Excellence Out of Adversity: Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert

I originally wrote this blog as part of an unpublished podcast back at the start of the pandemic. In true content management fashion, I'm reusing it for newer purposes, which happens to be in the wake of company-wide layoffs by my former employer.

Jazz listeners will know about Keith Jarrett's 1975 Koln Concert. Even if you're not a big fan of jazz you may be familiar with it. The Koln Concert has gotten a resurgence of attention; being featured on NPR, the BBC, and Malcom Gladwell's podcasts.

Jarrett's recorded concert also happens to be the best-selling solo album in jazz history, and the all-time best-selling piano album.

I bought the 2 album set at the start of the pandemic. It's an original pressing from '75. It's the closest I will ever get to that midnight concert nearly 50 years ago. No digital optimization. No copy of a copy of a copy. It arrived in the mail just as we were entering lockdown mode. 

The album's cover was once white. A photo in grayscale shows Jarrett hunched over a piano. The piano in the foreground is blurred, while Jarrett's head hangs down as if asleep. If his eyes were open he'd be looking directly at the keys. The white album background is now yellowed and shows signs of aging, wearing and tearing. But who doesn't after 49 years?

The sleeves are mix-matched—the first sleeve’s label hole is empty and the second sleeve has a wax paper cover. Both have tears around the edges from when the records were dropped too hard into the album cover. The second disk of the album shows signs of water damage. But after cleaning it a couple times I find that the extra static just adds character--no other copy of the album has the same pops and static.

Besides being an incredible performance, here's what else you should know about that night in Germany:

• First of all, the piano provided to Jarrett was a mess. Not only was it not the piano that he stipulated in the contract, but it was a piano in bad shape. This was a rehearsal piano--old, beaten up. The sound was thin and the pedals didn't work.
• Secondly, Jarrett was a mess. He had had a long day of driving from Switzerland to Koln, Germany. He hadn't slept well for several nights because of back issues. He was hungry, and he was tired.
• Jarrett's first reaction upon seeing the rehearsal piano was to threaten to cancel the show. But the promoter, a 17-year jazz fan named Vera Brandes, convinced him to keep the booking.

After all, the show must go on.

So they spent the next few hours trying to tune the piano--to put lipstick on that pig. They couldn't fix the issues with the upper and lower registers, and the sustain pedals still didn't work. But they did what they could.

Jarrett broke for dinner at a nearby restaurant but the kitchen was backed up. He left before ever getting his food.

Jarrett finally went out on stage at 11:30 that night--wearing a back brace--and gave a concert to last the ages.

What impresses me about the album, in addition to being a beautiful piece of music, are the sheer number of obstacles Jarrett had to overcome to give the performance of a lifetime; contract failures, exhaustion, an imperfect tool, physical pain, hunger. And you can hear him playing through all of it. Sometimes he grunts his way through it. 

This is the music I listen to in my quiet. The music is soothing and the story behind it shows how obstacles can sometimes help us to achieve greatness. And in this time when the economy is in a downturn and companies are laying off their workforces, maybe our current imperfect situations help us to be the best versions of ourselves. Maybe we do something great that makes everyone around us a little better.

Should we choose to do so.

Congratulations if you've made it this far--I would love your feedback. I'm also in the market for a new job, so if you're interested in adding leadership and storytelling to your team, send me a message.

Let's talk.

My Hike to the Kendall Katwalk

 Kendall Katwalk by the Numbers:

• 5,400 Foot Elevation 
• 2,400 Foot Trailhead Elevation
• 450 Yards Katwalk Length
• 3.5 Hours from Trailhead to Kendall Katwalk
• 2.5 Hours from Kendall Katwalk to Trailhead
• 2 Bottles of Water Consumed on the Hike
• 1 Pika
• 0 Problems

I arrived at the Snoqualmie Pass parking lot off Exit 52 at 7:15a on a Thursday morning. There were 24 cars in the parking lot already, not counting mine and a couple of small groups were assembling to set out on the Pacific Crest Trail North and Commonwealth Basin Trails. I had copied the WTA's trail guide into Evernote and also had downloaded the WTA app as backup, not knowing how signal access would be on the trail.

