News and Analysis

11/22 Christmas Straw-Weaving workshop at Toloka, ages 12+, $45, noon-2pm

11/22 Bellevue Community Band: Winter Concert (performance in Kirkland), free, 2-3:30pm (link)

11/23 Deadline to reserve a tree in Mountains to Sound Greenway’s Holiday Trees for Habitats. See 12/5 tree pickup event and market

11/27 Start of the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah, 10:30am-4:30pm or dusk (link) – until 12/23, then closing at 3:30pm from 12/26-12/30

11/27 Start of Santa Photos at Bellevue Square and the Marketplace at Factoria

11/27 KidsQuest’s Classic Gingerbread Workshop, $42 for one, $12 for additional guests, 1-3pm (link) – also 11/28 at 10am and 2pm, and there are ballet and champagne options at 5pm, and to-go kits are available

11/27 Winterfest – A Family Holiday Party at Forum Social House, 3-6pm (link)

11/27 KidsQuest’s Nutcracker Gingerbread workshop at the Hyatt Regency, $50-52 for one, $16 per additional guest, 5-7pm (link) – includes ballet performances by Flight Feathers Ballet

11/27 KidsQuest’s Gingerbread After Dark at the Hyatt Regency, $60 for one, $80 for two, 21+, 5-7pm (link) – includes champagne

11/27 Snowflake Lane performances start at 7pm and last approximately 25 minutes, nightly until December 24th. Viewing from the sidewalk is free but may be crowded. Reservations at Forum Social House for balcony viewing are available now and include hot cocoa and minigolf for $35, free for ages 5 and under (link).

11/28 Gingerbread House Decorating at Taste Buds Kitchen, $55, 9-10am (link) – also 11/29, 12/5, 12/12, 12/19, 12/21, and 12/23

11/28-11/29 Chinese Cultural Winter Market at Meydenbauer Center, 1-8pm

11/28-1/3 Garden d’Lights at Bellevue Botanical Garden, $10, 4:30-8pm Mon-Thurs, 4:30-9pm Fri-Sun(link) – see calendar for sensory friendly viewing, daytime viewing, senior events, and a discounted $5 evening. Daytime visits to BBG are always free.

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11/2-11/8 Displays and Interactive screens at Bellevue Square Mall for Diwali (link)

11/6 Community Night at Crossroads: Celebrating Diwali, free, 6-8pm (link) event was canceled due to uncertainty after the fire, but the community center is open

11/7 Empty Bowls benefit for Porchlight at St. Thomas, 11am-3pm (Facebook) – buy a bowl (donated by Northwest Pottery Collective) and enjoy soup and bread, $45 at the door

11/7 Live Performances for Diwali in Bellevue Square’s Center Court, noon-5pm (link) – complimentary henna at two locations from 11am-6pm

11/7 Diwali Family Fest with Hindi Time Kids at Lake Hills Library, ages 0-10 with adult, 3-4pm (link) – registration full

11/7 Footloose in the Fall community line-dancing at Crossroads Community Center, 6:30-8pm (link)- pre-register, room for up to 100 dancers to participate

11/8 Thanksgiving Feast for the Birds class to make a pumpkin feeder at Rainbowland Art Studio, ages 5-8, $56, 1:30-3pm – Mandarin-led with English support, there is also a class for ages 3-5 at 3:45pm

11/11 Easy as Pie classes at Taste Buds Kitchen, ages 4-8 from 9am-noon and 9-13 from 1-4pm – TBK also offers classes for adults

11/12 Greener Living class on Making Safer Products to Gift (virtual), 6-7pm (link) – additional classes on 11/16 and 11/24

11/13-1/18 Bellevue Downtown Ice Rink – Cheapskate Mondays will offer skating and skate rental for $12; reserve your tickets now

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If you would have been interested in this opportunity but missed the deadline, there is a somewhat similar Rotary program for teams of students to work on climate innovation, called Growing Green Leaders. The deadline for this program is November 15th. Please let me know if you’d like more information!

