At our last litter event, we picked up litter in Kingsgate, so this time we'll be tidying up our adopted blocks in north Juanita on Sept 13, 10am. 🧹 🦺 🗑️

Don’t worry about gear; we'll provide everything you need (pickers, vests, gloves, and bags). It’s a rewarding way to spend a morning outdoors with neighbors.

Sign up here to join the crew

The survey links have been fixed since last week! (whoops)

Two important City of Kirkland surveys are open right now, giving us a great opportunity to push for a more walkable and vibrant city:

First, the City is gathering input on Neighborhood Stores & Services Code Amendments to allow small-scale commercial uses (like corner stores and neighborhood cafes) in residential areas, alongside updates for home-based businesses. Bringing everyday amenities closer to where people live is critical for creating complete, walkable communities. Take the survey by September 18th!

Second, the City has launched its biennial Community Survey, open through August 31st, which directly informs City Council's priorities as they prepare the 2027–2028 biennial budget.

Take a few minutes to complete both and ensure our shared vision for sustainable, connected, and human-scale growth is reflected in Kirkland’s planning!

Urban Forestry Management Plan

Staff presented their progress towards updating the Urban Forest Management Plan, including answers to various questions asked at previous meetings on the topic. The staff memo has lots of charts and detailed answers.

Staff will continue working on the plan update, and will give another briefing to the City Council (tentatively scheduled for September 15th).

Upcoming Public Hearings

During the meeting, it was announced that the August 27th Planning Commission meeting will have two public hearings:

We’ve had a busy week! Liveable Kirkland had a table at 3 different community events:

Google Commute Expo is an event started by employees 4 years ago (including Liveable Kirkland members who work at google), where information is shared about how to get to work without driving. Think taking transit, riding a bike or scooter, or carpooling. The expo has been so successful that Google’s own transportation team is planning to expand the event to sites in other states starting next year.

DennyFest is the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance’s annual summer party at O. O. Denny park, with live music, food, games, and more! We ran an info booth about our activities, and other Liveable Kirkland members ran the Bike Valet for the event.

We also had an info table at the Welcome Home event at Polaris in Totem Lake, which is a new affordable housing community managed by Hopelink.

Do you know what to do if you see ICE in your community? What are your rights? How can you safely document immigration enforcement and support your neighbors?

This free, one-hour training prepares community members to safely and effectively respond if they encounter immigration enforcement activity. Participants learn how to document what they observe, and help ensure that constitutional rights are respected.

Find a current list of classes here: www.tinyurl.com/COTrainings

From October 2025 to August 10 2026, the East King County Rapid Response team documented 192 incidents, including more than 80 confirmed detainments. Activity is accelerating. Twenty-three of those incidents are from the past 30 days in Bellevue, Issaquah and Kirkland alone, plus an additional 12 in Renton.

Join Liveable Kirkland in a conversation about our city’s present and future! We have an active community on Discord and Facebook and we’d love it if you joined in too : )

(And if you add a picture you took to #photos on Discord it might get featured in next week’s issue!)