In Kenmore, Frankie Schmitt found herself battling the worst floodwaters she has seen in 27 years.

Schmitt rented an extra sump pump Friday and asked the Kenmore Fire Department to bring out sandbags to help protect her property. But on Sunday, she said the water in her driveway was 4 feet deep and the garage from which she runs her machine-quilting shop was taking on water.

Nearby Swamp Creek often floods in the rain, and changes the city made recently to the street seemed to make it worse, she said. Beaver dams cause the high water to back up on her side of the creek, she said.

Based on my occasional observations, I’ve often suspected that Swamp Creek has flooded more often since they did all that work a few years ago that was supposed to help it flood less.

Here’s the location of the flooding mentioned in the article:

View Larger Map

Read more on the Seattle Times Weather Beat blog.

From Tuesday’s Kenmore Reporter: Customer orders a hot chocolate, allegedly gets a bit more at Kenmore stand

King County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating an incident in which a female barista at the Best Friend coffee stand in Kenmore allegedly exposed herself to a male customer buying a hot chocolate.
…
The reporting party told police he visited Best Friend after retrieving his car from the nearby Kenmore Park and Ride Lot. He stated he had no idea the coffee shop employed bikini-clad baristas. After he ordered his drink, the female barista allegedly asked him if he wanted a show. The man said he nervously responded positively, not really knowing what to expect.

According to the police report, the man states the barista allegedly exposed herself from the waist up and from the waist down, reportedly fondling herself briefly. Asked by the barista if he had enjoyed himself, the man reportedly said, “No,” and drove off with his drink but no change from a 20-dollar bill.

Follow-up on KIRO 7 yesterday: Why Prosecutors Can’t Charge Baristas Who Bare It All (video)

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News morning anchor Chris Egert found that King County sheriff’s deputies have pages and pages of reports documenting questionable activities at a Kenmore espresso stand, yet so far, not a single case has made it to court.
…
It is stuff too raunchy to put in this report. It is beyond the level of bikinis: private body parts put on display, all body parts, exposed to undercover deputies.

“At the face of this you’d say, ‘Well, my gosh. There’s indecent exposure, or perhaps even prostitution involved here.’ But as we read the statute, and more importantly as the prosecutors read the statutes and the city ordinance in Kenmore, it does not appear that there has been any crime committed,” said Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Even though investigators saw women take off their clothes, expose their breasts, backsides and vaginas, it is not a violation of the law.

City of Kenmore prosecutors told deputies that what happened doesn’t meet filing standards for indecent exposure or prostitution.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office could, in theory, attempt to move forward with charges, but said that even if it wanted to, it doesn’t have the resources to proceed.

What would it take to have charges filed? A victim—someone who isn’t a cop—and who didn’t want the show undercover investigators said was being offered at Best Friend Espresso.

Of course, none of the victims are willing to do that, so it would seem that for now, the show must go on.

I’m not going to sit here and defend the caffeinated peep show, but I have to wonder… why are King County sheriff’s deputies spending their time making multiple “undercover” stops to Best Friend, if nothing that’s happening there is illegal enough for them to pursue criminal charges?

I’ve got one theory…

Just sayin’.

As of today, that problem appears to have been remedied, at least at the stop I posted the photo of last month:

The old bus stop pole has been removed, and the signage attached to the light pole. I don’t know the specific requirements of the ADA, but there appears to be more than enough room for wheelchairs to use the sidewalk with this new configuration.

In addition to the exterior of the building sporting a fresh new coat of paint, whoever is moving in has also been doing some landscaping, as well as some work to spruce up the inside.

According to a pdf flyer I located on the leasing company’s website, the new business is “The Coffee Roaster.” Just what Kenmore needs, another coffee shop! Especially one that’s literally less than 500 feet from Tully’s…

Also of note, the flyer says that a new kid’s gym called “Great Play” will be opening sometime soon in the location formerly occupied by The Little Gym.

The other thing I found interesting in the leasing company’s ad for the Kenmore Village spaces is that potential tenants are being offered leases of “4 years or less.” If they’re handing out 4-year leases, that would seem to imply that development on Kenmore Village is stalled until at least 2015, despite the perennial claims that they’re just pushing things off “one more year.” Hmm…

On Tuesday, riders were standing in the rain. By Wednesday morning, these spiffy new shelters had appeared, offering at least a little protection from the elements.

