom, economic claim of KDL carried more authority than the entire eleven years of citizen input. 

KDL’s claim of economic impact regarding the restroom location is elusive at best, probably more elusive than Harry Potter’s golden snitch.  Yet, some Council members repeatedly deemed this nebulous economic claim to be “new information” and used it as the reason to reconsider your January 2002 decision wherein you voted to locate the restroom on the Kirkland Avenue site.

“We should strive to do no harm” is a statement heard often in Council meetings.  This Council has definitely done harm.  In breaching the contract with the citizens of Kirkland, the Council did very real harm to the trust and confidence which the citizens had developed in the city government—trust in the words and actions of the elected Council members and confidence that the processes that had been put in place would lead to good government.

I ask that you remedy the contractual breach and begin to heal the damage done to the citizens of Kirkland with these steps:

·         Restore the restroom to the Kirkland Avenue location.

·         Affirm that all decisions will be made in the full light of the public forum.

·         Acknowledge once more the role the everyday citizen of Kirkland has to play in reestablishing good governance for the city.

Respectfully yours,

 

James McElwee

12907 NE 78th Place

Kirkland, WA 98033

(425) 827-0269

 

cc:     Deputy Mayor Joan McBride

          Councilmember Dave Asher

          Councilmember Mary-Alyce Burleigh

          Councilmember Sants Contreras

          Councilmember Tom Dillon

          Councilmember James Lauinger

          City Manager David Ramsay

 

 
 

 

 

Our Mission is to preserve the unique residential character of North Rose Hill

 

 12617 N. E. 87th Place, Kirkland, WA 98033

www.north-rosehill.org

December 16, 2002

Dear Kirkland City Council:


The North Rose Hill Neighborhood Association is deeply concerned regarding the Kirkland City Council's hasty action concerning the new Marina Park restroom.

We support the conclusions and recommendations of the 11year public process that led to the project's approval in January of 2002.  At that time, the Council accepted the recommendation of the city staff and park board to vacate the current location of the Marina park restroom and move it to a site on Kirkland Avenue.

The North Rose Hill Neighborhood Association has had significant citizen participation in the process to update Marina Park.  It was our understanding that the process that led to the location of the Marina Park restroom facility was settled.  We trusted the City Council to uphold the process and continue development on the Kirkland Avenue Site.

It is our feeling that when volunteer and community participation is not valued, the ability to recruit neighborhood volunteers is seriously impacted.  These volunteers make a commitment, giving up valuable hours of their time, when they agree to be a part of the various committees within the city network.  They make their decisions after much input and thought and base these decisions on the greater good for Kirkland. 


We consider the action to disregard the citizen participants of the Park Committee to be a blatant violation of the public process and public trust.

The time for study has come and gone. The North Rose Hill Neighborhood Association demands that the Marina Park Restroom project resume as originally directed in January of 2002.

Respectfully,

Karen Tennyson

President
North Rose Hill Neighborhood Association

 
 

Return To Norkirk Main

   

03/04/2003