Kirkland, known for its lively downtown, waterfront parks and quality neighborhoods, is also filled with successful and innovative businesses that sustain our local economy, and provide services and family-wage jobs for our residents. Cities thrive when business leaders work together with commitment, energy and ideas to make great places even better.
To help Kirkland move forward as a community, Kirkland has created a new vehicle to address local and regional economic development challenges and opportunities. The Kirkland Business Roundtable, set to meet for the first time in October, is comprised of CEO-level "movers and shakers" of the Kirkland business community.
Members are drawn from the community's major business clusters - information technology, video gaming, engineering and clean technology, retail, hospitality and health, together with those operations that support a vital business climate, such as finance, real estate, higher education and government.
The city council's economic development committee, consisting of Mayor James Lauinger and council members Jessica Greenway and Bob Sternoff, will also be a part of the group.
The city received a strong response from local business to Mayor Jim Lauinger's invitation to create a business climate that nurtures high-performing businesses and attracts more of the same to Kirkland. A sampling of those who have agreed to be part of the roundtable to date include: Clearwire International LLC, FileNet Corporation, Google, Inc., CamWest, Codesic, Monolith Productions, Inc., Associated Earth Sciences, Housevalues.com, Lee Johnson Chevrolet, The Green Car Company, Chameleon Technologies and the Kenworth Truck Company. Also participating are representatives from real estate, finance, education and government who each play a role in sustaining an educated workforce and creating the environment that knowledge-based companies prefer.
While the city anticipates that the roundtable will formulate its own work program, it is looking forward to the opportunity to have the "best and brightest" focus on innovative solutions to the opportunities and challenges that Kirkland routinely faces.
One challenge is to catalyze the transition of older light industrial areas to high-tech office campuses and provide necessary infrastructure. Another challenge is affordable housing for the growing number of families needing homes close to their place of employment, as are sustainability and the promotion of Kirkland as a business and tourist destination.
Dr. Paul Sommers, an economist with Seattle University's Albers School, will lead a discussion about what other roundtables have accomplished and how this one might proceed at the inaugural meeting. The roundtable will meet quarterly.
The city is excited about the new networks and partnerships that will be created and the innovative ideas and approaches that can lead to major improvements to business vitality in Kirkland.
Ellen Miller-Wolfe is Kirkland's economic development manager. She can be reached at emwolfe@ci.kirkland.wa.us.[[In-content Ad]]
