The city’s traffic-enforcement camera pilot program has generated more than a half of a million dollars in revenue.
But most of that money is going to the county, not the city.
Michael Bailey, the city’s finance director, released financial data for the controversial program at Tuesday’s city council public safety committee.
The program began Feb. 1 with a one-month warning period and from March 16 to July 14, the fines have amounted to $567,859 — eighty percent of which goes to the King County District Court because the city contracts with the county for its court services. That equates to $454,282 paid to the county as a retainer for court administration costs. Bailey said if there is money left in the retainer it will be paid back to the city; if court costs exceed the retainer balance, the city must pay that amount.

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A backyard chicken crusade is brewing in Redmond and city officials are taking notice.
Led by longtime Redmond resident, Kathy Dennis, a group of chicken supporters are hoping the city will change it’s current domestic small-animal ordinance and allow critters, such as chickens, ducks and rabbits — not roosters — on smaller residential lots.
The City of Redmond will hold a community meeting discussing small-animal husbandry, including backyard chickens, Aug. 3 from 6-8:15 p.m. at City Hall, 15670 N.E. 85th St.

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Cleanup and restoration efforts continue in the aftermath of a large fire that broke out last week at a Puget Sound Energy (PSE) substation in Redmond off of Willows Road.

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The City of Redmond is planning to build a dirt-jump trail park for bikes, known as the Redmond Bike Park near Hartman Park. However, nearby residents, are planning to appeal the site entitlement plan.

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By spring of next year, the City of Redmond’s divisive, dilapidated downtown rail corridor will begin to be transformed into an elaborate, artistic urban trai.

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The number of traffic-enforcement camera citations has declined in a three-month period between February and April, Redmond police commander Shari Shovlin said at Tuesday’s city council public safety meeting.
But that is not stopping camera opponent Scott Harlan from racketing up his efforts to put the issue on the November ballot — and let the voters decide the fate of these hotly debated cameras.
Meanwhile, American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the Arizona-based company that has a traffic camera contract with Redmond and a number of other cities around the nation, has suspended one of its top employees for unethical behavior.

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Redmond City Council member Hank Myers announced his re-election bid Tuesday afternoon, becoming the third rookie incumbent on council with plans for a second term.

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Joel Wright, a longtime Microsoft Corp. acountant, is an active Mormon who supports the City of Redmond’s financial strategy and opposes traffic-enforcement cameras.
Tom Flynn, a compliance manager for Puget Sound Energy, has been active in city planning for the last five-plus years and said traffic-enforcement cameras are an effective public safety tool.
Both have declared they will run for the upcoming empty seat of the Redmond City Council Pos. 5 — the first contested city race for the fall ballot.

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Danielle Lynch, the new interim executive director for the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce is hoping to “create a new energy within the chamber,” she said Tuesday.

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The Redmond HealthPoint community clinic is slated to reopen Friday morning (May 6) after an industrial hygienist deemed the downtown office safe for staff members and patients, according to the clinic’s marketing and community relation manager Diana Olsen.

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Last Friday’s early morning raging house fire just outside the Redmond city limits — where four people and two dogs escaped without injury — was caused by the spontaneous combustion of stain rags left in a bucket, according to King County fire investigators.

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K-9 units from around the state sharpened their crime-fighting skills at a three-day seminar by the Washington State Police Canine Association (WSPCA). The seminar, hosted by the Redmond and Kirkland Police Departments, featured teaching sessions at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond and the La Quinta Inn in Kirkland.

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Longtime Redmond resident Greyling Gentry questions why the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) wants to build a new school near what she calls ‘ticking time bombs.’
Gentry is the most vocal opponent against the district’s plans to build a new Rose Hill Junior High/Stella Schola Middle School on the existing school grounds a few hundred feet away from where a pair of nearly 50-year-old gas pipelines are buried. LWSD is proposing to build a new two-story, 125,000 square-foot school in the southwest corner of the property, south of the existing school. If approved by the City of Redmond, construction is slated to begin in 2012 and the new school will be open by September 2013, according to the plans.

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Redmond Mayor John Marchione kicked off his re-election campaign Wednesday morning with plenty of handshakes, hugs, pats on the back and smiles, along with a vow to continue to build neighborhood connections, while keeping Redmond a financially strong city.

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