From the Jul 20 – Jul 26, 2000 issue

Pullout

City Life

BEST MAYOR
Frank Hansen, SeaTac's first mayor, is still considered our best. Hansen has won Best Mayor for as long as SeaTacians have been sending in Best of SeaTac ballots. Hansen, a retired airline pilot, compares early SeaTac politics to the Wild West. Anybody could get things done in that free-for-all environment, he says, given enough git-up-an'-go. And get things done Hansen did. Now 73, Hansen says his campaign message against prostitution and drugs played well among besieged SeaTacians. Funny thing is, Hansen almost got caught in his own net. He recalls that while SeaTac was doing battle with the hooking trade, "I [once] saw this pretty good-looking girl in a miniskirt, and I don't know why, but that old Honda of mine just kinda slowed down. Then I recognized her as one of our undercover police officers. I just waved at her and took off. Well, I saw that same officer the next day. [She told me], 'Mr. Mayor, I'm glad you didn't stop, because KING 5 was filming me across the street.'"

BEST CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
Before attaining his current illustrious status as a SeaTac city council member in 1990, Joe Brennan was an alcoholic. He also won a battle with lung and colon cancer. Brennan credits his miraculous rebound to finding religion: "It just turns me on a lot," he says. One local news editor says Brennan is the city council's wisenheimer, often stopping votes with jokes about Jesus and Satan. And, says one city hall staffer: "Brennan. He's the guy who had a liver transplant." Best of SeaTac voters must find Brennan's tale of survival inspiring, as this is the second year in a row you've told Satan where to go by naming Brennan our Best City Council Member.

BEST CITY COUNCIL STANDOFF
The seven-member volunteer SeaTac City Council has a pleasant history of accord. The council vote log book, which dates back to 1990, features a harmonious record of 7-0 votes or 6-0 votes (when a member was absent). However, who can forget that contentious February 11, 1997 meeting where Resolution 97-006 went down in flames? A 3-3 deadlock (with Steve Stevenson, Shirley Thompson, and Joe Brennan on the yes side and Terry Anderson, Frank Hansen, and Don DeHan on the no side) killed a proposal that would have allowed council members to vote from their houses by phone. Ironically, the tie vote happened because Council Member Kathy Gehring, apparently at home, missed the meeting.

BEST REASON TO GO TO THE AIRPORT
To those outside the SeaTac city limits, the Sea-Tac International Airport exists primarily as a portal to other, better places. But thrill-seeking SeaTacians know that Sea-Tac Airport is a wonderland of non-stop FUN! Unfortunately, the very Best Reason to Go to the Airport was dealt a deadly blow in the early '90s, when stuffy, lawsuit-fearing airport authorities rendered sliding down the escalator dividers on your butt an impossibility by stationing weird metal pucks along the formerly sleek 'n' speedy glideway. However, in the wake of the installation of butt-crunching pucks, resourceful SeaTacians discovered a new Best Reason to Go to the Airport: Getting drunk and pushing each other around in courtesy wheelchairs. 17801 Pacific Hwy S.

BEST HISTORICAL TOUR
Didn't think 10-year-old SeaTac had history? Think again! The annual SeaTac-Burien Historic Bus Tour is chock full of local lore. Find the intersection where original settler Mike Kelley put his original log cabin (Hint: There's a muffler shop there now). Get weighed down with fascinating statistics, such as how many bears the legendary Kelley killed (13) and how many old-growth trees he cut down (a lot). The tour features plush buses and snacks of apple juice and Cheez-Its. Local amateur historian Wendy Sayan makes the tour wry, never dull ("We hear that the China King Buffet is going to be turned into a Home Depot. Ugh."). And Sayan has a microphone, so everyone on the bus can understand what she says--whether your hearing aid is on or off. The Historic Bus Tour only happens once a year, in mid-June, and historic-minded SeaTacians are encouraged to make reservations in advance by calling 935-5751.

BEST VIEW OF PUGET SOUND
Critic and architect Barbara A. Nadel once wrote of the beautiful and futuristic hulk known as the SeaTac Federal Detention Center, built in 1997: "The unique architectural design of the Federal Detention Center allows the building to blend in with its urban setting. NBBJ, the designer of the building, achieved civic image and security for the structure without compromising the facility's functional purpose." The facility may be beautiful to look at, but some infamous SeaTacians can tell you that the best views are actually from the inside looking out. Landing the SeaTac Federal Detention Center's 10th-floor, southwest-corner cell puts the "Big" in Big House. You'll be living large in a cell with an 18-inch by 10-inch window, and according to one official, the view from the prison's penthouse cell is "spectacular." Puget Sound sparkles in the distance like a summer dream. Federal officials would not say what crime a person has to commit in order to get SeaTac's best view of the Sound. It would have to be pretty bad, though, judging by the prison's maximum-security status. 2425 S 200th St.

