 Left to right: King County Executive Dow Constantine, me, Redmond Mayor Angela Birney, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, Sound Transit Interim CEO Goran Sparrman
Yesterday, I was thrilled to join Sound Transit leaders and boardmembers to announce that the Downtown Redmond Link Extension segment of light rail will open in 99 days on May 10.
The Downtown Redmond Link Extension will open new stations at Downtown Redmond and Marymoor Village. Beginning in May a concert at Marymoor Park, a day of shopping at Redmond Town Center, and the culinary delights of downtown Redmond, will all be accessible via a quick, easy trip on light rail!
Thank you to our partners at King County, Sound Transit, and the City of Redmond for making this possible. Building on last year’s opening of the 2 Line and looking forward to the connection to the 1 Line across Lake Washington later this year, the opening of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension continues the Eastside’s transformation and welcomes a new era that will make like better for people across our region!
On Monday, the federal government announced a freeze on most federal grant and loan funding. It was quickly walked it back after public outcry and a temporary block by a federal judge, but not before we heard from local government and nonprofit partners that this threatened to make it impossible for them to continue providing critical services, from homelessness response to domestic violence services to childcare. This is unacceptable.
In response to this confusion, I introduced legislation that calls for King County to assess our exposure to federal funding volatility and to plan for how the county could respond in the face of those threats, especially for our essential human services agencies. We must quickly “stress test” funding sources in King County and consider all options to react and respond so we can protect our residents from painful impacts of reckless, harmful federal actions.
I am pleased to announce that this week, we appointed De’Sean Quinn as the newest member of the King County Council. Councilmember Quinn has been a Tukwila City Councilmember for 17 years and is deeply familiar with King County, with experience working for Metro Transit, Wastewater Treatment Division, and two County executives.
Councilmember Quinn will represent District 5, which encompasses all or parts of Renton, Kent, Des Moines, SeaTac, and Normandy Park. He will be filling the vacancy left by Dave Upthegrove, who was elected as Washington State Lands Commissioner. I would like to thank the two other nominees for the position, former State Senator Karen Keiser and former King County Councilmember and State Representative Julia Patterson, for being ready and willing to serve the county. I look forward to working with Councilmember Quinn on behalf of all King County residents.
 As your councilmember on the King County Council, I need to know what’s important to you. Please consider taking a short survey to share your priorities and your ideas about how we can work together to make King County a safe, welcoming place for all in 2025.
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