Cougar Mountain, Duthie Hill parks projects proceed
June 23, 2011
NEW — 8 a.m. June 23, 2011
Improvements to King County and state recreation lands near Issaquah inched ahead Wednesday, as conservation officials outlined plans to spend $42 million for projects statewide.
The plan from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office includes funding for projects on Cougar and Tiger mountains, in Duthie Hill Park and along the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
State legislators approved funding for the projects in a last-minute push as a special session ended in late May. The agencies proposing the projects promised matching funds to complete construction.
The state Recreation and Conservation Office presented a complete list of projects at a hearing in Olympia on Wednesday.
Cougar Mountain is ‘gnarliest’ for trail running novices
June 22, 2011
NEW — 5 p.m. June 22, 2011
Outdoors NW magazine named the popular Cougar Mountain Trail Running Series as No. 1 for novice runners in the inaugural Gnarliest Trail Running Event Awards.
The magazine announced the awards Wednesday. Magazine staffers combed through information about dozens of trail races in the Pacific Northwest to determine the nastiest, gnarliest, toughest and best races.
The magazine ranked the Orcas Island 25K/50K, due to the event’s stunning views of the San Juan Islands, Olympic and Cascade mountains; a heart-pounding single-track course up and down Mount Constitution and the all-weekend race party on the island, including a post-race keg and live music.
City raises Southeast Issaquah-Fall City Road speed limit
June 22, 2011
NEW — 2 p.m. June 22, 2011
Motorists no longer need to clamp down so hard on the brake on a steep section of Southeast Issaquah-Fall City Road.
On Monday, City Council members raised the speed limit from 35 mph to 40 mph on a section from East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast to the eastern city limits near the 238th Avenue Southeast intersection. The faster speed limit goes into effect Saturday.
City crews plan to post signs featuring the 40 mph limit along the affected roadway. The sign replacement should cost about $350.
Before the decision, planners commissioned a traffic engineering study for Southeast Issaquah-Fall City Road between East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast and Southeast Black Nugget Road, and between Southeast Black Nugget Road and Southeast Issaquah-Pine Lake Road to determine whether a 35 mph speed limit remained appropriate.
Harlem Globetrotters draft Beaver Lake basketball phenom
June 22, 2011
NEW — 2 p.m. June 22, 2011
Jordan McCabe, the basketball-handling phenom from Beaver Lake Middle School, was drafted by the Harlem Globetrotters on Tuesday, according to his family and a press release from the team.
He was among six players selected as part of the team’s 2011 draft class. Other players included 2011 College Slam Dunk Champion Jacob Tucker, and 2011 College 3-point Champion Andrew Goudelock, the press release said.
Jordan’s selection was unique because the Globetrotters exercised its special “future discovery clause.” That means the team obtains the rights to sign McCabe once he graduates from college.
Issaquah family bids bittersweet goodbye to business
June 22, 2011
NEW — 8 a.m. June 22, 2011
Goodfellas Sandwich Shop, a decade-old gathering spot for Issaquah High School sports teams and office workers on lunch breaks, is due to close Friday after owners Steve and Melinda Sanelli stack the last sandwiches.
Steve Sanelli, a longtime South Cove resident and Issaquah High assistant baseball coach, said business is good, but the impending closure stems from a disagreement between the eatery and the building owner.
“It would be one thing if I was failing in business and we had to close,” he said. “This is something that’s not my choice.”
For Sanelli and other family members, the closure is about more than the bottom line.
Swedish’s Issaquah Highlands hospital is ‘green’ by design
June 21, 2011
Facility is built to lessen impact on environment
The highlands hospital campus features a 6,000-square-foot landscaped rooftop deck — a ‘green’ feature meant to improve aesthetics and patient wellness. By Aaron Blank
In health care, physicians pledge to do no harm.
The oath applies to the environment as much as to patients at the Swedish Medical Center campus about to open in the Issaquah Highlands. Cutting energy use is a challenge, because a hospital is always on and medical equipment gulps energy. The result: Hospitals rank near the top among industrial energy users.
Issaquah-based King County Library System is named No. 1
June 21, 2011
The top library system in the United States is headquartered in Issaquah.
Moreover, strong circulation at the Issaquah and Sammamish libraries — and others across the 46-library system — helped earn the King County Library System the Library of the Year title from Library Journal magazine and Gale, a publishing company.
“We really got this award because of our patrons and our communities,” Julie Brand, community relations and marketing director for the library system, said after the announcement. “It’s really a reflection of their support and their use of us. Going forward, we need to continue to find the ways to be relevant to them in their lives, in how we deliver services, and the sorts of resources and information that we provide to them.”
Organizers cited the library system’s efforts to encourage reading, help people searching for jobs and community outreach. The library system is run from offices along Newport Way Northwest.
Tent City 4 to return to Issaquah church in October
June 21, 2011
Tent City 4, a tarp-clad encampment for up to 100 homeless people, is due to return to Issaquah in October.
Community Church of Issaquah congregants voted June 19 to allow Tent City 4 to settle on the church’s parking lot, Issaquah Sammamish Interfaith Coalition member Elizabeth Maupin said the day after the decision. Under the arrangement, the church provides space and the Issaquah Sammamish Interfaith Coalition coordinates volunteers and support for Tent City 4.
The camp also settled in the city in August 2007 and January 2010. Tent City 4 remains in a place for 90 days, and then residents pack up and relocate to another Eastside church.
Temple B’nai Torah is due to host Tent City 4 starting July 23. In the meantime, the camp is set up at St. Jude Parish in Redmond. The encampment should arrive in Issaquah by mid-October. Community Church of Issaquah is along Mountain Park Boulevard Southwest, about a half-mile up the Squak Mountain slope from the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery.
Issaquah funeral home proposal raises traffic congestion concerns
June 21, 2011
Concerns about traffic congestion prompted downtown Issaquah residents and business owners to mobilize last week in a neighborhood effort to thwart a funeral home operator from opening a facility in a church along East Sunset Way.
The municipal Planning Department is considering a proposal from Service Corporation International, a Houston-based funeral products and services provider, to renovate Abide Baptist Church, 425 E. Sunset Way, into a funeral home. (The company also operates Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Bellevue and Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, plus funeral homes in the same cities.)
The applicant’s parking proposal attracted the most ire from project opponents. Plans call for aisle parking, similar to the lineup near a ferry dock, to accommodate about 20 vehicles for services and visitations at the funeral home. The proposal also calls for using a parking attendant to direct vehicles before and after events.
“I can’t say that that’s going to work,” city Senior Planner Marion O’Brien said. “There are some problems with what they’re showing there as well as with dimensions. We will need to have clarification on some of these proposals. That’s a given.”
Darigold pleads guilty in Issaquah Creek spill case
June 21, 2011
Darigold pleaded guilty June 15 to violating the Clean Water Act for a fish-killing ammonia spill into Issaquah Creek.
Under terms of the plea agreement, Darigold plans to work alongside the federal government to develop a corporate environmental compliance plan as part of its sentence.
Including the downtown Issaquah processing facility, Seattle-based Darigold operates 13 processing facilities in five states.
The company must also pay a $10,000 fine and pay $60,000 to protect and restore natural resources in the Issaquah Creek watershed. Darigold also agreed to publicly apologize for the criminal conduct by publishing a statement as a notice or advertisement in The Issaquah Press.
