​Hi Everyone
 
The next CHNA meeting is back in person on May 9th (Tue) at the NorthWest U campus. Please see the poster below for details, and map below it for where this is.
 
Our agenda is:
6:30p-7p Arrivals & Social
7-7:15 Welcome, New Board Elections & Bylaws
7:15-7:30 Key topics of interest from the new Board 
7:30-8:30 Community conversation with featured guest Kirkland Police Department Lt. Troy Knafla
 
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
 
Please pass this on to your neighbors!!
 
Haris Husain
Vice President, CHNA

Our annual meeting will be held on May 9, 2023, starting at 6:30 PM. We will meet in-person in the Argue Health Science Center (5600 111th Ave NE, Room 231) on the campus of Northwest University (see below map).

The business portion of the meeting will include review of proposed amendments to our Bylaws to clarify that the President and Vice President positions must be held by people that reside within the CHNA boundaries. A copy of the proposed revisions to the Bylaws is provided below.

We also will be electing CHNA's Board at the meeting. As noted at our March 23 meeting, several members have stepped up to volunteer to lead CHNA. Please let us know (at the meeting or by email- centralhoughton@gmail.com ) if you are interested in a Board position or other role to help out. 

The majority of the meeting will be  A Conversation About Community Safety With The Kirkland Police Department. 

Come and join us to listen, ask questions, and get involved to help make a difference in our community.

CHNA Members and Guests-

It was great to see over 50 people attend our first in-person regular meeting since March 2020. 

Three topics of current interest were covered:

• The Future of Houghton Village (Old PCC Store Center)
• Transitioning of CHNA Leadership
• City Council Action on the Permanent Supportive Housing at the former La Quinta Inn

The attached meeting notes provide a summary of the discussion.

Our next regular meeting is TENTATIVELY scheduled for May 9. We are checking locations for availability which may affect the date and time of that meeting. 
We will let you know when we have the location and time confirmed. We will be electing our Board at that meeting. Please email us (centralhoughton@gmail.com) to let us know if you are interested in serving on the Board or in other roles for CHNA.

We are looking forward to seeing you in May

Central Houghton Neighborhood Association Board 

Hi everyone
 
Kirkland City is collecting input from residents (especially from Houghton and Everest neighborhoods) on what we would like to see in new development at the former PCC site. At the March 23 Neighborhood Association (CHNA) meeting we invited City reps to speak about the development (see link), and they collected feedback from the attendees.
 
Following this, the CHNA Board want to make it easy for ALL OF YOU to provide YOUR input, therefore, we created a survey (link below). We will collect responses until next Friday (April 7) and send them to the city on your behalf.
 
Survey: https://forms.gle/tiBSGEZhBYJEzH9X6
 
Thank you in advance
 
CHNA Board

​Hi everyone
 
Thanks for responding to the Survey. You wanted to meet in person, and the 7p start worked for more folks. 
 
So we will meet/greet at 630pm, and start the formal agenda at 7pm.
 
There is still time to RSVP for joining us! Please use the same survey link to indicate if you can join us in person (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F9WSN2P).
 
Looking forward to seeing many of you there! 
 
The Board, CHNA

The next Central Houghton Neighborhood Association Meeting is going to be IN PERSON on Thu March 23rd, at the International Community School Gym in Houghton. (We will not be meeting on Tuesday March 14).
 
Let’s get together and meet in person, with the following topics:
 
1. Houghton Village (Old PCC Site) Plans Update: Don Robinson, Jim Lopez (City of Kirkand Reps)
2. Update from this CHNA on our exchanges with City on the Former La Quinta Inn Permanent Supporting Housing Agreements
3. Open discussion, any topics of interest to you, and meet and greet your neighbors!
 
We need you to RSVP and provide feedback on what time you would be able to attend at the survey below: 
 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F9WSN2P
 
Thank you, and see you on the 23rd!
 
The Board, CHNA

​Hi Houghton residents

We wanted to let you know that a critical decision about Screening Criteria for La Quinta Permanent Supportive Housing is coming up by March 21. If you have an opinion on this topic, please voice it now!
 
Please email elected representatives BY NEXT WEEK how you would like them to vote on the Screening Criteria for our new neighbors at La Quinta Permanent Supportive Housing. 
citycouncil@kirklandwa.gov, (and/or reach out to city council members individually) City Manager Ktriplett@kirklandwa.gov, Deputy City Manager jlopez@kirklandwa.gov
 
There are two resident screening options being discussed. 
1) Use King County Behavioral Health and Homelessness tracking data bases and screening criteria. Search the Washington State Sex Offenders database to do an individualized assessment for placement. Do no criminal background check.
​
2) All of the King County screening AND a national criminal background check. 
 
Adding or excluding #2 is what is being voted on by the city council representatives in the next few days. In the Council meeting, the consideration discussed for Option 2 was that a national criminal background check may work against people of color, therefore should perhaps be excluded. The debate was "does the need for criminal checks trump concerns about profiling". At the end of debate, the Council seemed leaning towards excluding National Background Checks (i.e. choosing Option 1 above). The final decision will be made before March 21.
 
If you have an opinion on this, please write to them as above.
 
Read the exact wording of the options here: Attachment C (King County alone) & D (the additional criteria City of Kirkland could vote to include)
https://www.kirklandwa.gov/files/sharedassets/public/city-council/agenda-documents/2023/march-7-2023/9b_business.pdf
 
WATCH the discussion on La Quinta supportive housing screening options and city council questions to King County here: March 7th city council meeting. Topic starts at 2hrs 33mins. or scroll in the index to Section 9 b. 
https://kirkland.granicus.com/player/clip/4744?view_id=54&redirect=true&h=5482ee74b09b12b5b291b9f76c6ae044

Thank you
 
Central Houghton Neighborhood Association

The notes from our January 10, 2023 virtual meeting are attached below. 

In addition to the meeting notes, we want to direct you to additional materials on our website - houghtonlives.com.

• CHNA's written testimony for the public hearing on the Permanent Supportive Housing project at the former La Quinta Inn and responses from City Councilmembers can be found under a separate heading below. The letter from Eastside Prep School to the City is also included. CHNA Letter and Council Responses. 
  
  
• We also have posted information related to Carillon Woods Park and an Opportunity with the Green Kirkland Partnership. This information can be found in a separate posting. 

One additional item - on January 19, the City posted information related to the arrest of individuals in connection with the burglary and shots fired at a residence in Central Houghton last October. 

As always, please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for future meeting topics. We are also looking for members interested in getting more involved in CHNA's effort to build an informed and engaged membership to enhance our community.

Larry Toedtli, president
Central Houghton Neighborhood Association