Here are two updates, one for tonight, one for June 10. The City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on the tax exemption that would prioritize apartments over the small businesses and other current uses on the west side of Gravelly Lake Drive.
The meeting starts at 7, but the matter is placed toward the end of a very long agenda, presumably to discourage citizens from being there. Some of us will still be there. I plan to make a few remarks during public comment.
If I wasn’t making public comment, I’d just watch at home on YouTube and drive to City Hall when they were closer to the agenda item. But I’ll probably be there for the whole meeting. Anyone is welcome to join!
A couple of quick links:
- If you want to watch the meeting: https://www.youtube.com/@CityofLakewoodWA/streams
- The agenda: https://cityoflakewood.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-06-02-Council-Agenda.pdf
I really hope you will watch on YouTube, even if the video is in the background, because the number of viewers would show people care about the council vote.
If nothing else, it’s important to be there to support the council members who will stand for small businesses and the community.
This brings me to another update. Whatever happens tonight, we have to deal with a Lakewood City Hall bureaucracy that is ‘owned’ by developers and does not listen to citizens. The city is now in the process of hiring a new city manager. That person will have a huge effect on what happens to our community.
We need to look ahead. City council elections this year and 2027 matter the most to our future, but the city manager decision will make a big difference as well. Yes, a good city manager is there to please her/his City Council, that’s true, but they can set a tone for citizen involvement and general tone of the government.
There is a public meeting with the city manager candidates a week from Tuesday, June 10, 7 pm at Clover Park Tech. You can learn more here: https://cityoflakewood.us/meet-the-lakewood-city-manager-candidates-june-10/
I would strongly encourage you to go. There’s only one chance to make a first impression.
If the only people there are City Council members and housing developers, that’s going to send a bad message. Even if you don’t ask any questions, it would be great if you could come and show Lakewood citizens care about their community. It’s fine to just listen, and if you do want to talk to some or all of the candidates, that’s even better.
Do Lakewood citizens care about their community, or do they just want to let things happen to them? Here’s one way we find out.
Please let me know of any questions.