I’ve spotted at least three new shelters around the Bothell Way / 68th Ave NE intersection, but there may be even more.

Much thanks to whatever transit agency is responsible for installing these new shelters!

I was lucky not to get trampled in all the excitement.

In particular, I am referring to the most bizarre and inexplicable “feature” of the recently-completed grand City Hall: the 68th Ave. benches.

I wonder if someone would like to attempt to explain the purpose of these benches. I have yet to see even one single person sitting on these benches ever, since they were installed.

I tried giving them a sit for myself. Here is the result:

What a view! What a boring view, that is.

So would anyone care to shed some light on these mysterious bizarro benches?

McMenamins coming to Bothell? City Council discussing it today

Not too long ago, McMenamins was interested in developing a hotel, pub and entertainment facility at the old seminary building at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore. The neighborhood freaked out. Opponents feared that the renovated seminary would promote underage drinking and fill the streets with inebriated motorists. Hurray for the neighborhood, they successfully chased McMenamins away.

Meanwhile, this weekend… Washington Brewers Festival is 3 days of suds in Kenmore

Get a peek at the new local beers rolling out this summer at the three-day Washington Brewers Festival in Kenmore, starting Friday.

Live music, contests and games and a children’s play area that includes a root-beer tent will be set up.

And where will this festival be taking place? St. Edward State Park, of course.

Mr. Lupori discusses Kenmore’s rejection of McMenamins in a pair of posts here:

• McMenamins Announcement Raises the Question: Why Bothell Grows and Kenmore Stagnates
• Will Kenmore EVER "Get It?" Bothell’s getting a Hotel, Pub and Theater!

Kenmore to Lease the Village for $1 Per Year? Are You Kidding?

…the City of Kenmore and Urban Partners LLC are considering a “ground lease agreement” which will essentially turn Urban Partners LLC into the tenant (with some interesting rights) of the Kenmore Village which will place UP in the position of being the landlord and steward of 9 acres of the City’s property? Furthermore, this agreement will require Urban Partners LLC to pay a grand total of $1 per year for the lease which will expire in December 2016. There are other compensation factors in the lease; however, I still find this odd.

Mr. Lupori follows up with more information in Why Amend the "Development Agreement" with Urban Partners LLC?.

Over on KBIN, Dennis Hill weighs in with another view:

It would appear that the City is unloading active management of this property on the Developer. Considering the condition of the property and the City’s demonstrated inability to manage the property profitably, the next best option is to distance itself from liability. They appear to be doing that. Sounds like a win for the community. Not sure what the Developer gets out of it, but could it be worse than what we have now?

Whatever is really going on here, if you care about how your city dollars are being spent and how your city assets are being managed, it would behoove you to come to the public meeting at the Northshore Room at the Northshore Utility District tonight at 7:00 PM tonight.

On a side note, I thought we had fully moved into the new city hall? Why are we still having public meetings at NUD?

Yesterday around 6:30pm as I was driving from Bothell back to Seattle I was caught in a huge traffic backup on Bothell way that started in Bothell and ended at the 61st Avenue light. It was a flashing red with two other flashing reds northwest of it [that would be at 68th and 73rd]. Because people drive so slowly through them traffic was backed up for miles in both directions—up to Bothell and down to Lake City.

I’ve been trying to understand two things and hope that perhaps you might know about. Why were there no traffic police to move traffic along? Also, if the lights were flashing red, why did the city not come out to reset them?

Personally it was an inconvenience. But I can’t imagine the people stuck in cars with children, old folks, people needing to pick up their children. It was not as awful as a freeway backup with nowhere to go, but still.

Might you have any ideas? A complaint dept. I can call for the city?

I also witnessed this nasty backup as I drove out of Kenmore toward Woodinville. It stretched from Kenmore all the way to about 180th St in Bothell when I drove by a little after 6:00.

It is surprising that no one thought to send a few officers out to direct traffic at the three broken intersections in Kenmore. However, I’m not certain that it is the City of Kenmore’s responsibility to deploy police to direct traffic on Bothell Way. Since it is technically a state highway (SR 522), I would think that the job would fall first on the Washington State Patrol and secondly on the Kenmore Police Department (which is really the King County Sheriff).

