Erica: October 2008 Archives

Check out this breathtaking photo taken by flickr user vmax137. Belltown's sculpture park is hands down one of the best spots in the city to catch a Seattle sunset. Wow.

Construction work to upgrade the north end of Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, including major renovations to the Battery Street Tunnel will be discussed at an open house scheduled for 5:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday Oct. 16) at the Mountaineers Building, 300 Third Ave. W., Seattle. The tunnel work begins this fall and will result in closures on weekday evenings and up to two weekends each month. When completed, the short on- and off-ramps at south end of the tunnel will be closed to general traffic and converted to emergency access ramps.

This evening's meeting will touch on what this means for Belltown as well as information on the "Mercer mess" which no one is quite agreed on yet.

Click here for more info.

Europe is full of community bike share programs, from Barcelona's Bicing to Lyon's Vélo. The environmentally friendly free bike transportation is a fantastic idea. The idea has caught on in only a few cities in the U.S. including Washington D.C. Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina, and Ft. Collins, Colorado. Is Seattle ready for something like this? We consider ourselves one of the greenest cities. We're constantly complaining about the crappy public transportation, s maybe a bike sharing program is just what we need.

An landscape architecture student contacted us at Belltowner and asked what we thought about the idea. Would Belltowners catch on? How green are we really?

Hello Erica,

Zach Pleiss

So, would you be interested in a bike share program?

Last week Belltown's Washington Mutual was robbed by a man police are now referring to as the "Bam-Bam bandit." (Honestly, I thought they only came up with terrible names like that on television shows. I guess not.) It turns out Mr. Bam Bam is suspected of robbing over ten banks in the last month before hitting Belltown. His real name is Brandon White and Kiro news has the video scoop.

There is a $1000 reward for anyone that provides information leading to the Bam Bam Bandit's arrest. Know something? Call 253-591-5959.

Harbor Properties Inc. may pull out of plans to build several new Belltown apartments that were scheduled to be constructed next year. "We are not sure we can attract (investment) capital or financing for the next round of building in 2009," said Harbor CEO Doug Daley.

Harbor's proposed projects encompass nearly 1,000 apartment units sprinkled across the Belltown, West Seattle, Columbia City and the Central District neighborhoods of Seattle. Ouch.

Any Belltowners have real estate hardships of their own during this financial crisis?

We all know how terrible it can be trying to get around the "Mercer mess" which is a total tangle of barriers and blockages. I avoid Mercer at all costs if I can. The dept. of transportation recently proposed widening Mercer between I-5 and Dexter Avenue North to include three travel lanes in both directions. Those lanes would be divided by a median of trees and with left turn lanes at many intersections. Both sides of the street would also feature a lane for parking, a path for bicycles and expanded sidewalks. SDOT believes it will provide a more direct route from I-5 to the Seattle Center, Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard and Magnolia.

Most neighborhoods however, are not too keen on the idea. Will the proposed plan actually work? Representatives of Ballard, Magnolia and Queen Anne, say the project will bring nothing but major inconvenience and traffic congestion.

The Mercer proposal has been controversial since it was first brought up by Greg Nickels in 2002. In fact, a study solicited by the city found that the proposal would actually increase eastbound travel times and would decrease overall capacity.

Many believe the project is pure vanity and completely useless. So the question is, will the project really reduce traffic and better connect neighborhoods? Or will it be a huge chunk of tax dollars spent on simply "beautifying" the neighborhood?

Go girl! This isn't something you see every day. The P-I's fashion section has the scoop on a girl only 19 years of age who plans to open a swanky Belltown fashion boutique by November. Brittany Sheft will call her boutique "Strut" and plans on selling hard to find items from Las Vegas to New York, giving shoppers a unique experience.

"I'm just really passionate about getting dressed. When I get dressed it's an art," says Brittany. "We're always looking for new styles. Seattle is kind of behind in fashion. Since we don't really have anywhere to shop here, and I'm so passionate about fashion, why not bring it here?"

Click here for more info on Strut.

I could have seen this one coming. Every time I walked past the "Zaina hookah bar" I scratched my head and wondered why I was seeing a hookah bar when smoking is illegal in bars in Washington. Apparently the owners didn't fear the no-smoking law.

Eventually a lawsuit was filed last week after several complaints from the public and warnings had failed to halt the smoking. The lawsuit asks to fine Zaina $100 a day until they comply with the law, which prohibits smoking and requires placement of signs advising customers of the ban.

"If I lose the hookah business, I'm out. I'm broke," says Shaher Abuelkhair, owner of Zaina. "I have kids. I have a mortgage. I have a lease. I can't just stop."

It's too bad, I feel for the guy, but the law is the law. He was pretty much asking for trouble don't you think?

On Saturday around noon, a man walked into Washington Mutual's Belltown branch and handed a note to the teller demanding money by claiming he had a bomb. He escaped by foot following the robbery. Police think the suspect may be guilty of robbing another bank using the same method recently. Luckily no one was hurt.

Poor WaMu, they just can't seem to catch a break.

