Kemper Freeman (1910-1982), developer of Bellevue Square (the venue for the fair) and a member of the fair's board of directors, claimed.
Kemper Freeman is chairman and CEO of Kemper Development Company, the owner/developer of Bellevue Square Shopping Center and the mixed-use projects Bellevue....
Kemper Freeman quits Bellevue business group his father founded
Kemper Freeman, a member of the Bellevue Downtown Association (BDA) for more than 30 years and whose father was one of the founders of the group, has quit the nonprofit, citing differences in opinion over the direction the agency is going, particularly over its endorsement of light rail.
Freeman&#;s departure leaves a handful of members of the Bellevue old guard &#; property-owning businessmen responsible for shaping the city&#;s early development.
Now the BDA membership is increasingly diversified, with architects, CPAs, retailers of all sizes and representatives &#; if not the owners &#; of out-of-state investors among the ranks.
Freeman, 69, a vigorous opponent of the plan to bring light rail to the city, has been at odds with the BDA over its light-rail support.
But he said his decision to withdraw, which he announced in mid-January, was not a &#;campaign of any kind or a personal vendetta&#; and his departure