The Queen Anne News and Magnolia News chronicled a multitude of subjects in 2003: transportation battle plans, brutal crime, profiles of prominent people, accomplishments, passings and some downright quirky stuff. Here's a selection of some of the coverage.
Riding the rail
The Seattle Monorail Project was the subject of numerous, sometimes weekly stories in 2003 because of its impacts on Magnolia, Interbay and Queen Anne.
Nearby businesses were concerned about plans for a monorail station near West Dravus Street and 16th Avenue West. Options includ-ed demolishing Chuck Dagg's State Farm Insurance office and adjoining businesses on the east side of 16th, or part of the QFC parking lot across the street. The latest recommendation goes for the grocery store lot.
As noted in the News last week, the Northwest Center will have to move to make room for a maintenance yard and operations center for the monorail.
A monorail station is planned on Elliott Avenue West near the F-5 and Clear Channel buildings, but a set of private developers lobbied and lobbied hard for including a station on 15th Avenue North, north of the Magnolia Bridge.
The developers want to build a retail center and were counting on a monorail station as a source of customers. The Monorail Project's response: maybe later.
The big issue has been choosing a route around or through the Seattle Center. One Reel, which produces Bumbershoot, and some Seattle City Council members have lined up against a cross-campus route. However, Seattle Center officials, neighborhood activists, monorail planners and practically everyone else favors the cross-center route.
WAR AND PEACE
Protesting the War in Iraq, the War on Terrorism and the Bush White House, the Magnolia Peace Project and Queen Anne Neighbors for Peace found a generally receptive audience in the two neighborhoods.
An anti-Bush rally was staged in Myrtle Edwards Park a day after the president visited Hunts Point for a fundraiser. One Queen Anne protester said it didn't matter that Bush was no longer in the state because his brief visit to the Northwest helped energize the opposition, many of whom carried "Impeach Bush" signs.
INDIAN WIN
A simmering, often-heated controversy over building a People's Lodge in Discovery Park was finally resolved in 2003 after more than a decade of land-use rulings, court cases and neighborhood wrangling.
The United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, which has a long-term lease for land in the park, originally proposed building a 148,000-square-foot lodge near the existing UIATF-run Daybreak Star Center.
Based on mediation efforts, an agreement signed by Parks and Recreation, neighborhood groups and the Indians clears the way for a scaled-back, three-building complex. Money for the $42.5 million project still needs to be raised.
HITTING THE ROADS
Last year saw a whole slew of new proposals for fixing the Mer-cer Mess. Joining a lengthy list of fixes proposed over the years, the latest set is linked to replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
The Viaduct project itself has sparked concerns among many because of the poten-tial effect on mobility along Elliott and 15th avenues. Stay tuned.
BRIDGEWORK
Plans for replacing the Magnolia Bridge caused a furor among many neighborhood residents early last year when it was revealed that one of the alternatives would have traveled along the waterfront on the southern edge of Magnolia.
The proposal, which was later dropped, would have wiped out several pricey waterfront residences, and just the threat of development lowered property values by 20 percent, one homeowner complained. Interbay P-Patchers were also peeved because one alternative for the bridge replacement would wipe out part of the community garden and parking lot.
CROSSINGS
A pedestrian overpass that crosses Aurora Avenue at Galer Street was begun this year and is nearing completion. The plan had been a pet project of State Senator and Queen Anne resident Jeanne Kohl-Welles since the early 1990s.
Work on the Helix project's pedestrian overpass at West Prospect and 15th Avenue West was also begun this year and is nearing completion. The $10 million overpass is modeled after the DNA molecule.
The at-grade Galer crossing that goes across the railroad tracks on 15th was closed last year after many delays. Closing the dangerous stretch of road was called for when the Galer Street overpass was completed a couple of years earlier.
New safety features were added to a dangerous crosswalk on 32nd Avenue West near the Pop Mounger Pool. The change came about be-cause of efforts by a neighborhood parent group calling themselves MOMSS (Making Our Magnolia Streets Safer).
People profiles
Bryce Seidl, a former lumber-company executive with a science and arts background, has taken over as the new executive director at the Pacific Science Center. He plans to continue the educational mission of the center, but Seidl also wants to shift the organization's business focus to include more fundraising.
Art Van der Wel, a longtime and some-times-controversial real-estate powerhouse, was named Businessperson of the Year by the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce. His willingness to work behind the scenes and tackle any project were listed as a couple of reasons he was selected for the honor.
Chris Bihary, a neighborhood activist and longtime owner of Queen Anne Office Supply, spearheaded the annual Queen Anne cleanup day. In addition, his is one of the few independent office-supply stores left in Seattle.
John Coney, Queen Anne activist and transportation wonk, is a member of both the community council and the Uptown Alliance. He has closely followed and commented on planning for the monorail and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but Coney's career actually started as a producer during the early days of public television in San Francisco. He also worked for KCTS-TV in Seattle and has won numerous awards.
Paige Miller, Queen Anne resident and former neighborhood activist, is one of two women serving on the Port of Seattle Commission. The part-time job lasts 12 hours on some days.
MURDER MOST FOUL
A suspect was finally arrested for the 1982 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Magnolia. Using a DNA sample obtained by a ruse, Seattle cold-case detectives identified John Nicolas Athan as the allleged killer of Kristen Sumstad.