The first two miles of the trail were exactly as the WTA guide described it; a steady incline through old growth forest and just one switchback. I was disappointed to see the first bag of dog poop on the side of trail just 75 yards in from the trailhead, and I saw another bag about a half mile later. Following that bag, someone had left their dog's upchuck mix of kibble and grass right in the middle of the path. People if you're going to bring your dog, then pick up after it. Leaving a bag on the trail is not better than grabbing a stick and sweeping your mess off the trail.

Recent trip reports on the WTA website suggested bugs were an issue on this hike, so I grabbed the last bottle of Repel hanging on the shelves at Fred Meyer. It reminded me of its presence at about one and 1/4 miles in when it started seeping into my right eye. That was more irritating than the few bugs I encountered on the hike.

Most people on the trail were not wearing masks, though some were. I let groups pass me by pulling off to the side of trail, as much as I could give, which wasn't much. In the first group of three I let pass, the two women pulled up their gaiters and were very friendly because they saw I was waiting for them. The guy at the rear carrying hiking poles was not friendly and made no effort to shield his breath. About 3/4 of a mile later, I was passed by a couple who looked like they were fresh from a fight; the woman in front didn't acknowledge me while her hiking partner gave me a nod. I followed them for a while, keeping a good distance as they pulled away. Still no conversation though the entire time. That must have been some fight.

I hit the first talus field, or Pika City, at the two-mile point. The little marmots were chirping the entire time I passed through this section. I saw them pop up near and far, though one surprised both of us on the way down by emerging from the bushes a couple feet away.

The WTA guide talks about crossing a waterfall just past the talus field but there was no water falling on this day, though I could hear it splashing a dozen or so yards below. There was more water above after the switchback so clearly there are underground channels for the water.

Between the "would-be-fall" and the creek above, I was passed by another young couple. When they saw that I had pulled to the side and was wearing my gaiter, they gave me a "hello' and scrambled up the trail to put some distance between us, which I thought was a nice gesture.

After the creek, I encountered a father and daughter coming coming down the trail. We had a nice chat near the first field of fireweed flowers. For the next 2 miles, I maintained my way up the "Steady Eddie" trail. Having hiked the Pacific Northwest for the past 11 years, I've grown used it's beauty, but I always try to renew my appreciation for the new combinations of magic when discovering a new trail. This trail offers lots of surprises along the way; sword ferns of all sizes, alpine flowers, and open vistas--each one better than the next. 

It was about this section of the hike that my right knee was starting to send me signals. But these were on the inside, not the usual outside spot, so I kept leaning on the hiking poles as I climbed and monitored my knee for potential issues. Fortunately, I started the hike with a preventative mindset by wearing a soft knee brace and taking Motrin. I was also wearing my new Salomon X Ultra 3 Mid GTX hiking boots. I know this will sound like an ad but I've never had boots this comfortable and with this kind of support. And you definitely need good boots for this hike.

The second talus field; Kendall Gardens, is a great spot for spotting pikas and squirrels and listening to their calls and marks a transition in the hike--rather than forests with occasional views, there is more open hiking with patches of forest. When Red Mountain comes into full view, you know you will be close to the Katwalk.

I don't do well with heights, but the Katwalk was a good combination of exhilaration and anxiety. I walked the entire 450 yards alone and stay right in the middle of the trail. I could have passed another hiker, if it came to this, but they would have gotten the outside ledge.

At the end of the Katwalk, I found a rocky perch for lunch about 10 feet above the trail. It was nice and flat and other than a couple of hikers passing below me, I had it all to myself. Following lunch and another hot of Motrin, I made my return journey, including walking video of the Katwalk. The remainder of the hike was a pleasure. I pulled over for a lot of uphill hikers and I got a lot of positive comments about my Seattle Kraken t-shirt. I stopped at a makeshift campsite about 2.5 miles from the bottom for water and protein. By the time I reach the trailhead, I had been out for 7 wonderful hours.