BEST CEMETERY
As SeaTac's oldest graveyard (founded in 1900), the Hillgrove Cemetery is an officially designated "Community Landmark," and features such local notables as Civil War veteran Sidney B. Vrooman (1827-1909) and "Fisherman Charlie" (1862-1937). Sadly, Hillgrove is also our least-respected cemetery, with roaring planes overhead (ensuring that none of the residents are truly "resting in peace") and persistent vandalism necessitating the grounds' closure to the public. To make matters worse, the soft, spongy earth and the prevalence of moles and ants have made many of the tombstones sink underground. "About one-third of the gravestones are unaccounted for," says Hillgrove Cemetery Asso- ciation member Wendy Sayan. "They sink under their own weight and they just kinda disappear. We've recovered a number of them through digging." S 200th St, between Tyee Golf Course and Des Moines Memorial Drive S. Call 206-242-7536 for access.

BEST FUTURE SITE FOR SEATAC CITY HALL
The vacant lot at S 188th St and 33rd Ave S.

 

BEST CRIME THE REST OF THE WORLD SHOULD GET OVER
Like other major cities unfairly associated with nefarious criminals--Chicago and Capone, London and Jack the Ripper, Los Angeles and Robin Williams--SeaTac is unfairly linked with the Green River killer. Yet no matter how many times we at The SeaTac Stranger point out that the Green River killings took place before SeaTac was even incorporated, the association lingers on in the popular imagination. Why can't the world get over it? For that matter, why can't we? The subject of America's longest ongoing homicide investigation, the Green River murders took place between 1982 and '84; most of the bodies were found near Kent. Most of the victims were prostitutes picked up along our very own International Boulevard, which was then known as the "SeaTac strip." Millions of dollars have been spent on the investigation of the murders, but local detectives and the FBI have never found the killer. Well, readers of The SeaTac Stranger voted overwhelmingly in favor of officially closing the case. The murderer, who hasn't struck in, oh, 16 years, is never going to be found. So let's move on!

BEST FAILED CIVIC BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT
In the early 1920s, local patriots decided to honor WWI veterans by planting more than 1,000 American elm trees (each designated for a specific soldier) along Des Moines Memorial Drive, the brick road that originally ran all the way from Des Moines to South Park. The non-indigenous elms didn't take to our lovely area, however, and between poor planting, overzealous pruning, and Dutch elm disease, only a fraction of the trees still stand. But you can still view the names of the vets: They were engraved on a granite monument in front of Sunnydale School in the 1960s, in an attempt to rectify the indignity of the elm fiasco. 15631 Eighth Ave S.

BEST TRAILER PARK
This year's vote for Best Trailer Park took an unexpectedly sentimental turn, with SeaTac Stranger readers awarding the coveted Best Trailer Park ribbon to what is also our most endangered trailer park. The beloved Marine View Mobile Home Park is all about freedom: Dogs, cats, and kids run around unrestrained, and no one cares how old your trailer is or what time of night you stumble in from the nearby Bull Pen. But ever since that ostentatious view property--the Federal Detention Center--went in behind the park, property values have skyrocketed! Now the city has allowed a developer to take over the park, and everyone has to vacate. Marine View's tenants are not taking kindly to the whole affair. "They've just been real jerks about the whole thing," says 23-year-old Marine View resident Nikki McFarlane. "We all live here because we don't have the funds to live anywhere else." 28th Ave S and S 200th St.

BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE THIRD RUNWAY
There's a downside to all those khaki-clad tourists clogging SeaTac's tree-lined streets. "They bump up the prices because people come here from the airport and they're willing to pay," 22-year-old Patrick Lesui grumbles about SeaTac's 50-plus hotels. "But what about the people that live here?" We're not sure how often people who live in SeaTac actually need to stay in any of SeaTac's hotels, but Lesui does have a point. Building a third runway will not only mean more noise, but more tourists driving up prices for native SeaTacians. A local who wants to spend an afternoon with a special friend not only has to pay for the room (the average daily rate for a SeaTac hotel room was $85.45 last year), but also the 12.4 percent hotel tax! Of course, every time a pothole is filled or a dangerous criminal is apprehended, SeaTacians should thank those weary travelers flooding in and out of the airport; after all, they paid for it!

BEST ARGUMENT FOR THE THIRD RUNWAY
The political issue that haunts our city is the airport's push to build a third runway. Citizens' groups in and around SeaTac fear that expanding the airport will displace neighborhoods, ravage the environment, kill property values, and crank up the jet noise. One anti-runway group, the Airport Communities Coalition, recently filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in the Seattle U.S. District Court, claiming that the proposed third runway violated the federal Endangered Species Act by threatening salmon and trout in nearby streams. Forget the fish! A third runway means more planes, which means more tourists, which means more tourist dollars pouring into our local economy. That's why we should all support the third runway.