Athan, a suspect early on in the case, was arrested in New Jersey, where he had been living. But he was 14 and a Magnolia resident when Sumstad was killed and dumped in a cardboard box behind a drycleaners on 34th Avenue West. Athan's case is pending.
John Jasmer, a 16-year-old Queen Anne resident, was allegedly murdered in Marysville in 2003 by two Roosevelt High School football teammates. The murder was in revenge for the alleged rape of one of the suspect's girlfriend, according to police. The case is pending, and the 16- and 17-year-old suspects will be tried as adults.
A 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl are facing charges in the Capitol Hill murder of another 17-year-old girl whose body was dumped in Discovery Park. The man claimed in court documents the teenager killed the other girl, and he blames jealousy sparked by a love triangle. The case is pending.
VEGGIE PARADISE
A farmers market set up shop for the first time last summer in Magnolia in the parking lot at Blaine School. It was a retail addition welcomed by neighborhood organizations, shoppers and a whole bunch of independent farmers.
For the birds
The Heron Habitat Helpers and the group's co-leaders Heidi Carpine and Donna Kostka were featured in a profile and numerous articles in 2003. The Helpers have sought to protect a rookery of great blue herons in Kiwanis Ravine just to the east of Discovery Park. The efforts have included working with developers of housing projects along the ravine to make sure construction work and the final structures don't spook the skittish birds.
The Helpers have also spearheaded efforts to preserve Kiwanis Ravine by removing invasive plant species and planting native species.
LIGHTING THE WAY
The 1881 West Point Light Station at the western tip of Discovery Park came up for grabs last year, setting off a scramble by numerous groups and organizations to claim the surplussed property.
A Korean Church on the Eastside was one of the applicants. So was Seattle Parks and Recreation, which was accused of having an inside track on the deal and a history of poor care of the buildings it already oversees in the Magnolia park.
A Department of Interior decision on who will take over the lighthouse has been delayed while the feds try to craft an appeals process for applicants who don't get chosen to take over surplus lighthouses.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Unknown vandals trashed a $4,000 redwood sign welcoming people to Queen Anne. The sign was part of a neighborhood-matching program to spruce up the area of northeast Queen Anne near the Aurora Bridge.
It took two tries, but the vandals completely destroyed the sign, and there are no plans to replace it because of a lack of money.
LIGHT FINGERS IN LITTLE LEAGUE
Kyle Heinrich, former U.W. football star and Magnolia Little League president, was accused of embezzling around $80,000 from the organization. The money was returned after the Little League board went to police, and the organization declined to prosecute for the alleged theft.
DRUNKEN JUSTICE
Magnolia resident and State Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge was arrested for drunk driving and hit and run after she allegedly drank too much at a fundraiser on Queen Anne Hill and sideswiped a pickup truck in Magnolia on her way home.
She is currently undergoing treatment for alcoholism in a court-ordered diversionary program.
SCHOOL SOLD
The Seattle School District finally unloaded the long-vacant Briarcliff Elementary School in Magnolia. Lexington Development in Bellevue paid $7.3 million for the 4 1/2-acre site, and the company plans to build luxury homes there.
School fixed
Coe Elementary School reopened on Queen following a major remodel that had to be done twice because of a fire that destroyed the 1907 building half way through the project.
SCHOOLS SUED
Headed by Magnolia resident Kath-leen Brose, Parents Involved in Public Schools lost a round in court over the issue of using race as a tiebreaker in Seattle school assignments. PICS sued the Seattle School District in 2000 to prevent race being used as a factor in school assignments based, in part, on Initiative 200, which prohibits preferential treatment because of race, gender or ethnicity. A U.S. District Court ruled against PICS, which appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which overturned the District Court last summer. But the Ninth Circuit subsequently changed its mind and sent the case to the State Supreme Court, where it's currently being argued.
PASSINGS
Dick Rhodes, founder of the Queen Anne Thriftway grocery-store chain, died at 77. He was largely responsible for setting up the Queen Anne and Magnolia Helplines and was known for being an innovative businessman.
Ray Moore, former state senator and Queen Anne resident, died at 91. A consummate politician who started out as a Republican, he later became a Democrat, but resigned his seat after revelations he lived part of the year in Hawaii.
D.C. POLITICS
In an exclusive interview, U.S. Representative and part-time Queen Anne resident Jim McDermott railed against the Iraq War, President George Bush and the politics of fear in the White House.
POTTY POLITICS
A Parks plan for placing a portable potty in Parsons Garden prompted pro-tests in Queen Anne for a second year. It ended up in an alley next to the park.
PARK POLITICS
King County and the city teamed up to spend $6 million for the purchase of land in Smith Cove Park. The coun-ty's contribution of $4 million is based on the property being used mostly for ballfields, but there have been numerous complaints about the restriction.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Finding a place to park in Magnolia Village was an issue in 2003, and many neighborhood residents favored adding angle parking to the neighborhood retail center. It was unclear when that might happen. Plans are also underway to beautify the area by relocating overhead power and telephone lines underground, and by taking an artistic gateway approach to link the Village to the playfields and playground near Catherine Blaine School.
HUGS IN INTERBAY
Interbay-based entrepreneurs Sean Pinkerton and Jay Craig found investors to finance the mass production of Huggy Jesus dolls. Inspired by a vision in a Ballard church, the bearded and robed plush dolls have made national and international news.
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