The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on October 3, 2022 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
President Amy Mutal rang the bell at 6:15 p.m., calling the club meeting to order.
Rick Ostrander led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attending were George Anderson, Pete Anderson, David Aubry, Bob Auslander, Gary Cohn, Dave DeBois, Doug Evanson, Rashmi Garimella, Margie Glenn, Jim Meniketti, Amy Mutal, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, John Storbeck, and Rick Walter.
Guests:
There were no guests this evening.
Greeters:
Jim Meniketti manned the front desk; Doug Evanson assisted with greeting attendees.
Announcements, Club Business, Committee Reports:
Dave Aubry again reminded everyone that the Kirkland Rotary Foundation Social and Auction is coming up, October 22, at St John’s Church on State St. in Kirkland. Dinner and wine or beer or soft drinks are only $10 per person plus one item to auction! This is a great deal – and always lots of fun, plus we will make a few thousand for a good cause.
Rick Walter reminded everyone to sign up and join him for Pumpkins in the Park October 29 benefitting Kirkland Downtown Association. You should have received an email to that effect, with a link to sign up for the event, plus sign-ups can also be done directly through the calendar on the Club’s website. The Club will have a booth promoting Kirkland Rotary.
Pete Anderson reported on a possible replacement for the Duck Dash as our primary fund-raiser. Many District 5030 clubs have been contacted for information on how they raise money. Included in the inquiry is a request for how much effort and participation by Club members is required, how successful it is, etc. The committee is still sorting through the many responses received.
Gary Cohn reported that the deadline for Student of the Month applications is this coming Friday. Dr. Cohn has also sent out to select Club members (most of those who did not open at least one bulletin in the past three editions) a questionnaire about the weekly bulletin and its content.
President Amy announced that going forward we will have more frequent committee updates within our regular club meetings.
President Amy asked for a show of hands on the timing of the Holiday Party, and an early December party was favored over one in January. Amy stated that a survey would be sent to club members on this question, and asked Gary to do the survey.
Happy Bucks:
President Amy led Happy Dollars this evening, and several Rotarians were happy this evening: Dave Aubry, Bob Auslander, Dave DeBois, Amy Mutal, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, John Storbeck, and Rick Walter. Thank you all for your generosity.
Program:
Our speaker this evening is Doug Rough, chair of the Juanita Neighborhood Association. He talked about a project for a pedestrian/bike route from about where the CKC crosses under I-405 near Totem Lake to the Brickyard Park & Ride. The idea is to leverage the Safe Routes to School program, on which towns across the country have been working on, and for which the state of Washington DOT provides support. The goal is for students at each school to have a way to access their school without fear of automobile traffic. Mr. Rough solicited our support for this project.
The route being proposed would also connect three city parks and so serve an additional purpose of providing a safe route to and from the parks. The focus here is on Juanita High School, as it is the only school in the city to actually have had two students killed a number of years ago, in separate incidents, while walking to school.
Much of the land this route would traverse is already public property. On at least one piece of private property traversed by the route, the owner in the past has expressed interest in the project. In the north, the segment connecting to Brickyard Park & Ride, outside Kirkland’s city limits, would be on Sound Transit property. From Brickyard to the Burke-Gilman Trail, another segment would provide connectivity, thus creating quite a network of trails.
The city of Kirkland has an alternate route in mind, as part of the Greenways project, but Mr. Rough explained why he believes Juanita’s route is better.
Adjournment:
President Amy rang the bell at 6:50 p.m. to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted
Dave Aubry, Acting Scribe