Please Take the Time to Slow Down on Our Local Roads

Kindly do your part and set the tone on our streets for everyone, including those who visit our community. We all lead busy lives and sometimes we find ourselves running behind—this is not the time to speed on our roads.

The City Council just accepted a Safe Speed Study which will inform changes on our neighborhood streets, arterials, and connectors. This is part of a larger pedestrian and multi-modal safety program that we have been working on for more than two years.

In the coming months, watch for changes in speed limits on our roads. Smaller neighborhood streets will be reduced from 25 mph to 20 mph and to a uniform 25 mph on arterials and collectors. The City has also made an application to the Washington State Department of Transportation for reductions in the speed limits on our two State Routes.

Tragically, each of the past several years, the number of fatalities on Washington’s roads has increased at an alarming rate. Last year was no exception with more than 800 fatalities setting a new record for the past 30 years. For context, the State of Washington has more than 100 cities and towns that have less than 800 residents. This alarming fatality number is equivalent to the loss of an entire small community.

Speed infractions and traffic volume in our two school zones continue to climb. Near Brookside Elementary in 2022 over 1.3 million vehicles trips were logged. In 2023, traffic volume was over 1.6 million vehicles logged or a 23 percent increase.

The two school traffic safety cameras on 178th reported a 14 percent and a 12 percent increase in violations over the previous year. The increases in the number of citations near LFP elementary were smaller, but still significant.

More alarming are the recorded speeds near schools: 137 of the citations in 2023 were for speeds more than 40 mph, with the top speed being 56 mph. Also concerning are the 980 more citations that were issued for speeds between 35 and 39 mph. These citations were issued when the warning lights on the sign were flashing and when children were present on the sidewalks and in the school area.

These trends are deeply concerning.

Please do your part and slow down -- our children and loved ones depend on all of us to keep them safe. 

With respect,

Mayor Tom French

NEMCo Volunteers Practice Rapid Damage Assessments for Kenmore and Lake Forest Park

As part of the most recent quarterly statewide 5th Saturday Communications exercise, the Northshore Emergency Management Coalition (NEMCo) mobilized its volunteer corps to practice conducting a Rapid Damages Assessment (RDA) and to test their ability to communicate damage reports to the NEMCo Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and other county and state partners. 

This RDA involved volunteers pairing up to drive pre-established routes throughout the cities of Kenmore and Lake Forest Park, reporting any damage or emergency events they found along the way. Also known as windshield assessments, RDAs are intended to be a quick survey of the area so that decision makers in the EOC can have accurate and timely information about conditions throughout each city immediately following a disaster. This information is then correlated and combined with information coming in through traditional methods, such as 911 dispatch and local news, to give decision makers a better understanding of the situation despite the chaos that often takes place right after a major event.

Since disaster can strike at any time, training the NEMCo volunteers on critical tasks such as this allows them to provide aid when traditional city staff or first responders are still coming from homes away from town or responding to more serious emergency needs. This helps the volunteers, most of whom live locally, act as an important stopgap and force multiplier when their communities need them most.

Once this information is processed through the NEMCo EOC, tools such as HAM radio, and its ability to transmit data, allow these damage reports to be passed to other partners. This includes things like bridge and roadway conditions that can be sent to the State Fusion Center and then forwarded to partners at the Department of Transportation. Once this initial assessment is completed, these tools also allow resource requests and other communications to still flow when cell phone networks and the internet may be down or significantly overloaded.

Since many organizations often take this time of year to say thank you to their volunteers, we wanted to spotlight our NEMCo volunteers and the important role they play in making our community more resilient and ready to respond when the next disaster strikes. Please, the next time you see them around town or heading off to a meeting or training, take a moment to thank them for giving their time to serve our community. 

May Meeting Schedule

All meetings are held in the hybrid format at City Hall and via Zoom.

City Council

• May 9 Work Session at 6:00 p.m.; Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
• May 16 Budget & Finance Committee Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
• May 20 Committee of the Whole Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
• May 23 Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Climate Action Committee

• May 7 at 7:00 p.m.

Tree Board

• May 1 at 7:00 p.m.

Planning Commission

• May 8 Special Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
• May 14 Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Parks and Recreation Advisory Board

• May 1 Special Meeting at 6:00 p.m.
• May 28 at 7:00 p.m.

Salary Commission

• May 6 Special Meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Information may be subject to change. For the most current meeting information, please check the City’s meetings calendar and the Agendas & Minutes webpage.