Council Road Show

The city council will be holding the first of what will hopefully be a regular "road show" event. On April 29th we will be meeting at Hazelwood Elementary School at 7pm it what will be a Town Hall format meeting. The meeting will begin with a presentation from the chief of police about our police services and then a presentation of some of the other current city projects in the works. Following the presentations will be open QA and social time.

I hope to see you there.

The Rumor Mill

Many of you read the news last week that our State Representative for the 41st district, Fred Jarrett, will be seeking the office of State Senate (currently held by Brian Weinstien). And in a dramatic move will also be switching political parties. Read more in the Seattle Times. But one outfall of this is that the rumor mill has begun in full force about who would run for the position that Fred is leaving vacant.
I have heard from more than one person that my name has been circulating the rumor mill (amongst many others) as a person possibly interested in pursuing the office. I will state here clearly that I DO NOT have any ambition to pursue any position outside of the Newcastle City Council for the foreseeable future. My current work and family commitments would make it almost impossible to consider a position such as this. I am flattered that people would even bring up my name in reference to such a position but it just isn't in the cards!

Windtree Park Groundbreaking

Stay tuned, but it looks like there will be a Windtree Park groundbreaking ceremony sometime in January. Details to come.

Public Transit and the Fallout of Prop 1

I began this post shortly after the election but just now have found the time to complete it.
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I have mixed emotions about the failure of Prop1 the "Roads and Transit" measure. On many accounts it was not a perfect solution for the region. But on the other hand, inaction in this case I believe is an even more imperfect solution.


My support for Prop 1 materialized in September when something happened at, of all places, the Microsoft company meeting. It was at that meeting where my employer announced that the company was going to begin providing bus service from several areas around Puget Sound for employees. Now this in itself isn't that earth shattering, but what struck me was the reaction from the crowd. We had been sitting in Safeco Field for the better part of a day, listening to speeches, watching demos, and participating as normal in the "pep-rally" that makes up the company meeting. Nothing in my 7 years of attending company meetings has ever garnered the reaction that this announcement did. Cheers, applause, excitement, they could all hardly be contained. And this reaction came from a group of people that are tasked with solving problems that will literally change the world, yet buses provided by the company quickly became the "talk" around campus. I found this reaction to be fascinating and started me thinking and asking around about why the reaction was so dramatic and positive, even from people who wouldn't even be using the service.


I will summarize my analysis as the fact that most folks here at the company want something done and have the realization that no solution will ever be perfect (perhaps this is a problem with the mindset of us Microsoft folks when discussing our products, but that is another story). And ironically (to me at least), it illustrated a lack of faith and trust in the government establishment to be effective in its ability to deliver. (Ironic in the sense that people would trust Microsoft, the software company, to provide a higher quality transport system than the local government) Possibly this is an indication that we should at least consider some sort of privatized system.


Ultimately all of this led me to believe that Prop 1 was necessary for the region. And for all of it's faults, at least it was a plan to DO something. But now that the fate of the measure has been determined, we need to look at the next opportunity to solve our regions problems. And I will save that discussion for another time.

Public Hearing on Coal Creek Pkwy Closure in Renton

The City of Renton will be holding a public hearing on December 3rd, 2007, at 7:00 pm, to discuss closure of Duvall Ave. NE/ Coal Creek Parkway SE, from NE Sunset Blvd. to SE 95th Way, for a 13-month period beginning in February 2008. The proposed closure is not within the City of Newcastle, however the meeting is open to the general public. All interested parties are invited to attend the hearing and present written or oral comments regarding the proposal.

Public Hearing Location
Renton City Hall
1055 S. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98055

For more information about the hearing contact the City of Renton at 425-430-6510.

Welcome New Councilmembers

It looks at this point to be concluded that your City Council will be staffed by the following people this January:

• Ben Varon
• Jean Garber
• Dan Hubbell
• Lisa Jensen
• Carol Simpson
• Steve Buri
• Sonny Putter

First I would like to extend thanks to all of the candidates who ran for office this year as I have an appreciation for the time and dedication it takes to run a campaign. And second, a word of congratulations and welcome to our newest members. Lisa, Carol and Steve may be new to the position but are all involved and knowledgeable of local issues and should be able to quickly fit into their new roles.

I would also like to note that I think it speaks volumes about our community to have such a diverse and young council. I find it very impressive that we will have three women seated on our council of seven.

And lastly I would personally like to thank Pam Lee and John Dulcich who will be leaving their seats in December. Both Pam and John have been members of the Newcastle City Council since the city was incorporated and have spent a good amount of their personal time serving the members of this community. It has been an honor to serve with both of them in my short tenure. John is the person who gave me the opportunity to serve on the planning commission years ago when I first expressed interest. Without his support and mentor ship I would not be involved in the way I am today. And for that I am thankful.

Looking Beyond "Want"

In business we typically don't ask customers what they want, rather we ask them what problems they have and as business leaders we try to find or create a product(s) that meets that need. As an example, if you asked a group of consumers in the 90's about what kind of portable electronic device they "wanted" the answer would have been a CD player that didn't skip. Focus group after focus group proved consumers wanted CD players as their preferred media device. But the real answer was in the fact that they actually wanted something that didn't skip, but most consumers couldn't look past the form factor of the CD so that is what they asked for. Then, Apple introduced the iPod. Consumers hadn't asked for an iPod but all of a sudden a new product solved the issues they had with the old technology. If Apple had really listened to the consumer they would not have been an innovator, and arguably would have never solved the problem consumers really had.

So how does this philosophy relate to being a council member. The answer is simply that I must look at my job as a councilman in a similar way. It is my job to listen beyond the specifics of what residents ask for and to actually figure out what problems they need solved. Presumably I was elected by you because you had faith in my ability to do this. For example, the city is commonly asked to install speed bumps on local streets. But really what is being asked is for the city to slow down traffic. Speed bumps happen to be one way to solve this problem but there are many other more effective solutions that most folks don't even know of. And arguably the most effective and innovative of those ideas probably hasn't even been thought of. Leadership is about finding opportunity (eg. problems) and determining the best course of action to solve those problems. Sometimes this approach requires change, uncertainty, and risk. These of course are all things we as a society are generally trained to be averse to.

Newcastle Library Concept

This is the most recent conceptual drawing of the Newcastle Library. I am told that this represents appox. 90% design, so while some minor changes may happen, this is a fairly close appoximation to what the actually library will look like. The viewpoint is from the opposite sidewalk near the entrance to Apple Physical Therapy.

Windtree Park November Update

Advertisement for Windtree Park construction has been published. Contractor bids are due on Nov. 23rd I believe. After which the council will decide how to proceede, presumably in December.

Coal Creek Parkway Traffic Info

Hopefully you have noticed that construction is in full swing for both phases of Coal Creek Parkway widening. For daily project status and traffic delay information please visit http://www.coalcreekparkway.com/.