In a recently published letter to the Reporter, a former city council member, Mr. John Hendrickson, makes some very strong and inaccurate assertions regarding the Kenmore City Council’s commitment to keeping our roads safe. I’m writing to assure our citizens that the city of Kenmore has made, and will continue to make, significant road and safety improvements.

Mr. Hendrickson served on the Kenmore City Council for eight of the 16 years since Kenmore’s incorporation. If the prior investment in Kenmore’s roadway infrastructure was inadequate, Mr. Hendrickson may wish to look back and ask himself what actions he could have taken to change that dynamic. In his letter, he even goes so far as to declare the roads in violations of a “duty to care” under “tortious conduct” laws, which he doesn’t specify while making these reckless statements.

The current city council has a diversity of opinion and is able to deliberate in a constructive manner. We are productive because of our mutual respect for one another. During Mr. Hendrickson’s years on the council, this was not always the case.

Public safety is our city council’s top priority.  We have just accepted the short and long term safety improvement recommendations from an ad hoc citizen’s panel we established and we are continuing to make significant investments in public safety improvements.  We still have lots of work to do and funding to make things happen will continue to be a challenge.

For further information on the city’s work on roadway, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, go to the city of Kenmore website and read the Kenmore Newsletter dated May 2014. This newsletter details the steps the city is taking to address pedestrian and bicycle safety as was well as listing the millions of dollars spent on road and safety improvements through the years.

Additionally, the engineering firm of Perteet, Inc. recently completed a pavement management report, noting: “Kenmore has done a very good job to maintain city streets which are critical assets for the community.” With the recent completion of the Juanita Drive overlay project, the report gives the city an overall PCI score of 82. This detailed report ranks all of our city streets.

With peer cities, we were tied with Hunts Point for the highest ranking, and Kenmore exceeded the PCI rankings for Kirkland, Woodinville, Bothell and Lake Forest Park.

The Business Agenda for the Sept. 8 city council regular meeting has both the Citizen, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Report, and the Pavement Rating Report. These can be viewed at www.kenmorewa.gov.

Your city council continues to work hard to make Kenmore a better place to live. We are and will remain focused on and committed to public safety and infrastructure improvements.

Brent Smith is a Kenmore City Council member.