Blogs, Seattle IAM: Mariner Trades Nothing to Write Home About, Tacoma's Historic Appeal Threatened


by ANDREW RIDEOUT - Date: 2007-12-13 - Word Count: 934 Share This!

This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from SeattleIAM where you will find the best blogs from Seattle, Washington as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Plans for Tacoma Hotel Don't Impress Landmark Preservation Commission

Blogging for Biz Buzz, John Gillie maintains that if "Tacoma's downtown Brewery District is to become the home of a new 160-room hotel... it will take a creative architect, a flexible owner and some out-of-the-box thinking from preservationists to get the job done." At least that was the message that came across during an exchange last night between Tacoma's Landmarks Preservation Commission and the developer and owners of the new hotel, which will replace the former Columbia-Heidelberg Brewery. The developers and owners want to "demolish the brewery's oldest buildings on the northern two-thirds of the brewery block." The '50s addition is under other ownership and will stay for now.

"Hotel Concepts of Seattle rolled out its embryonic plans for a 7-or-8-story Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express," reports Gillie in his blog, and the commission members were not impressed. One said the drawing "reminded him too much of a typical freeway hotel." In order to gain the commission's favor, the hotel will have to "blend with the scale and massing of the brewery area and the nearby historic district... be designed with a facade appropriate to its historic setting... [and] possibly incorporate some of the iconic features of the brewery." The developers said they need a budget that allows it to charge their typical modest rates and to comply "with the design restrictions of the hotel chain."

Little Progress in Mariner Trading

Dave over at U.S.S. Mariner talks Mariner trades in a recent post. "Yesterday was the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players or let them become free agents," he writes, and the Mariners have decided Ben Broussard doesn't fit their 2008 plans. "The Rangers stepped in and gave them a C- prospect so that they wouldn't have to bid for him as a free agent." The M's get Tim Hulett back in trade for a backup infielder if he continues to develop. "Hulett's lack of a future isn't any kind of indictment on the M's trading abilities," says our blogger, "there just wasn't much of a market for Broussard."

According to the post, the M's "decided to keep Horacio Ramirez, apparently believing their own lies that he was just confused and poorly coached last year." Our blogger wonders what it will take for them to learn how to evaluate their pitching talent. "Horacio Ramirez is a Triple-A arm, and that should be pretty obvious to anyone who watches baseball with even a casual eye." The can't have any idea what makes a good pitcher if they're willing to "give a replacement level pitcher millions of dollars to try to resurrect some potential he's never had."

County Saves Mobile Home Community

Rick Anderson at the Daily Weekly announces some good news "amid the turmoil of today's housing costs and scenes of mud-crushed houses." Wonderland Estates, a 109-slab Renton mobile home community that has been facing closure for almost two years was bought yesterday by the King County Housing Authority. This move not only preserves homes, it possibly saves lives. According to residents, "the fear of moving... led to the death of at least one elderly resident." Some of the other residents were "offering to give away their mobile homes to any takers."

Anderson reports in his post that residents were leaving their properties or selling for ridiculously low prices, and many had nowhere to go. Swannee Rivers, of nearby New Life Church, said she and others were "trying to help residents save the 12 acres of low-income housing." The community pulled together and "raised money with pancake breakfasts," then went looking for help. Wonderland owner Robert Eichler, who originally wanted $12 million for it, agreed to take $8.5 million from King County.

Sound Transit Picks up Legislature's Mess

Josh Feit, writing for the Stranger's SLOG agrees with Sound Transit when they say the legislature owes them. During the Prop 1 debate, we were told that it was our "last chance to get light rail." If we voted it down, "we'd upend Sound Transit and the agency's planners, engineers, and bureaucracy would simply vanish." The Stranger recommended rejecting the $17.8 billion package (which included 182 miles of new roads) because "if we turn roads and transit down, the invaluable transit side of the package can come back next year... and Sound Transit is already building a $5.7 billion line that will demand expansion in its own right."

The Sound Transit board is meeting today to "decide on its course." The question will be whether they should "push for a light rail vote in 2008 or 2010." They will not push in 2009 because it's an "off-year election, and they want the big Democratic turnout." Sound Transit "went along with the moronic marriage" the legislature forced on them. They thought combining the light rail package with the roads package with "neutralize" opposition. Instead it compounded it. Now, Olympia owes Sound Transit for that idiotic move.

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SeattleIAM is part of a groundbreaking network of city-focused blog aggregation, user generated media and social networking websites currently rolling out across North America. Each IAM website filters and organizes blog content as well as offering video upload capabilities, social networking, blog authoring, favourites lists and rumours. The IAM Network is a division of SoMedia Networks Inc which also operates Inveslogic.com, Greenedia.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com. For more information or to register an account, visit SeattleIAM.com.


Related Tags: seattle mariners, seattle blogs, seattle bloggers, seattle news, prop 1, tacoma landmark preservation, wonderland estates, sound transit

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