Using Agile Scrum in the Home for ADHD

A couple of months ago, I shared two articles on LinkedIn that showcased one couple's use of Scrum to help organize their home. What attracted me to the articles was that the husband in this case, Francis, is diagnosed with ADHD. Together, he and his wife, Sally, employed Scrum to organize their lives. If you really know or live with someone who has severe to moderate ADHD, you know full-well the challenges those people face every day. Their families also face significant challenges.

This is where I identify with the couple: ADHD is prominent in my family. And in the wake of reading their story, I started looking for opportunities to try it in my home. This article is about our first experience.

Living with ADHD
If your family has children in school who regularly complete all of their homework every night, who never have to pull all-nighters because they suddenly remember a major project DUE TOMORROW, and enjoy the intellectual challenge of seven classes a day, congratulations. Your life is probably calm and steady. Or at least calmer and steadier than mine. For us, spontaneity is the Rule of the Day. There is always an unforeseen priority to address.

You may even look upon families like mine with envy ("They are always so active") or pity ("I can't imagine what it must be like to live in that chaos"). Your judgement is your own. In our house, we have learned to place support ahead of judgement. Scaffolding above scorn. We work with the activity and embrace the creativity.

We have tried numerous ways to help the kids stay organized in school. But until I read the story of Francis and Sally, it never occurred to me to use Agile SDLC practices as a tool to teach my kids how to manage their lives. Fortunately we had the perfect opportunity: DEVOtional 2019.

DEVOtional is an annual fan gathering of the music group DEVO in Cleveland, Ohio. This year it was on July 26 and 27 at the Beachland Tavern and Ballroom. Members of the band make guest appearances, there's memorabilia, and two days of DEVO-inspired music performed by bands from all corners of the US (Though you will not hear their most popular tune "Whip It"). And this year, my 17-year old's band was invited to open the Saturday festivities. He had a lot of prep work to do.

Our first attempt of making a plan was to document all the steps needed using Google Sheets. I sat with him and listed all of the tasks. We had multiple tabs for each topic; set list, equipment, costumes, performance requirements, and a trip itinerary. We agreed on everything that needed to be done and I set him on his way.

The Google Sheet went untouched for a month.

Enter Scrum
It was about this time that I read the Scrum for ADHD articles and realized that the best tool for the job was the one I use at work. So after talking about it with my wife, we created our first family Scrum Board.

DEVOtional 2019 Scrum Board: Week 1

Scrum can be an ideal tool for people with ADHD for several reasons:

• Occupy the Field of View. Those with ADHD have difficulty blocking out distractions--auditory, visual, smell--and creating a physical board can occupy the field of vision and help reduce visual noise
• Sensory Satisfaction. Creating stories with sticky notes and moving them across the board is a satisfying feeling, like moving game pieces across a board game
• Celebrate Success. ADHD sufferers learn to live with frustration in school environments because they process information differently--getting stories squarely in the Complete column equals accomplishment and a great way to boost someone's dopamine levels

Taking a purist approach for this project would have led to disaster; we needed to work within our environment (Recognize the Culture), with our family members (Understand Your Resources), to achieve a finished product--(Minimum Viable Product) which was getting my son's band on-stage with all of their equipment, music, and visuals at 2:30 pm (EDT) at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. I've been in plenty of Agile work environments and each is always a little different, by necessity. And since this was our first attempt, and we wanted to make it a positive experience for my son.

