Thank you for your article in the Sept. 11 edition about the Redmond Senior Center’s First Friday Coffee Chats.

There was a good turnout for the first event and we hope people will continue to join us each month. Your story covered the discussion well; however, I want to elaborate on one point: Why is there growth in downtown Redmond?

The Puget Sound Regional Council estimates that another 1.7 million new residents and 1.2 million new jobs will be added to our region by 2040. Under the State Growth Management Act, each city has a responsibility to accommodate a share of this growth and to provide the infrastructure to support it. One of the major characteristics of our region’s method to accommodate growth is to concentrate new growth in “urban centers.” This is the most cost effective way to proactively manage growth while preserving our single family neighborhoods and our open spaces.

Over the next 21 years, Redmond is expected to welcome approximately 20,000 new residents and 23,000 new jobs. Redmond leaders and our citizens have wrestled with the challenge of how to accommodate growth while preserving the character of our city.

In 1999, the City Council designated downtown and the Overlake neighborhoods as the places where most of this growth should occur — Redmond’s two urban centers. While these neighborhoods will accommodate the largest share of new growth, thoughtful design will preserve and enhance the character of these areas. For example, the design of downtown requires use of materials such as brick and wood and emphasizes the development of a walkable and green neighborhood.

The rationale for this policy is many fold. Compelling reasons to concentrate growth in these two centers include preserving our existing residential neighborhoods, creating friendly places for people to shop, eat and live, and revitalizing these important parts of our community.

If we did not focus growth in the downtown area, construction would occur on the outer rings of Redmond and eastward. This growth pattern would further degrade our transportation system as well as consume our open space that attracted us to Redmond years ago.

Redmond’s challenges for today and the future are to catch up with the growth that has already occurred and to manage new growth so that it adds value to our community while preserving the great character of our city.

Redmond Mayor John Marchione