Here are a few numbers you can call if you would like to comment to any of these agencies about yesterday’s traffic mess:

• WA State Patrol: (425) 401-7788
• Kenmore Police: (206) 205-7656
• City of Kenmore: (425) 398-8900

Zero cars in the parking lot, zero sign of anyone anywhere inside the building. Roughly 90% of the interior and exterior lights (including in the underground parking garage) were turned on.

Here’s a close-up of the front again:

And another one of the room that I thought was going to be a meeting room. Now that it’s full of desks, I’m thinking it’s probably just some sort of mass office? Either way, I don’t see why they need to leave all the lights on throughout the night.

Here’s the back door…

…and what’s this just across the driveway, in basically the only dark spot on the lot?

According to the sign on the right there, that would be the generator and fuel tank—totally unlocked and wide open to whoever wants to stroll on by. That seems safe.

I wonder how much electricity our new green city hall will have pointlessly wasted before it is even open for business?

That’s nearly every exterior and interior light turned on. For nobody.

All the inside lights on in the entry room. Those things at the top that look like ceiling tiles that are falling off are the “art.”

All the lights on in the rear first floor meeting room, too. No signs of anyone at all inside the building.

Don’t you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that our fancy new City Hall is so green? I know I do.

The new unnecessary traffic signals at both ends of NE 181st St behind Safeway have been activated.

Grocery Outlet has moved, opening in their new location in Kenmore Square yesterday.

The new store looks great, and has much better visibility than their old location in Kenmore Village. They were smart to jump on this space as soon as it became available, considering the public statements from Urban Partners, the supposed eventual developer of Kenmore Village, that they basically aren’t welcome to stay in the fancy-schmancy new upscale downtown when it finally gets built (whenever that will be).

Speaking of Kenmore Village, the grand future downtown of Kenmore is looking more and more like a ghost town with each passing month. Here’s an update of our map.

Meanwhile, across the street, new foliage is being planted at the new “green” city hall:

It’s spring time in the city of Kenmore, I suppose.

Sadly, this awesome little guy is not for sale.

Good thing they put up those handwritten signs. Otherwise how would their potential patrons ever have figured out that this location has been closed?

The Seattle Times had an interesting story a few days ago about the trouble brewing hundreds of feet under our fair city: Brightwater tunnel likely causing homes’ troubles

Neighbors of Brightwater have complained of construction noises late into the night, cracked floors and foundations, a sinkhole that swallowed a driveway, pollution of a creek, homes flooded with sewage and wells gone dry.

Most of the complaints have been filed by people who live along the tunnel route. The tunnel runs under Northeast 195th Street and other roads, and directly beneath 147 private properties, officials said.

Here are some of the things neighbors have endured:

• Marlene and Eldon Berg’s previously quiet Kenmore neighborhood became a noisy construction site, with truck engines revving, backup beepers sounding and metal banging on metal when contractors began digging a tunnel portal. Windows in their home rattled and floors shook when a boring machine chewed its way out of the portal. After the Bergs’ well ran dry, the county hooked them up to the city water system.
• Ray Ames was asleep when his wife, Mary, woke him up and showed him a brownish liquid flooding the kitchen and pouring out of the toilet. Raw sewage had backed up into the house because of pump problems on a Kenmore sewer line that was being redirected to the Brightwater plant. Two years later the county paid more than $70,000 for repairs and legal fees.
• Pauline Chihara stepped out of her Kenmore home early one morning and discovered her driveway had fallen into a 30-foot-wide, 15-foot-deep sinkhole.

Yikes!

Here’s a map of where the Brightwater tunnel passes through underneath Kenmore:

View the full system map at the project page on King County’s website.

Sounds like it’s a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for potential problems (cracked foundations and driveways, plumbing issues, etc.) if you live anywhere along the NE 195th St. route.

If a giant sinkhole swallows your house, call 9-1-1 from the neighbor’s place after you barely escape with your life. If you have other, less pressing problems thanks to Brightwater, call the County’s construction information line at 206-205-5989.

What the heck is it? Was somebody worried that the cable might get cold in the harsh Kenmore winter?