In getting started, we agreed to some basic parameters:

• The Scrum Board would be time-boxed up until we boarded the plane from Seattle to Cleveland--this meant 4 weeks in which to work (4 weeks = 4 rows)
• Work would be organized in one-week sprints
• User Stories would fit onto stickies and would contain a simple task, person accountable, and estimated level of effort (Small, Medium, or Large)
• The stories would be tracked across these stages: To-do, Doing, Verify, and Complete
• We would have (near) daily Scrum Meetings to review progress, identify blockers, and celebrate successes
• No stickies would progress through stages without everyone being present
• We would conduct weekly retrospectives to evaluate progress

A word about User Story Points: we decided to forego points for this introduction to Scrum and opted for t-shirt sizes for the Levels of Effort. After all, my son already had a full-time job as a high school student. By keeping the estimating measures simple, we guaranteed his buy-in. So we agreed to the following:

• Small: Story could be tackled in an afternoon
• Medium: Story would require more than one afternoon, and maybe two days to complete
• Large: Stories that would take more than two days to complete

Our first Scrum Planning session generated nearly 30 stories--two of which were complete before we started (Celebrate success!).

The tactile nature of managing the project really engaged the family--we liked having the stand-ups and moving the stickies across stages. By the start of Week #2, our board looked like this:

As you can see, we still had five stories in Verify (Demonstration) and the same two stories in Complete. So all the stories were moved to the following week's To-do (Backlog) and Doing (In-progress) columns. And as we learned more details about stories, we started moving some to later weeks. We also added five stories.

With the start of Week #3, tensions started to rise. We had not completed a significant amount of stories and the date was drawing closer. And as with most projects, as we got deeper into it, more stories needed to be added to the plan. Key to keeping my son bought-in to this new approach was giving him small wins along the way. So we put some easy-to-achieve stories on the board, and those moved from To-do to Complete very quickly.

Still, we stuck with the methodology. At our weekly retrospective, we moved the backlog of stories down to Week #3 and started evaluating scope trade-offs. Some stories moved to Complete because we didn't have an archive.

There was one major cause of project churn, and it was our own little Epic. My son's vision for his costume on-stage was to wear a Spud Ring. This costume innovation was used by DEVO during their "Oh No, It's DEVO" album and tour. Spud Rings are formed white plastic shells that fit over the shoulders of the performers. They can be constructed by way of vacuum-forming.

Had we ever done this before? No. Did we have access to a suitable machine? No.

Enter "unreasonable project requirement #1."

We threw ourselves at this part of the project. My son was the Product Manager and I was the Scrum Master and Developer. He found a video online on how to build a vacuum-form machine and I set about acquiring the materials and building it while he was at school.

By the end of Week #3, we were really in a rhythm. Stories were being moved from Doing to Verify to Complete on a daily basis. More stories were added as we continued to make discoveries. The sense of success was palpable. We were going to get all of the work completed in time for our flight departure.

Hey, do you remember that vacuum-forming machine Epic I mentioned a little while ago?

Yeah that one. As it turns out, it's one thing to successfully construct a fully functioning vacuum-form machine. It's quite another to understand physical properties of plastic sheets, heating them at the appropriate temperature, and buying enough materials to allow for trial and error. The first two tests revealed all of this. Unfortunately, we we ran out of time and had to shelve this portion of the plan.

Still, we completed nearly all of our stories with one day to spare. Two stories were left on the board and we tackled them on the road.

So here we are, post-DEVOtional 2019. My son's performance was a hit with the organizers and the crowd and his band has been invited back to next year's event.

Now that we've experienced a positive experience using Scrum, We will be applying a version of it during the school year so he can stay on top of school work.

Wins all around.

The boys pose with Bob 1 from DEVO at DEVOtional 2019

Retrospective
Using Scrum to manage this effort proved to be the winning solution. We were all engaged in it, knew which stories we owned, and we could all see the progress day-to-day. In considering what we will do next time, and we will be doing a version of Scrum again for both of our sons this coming school year, we will need to incorporate management of all their classes. And we will be introducing them to story points.