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November 5th is the deadline to apply for a grant for your project to make a difference in Bellevue’s climate readiness and sustainability. Grants between $1000 and $5000 are available for Bellevue youth and young adults aged 15-24, and Bellevue has a total of $50k to award. This program has enabled youth in other cities to create over 1,600 green spaces, plant over 1.8 million plants and 235,000 trees, develop nearly 5,000 gardens, launch 268 composting stations, and collect more than 405,000 pounds of trash and recyclables.

I hope Bellevue’s youth will show what’s possible with the use of data to create the greatest impact per dollar, demonstrating future best practices. It is also an opportunity to take charge of our climate future and have fun working with friends – teams are encouraged to apply!

engagingbellevue.com has the details and application form.

There was a student-led event at City Hall to provide info to potential participants, and let them meet the subject matter experts from the city who might be able to support their efforts. I think some of the projects will include work on air quality, riding transit with other students, and Green Teams at schools. Some of the potential projects could have multiple actions between now and March 30, 2027, organized around a central objective like maximizing transit usage or reducing food waste, and others will focus on a single deliverable.

Eligible projects include:

Climate education and awareness, like courses, experiences, or the arts

Research and data collection, like mapping environmental health

Resilience and adaptation, such as addressing water quality or heatwaves

Green Infrastructure, reforestation, and environmental protection, like creating parks, community gardens, or green roofs for community buildings

Sustainable agriculture and food systems, like urban farms that would enrich community access to fresh food

Promotion and advancement of circular economy, like sustainable fashion or rethinking the use of discarded materials

Sustainable waste management, like sorting, collection, or cleaning

Sustainable transportation, like encouraging walking, cycling, and using public transportation

Climate governance, like youth councils or consultation of youth for public decisions

Paying a local environmental scientist a fee to lead a hands-on soil testing workshop with youth participants over three sessions.

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It’s the day after the election, and while I can’t claim to have special insight into constitutional, legal, or tax advice matters, I thought I’d share this. I hope you’ll find it an interesting speculative exercise and take a look at the tidbits that have led me to these theories. Thinking through potential scenarios made me take much more notice of the uphill battle that will be necessary to get school lunch funding, and I hope you will also take this moment to think about the likely community needs we’ll need to meet.  

Legislative session for 2027: Higher income tax projections are the biggest contributor to expectations that the budget has extra $430M to work with, which will surely be allocated to be spent. School lunch funding didn’t pass in 2025, and now even fewer seats are held by the people who’d voted to support it, but advocates still try to get it through. The legislature considers the request by the Association of Washington Cities for progressive taxation options for local taxation, but ends up raising the property tax cap instead in a slightly technical manner. Schools are asking for a levy lid lift since there’s a cliff for “Local Effort Assistance” funding in 2028, and there’s huge pressure on the legislature to fully fund Special Ed, substitute pay, and school utilities with the new revenue. 

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For kids and families:

10/24-10/31 Storybook Hike through the Enchanted Forest at SBCC, free, 7:30am-6:30pm – an entertaining and charming self-guided nature experience

10/26-10/31 Falloween: Bellevue Square Mall has photo backdrops and coloring totes (one per child)

10/31 Spooktacular! at KidsQuest, 9am-4pm (link) – Haunted Hoedown theme

10/31 Howl-O-Ween – free entry to Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah for kids ages 2-12 in costume, 9:30am-5pm (link) – costume contest, pumpkin scavenger hunt, animals getting into the Halloween spirit, and trick-or-treating around the zoo.

10/31 Creatively Yours has full-size candy bars for all pottery painters

10/31 Boo Bash at Dave & Busters, all ages, 10am-1pm (link)

10/31 Halloween Harvest Market with Bellevue Farmers Market, 10am-3pm (link) – Live music, fall produce, hot food, face painting, and scavenger hunt. Family-friendly costumes encouraged!

10/31 Twinkleland Play Cafe is offering free face painting from 10:30am-noon

10/31 The Night of Viy Quest: A competitive Ukrainian folklore escape experience, ages 8+, $25 ($120 for a team of six), 11am-1pm (link)

10/31 Trick or Treat at the Library, 11am-6pm (link) – All day on Halloween, stop by the Children’s Desk for a free treat, sponsored by the Bellevue Friends of the Library!

