Name of candidate: Jeff Clark AIA
Position sought: Kirkland City Council, Position 4
Election date: Sept. 16 Primary Election; Nov. 4 General Election
Previous public offices and appointments held:
·Member, City of Kirkland Economic Development Advisory Board, 1993-
·Board Member, Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, 1999-2003; Past President, 2001-02; Vice President of Economic Development 2001 & 2003
·City of Kirkland Housing Task Force, Chair 2001-02
·Kirkland City Councilman (appointed ), 1999; Council representative to the Joint Recommendations Committee of King Co. Consolidated Housing & Community Development Plan, 1999
·City of Kirkland-Totem Lake Planning Task Force, Chair, 1999
·Kirkland Planning Commissioner, Vice Chair & Chair, 1992-99
·Kirkland Growth Management Commissioner, Vice Chair, 1992-93
·Citizen Advisory Board Member, Evergreen Hospital 1989-90
Please describe how your training and experience as a design professional prepares you for the position you seek.
The very nature of architecture requires an architect, on both a micro and macro level, to listen to a clients goals, identify the problems or roadblocks to achieving those goals, and then provide the leadership and vision to bring these goals to fruition while balancing function, aesthetics, and costs. These are the same skill sets that are required to take a community's comprehensive plan, which spells out its core vision and values, and turn them into a reality within the community's ability to pay for their vision.

As a council representative I will continue to use my training and practical experience to provide a unique perspective on land use and zoning issues, while using my team building, communication, presentation, contract negotiation, visioning, and problem solving skills to provide the leadership to help the community to achieve its goals.

In your jurisdiction, what issues lie ahead that will particularly interest/challenge/concern/affect architects and design professionals?
The issues in many jurisdictions are similar and will require a more global approach to problem solving than can be provided by a "in my back yard" solution. Kirkland, like other communities is finding life under growth management to have exasperated the problems of traffic congestion, affordable housing, and infrastructure support systems. Kirkland, or any other single community for that matter, does not have the resources to solve these issues on their own. Like most other communities Kirkland is also cognizant of the fact that we must diversify our economic tax base to continue to be able to pay for the services we all want. Planning for, and providing, this economic vitality while preserving the character and qualities that make Kirkland unique are challenges that we as architects are uniquely suited for.

How can your fellow design professionals, and the AIA, best assist you in your candidacy and service?
Though often reactively instead of proactively we are, as architects, already providing much of the leadership in shaping our physical communities. To be truly effective however we need to engage our communities as planning commissioners, design review board members, and council members to weigh in on the policies that govern this physical environment. I relate this to trying to design a physical project knowing that the very program you are starting with is flawed. If we aspire to provide the best possible project we must first be willing to provide the leadership to fix the program.

Friends, colleagues, and supporters can assist my efforts in getting elected to Kirkland City Council with financial contributions to my campaign, or as volunteers to mail campaign literature, door bell, or assemble and distribute yard signs.

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Meet design professionals seeking and holding elected office at the AIA Seattle Membership Conference 10/15/03 "DESIGN LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC LIFE: Architects & Design Professionals in Elected Office."