I believe the experiences my son gained through this project will serve him well as he moves on from high school and into college and beyond. Project-based collaboration is the way business works today. Unfortunately, our schools are not yet rising to the challenge of teaching all of our kids how to be successful in these arenas. Lecture-and-listen, a 19th century approach to education, is still de rigueur. Add the increasing frequency of ADHD and ADD in our children, and our society has bigger problems than you might think.

Fortunately, we're going to give my son, and all our children, the tools needed to succeed. This is a surefire way for them to not just overcome a challenge, but to whip it. Whip it good.

Yeah, I went there.

By the way, if you're interested in reading the articles I mentioned at the start of this blog, you can find them here:

• Using Scrum to Help with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Part One
• Using Scrum to Help with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Part Two

My Amazon GO Store Experience

(This post started as a LinkedIn.com update, but I quickly ran out of character space, so here's my full review).

UPDATE for 2/13/2018:

• I stopped by GO on my way into work and picked up a Blazing Bagels breakfast sandwich and protein fruit drink. Total time in-store: 1:10 min. 

ORIGINAL POST:
On Friday (2/9), I stepped out of my new Belltown office for lunch and an experiment: my goal was to successfully navigate the new Amazon GO store in Seattle and emerge with a meal.

Before going any further, I need to recognize the amount of work that obviously went into getting the venture up and running. Creating the world's first cashier-less store for a non-membership store was clearly no easy feat. All of the Amazon engineers, product managers, and user experience experts should be commended for their great work.

I tackled this experiment wearing my user experience hat, which is a blend of a decade of writing for broadcast news, another 2 decades working in digital, and insights gleaned from various experience experts, not to mention Donald Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things."

The first requirement of using the store is to download the Amazon GO app, for which you need an Amazon account. I subscribe to Prime so all my account information; name, address, purchase history, debit card, etc, is on file with Amazon. The app has a really good primer on what to expect with the experience: launch the app and scan your phone upon entry in the store, take what you want, return what you don't want, don't take objects off the shelves for others, and walk out when you are done. Easy enough.

Amazon stations employees at the entrance to hand out shopping bags. Having not experienced it before, I wondered if the bags were somehow required for the experience. Were they tagged with sensors? No, as it turns out. Just a convenience. Right outside the store was a line of stanchions--not in use that day--which is kind of funny; you may have to wait in line to enter the store that doesn't have checkout lines. This was my first indicator that Seattle has a new tourist destination.

So upon entering the store, I was immediately struck by the number of people who were shooting video and taking pictures, rather than shopping. It reminded me of Times Square in NYC with people spending more time getting a photo than watching where they are walking. The amateur photographers were the second indicator that this is a new tourism "must do" in Seattle.

So, with my phone in one hand and shopping bag in the other, I conducted tour of the store perimeter. This didn't take long because it isn't a big store. But it is new and clean and nice. Think of it as a high-end convenience store. A Better Bodega. A Super 7-11. Or a Half-sized Whole Foods. The offerings include a wide-selection of pre-made sandwiches and meals, alcohol, sides, and various other foods. I went with an Italian Grinder and bag of Half-pops. Along the way, I experimented with removing items from the shelves and returning them to see if the app would show the changes, but nothing ever appeared on the app to indicate that I have made any selections, which led me to wonder if I was doing it correctly. I was, in fact, and had to rely on my memory of the app demo and my own sense of right and wrong to get through this first time. I would recommend an improvement to the app in a future release that displayed customer selections in real-time.

A ceiling of sensors

After wandering the store a little more, I decided to test my comfort with walking out the door without the cash register experience. It was... weird. No alarms went off, expect for what was programmed into my mind through a half-decade of commerce. It was when the French TV news crew approached me outside the store that I suddenly felt like that this was a big Candid Camera joke.

But no joke, they were interviewing all sorts of customers. They did have to show me where to find the record of my transaction in the app. Again, this is a natural opportunity for the app to give me a "transaction complete" alert once I'm free and clear of the store. As it was, the receipt was emailed an hour after my visit. Immediate gratification for acknowledgement of the transaction will be needed for this to really take off.

