May 2008

Central

Houghton

Neighborhood

Association

Central Houghton Neighborhood Association

Key Upcoming Dates:

Wed, May 7 – Opening day for Wednesday Market

Thurs, May 8 – Eastside Trail Advocates Meeting at 7:30pm

Sat, May 10 – Watershed Park Ivy Pull

Sun, May 11 – Kirkland Half Marathon and 5K

Mon, May 12 – Touchstone Open House

Sat & Sun, May 10 & 11 – Kirkland Artist Studio Tour

Fri, May 16 – Bike-to-Work Day

Sat, May 17 – Walk Houghton

Mon, May 19 – Public comments due on Park Place DEIS

Thurs, May 22 – Public Hearing for Park Place

Mon, May 26 – 7 Hills of Kirkland Bike Ride

Wed, June 4 – Next CHNA meeting

Minutes from CHNA meeting on May 7th, 2008:

Park Place, Orni, Altom – The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is out for this project. Public comment is due by May 19^th. Public Hearing for the PAR in general is on May 22^nd in Council Chambers with the Planning Commission. Check out the full DEIS online at http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/__shared/assets/Environmental_Impact_Statement_Draft8338.pdf or you can look at a hard copy, found at the Planning Department counter in City Hall or at the Kirkland Library. The Open House presentation items can be found at http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/Planning/Code_Updates/Touchstone_Orni_Altom.htm . This project has several environmental impacts such as visual, parking and traffic intersection failures. Please send your comments to Angela Ruggeri at aruggeri@ci.kirkland.wa.us.

Watershed Park Ivy Pull – help your neighbors and Green Kirkland to restore our biggest and best park. Saturday, May 10^th 9 – noon. You don’t have to get down and dirty, we need volunteers to help register, work the snack table, take pictures. See us if you are interested. If you are interested in the event contact Sharon Rodman, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist 425-587-3305 srodman@ci.kirkland.wa.us. Can’t make this one? Then plan on helping out this Fall at the Carillion Woods tree planting and part clean up.

Walk Houghton – 9 – noon, Saturday, May 17^th get out of your car and walk to Houghton’s business center. When you leave your house, note the time so you can tell us how long it takes to walk from your house to parking lot of Houghton Market. Come join us for prizes donated from some of the 56 business we have here in Houghton! Also, we still need some volunteers. See http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/Community/healthy/Active.htm for all the Active Living events in Kirkland.

Fourth of July Float – We need to nail down work dates and who is interested in this incredibly fun community event. We need kids and adults to help build our “Houghton Hears a Who” float. Work parties will most likely be in June after we come up with “the plan”. Send an email to Lisa at kirby994@verizon.net if you are interested in joining the fun!

Get ready for Neighborhood Update – Lets start to discuss how we’d like to start the process to update our neighborhood section of the Comprehensive Plan. We are looking for neighborhood representative for businesses, schools, religious organizations and other interest groups to get involved. If you know of someone who is interested in getting involved, please contact Lisa at kirby994@verizon.net . How do you in vision Houghton growing? Do you want more businesses, multi-family housing or more parks? Our neighborhood section of the plan has not been updated for about 20 years and in the coming year, you will have an opportunity to shape the direction of Houghton.

Center Islands - Some of the center islands on 108^th Ave have been installed with Dream Turf, a “fake grass”. Poking sign posted into the Dream Turf will ruin it. Please do not put garage sale signs or other signs into these islands.

Houghton Center – representative from the Nelson Real Estate Management gave us a brief update on the future plans of Houghton Center. Houghton Market’s lease runs out in November 2009. At that time Metropolitan Market will take over and start remodeling. Nelson Management will be updating the exterior (ie. face lift) of the remaining stores to match the exterior updates to Metropolitan Market.

May 29^th. The day Houghton got its name. The community of Pleasant Bay changed its name to Houghton in 1881 in honor of the Houghton family who donated a bell to the First Congregational Church. This bell can still be seen on the roof of the church across the street from City Hall. See the full story in the latest issue of the Blackberry Preserves by the Kirkland Heritage Society http://www.kirklandheritage.org/Volume%2015%20%20Issue%202%20Mar-Apr.pdf

More details on upcoming May Events:

Eastside Trail Advocates – meeting at Houghton Fire Station #22, Thursday May 8^th, 7:30PM to discuss the sale of BNSF to the Port of Seattle. http://eastsidetra.web702.discountasp.net/

Kirkland Half Marathon and 5K – Sunday May 11^th. Runners will be coming down 60^th Street and heading on to Lake Washington. Half Marathon runners begin at 7:45AM. Expect some road closures while the runners make their way around Kirkland. See http://www.promotionevents.com/events/events-08/khm/index2.htm for route map and ace info.

Kirkland artist studio tour – May 10^th and 11^th, 10 – 6pm. Grab a map and see how our local artists do their thing. http://www.kirklandstudiotour.com/images/images/MAP-2008.pdf

Wednesday Market – opening day was May 7^th. The market has new hours (2 – 7PM) and a new director with all new things going on. Meet you at the Market! http://www.kirklandwednesdaymarket.org/

Touchstone Open House – May 12^th, 6 – 8PM at Kirkland Performance Center http://www.envisionkirklandparkplace.com/openhouse.php

Bike to Work Day – Friday, May 16^th http://www.cbcef.org/btw/btw_day.html

7 Hills of Kirkland Bike Ride – to benefit KITH. Monday May 26^th. Please be aware of the many cyclists who will be on our roads this day. 7 Hills had close to 2,000 riders last year. See http://www.7hillskirkland.com/ for route maps and info.

June CHNA Meeting – one of the main topics for this meeting will be the Rail/Trail issue. Come join us at 7pm on June 4^th.