Abbreviated Minutes from our November 12th Meeting

Meeting at the Kirkland Firehouse, we had a good turnout with 13 people for the dinner and discussion.

A reminder to all members and potential members: please join the mailing list!  You're missing out on discussion,  news, and planning otherwise.

Styrofoam or Bag ban
The main discussion topic of the evening was the possibility of pursuing either a Styrofoam-food-box ban or plastic bag ban, or some variation of that, such as a bag tax.  Conclusions so far:

1. We need to research and understand the options better.  We need data on environmental impacts of bags & styrofoam, legislative approaches, and what Kirkland businesses are already doing.
2. We need to get a better understanding of what Seattle is doing regarding a Styrofoam ban.
3. We will pursue at most one of the possibilities.
4. A Styrofoam ban might be both easier to achieve, less disruptive to business, and more environmentally beneficial.
5. After we've done some research, the plan is to write a letter to the new City council early in the next year.

Further work on this will take place on the mailing list.

Meeting Location
The Kirkland Fire hall is working well for us, but everyone seemed to agree that a restaurant with a back room might be a good alternative, at least some of the time.  We will see what we can do for December, but otherwise plan to continue at the fire hall.

Future Project Possibilities and Updates
There are lots of interesting possibilities for us to get involved in:

1. Sustainable Seattle is running a "Dream a Sound Future" competition.  That will be mid to late 2010.
2. Hopelink is working towards a Time Banking project on the Eastside.  Also probably mid to late 2010 before launch, maybe we could help sooner than that.
3. Pea Patch project in Kirkland near the Teen Center / Community Center.  Looking at facilitating hands-on involvement from multiple generations, teens & seniors. 
4. In Motion project from King County Metro - Kirkland might start summer or fall of 2010.
5. Bike Sharing project may be coming to the Eastside, more than just Kirkland as well...  RFP is (or is going?) out to vendors.
6. The BNR Rail Route is finally making some progress again (Multi use trail).  This is a huge project, but we can look for opportunities to provide input.  At the least, if and when the Environmental Impact Statement is prepared, we can comment.  (The Kirkland Reporter is supposed to have a story on this but I could not find it on their website.)
7. Possibility of joint events with other Eastside Sustainable Communities.  Maybe a Sustainable Eastside Festival could be organized?

Google Campus Tour

As discussed before, we're looking at organizing and co-sponsoring a tour of Google's new LEED (certification in progress) campus.  Google is interested in doing this.  To have a real positive impact on Kirkland, we need to plan to promote this beyond the existing sustainable community.  We want to reach conventional builders and other interested-but-not-yet-committed businesses.  We can aim for a date in spring 2010, but we'll start reaching out to the business community immediately, building contacts etc.

Other Upcoming Events

• Eastside Greendrinks is meeting in Kirkland, at Architechtronics on November 19th.  More details at their site.
• Al Gore is coming to Seattle on his book tour, speaking at Seattle Town Hall on November 17th.
• The Sustainable Futures Book Club is doing a presentation of the movie "No Impact Man", as well as discussing the book.  Contact them for more info.