So if there's a word I would use to describe this experience, it would be "novelty." This is not to denigrate in any way all the work that went into the store, but it introduces a new way to shop that is one-of-a-kind, and it feels very much like a pilot of what could be a larger and more immersive experience.

So how was the lunch? It was OK. I don't think the grinder was made by someone who ever had a real East Coast grinder; a few slices of salami does not a grinder make. But I'm going back again, you can be sure. I'll try other foods and bring friends and family.

What else would you do with a tourist attraction?

The Left and Right News Spectrum

In 1993, I was working as a writer at WCIX in Miami. South Florida was still recovering from Hurricane Andrew's destruction the previous August and there was never a shortage of post-storm stories. South Florida news stations loved any kind of sensational story back then--flash-n-trash always ran at the top of the newscast--but it was a real surprise when the 6pm producer ran a wire story about Stephen Cook accusing Chicago's Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of sexual molestation.

This was the time of repressed memories. Patients would undergo hypnosis and suddenly remember events from their past. Even if that event never happened. This was the case with Cook, who claimed to have a repressed memory uncovered through hypnosis of being molested by Bernardin. Only it never happened.

Cook was encouraged to make accusations against Bernardin by a third party as way to get money from the Church. Only 2 people knew this when the story came out; Cook and the third party.

When the story broke, the WCIX news producer declared that she "hated the Catholic Church" and led the newscast with it: lead story with an edited video segment. Her comment has stayed with me for three decades.

About six weeks later, Cook announced the truth; that he'd lied and Bernardin was innocent. I looked to the producer for her response. It was this: the story would run as a 20-second reader leading into sports and weather. And no regrets for having run the original story.

It was at this point that I lost interest in my news career. It was clear that any sense of objectivity was dead. And being objective was a goal of the highest ideals that we were taught in our college journalism classes.

Funny thing about the idea of journalistic objectivity--it was a marketing ploy publishers in the early 20th century used to sell newspapers. Before this time, newspapers were roundly viewed as subjective publications. You read a newspaper, or pamphlet, because it reinforced your viewpoints on the world. Yellow journalism was the norm and two of the biggest players were Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal.

An example of New York Journal's famous yellow journalism. 

Seems like we are living through a second coming of yellow journalism. Biases lead news judgement and no one is willing to admit they are skewed.

CNN is overwhelmingly liberal and has a justifiable axe to grind against Trump. Fox News is overwhelmingly Trump friendly and ignores 99% of the stories critical to our current Administration. InfoWars isn't news and MSNBC breathlessly delivers every story as melodrama. And I haven't even touched on fake news.

I find its best to keep news sources in rotation, moving among the outlets and compiling truth from various sources. But which ones to trust?

There are a few efforts on the interwebs for scoring the major news outlets on their political biases, but even those evaluations are skewed. What I find most interesting is that NPR is now considered to be fairly mainstream. It used to be far left.

If you want to have your opinions reinforced, then by all means, rely on the sources with whom you agree. If you want to be challenged, read material from the neutral zone of news. Or even the opposing views.

Here are a few sources who have categorized the various news outlets. Not all agree, but they have plenty of similarities.

• Quora: Is there really any non-partisan news sources that don't have such a liberal or conservative "twist"? If so what are they?
• University of Michigan Research: "Fake News," Lies and Propaganda: How to Sort Fact from Fiction
• MarketWatch: How does your favorite news source rate on the ‘truthiness’ scale? Consult this chart

1,250+ of you

More than 1,250 of you took the time to read my blog posting endorsing Byron Shutz, Tanika Padhye, and Jeralee Anderson for Redmond City Council. For those of you who have still yet to vote, I urge you to fill in your ballot and vote today.

Thank you for participating in our community elections!

City Council Candidates for Redmond's Future

(Note: the seat numbers have been updated).

It's time for you to fill out that voter ballot that recently arrived in the mail. The current races for City Council are as exciting and contentious as they've been in the nearly 10 years I've lived in Redmond. Also in that nearly 10 years, I've seen tremendous change in our City, most of which I really like.

