PEOPLE

Kurt lives in the Everest Neighborhood of Kirkland and works in Kirkland as a software engineer. He was born in Western Washington and moved to Kirkland in 2009. In between he’s lived in Arizona, California, Hawai’i, Kansas, and Texas (twice).

He's a vegetarian and his hobbies include running, music, travel, home brewing, board games, learning American Sign Language, cake baking, pizza making, and riding personal electric vehicles.

Jennie lives in the Juanita Neighborhood of Kirkland. A few of the hats she has worn include: writer, editor, project manager, amateur naturalist, and parent of two teens. She has always been interested in bringing together people and ideas, science and compassion, to make a better world.

Recently, she has focused on removing barriers to addressing the housing crisis; in 2022, she co-led grassroots community support of successful state legislation to end "Community Municipal Corporations" (HB 1769 to end the Houghton and East Bellevue community councils).

Bev is a Seattle transplant, who moved to downtown Kirkland in the Moss Bay Neighborhood seeking walkability, dog friendliness, proximity to parks and water, and a sense of community.

In 2021, she became involved in the grassroots effort to end the inequitable Houghton and East Bellevue community councils, which were sunsetted by state legislation in 2022. She’s a fan of corner stores and mixed-use development and hopes to see some of that infused into our growing city.

Aaron lives in the Lakeview Neighborhood of Kirkland. He is a data scientist by day and holds a Master of Science in Data Science from the University of Washington as well as a double degree in Computer Science & Software Engineering and Law, Economics, & Public Policy from the University of Washington Bothell.

Aaron has taken a significantly less active role in organization leadership since being appointed to the Planning Commission in December 2023.

Charlie lives in the Totem Lake Neighborhood of Kirkland. He was born in Eastern Canada and has worked in the Pacific Northwest for ten years. He gets around the Eastside entirely by electric bakfiets, cargo bike and scooter, rain or shine. He's an advocate for safe and connected micromobility infrastructure.

Outside work, he's involved in maker culture, backyard bees and finding the best cafés in Kirkland.

Forrest lives in the Moss Bay Neighborhood of Kirkland. Hailing from Florida, he moved to Kirkland in 2023 and works as a software engineer. He is passionate about complete neighborhoods, walkability, transit, and building great communities. His other interests include travel, trivia, history, and animals of all sorts. You can frequently find him walking and daydreaming on the CKC.

Brad has lived in the Market Neighborhood for over 30 years. He grew up in Iowa and studied geography in Santa Barbara. In 1992 the software industry brought him and his wife to another beautiful city on the water, Kirkland. After getting a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Transportation at The University of Washington in 2019, he now advocates for safe and effective transportation locally and regionally and researches and writes about the interaction of people and place.

When not advocating for a more livable Kirkland, he likes to walk, read, swim, cook, play piano, and kayak to O. O. Denny Park to care for baby native plants with Green Kirkland.

Kyle lives in the Bridle Trails Neighborhood of Kirkland where he also grew up. He works on video games and has a degree in automotive repair from Lake Washington Tech. He wants to see Kirkland evolve how its resources are used so it can achieve a connected environment that can house and serve everyone.

Outside of advocacy, he enjoys hiking, biking, thrifting, gaming, fixing things, history, live music, and cider.

Luke has lived in the Juanita Neighborhood of Kirkland as both a renter and a homeowner since 2018. Before this he’s lived in California, Texas, Florida, North Dakota, Japan, and most recently Walla Walla, WA where he went to university.

You’ll often find Luke on the bus, either commuting down to his job in downtown Kirkland or off to see friends in Seattle. He loves to hike so you may spot him on one of our innumerable trails in the area too.

Traveling the world has given Luke an appreciation for the benefits of denser city development, both for housing affordability and for breaking out of car-dependency. Lately his interest has been growing in Georgism and the Land Value Tax. And his favorite transit system so far is La Paz, Bolivia’s fantastic 10-line Mi Teleférico cable car network (but Tokyo’s vast Metro is a close second of course!).

Lisa lives in the Central Houghton Neighborhood of Kirkland.

Faith moved to the Finn Hill Neighborhood in 2011 to be closer to her office in Bellevue. Her family is a one-car family, and she bikes for transportation and recreation year-round and uses public transportation often. She chose to buy a home in Kirkland because it is a walkable and bikeable city, full of beautiful trees and green spaces.

Faith hopes to not only keep it that way but make it even more so. She believes providing people safe, multi-modal alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle transportation is the fastest, most cost-effective way to address the growing traffic problems in our region while maintaining its natural beauty and improving the health of all people who live, work, and recreate in Kirkland.

Rodney has lived in the South Rose Hill Neighborhood of Kirkland since 2008. He is a co-founder of Liveable Kirkland, but stepped back from leading when he was appointed to the Planning Commission in October 2019.

Rodney is a systems engineer by trade and loves learning how systems work and can be improved to better serve people, especially in pursuit of multi-faceted sustainability: personal, environmental, and financial.

Since high school, he's made a practice of walking, biking, or riding transit in his daily activities, which helps him connect with his community and identify obstacles to reducing car dependency. By reading, listening, and traveling, he loves to learn how other people and places have nurtured vibrant and sustainable places.