This looks fairly lovingly hand-crafted. I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on some sort of joke here. And I hate missing out on a good joke. Anybody care to fill me in?

In Kenmore, Mayor David Baker said City Hall staffers routinely receive complaints regarding Best Friends, many coming from parents who say young children easily can see into the roadside stand. Baker said officials have discussed the issue, but declined to go into details.

“We are aware of it, we do know of it,” he said.

To me that almost sounds like some sort of veiled threat from the Mayor there. Interestingly, as I drive by Best Friend, I have noticed a slight change in the weeks since that story ran.

Pretty much since the story ran, the blinds in the windows facing Bothell Way, which used to stay open, have been closed. Coincidence? Probably not.

Looks to me like Best Friend owner Wayne Hembree caught the hidden message in Mayor Baker’s remarks to the Reporter and decided to preemptively avoid a confrontation with City Hall. Probably a good move.

I have to say though, I am disappointed in the apathy of Kenmore voters. According to King County Elections, Kenmore had a voter turnout of 53.4%.

Not only is this a lower turnout than the most recent comparable election in 2005 (56.7% turnout), but it’s even a lower raw number of voters! In 2005 6,831 voted, but in 2009 just 6,823 people voted, despite the fact that every single registered voter was mailed a ballot that they just had to fill out and drop in the mail (or drive down to Lake Forest Park). Pitiful!

But enough about that. Let’s abruptly change the subject.

I spotted this home somewhere up on the hill between 61st and 68th. It intrigued me.

Yes, that’s a City of Kenmore flag flying in front of that home. Where can you even buy a City of Kenmore flag?

Clearly this is someone that has a lot more allegiance to Kenmore than the average bear. I bet they voted.

Here in Kenmore three of our seven city council positions are up for election this year. In the primary, only 29.4% of Kenmore’s registered voters bothered to return their ballots. Flip that around: that means that over 70% of voters in Kenmore did not vote in the primary. I have to say, that is pretty pitiful, especially considering how easy it is to vote now that we have been forcibly switched to an all-mail system.

I’m not interested in making “recommendations” that allow you to abdicate your civic responsibility to make your own informed decision, but I will do what I can to help you get to that point for yourself. In order to help you make an informed decision on the two contested races for Kenmore City Council, here is a collection of relevant links.

Previous posts on Eyes on Kenmore:
• Diane Brennan Responds to Our Questions
• Allan Van Ness Responds to Our Questions
• Bob Hensel Responds to Our Questions
• Laurie Sperry Responds to Our Questions
• Reflections on the City Council Candidate Forum

Voter’s Pamphlet:
• Position 2 (Sperry vs. Brennan)
• Position 4 (Hensel)
• Position 6 (O’Brien vs. Van Ness)

Campaign Websites:
• Laurie Sperry
• Diane Brennan
• Allan Van Ness

Other Links:
• KBIN Election Links
• Bothell Reporter July 28 Article
• Bothell Reporter August 10 Article
• Bothell Reporter October 19 Article
• Bothell Reporter October 26 Article
• Patrick O’Brien on Kenmore Undressed
• Candidate Forum impressions on Kenmore Undressed
• O’Brien RE: New City Hall on Kenmore Undressed

Don’t forget that there is also a convenient King County ballot drop box located outside the lower entrance to Third Place Books just down the street in Lake Forest Park.

You have no excuse not to vote other than sheer laziness.

I’m reffering to the issue of parking for the James G. Murphy Co. auction house located on 68th Ave NE, just north of NE 182nd St.

Roughly once every three months or so James G. Murphy puts on a big auction at their Kenmore headquarters, complete with a major advertising push across the Seattle area. These auctions seem to usually primarily feature lots of cars, trucks, utility vehicles, boats, etc, which take up their entire fenced lot. Their advertising push always seems to be a success, with these quarterly auction events generating a large amount of interest from the deal-hungry buying public and drawing in hundreds of people from all across the Seattle area.

At around 11:00 in the morning yesterday I happened to pass down 68th avenue and 182nd street, and the scene was pretty chaotic. Cars and trucks stuffed into every possible spot (and then some) up and down both streets, lining the entirety of 182nd street and 68th avenue at least up to The Timbers apartment complex a quarter mile up the hill.