It's my observation, from conversations with neighbors and friends, that this election is as much about Redmond's past as it is about the future. So, I'm offering my recommendations for City Council for each of the contested seats. The recommendations are based on talking with you, attending the Education Hill Neighborhood Association Candidate Forum on Oct 5th, reviewing the candidate websites, and reviewing campaign contributions as recorded by the State.

If you have yet to vote and are on the fence, please consider these candidates on your ballots.

Before the recommendations, let me first share a thought with you. There's a poster in my house with a quote I've always loved. It was put to press as part of a change management campaign I ran for a Fortune 100. It's a reminder that no matter how much we want things to stay the same... they never do. The best we can do is be a part of the future.

To the candidates who have committed personal time and money running for City Council, "thank you for getting involved." This is a tough gig. For the challengers inspired by wanting to make a change, I hope--should you win--that the endless hours of time that you will be committing to the City don't weigh you down. And I hope that you are able to stand up to the criticism that is going to be lobbed your way. You know, glass houses and all.

Here are the candidates I am supporting for City Council, and I encourage you to vote the same.

Seat #6: Jerlaee Anderson
Jeralee brings a fresh slate of ideas to the campaign. She wants to improve transportation for Redmond, and do it in a progressive, technology-smart fashion. She supports a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math learning, especially for girls, in private and nonprofit collaboration with the City. She is also an advocate for small business.

I don't know Jeralee, but she has my vote. Please vote for Jeralee Anderson for Seat #2.

Here is Jeralee's website: https://www.jeraleeanderson.com/

Seat #4: Tanika Padhye
Tanika recognizes and promotes what Redmond residents have come to experience: Redmond is the #1 City in Washington. It didn't happen overnight--it occurred because of the families who have lived here for years and the families who are still coming to live here. Tanika is the candidate for all of us, not just some of us.

Tanika was appointed earlier this year to this position as the former member of Council stepped down from duties. She was chosen from a broad slate of candidates. Tanika brings diversity to our Council, in perspective and background. She recognizes that our City has changed significantly, and must hold onto its roots.

On a personal level, I have known the Padhye family for years. They are committed to our community. Please vote for Tanike Padhye for Seat #4.

Here is her website: http://www.tanika4council.com/

Seat #2: Byron Shutz
Byron is a levelheaded and responsible member of City Council. He speaks to the facts and has developed a sound track record of leadership in government, education, and human services.

Byron has given his time to our City and our schools for years, having served on the Lake Washington Schools Foundation before joining City Council. He is deeply involved in our community, serving on the Board of Hopelink, the Redmond Kiwanis, among others. Byron's list of volunteer positions is much longer than I could list here, but visit his website if you want to see all of his community activism.

Byron and I met when he was elected to the City Council and I was with the Redmond Arts and Culture Commission, and I've always enjoyed talking with him at City events. It's my hope that Redmond residents make the right choice and vote for Byron Shutz for Seat #6.

Here is Byron's website: http://www.shutzforcouncil.com/

A final word... about the campaigns running up to this election: I've not been a fan of the tone some campaigns are taking; there have been accusations and claims made without basis. The City Council never debates issues? Baloney. The City won't listen to residents? Nonsense. Candidates are vilifying City Hall and thereby attacking the people who work and volunteer there. These are our friends and neighbors who drive the same streets and shop in the same stores and send their children to the same schools. They deserve more respect than they've been afforded. I urge you to carefully consider rewarding a campaign that engages in this type of behavior.

All of us want a better Redmond. I encourage you to vote for these three candidates to build on the success of our community and move us forward together.

Rob Leavitt is a private citizen and was not compensated for these endorsements. He is former Co-Chair of Cub Scout Pack 591, former President of the Redmond Lacrosse Club, and two-time Chair of the Redmond Arts and Culture Commission. He and his family live on Education Hill in Redmond.