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Kemper Freeman

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Kemper Freeman
Member of the Washington House of Representatives
from the 48th district
In office
January 8, 1973 – December 31, 1976
Preceded byJohn D. Jones
Succeeded byPaul Sanders
Personal details
Born
Frederick Kemper Freeman Jr.

(1941-10-23) October 23, 1941 (age 83)
Political partyindependent party (United States)
SpouseBetty Austin
ChildrenAmy Schreck and Suzanne McQuaid
Parent(s)Frederick Kemper Freeman Sr. and Clotilde Freeman (née Duryee)
Alma materBellevue High School
ProfessionReal estate developer
Known forKemper Development Company

Frederick Kemper Freeman Jr. (born October 23, 1941)[1] is the active chairman and CEO of Kemper Development Company,[2] which built and operates Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, and Lincoln Square, all located in Bellevue, Washington. Kemper represents the third generation of the Freeman family, who have been involved in the growth of the Bellevue community since 1897.[3] He is a former Republican member of the Washington State House of Representatives from the 48th district[4] and publicly active in conversations about traffic and transportation in Bellevue.[5]

Freeman family

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Kemper Freeman Jr. is a third-generation resident of Bellevue, Washington. His grandfather, Miller Freeman, was active in state politics and public affairs, including promoting the development of a bridge connecting Seattle, Mercer Island, and Bellevue,[3] and acting as a driving force in anti-Japanese discrimination, agitating for what he called a "white man's Pacific coast".[6][7] Beginning in 1907,[7] Miller Freeman was a prominent voice calling for the segregation or deportation of Japanese immigrants, whom he saw as a threat to white prosperity.[8] He founded the Anti-Japanese League of Washington in 1916 and was a vocal proponent for the state's 1921 alien land laws, the 1924 Immigration Act, and the 1942 incarceration of American citizens of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps during World War II.[6]

Freeman Jr.'s father, Frederick Kemper Freeman Sr., led the development of what is now Bellevue Square, which opened in 1946.[9] He also was involved in building Bellevue's first hospital, Overlake Hospital Medical Center.[3] Kemper Freeman Jr. was born on October 23, 1941.[1] He married Betty Austin in 1965 and has two daughters, Amy Schreck and Suzanne McQuaid.[10]

Career

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In 1973, Freeman Jr. was appointed to a vacant seat in the Washington State House of Representatives as a Republican representing the 48th district. After serving for three years, he resigned from the seat to focus on his business in building and development.[11] He then began working full-time on the expansion and enclosure of Bellevue Square with his father, which re-opened in 1981. In early-1980, Freeman Jr. founded the Kemper Development Company,[1] which has overseen the continued expansion of Bellevue Square as well as development of:

  • Bellevue Place, a mixed use property that opened in 1988, housing office space, retail, dining options, and the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.[12]
  • Lincoln Square, which opened in 2005 with condominiums, a movie theater, a bowling alley, restaurants, retail, office space, and the Westin Bellevue.[9]

In total, the three properties (Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, Lincoln Square) makeup the Bellevue Collection, covering approximately 50 acres of land in downtown Bellevue.[3] In 2016, Bloomberg reported all of Freeman's holdings had a worth of "about $2 billion" of which Freeman and his two daughters owned a majority stake.[13]

Political involvement

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Freeman Jr. often speaks out against mass transit. In 1995 and 1996, Freeman Jr. led a campaign opposing the creation of a regional transit authority which later became Sound Transit, arguing "the automobile has won".[14][15] In 2004 and 2008, Freeman backed state initiatives to convert HOV lanes and bus lanes to general traffic.[16][17][18][19]

Freeman has been a consistent opponent of Sound Transit's light rail plans. In 2002, the Freeman-backed group Sane Transit sued Sound Transit after the 1 Line was reduced in scope, alleging that a reduction in project scope required the agency to put the issue to another public vote.[20][21][22] In 2008, Freeman campaigned against the plan to bring light rail to downtown Bellevue,[23] and backed city council candidates in an effort to route the new light rail line alongside the I-405 freeway, away from population centers.[24] Freeman sued Sound Transit in 2009, arguing that the use of the I-90 HOV lanes for light rail was illegal. The suit was ultimately rejected after being appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court.[25][26] In 2011, Freeman supported Tim Eyman's Initiative 1125, a proposed tolling measure containing a subtle clause prohibiting any "non-highway purpose" for I-90.[27][28] In 2016, Freeman spent $210,000 in opposition to Sound Transit 3, making up two-thirds of the nearly $316,000 donated to the "No on ST3" campaign.[29] Freeman called the plan a "major calamity", criticizing the plan's timeline, cost, and scope.[30]

Freeman's motivations stem from a belief that cars provide significantly more personal freedom than transit. He believes that socialist nations have failed in part due to their reliance on public transportation.[31] Critics have accused him of being motivated by classism, arguing that a 2005 comment about the Southcenter mall indicates his disdain for those who can't afford to shop at Bellevue Square: "When you walk through the [Southcenter] mall, the way the customer dresses just to shop there — the light blue and pink hair curlers, the shoes that flop, flop, flop along — it’s a completely different customer," said Freeman. "Yet we are 12 miles apart."[32][33]

Community involvement

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Freeman Jr. holds leadership appointments in several community and economic development organizations in the Bellevue area, including:

  • Co-chair of the capital campaign[34] and member of the Executive Committee for the Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE), a series of five venues under construction in Bellevue that will feature theater, dance, and music when complete.[35] The land for PACE was donated by Freeman Jr., who has also made a joint commitment with Microsoft to provide additional funding.[3]
  • Trustee for Overlake Hospital Medical Center[2]
  • Former Board Member of Bellevue LifeSpring, formerly Overlake Service League[36]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Executive Profile: Kemper Freeman Jr". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Bloomberg. Retrieved December 26, 2012.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d e Stang, John (June 2012). "Cover Story: Kemper Freeman Jr". Seattle Business Magazine. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  3. ^ Hoemann, Thomas A. "State of Washington: Members of the Legislature, 1889 ñ 2009" (PDF). State of Washington: Members of the Legislature. State of Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Lang Jones, Jeanne (February 10, 2012). "Retail mogul Kemper Freeman talks shop". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Vansynghel, Margo (March 17, 2020). "Bellevue's anti-Japanese history 'censored' at city-run arts festival, artists say". Crosscut.com. Cascade Public Media.
  6. ^ a b David Neiwert (January 20, 2016). Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. Taylor & Francis. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-317-26060-8.
  7. ^ "Deport Japanese". Seattle Star. July 26, 1919. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Brodsky, Sascha (December 2005). "Kemper's Lincoln Square Adds to Seattle Suburb". Shopping Centers Today. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  9. ^ Long, Katherine (May 1, 2010). "Kemper Freeman is suing to stop light-rail expansion to Eastside". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  10. ^ Lindblom, Mike (May 15, 2002). "Kemper Freeman Jr.: Bellevue's man on the move". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  11. ^ Park, Clayton (June 16, 1996). "Glitzy remake for Bellevue Place". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  12. ^ Metcalf, Tom (November 29, 2016). "A Billionaire Real Estate Mogul Can't Find Love in Hillaryland". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  13. ^ Schaefer, David; Murakami, Kery (March 15, 1995). "Transit plan derailed: Pierce, Snohomish county voters say no to $6.7 billion proposal". The Seattle Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  14. ^ Schaefer, David; Ervin, Keith (March 6, 1995). "A long road to opposition: Kemper Freeman Jr. vs. the RTA". The Seattle Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  15. ^ Pryne, Eric (February 3, 2004). "Voters may decide on opening Washington HOV lanes". The Seattle Times. pp. B4. Archived from the original on November 22, 2004.
  16. ^ "Initiative 883" (PDF). WA Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2024. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  17. ^ Villeneuve, Andrew (June 16, 2008). "Eyman makes appointment to turn in signatures for I-985". Cascadia Advocate. Northwest Progressive Institute. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  18. ^ "State of Washington Voter's Pamphlet" (PDF). Washington Secretary of State. November 4, 2008. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2024. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  19. ^ Dudley, Brier (October 8, 2000). "Who's in the fight against light rail". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  20. ^ Cohen, Josh (November 28, 2007). "Sound Transit (King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties)". HistoryLink. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  21. ^ Sane Transit v. Sound Transit, 151 Wn.2d 60, 64 (The Supreme Court of Washington March 4, 2004) ("After the voters rejected Sound Transit's 1995 proposal for a $6.9 billion, 16-year regional transit plan, Sound Transit promulgated a second, less ambitious plan in May 1996.").
  22. ^ "Group forms to fight light rail". The Seattle Times. June 7, 2007. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  23. ^ Barnett, Erica C. (September 15, 2009). "Freeman Backs Anti-Light Rail Slate on Eastside". PubliCola. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  24. ^ Lindblom, Mike (March 9, 2012). "Kemper Freeman loses latest bid to stop light rail over I-90 bridge". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  25. ^ "State Supreme Court: Light rail OK on I-90 bridge | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News". Archived from the original on September 15, 2013.
  26. ^ Westneat, Danny (October 25, 2011). "Eyman's secret war on light rail". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012.
  27. ^ Sanders, Eli (October 26, 2011). "Kemper Freeman's Road Rage". The Stranger. Archived from the original on February 9, 2024. Retrieved February 13, 2024. Freeman became a generous patron for initiative peddler Tim Eyman, giving Eyman $1.1 million to run this fall's Initiative 1125. That $1.1 million constitutes about 90 percent of all the money behind the measure, which purports to be about limiting the state's tolling authority, and does contain a lot of language about tolls, but also contains fine print intended to halt light rail to Bellevue.
  28. ^ Lindblom, Mike (October 23, 2016). "Millions spent on Sound Transit 3 campaign — by those who would benefit". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  29. ^ Moreno, Amy (September 12, 2016). "Developer: ST3 is 'a major calamity'". KING 5 News. Archived from the original on October 16, 2016.
  30. ^ Barnett, Erica C. (June 11, 2007). "Freeman: Transit Proponents Are Socialists, Terrorists". The Stranger. Archived from the original on June 20, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  31. ^ Large, Jerry (April 24, 2005). "Southcenter comments draw wrath of readers". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  32. ^ Goldstein, David (January 29, 2010). "Presumption Junction: where light rail intersects with Kemper Freeman's shameful family history". horsesass.org. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  33. ^ "Tateuchi Center Campaign Co-Chairs" (PDF). Tateuchi Center: A King County Cultural Asset. King County, Washington Government. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  34. ^ "Who we are-PACE". Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  35. ^ Staff (March 27, 2010). "Overlake Service League names 8 to Advisory Council". Bellevue Reporter. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
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