The following photos were taken at around 3:00, when—if you can believe it—much of the heavy traffic and parking overflow had actually died down.

Note that this overflow lining the streets is in addition to the completely packed former park & ride parking lot southwest of 68th and 182nd, which had the above-pictured sign indicating that it was the official parking area.

Already today the “downtown” Kenmore region is turned into a bit of a mess when James G. Murphy Co. has one of these big heavily-advertised auction events. But here’s a question that I can’t help wondering…

Where are all these James G. Murphy Co. auction attendees going to park once the Kenmore Village project finally gets off the ground and the ~350-spot former park & ride lot is no longer available?

I have a hard time imagining how the blocks surrounding James G. Murphy Co. will avoid degrading to complete mayhem once this occurs. Picture a traffic backup extending out onto SR-522 in both directions for the better part of the day and parked cars lining every street within a mile radius, crammed right up against residential and business entrances to the streets such that motorist visibility entering the road is virtually destroyed.

Does James G. Murphy Co. have a plan for this eventuality? Is the city working with James G. Murphy Co. to develop a workable plan for this situation before it completely cripples the city some Saturday in the future?

It seems like this is something more people should be talking about now, before the inevitable day of reckoning arrives.

• KOMO News, December 2007: Failed culvert pumps mud into Kenmore homes
• KOMO News, September 2009: Kenmore residents: Battle flooding culvert with no help, sandbags?
• Kenmore Undressed, September 2009: Kenmore Homeowners Are Getting Stiffed – A $50,000 Flooding Problem
• Kenmore Reporter, October 2009: Kenmore residents, city dealing with another potential Wild Cliff Shores flooding problem
• Kenmore Undressed, October 2009: Flooding at Wild Cliff Shores – Three Years Later and Still No Answers

Here’s an excerpt from the Kenmore Reporter story:

Arroyo has video showing water flowing throughout his back yard, reaching roughly up to his knees. In this instance, the Northshore Fire Department came to the rescue, he said, showing up at 2 a.m. to help put sandbags along the creek.

Those sandbags are still in place and Arroyo said residents have come to look on them as sort of an insurance policy against the creek. But Arroyo said the subdivision now faces a new problem. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has stated the bags represent an illegal altering of a fish-bearing stream, and as such, they have to go.

Arroyo added, to further complicate things, the state has said that while the subdivision needs a permit to put up the sandbags, they also need one to take them down. Both permits cost money and, reportedly, neither is easily obtained.

In the long run, in order to keep the sandbags in place and possibly make other alterations to the creek such as removing silt build-up, Wild Cliff might have to do an environmental study with a price tag of $50,000 to $70,000, money Arroyo said the homeowners just don’t have.

UM… WHAT?

Welcome to Kenmore, Washington – a.k.a. Bizarro World.

Here’s a Bizarro World pop quiz.

Q: What do you get when you bring the City of Kenmore and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife together to solve a flooding problem that has been affecting homeowners for three years?

A: This:

“In an ideal world, with these studies, in the next year or two, there will be some solutions to the problems that affect us all.”

That’s a quote from Kenmore City Manager Frederick Stouder. In Stouder’s “ideal world” it takes four or five years to solve a repeated flooding issue that is causing significant property damage and costing people money over and over again.

I’m speechless.

For those of you keeping score at home, the departure of The Little Gym in the next month or so will leave the commercial space (i.e. – not counting City Hall) in the city-owned Kenmore Village property over half empty, with five of nine storefronts vacant. By square footage, the commercial space will be just under half empty.

Businesses that have moved or gone out of business, leaving Kenmore Village in the last year or so include:

• Ostrom’s Drugs – drugstore – moved to 6414 NE Bothell Way
• The Little Gym – children’s gym – moving to Lynnwood
• Hidden Treasures – thrift store – closed
• Reign’s Realm – children’s clothing & supplies consignment store – closed
• Taco Guyamas – fast food mexican restaurant – closed

Here’s a map of Kenmore Village in its current state (click to enlarge):

Eventually as I have the time, I will be expanding this map to include all of Kenmore’s business zones. Your input is welcome.

The structure of the evening was mostly centered around pre-submitted questions, grouped into categories by the moderator, with each candidate being allowed a fixed amount of time (usually 2-3 minutes) to give their thoughts on each issue.