BEST MAYOR
Frank Hansen, SeaTac's first mayor, is still considered our best. Hansen has won Best Mayor for as long as SeaTacians have been sending in Best of SeaTac ballots. Hansen, a retired airline pilot, compares early SeaTac politics to the Wild West. Anybody could get things done in that free-for-all environment, he says, given enough git-up-an'-go. And get things done Hansen did. Now 73, Hansen says his campaign message against prostitution and drugs played well among besieged SeaTacians. Funny thing is, Hansen almost got caught in his own net. He recalls that while SeaTac was doing battle with the hooking trade, "I [once] saw this pretty good-looking girl in a miniskirt, and I don't know why, but that old Honda of mine just kinda slowed down. Then I recognized her as one of our undercover police officers. I just waved at her and took off. Well, I saw that same officer the next day. [She told me], 'Mr. Mayor, I'm glad you didn't stop, because KING 5 was filming me across the street.'"

BEST CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
Before attaining his current illustrious status as a SeaTac city council member in 1990, Joe Brennan was an alcoholic. He also won a battle with lung and colon cancer. Brennan credits his miraculous rebound to finding religion: "It just turns me on a lot," he says. One local news editor says Brennan is the city council's wisenheimer, often stopping votes with jokes about Jesus and Satan. And, says one city hall staffer: "Brennan. He's the guy who had a liver transplant." Best of SeaTac voters must find Brennan's tale of survival inspiring, as this is the second year in a row you've told Satan where to go by naming Brennan our Best City Council Member.

BEST CITY COUNCIL STANDOFF
The seven-member volunteer SeaTac City Council has a pleasant history of accord. The council vote log book, which dates back to 1990, features a harmonious record of 7-0 votes or 6-0 votes (when a member was absent). However, who can forget that contentious February 11, 1997 meeting where Resolution 97-006 went down in flames? A 3-3 deadlock (with Steve Stevenson, Shirley Thompson, and Joe Brennan on the yes side and Terry Anderson, Frank Hansen, and Don DeHan on the no side) killed a proposal that would have allowed council members to vote from their houses by phone. Ironically, the tie vote happened because Council Member Kathy Gehring, apparently at home, missed the meeting.

BEST REASON TO GO TO THE AIRPORT
To those outside the SeaTac city limits, the Sea-Tac International Airport exists primarily as a portal to other, better places. But thrill-seeking SeaTacians know that Sea-Tac Airport is a wonderland of non-stop FUN! Unfortunately, the very Best Reason to Go to the Airport was dealt a deadly blow in the early '90s, when stuffy, lawsuit-fearing airport authorities rendered sliding down the escalator dividers on your butt an impossibility by stationing weird metal pucks along the formerly sleek 'n' speedy glideway. However, in the wake of the installation of butt-crunching pucks, resourceful SeaTacians discovered a new Best Reason to Go to the Airport: Getting drunk and pushing each other around in courtesy wheelchairs. 17801 Pacific Hwy S.

BEST HISTORICAL TOUR
Didn't think 10-year-old SeaTac had history? Think again! The annual SeaTac-Burien Historic Bus Tour is chock full of local lore. Find the intersection where original settler Mike Kelley put his original log cabin (Hint: There's a muffler shop there now). Get weighed down with fascinating statistics, such as how many bears the legendary Kelley killed (13) and how many old-growth trees he cut down (a lot). The tour features plush buses and snacks of apple juice and Cheez-Its. Local amateur historian Wendy Sayan makes the tour wry, never dull ("We hear that the China King Buffet is going to be turned into a Home Depot. Ugh."). And Sayan has a microphone, so everyone on the bus can understand what she says--whether your hearing aid is on or off. The Historic Bus Tour only happens once a year, in mid-June, and historic-minded SeaTacians are encouraged to make reservations in advance by calling 935-5751.

BEST VIEW OF PUGET SOUND
Critic and architect Barbara A. Nadel once wrote of the beautiful and futuristic hulk known as the SeaTac Federal Detention Center, built in 1997: "The unique architectural design of the Federal Detention Center allows the building to blend in with its urban setting. NBBJ, the designer of the building, achieved civic image and security for the structure without compromising the facility's functional purpose." The facility may be beautiful to look at, but some infamous SeaTacians can tell you that the best views are actually from the inside looking out. Landing the SeaTac Federal Detention Center's 10th-floor, southwest-corner cell puts the "Big" in Big House. You'll be living large in a cell with an 18-inch by 10-inch window, and according to one official, the view from the prison's penthouse cell is "spectacular." Puget Sound sparkles in the distance like a summer dream. Federal officials would not say what crime a person has to commit in order to get SeaTac's best view of the Sound. It would have to be pretty bad, though, judging by the prison's maximum-security status. 2425 S 200th St.

