Kirkland Mayor Kelly Curtis onstage at the Kirkland Performance Center delivered a State of the City address laying out the city’s accomplishments over the past decade and priorities for the coming year, including infrastructure investments, housing development, and a homelessness response action plan. "The present we have today and the future we hope to create is built on the visionary legacy of the past," Curtis said.

Curtis used the address to summarize major capital and service investments completed or underway: expansion of the fire department (20 new firefighter/EMTs and multiple station projects), road and pedestrian improvements, water and stormwater system upgrades, expanded bike lanes and ADA access, and park renovations including Juanita Beach Park and the Totem Lake connector bridge. The mayor credited voter-approved ballot measures passed in February 2018 and February 2020 for funding public safety and fire investments and said the city maintains a AAA credit rating and clean audits.

The speech put affordability and homelessness at the center of the city’s challenges. Curtis said monthly rents have put housing out of reach for many local workers and that the council increased human services grants to a record level but still funded only 58% of requests. She described the city’s investments in emergency shelter, rent assistance and affordable housing development and pledged, "the city will continue to do our part." The mayor said the council will implement a homelessness response action plan intended to make homelessness in Kirkland "rare, brief, and nonrecurring," and noted the city has converted a pilot homeless outreach coordinator to a permanent position.

Curtis highlighted regional behavioral-health response work: Kirkland and four neighboring cities fund the Regional Crisis Response Agency (RACER), now in its second full year, and Kirkland opened a connected crisis clinic that the mayor said has served more than 2,000 people and averages about 350 patients per month. She described RACER as trained mental-health professionals supporting people in behavioral-health crises.

On housing and economic development, Curtis said hundreds of middle-housing units and more than 3,400 units in the permit pipeline (including “over 900 affordable” units) are moving through development processes that she said will house seniors, students and workers. She noted Totem Lake and other private developments as drivers of jobs and retail, and referenced local business announcements including Project Kuiper satellite work, EA Sports moving to Carillon Point, and new corporate activity in Totem Lake.

Looking ahead, Curtis pointed to the council’s 12-item 2026 city work program and highlighted five community-focused initiatives: redevelopment of the Rose Hill station area to create walkable, transit-oriented housing and jobs; partnering to develop an iceplex and community center on the former Houghton Park & Ride site; exploring strategies to enclose Peter Kirk Pool to expand year-round swim lessons; implementing the homelessness response action plan; and updating the city’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) five-year roadmap. On swim lessons, she said long wait lists motivated the city to study year-round aquatic options.

Curtis emphasized volunteer and civic engagement as part of the city’s identity and noted the Kirkland Initiative program to educate future civic leaders. She closed by urging residents, businesses and institutions to continue working together to address affordability and public-service needs.

Discussion versus decision: Curtis’s address summarized past council-funded investments and announced council priorities and commitments (for example, implementing a homelessness response action plan and studying pool enclosure options). The speech itself did not record any council motions or formal votes during the event.