City gets nod for schools, housing and more
Mayor David Baker knew about the honor for a week or so, but kept it under wraps. But now it’s official: Family Circle magazine has named the city of Kenmore one of the 10 best towns and cities across the country for families. The city will be featured in the August issue that will hit newsstands July 7.
Kenmore met Family Circle’s criteria of having affordable housing, good neighbors, green spaces and A-plus public school systems.
“You can’t really say enough about the dedicated teachers we have at Inglemoor, Arrowhead (Elementary), Kenmore Junior High, Moorlands (Elementary) — and you can’t forget Kenmore Elementary. And a lot of them live in Kenmore,” Baker said in an excited call to the Reporter Tuesday afternoon.
“Sweet — there’s some pride there,” said recent Inglemoor High graduate Kyle Bogusz while working at the Aqua Club Wednesday afternoon. “I think it’s the people here, it’s a fun town to grow up in. You have the lake so close, which is wonderful, and the public schools are great.”
Kenmore, which was settled in the 1900s and incorporated as a city in 1998, houses about 20,000 residents and offers eight parks, including a scenic view of Lake Washington from Log Boom Park.
“Wait until you see Rhododendron Park: we’ll have a proper driveway into the parking lot, we redid the sprinkler system, thinned out the rhodies, and we’ve got the Senior Center, which is fully funded,” Baker said about the park’s remodel. “Some rhodies in there are unique, and you can see them in only a few places in the world.”
Bogusz, who has lived in Kenmore all his 18 years, said he’s had birthday bowling parties at Kenmore Lanes, traveled the Burke-Gilman Trail on bike and played pick-up frisbee and soccer games at local parks.
“And, of course, there’s the Aqua Club. It’s my second home,” said the former Viking swimmer.
Resident Gail King echoed Bogusz’ sentiments about the parks and trail, adding: “I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never really considered living anywhere else. My daughter goes to Westhill Elementary and I know she’s getting a good education.”
Kenmore has been home to Rob Pickering and his family for 13 years. The owner of Snapdoodle childrens’ toy store on Northeast Bothell Way said he moved to town for the top-notch schools and parks, especially spacious St. Edward State Park.
Making friends was easy, he noted.
“Families are really easy going here and are really educated,” Pickering said on Wednesday. “Youth sports like Northlake Little League and Northshore Youth Soccer are really accessible to everyone in the community. And there are lots of community volunteers.”
Baker also praised the City Council for all its hard work in making the city desirable for residents and business owners.
On housing, Baker said: “Our vision is to preserve the character of our single-family neighborhood. It’s been the policy of Kenmore to have all kinds of housing available. We’re family friendly.”
Also on the business front, Ostroms Drug and Gift owner Todd Ramsey and crew recently moved their store onto Northeast Bothell Way after it stood in Kenmore Village for more than four decades.
“If we had to leave Kenmore, we would have closed. We wouldn’t move to another city,” said Ramsey on Wednesday. “With everything that’s going on with the shopping center, people asked us, ‘Are you going to be here (in business)?’ The caring for us is one of the things that makes Kenmore a caring community.”
It’s the personal touch that keep customers coming back to Ostroms. On Wednesday, pharmacists greeted folks by name while they waited at the counter and spoke about the weather and their golf swings. Ramsey said Ostroms’ goal is to make people feel at home by being friendly and keeping the same employees — including 36-year worker B-Z Davis — on tap for familiarity.
“We have a lot of loyal, devoted customers. They’re nice people,” Ramsey said.
Back over at Snapdoodle, Pickering noted that about 700 people showed up to his grand opening to help his business get off to the right start in Kenmore.
“It was crazy,” he said.
The latest projects in Kenmore include building a new city hall and sprucing up State Route 522.
“Look at our 522 project, it’s looking better every day,” Baker said.
Added King: “When the 522 construction and the sidewalks and plantings are done, there will be even more access for family walks.”
Rounding out the Family Circle list are:
• Rockwall, Texas
• Evans, Ga.
• Sherwood, Ore.
• Indian Trail, NC
• Edina, Minn.
• Noblesville, Ind.
• Perrysburg, Ohio
• Hendersonville, Tenn.
• Sun Prairie, Wis.
Family Circle partnered with Onboard Informatics, a New York City research firm that provides real estate, demographic and other data, to assemble an initial list of 1,700 cities and towns with populations between 15,000 and 150,000. From that, nearly 800 localities were selected with a high concentration of households with an average income of $75,000. Then, the above-mentioned qualities were taken into consideration before unveiling the final list.