BEST CEMETERY
As SeaTac's oldest graveyard (founded in 1900), the Hillgrove Cemetery is an officially designated "Community Landmark," and features such local notables as Civil War veteran Sidney B. Vrooman (1827-1909) and "Fisherman Charlie" (1862-1937). Sadly, Hillgrove is also our least-respected cemetery, with roaring planes overhead (ensuring that none of the residents are truly "resting in peace") and persistent vandalism necessitating the grounds' closure to the public. To make matters worse, the soft, spongy earth and the prevalence of moles and ants have made many of the tombstones sink underground. "About one-third of the gravestones are unaccounted for," says Hillgrove Cemetery Asso- ciation member Wendy Sayan. "They sink under their own weight and they just kinda disappear. We've recovered a number of them through digging." S 200th St, between Tyee Golf Course and Des Moines Memorial Drive S. Call 206-242-7536 for access.

BEST FUTURE SITE FOR SEATAC CITY HALL
The vacant lot at S 188th St and 33rd Ave S.

 

BEST CRIME THE REST OF THE WORLD SHOULD GET OVER
Like other major cities unfairly associated with nefarious criminals--Chicago and Capone, London and Jack the Ripper, Los Angeles and Robin Williams--SeaTac is unfairly linked with the Green River killer. Yet no matter how many times we at The SeaTac Stranger point out that the Green River killings took place before SeaTac was even incorporated, the association lingers on in the popular imagination. Why can't the world get over it? For that matter, why can't we? The subject of America's longest ongoing homicide investigation, the Green River murders took place between 1982 and '84; most of the bodies were found near Kent. Most of the victims were prostitutes picked up along our very own International Boulevard, which was then known as the "SeaTac strip." Millions of dollars have been spent on the investigation of the murders, but local detectives and the FBI have never found the killer. Well, readers of The SeaTac Stranger voted overwhelmingly in favor of officially closing the case. The murderer, who hasn't struck in, oh, 16 years, is never going to be found. So let's move on!

BEST FAILED CIVIC BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT
In the early 1920s, local patriots decided to honor WWI veterans by planting more than 1,000 American elm trees (each designated for a specific soldier) along Des Moines Memorial Drive, the brick road that originally ran all the way from Des Moines to South Park. The non-indigenous elms didn't take to our lovely area, however, and between poor planting, overzealous pruning, and Dutch elm disease, only a fraction of the trees still stand. But you can still view the names of the vets: They were engraved on a granite monument in front of Sunnydale School in the 1960s, in an attempt to rectify the indignity of the elm fiasco. 15631 Eighth Ave S.

BEST TRAILER PARK
This year's vote for Best Trailer Park took an unexpectedly sentimental turn, with SeaTac Stranger readers awarding the coveted Best Trailer Park ribbon to what is also our most endangered trailer park. The beloved Marine View Mobile Home Park is all about freedom: Dogs, cats, and kids run around unrestrained, and no one cares how old your trailer is or what time of night you stumble in from the nearby Bull Pen. But ever since that ostentatious view property--the Federal Detention Center--went in behind the park, property values have skyrocketed! Now the city has allowed a developer to take over the park, and everyone has to vacate. Marine View's tenants are not taking kindly to the whole affair. "They've just been real jerks about the whole thing," says 23-year-old Marine View resident Nikki McFarlane. "We all live here because we don't have the funds to live anywhere else." 28th Ave S and S 200th St.

BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE THIRD RUNWAY
There's a downside to all those khaki-clad tourists clogging SeaTac's tree-lined streets. "They bump up the prices because people come here from the airport and they're willing to pay," 22-year-old Patrick Lesui grumbles about SeaTac's 50-plus hotels. "But what about the people that live here?" We're not sure how often people who live in SeaTac actually need to stay in any of SeaTac's hotels, but Lesui does have a point. Building a third runway will not only mean more noise, but more tourists driving up prices for native SeaTacians. A local who wants to spend an afternoon with a special friend not only has to pay for the room (the average daily rate for a SeaTac hotel room was $85.45 last year), but also the 12.4 percent hotel tax! Of course, every time a pothole is filled or a dangerous criminal is apprehended, SeaTacians should thank those weary travelers flooding in and out of the airport; after all, they paid for it!

BEST ARGUMENT FOR THE THIRD RUNWAY
The political issue that haunts our city is the airport's push to build a third runway. Citizens' groups in and around SeaTac fear that expanding the airport will displace neighborhoods, ravage the environment, kill property values, and crank up the jet noise. One anti-runway group, the Airport Communities Coalition, recently filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in the Seattle U.S. District Court, claiming that the proposed third runway violated the federal Endangered Species Act by threatening salmon and trout in nearby streams. Forget the fish! A third runway means more planes, which means more tourists, which means more tourist dollars pouring into our local economy. That's why we should all support the third runway.