The categories covered at the forum were:

• city budget, taxes, and spending
• traffic, 522, transit, walkable neighborhoods
• environment, air and water pollution
• parks and recreation, St. Edwards, ballfields
• Kenmore Village downtown project, Urban Partners

Here’s my general impression of the message each of the four candidates was presenting Thursday night. The commentary below represents my opinion alone, and should not be construed as an endorsement of any particular candidate.

[left to right: Diane Brennan, Laurie Sperry, Patrick O'Brien, and Allan Van Ness]

Diane Brennan
What Diane lacks in eloquence she definitely makes up for in passion. You could tell that Diane feels very strongly about the environment in Kenmore, as well as the importance of an open and transparent local government. Diane’s main themes seemed to be that the city should do more for the environment, spend (and save) its money more wisely, and do more to attract businesses to Kenmore.

Laurie Sperry
As one would expect from an incumbent, Laurie spent most of her time touting the accomplishments that the city has had during the last four years while she has been in office. She mentioned the addition of numerous parks, the improvement of 522, and at least twice brought up the fact that Kenmore was named one of the “best towns and cities across the country for families” by Family Circle Magazine. Personally, I have a hard time making the connection between “Kenmore made some arbitrary list in a fluff magazine” and “re-elect Laurie Sperry,” but it’s obviously a big deal to some people, I guess.

Patrick O’Brien
Patrick came out swinging on his number one issue, which clearly appears to be financial responsibility in the city budget. At one point he claimed that his “number one priority” would be clearing up the traffic bottleneck at 68th and 522, but most of the points he hit on throughout the evening were city finance related. He brought up the fact that “several” city salaries are in excess of $100,000, consulting fees are in the millions, and the city has not reported the cost of various lawsuits. One specific money-saving action that O’Brien proposed was to re-bid Kenmore Village.

Allan Van Ness
Allan seemed to be somewhat on the defensive most of the night, spending most of his allotted time responding to accusations from Patrick O’Brien. Several times he corrected what he said were false statements by O’Brien on various issues such as taxes and spending. I was a little bit disappointed with what seemed to me to be a pattern of blame-shifting from Allan in some of his responses. On a question about opening up 522 to more lanes, his response was that “the state wouldn’t do it.” Referring to the idea of re-bidding Kenmore Village, his response was “nothing’s happening in the market.” His statements were true, but not very proactive, in my opinion.

Cross-Questioning
The portion of the evening that stuck out to me the most was the brief cross-questioning section, in which each candidate was permitted to directly pose a question to their opponent.

Diane’s question for Laurie was about the city’s dumping laws. She wanted to know why the current city code allows potentially toxic trash to accumulate on a property as long as it is not visible from the city street. Laurie’s response was “I have no idea,” and to outline the complaint-driven process for dumping law enforcement.

Laurie’s question for Diane was “can you name three positive changes you’ve seen in the city of Kenmore in the last four years?” It came across to me as sarcastic and childish. The line even drew laughs from some in the audience, who I assume were Sperry supporters. She was obviously attempting to prove some sort of point: that she apparently believes Diane’s campaign is too negative. Of course, if someone thinks everything in the city is going great, why would they run against an incumbent councilmember in the first place? For the record, Diane named four things: an improved tree ordinance, the opening of Snapdoodle Toys, new sidewalks on 522, and the new Swamp Creek Park.

Patrick’s question for Allan was “what are you prepared to do to reduce spending and budgetary increases?” Allan said that he would push for a reassessment and evaluation of the city’s consulting contracts, possibly creating some new city positions to do jobs that are currently contracted out. He also gave a generic response about “tightening our belts.”

For Allan’s question to Patrick, he took the same disappointing route as Laurie, asking Patrick to name “three other things that you think have been done well in the City of Kenmore in the last four years.” Rather than play along like Diane did, Patrick took the opportunity to instead point out the problems that he sees with non-public processes. Clearly he is not concerned about the possibility of being perceived as too negative.

Closing Thoughts
Overall I thought the forum was interesting, and gave me a much better idea of what the candidates are about than what I’ve been able to read in their statements and responses to our questionnaire. If there are more such forums between now and the election I will attempt to attend and report on these as well.