10/31 LWSO’s Annual Halloween Children’s Concert at Hope United Methodist Church, free, performances at 11am and 12:30pm – registration is now open (link)

10/31 Eastside Alchemy Indoor Market at Missiongathering, noon-5pm, (link) – this time in Eastgate, will be at HCC in December. Costumes encouraged, candy giveaway, and food drive.

10/31 Halloween at Bellevue Square Mall, noon-6pm – Halloween cookie for kids and a Moonbee Matcha pop-up at Aveda while supplies last (most/all other mall shops are *not* participating)

10/31 Little Monsters Take Over Main Street, 1-3pm (link) – trick-or-treating in Old Bellevue

10/31 Spooktacular Halloween at Samena Swim Club, 1-3pm – haunted trail, ghostly gathering, spooky swim, and costume contest

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Since today may be the last chance to provide input on the Transportation aspects of the Budget, I’m putting together my questions and requests in one place, and here’s the announcement that the city sent out yesterday. Please come and speak if any of this resonates with you!  

Transportation Budget Presentation at the Regular City Council meeting on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.

The City Council will discuss the transportation budget at their meeting tomorrow evening when the Transportation Department will present three potential budget scenarios that fund projects across the department’s five program areas:

• Major Projects
• Pedestrian & Bicycle Mobility
• Vehicle Mobility
• Neighborhood Mobility
• Preservation & Reconstruction

Two of the scenarios reflect potential revenues from the city’s transportation benefit district, which could support essential infrastructure needed for Bellevue’s continued growth and livability.

The council established the district in 2023 and will consider whether, and at what level, to fund it as part of the 2027–28 budget process. The council will not be taking action on the benefit district tomorrow evening, but future action may include one or both of the following:

• Increasing the city sales tax rate by 0.1% 
• Adding a $20 fee for all vehicles registered in Bellevue

The budget office estimates the sales tax increase would result in an annual spending increase of about $57 for Bellevue households. If both the sales tax increase and vehicle registration fee are approved, the estimated annual increase would be $77 for households with one vehicle.

Community members are encouraged to tune into the council meeting to see how these investments support Bellevue’s long‑term growth and mobility goals.

My Requests: 

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Now that the city’s calendar includes multiple Council and Commission meetings each week, the bulk of what I’m writing is in the newsletter (free, link is in upper right).  I do summaries of each item on the agendas, and I also try to include the references to past decisions and context, sometimes straying a bit into opinion. I will call out the things that I don’t understand, since it’s nice to hear from readers who know more of the pieces than I do. 

Since I prioritize getting the newsletter out over taking the time for advocacy, there are many items that I express an opinion on that I don’t send in as a comment. If you see something that resonates with you, please write in or speak during Oral Communications yourself. For instance, the Memory Bank document that was attached to the agenda for the first October meeting says that 33 people were in favor of the Grand Connection, and 0 opposed, so any individual who raises concerns has the potential to make a difference by saying something that council wouldn’t have heard otherwise.  

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Although I spent quite a bit of time outside this summer, there was plenty that I did manage to write. The weekly newsletters were a bit slimmer with hardly any city meetings, but there were some fun threads on Reddit.  

https://www.reddit.com/user/newbellevue/comments

Topics: The new light rail shuttle vans, opportunity to comment on off-leash dog park availability, long-term care funding, stacked flats, the visitability standard for new housing, bus route changes and outreach (idea), the Transit Master Plan, ridership trends, speed limit changes, Millionaire’s Tax, rider survey for interrupted transit rides (idea), math education, electrical service reliability and grid capacity (PSE), and the outreach process for the Speed Cameras.

Although two public hearings have already been held about the budget, new info was made available just today with the materials for next week’s City Council meeting. You can see the Preliminary 2027-2032 Grand Connection Portfolio CIP Cashflow document (link) attached to the September 22nd meeting agenda. 

I had been eagerly waiting to find out how the Grand Connection Crossing budget gap was going to be filled, and it turns out that “Transfers In” is here to save the day, to the tune of $122 million.

As mentioned in a previous post, at the time of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) vote, there was a Final Project Analysis (FPA) document that explained the funding sources for the Grand Connection. From page 81, the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) tax was supposed to generate 40% of the funds (~$141.4 million) needed to pay back the bonds, and the TIF was projected to provide 24% of the funds (another $84.4 million) over 25 years, with $127.8 million coming from philanthropic sources and “other city funds.”