Karaoke meets cinema making for a pleasant evening of "Cineroke!" Pick a song from your favorite movie musical and the scene is projected on the screen. Sounds pretty fun to me. Nothing like a little Yentl and some beer!

Cineroke is October 13 from 7 to 10pm and is $5. For more info click here.

This painting of Jesus with gun has appeared on a wall in Belltown...

Interesting.

The old Lampreia on 1st and Battery is for sale. For only $350000 you could have your very own high visibility restaurant in the heart of Belltown's restaurant area.

Perhaps this is a good new space for the new McLeod Residence? Hey, you could lay down a pretty swanky dance floor in that space...

We received an important message from the Friends of Seattle Public Library blog for all Belltowners:

Dear Belltowners,

The Friends are asking for support from the public to let City Council members know how important the library is. People can write letters, send emails, or best of all attend the Council meetings. We put out a call for support last year and it made a big difference.

Love your library! Click here for more details on how you can make a difference.

This photo of a pile of rat traps in an alley behind First Avenue between Bell and Blanchard was posted on Belltown Messenger's flickr pool.

Eek.

Huge bummer! Belltown's swanky, hipster bar/gallery The McLeod Residence is shutting down on Oct. 31 due to failure to comply with fire codes. "We didn't know that much about owning a business and didn't look into it before we signed our lease. Somebody with experience would have had an architect look at the place." say the owners referring to the building not being up to code for the kind of business they have.

Shucks! It's sad to see them go as McLeod has proven to be a great addition to the Belltown nightlife scene. There is still hope yet however, word is they're looking for a new location. Maybe they should rent the space where the old Apartment bistro used to be??

This is totally for real, although I can hardly believe it myself. You may recall seeing the Super Bowl halftime alternative television special called the Lingerie Bowl, which showed models dressed in lingerie battling against each other in a football match. The event was so successful that they have now expanded into ten teams. The "Lingerie football league's" new teams are: The Los Angeles Temptation, Phoenix Scorch, San Diego Seduction, Dallas Desire, New England Euphoria, Chicago Bliss, Atlanta Steam, Miami Caliente, Tampa Breeze, and *drum roll please* the Seattle Mist!

The season kicks off in fall of Sept. 2009 and will be aired on cable tv. Apparently 50 women showed up last week to try out for Seattle's team, out of which only 12 made it. Although the LFL's founder hasn't secured an arena, sponsorship or front-office staff, he claims former Seahawks have contacted him about coaching. Click here to check out the official website.

As you may remember us mentioning before, there was talk of a proposed law to make it easier for restaurants to attain permits to add outdoor dining patios. Everyone I talked to about it seemed very pleased. Outdoor dining = fun. Am I right? Well it seems the Seattle Community Council Federation doesn't seem to agree. The Council, which is made up of neighborhood activists, is voicing their concerns that the cafe proposal won't protect pedestrians. There are complaints as it is about the tree growing in the middle of the sidewalk outside of Shorty's on 2nd, and that if more cafe's are added to Belltown, pedestrians will have to "weave" even more than they do now.

I'm a little irritated with these concerns. It's not like restaurants would build the dining patios smack dab in the center of sidewalks. Come on. People "weave" around the cafe filled streets of Europe all the time, and they seem to be doing just fine.

I think this is turning into a bigger deal than it needs to be. Sidewalk cafes add flair and personality to a city and encourage people to get out more and mingle.

Click here for more information on "The Great Sidewalk Debate."

The Pacific Science Center is having a very special after hour event on Oct. 16 from 7 to 10pm. "Science with a Twist" will be an evening of celebrating the arrival of Lucy, the world's most famous fossil, followed by cocktails and cuisine from Lucy's homeland, Ethiopia. At the end of the evening guests will have the opportunity to meet expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro, and enjoy the IMAX film Mystery Of The Nile, which documents Scaturro's famous descent from the Blue Nile to the sea.

Purchase your tickets to this limited event by clicking here.

The City Council is delaying the vote for Seattle's new proposed streetcars. Councilwoman Sally Clark calls streetcars "a useful part of the whole transportation system." But after she scheduled a vote on her resolution in the council's Transportation Committee Tuesday City Councilwoman Jan Drago called off a vote, delaying it until later this year as a new round of questions was raised. This may put off voting for the 4 streetcar lines that would cost an estimated $685 million until after the November election.

While some neighborhoods seem keen on the idea, The Belltown Business Association is happy with just Metro service, much of it in the free zone anyway, so why would we want a streetcar that would charge fares?

I agree that things seem to be working just fine with the Metro service. What do you think?

Two Seattle bike cops busted a crack dealer with two warrants on Sunday night on the southeast corner of 3rd and Bell. The officers approached a group of people when they noticed they were huddled at a bus stop obviously taking part in a drug deal.

One of the men who first falsely identified himself, was later revealed to have two warrants as well as a glass crack pipe in his pocket.

"Criminals call us ghosts," one of the bike officers said, because they look up and bike cops who weren't there seconds ago are looking back at them. "We're right there."

Let's just hope we start to see more and more "ghosts" in the neighborhood.