As shown on page three of the Attachment C – Transportation Scenarios Memo for TBD (part of the agenda materials for the September 15th meeting), the contribution from the TBD is being reduced to $1.26 million per year, a significant reduction that makes the gap even bigger.

The Cashflow document puts the budget of the crossing at $265 million, and that does not appear to include financing costs for the bonds. Page 8 of the FPA had formerly said that the Crossing was expected to cost $230 million. This increase in project cost makes the gap bigger. 

The Final Project Analysis had said that the debt service payments would be $353.6M (page 54), based on anticipated bond amounts of $75 million in 2026; $80 million in 2027, and $75 million in 2028. The new cash flow document specifies that only $75 million is coming from bond proceeds, $25 million each year for 2028, 2029, and 2030. Reducing the bond amount might mean we can expect just $115 million in repayments (though the dates of the TIF are fixed and that might affect the term length if we have a different starting year). This significantly reduces the borrowing costs, assuming there are no interest costs associated with the mysterious “Transfers In” funding source. 

The Cashflow document also has a 10% under-expenditure assumption, which reduces the total being budgeted to just under $239 million (feels like the opposite of a conservative estimate), and assumes $5 million from the Parks Levy, $15 million from grants, and $24 million from private donations. There is also $34.4 million in “beginning fund balance” at the start of 2027. I’m guessing we might already have that $34.4 million now, but I’m not sure where it came from.

I’m sure we can get answers about it, but right now the $34.4 of beginning fund balance and $122.2 million of “Transfers In” feel like mystery money. I also don’t see where we’ve accounted for $40 million in bond servicing costs or think we can conservatively justify the $26.5 million decrease in what we’re budgeting based on the 10% under-expenditure assumption, even if we do have $13.5M in portfolio contingency for unforeseen costs and scope changes. I’m not sure it’s fair to the community to take $5 million from the Parks Levy (though the development of trails *was* supposed to be one potential use of the Levy funds), private donations are not guaranteed, and the bond repayments still rely on assumptions about future redevelopment that will generate TIF tax revenue increases we can capture.

The third and final public hearing will be on October 27th. Please reach out to Council before that if you have concerns about what is being proposed!

Note 1: Page 2 of the September 15th meeting’s Attachment E on Sustainability says we have “Invested $44.2 million to advance design work for the Grand Connection Crossing,” which is more than I had realized. I still don’t have a breakdown for this, and I don’t think it’s included in the $265 million, since that’s the spending forecast for 2027-2032. 

Note 2: Bellevue’s current debt, according to page 95 of the preliminary budget book, is $324 million. Page 243 makes it clear that the Grand Connection Portfolio is not just the Crossing, but this is the only capital project in the Grand Connection Path. The subcategories from the Cashflow document are G-126: I-405 Non Motorized Crossing ($228.6 million), G-130: East Landing ($23.4 million)[connection to Eastrail], and G-131: Portfolio Contingency ($13.4 million). These are described in CIP project detail sheets (pages 13-15).

Part of the budget package that City Council had a hearing on last night is the restructured transportation funding, as listed in an attachment to the agenda called Transportation Scenarios Memo for TBD. The TBD is the Transportation Benefit District that allows us to collect additional sales tax and vehicle annual registration fees, so these scenarios show what is possible with various funding amounts.

The Transportation list of projects now includes five categories: Major Projects, Pedestrian and Bike Mobility, Vehicle Mobility, Neighborhood Mobility, and Preservation & Reconstruction. Normally these would have been the subject of a lengthy discussion at Transportation Commission, which would have then forwarded recommendations to the City Council for review and approval. Since that didn’t happen with the process this time, I’m scrambling a bit to understand the newly created list myself, and wanted to share the organization I’ve added in case it’s helpful to anyone else. Please also share with me any links and references you’re aware of. I’ll be adding more as I have time.

The next opportunity to learn more about the budget will be on September 30th, at the Budget Information Session at Bellevue CIty Hall, 6pm (link).

Neighborhood Mobility, 13-14% of overall investment. This list is from page 7 of the Transportation Scenarios memo, reorganized with numbering added so you can see where they originally appeared in the list.

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