Sinking
Residents in Haller Lake, Interbay, and Highland Park could be
getting some new neighbors. The city has released a list of four
potential sites for a new city jail, which must be built near a
major arterial but outside residential areas. Of the four sites, Haller
Lake seems an especially likely candidate. The Seattle Police
Department’s North Precinct building has been sinking into the
ground over the last few years, and it’s possible the city could
move the North Precinct to the new jail site.
The city will decide on a site and begin designing the jail sometime
in 2009. JONAH SPANGENTHAL-LEE
Jumping
Tim Eyman, who recently mortgaged his house to pay for his
latest ballot measure, has been barraging supporters with e-mails
begging for donations. “I’m jumping off a big cliff—please help
catch me,” Eyman wrote. He’s seeking donations of $290,000—a
total that would bring his campaign war chest to more than
$600,000.
Why does Eyman need so much money, anyway? Because under Washington
State’s hopelessly flawed initiative process, the only way to
get an initiative on the ballot statewide is to hire a firm to gather
signatures for you. Those signatures don’t come cheap—in recent
initiative drives, they’ve cost as much as a dollar apiece.
Eyman’s initiative, known as I-985, would open up all carpool lanes
to all drivers during “off-peak” hours and on weekends. Given that many
roads in the Puget Sound region are now experiencing congestion all
day long, Eyman’s proposal would effectively render HOV lanes
useless, making traffic congestion worse for everyone. ERICA C.
BARNETT
Drinking
The owners of Culinary Communion, a cooking school on Beacon Hill,
think they’ve found a way around the recent Washington State Liquor
Control Board crackdown on serving wine during classes [“Put
Down the Wineglass,” Bethany Jean Clement, April 17]. According to an
e-mail from Culinary Communion, the school can serve its chardonnay at
“private classes” that aren’t listed on the regular Culinary Communion
schedule by obtaining a banquet permit. And because the porch for
Culinary Communion is also the porch for the owners’ apartment, the
owners figure it isn’t technically part of Culinary Communion. “So, two
plus two equals friends having wine on the patio this summer, and
since you’re all our friends, that works out, doesn’t it?”
Not so fast, says the liquor board. Although drinking wine on the
veranda may be legal, a banquet permit would only apply if Culinary
Communion charged nothing for classes. Once you charge a fee, says
Karen McCall, licensing director for the liquor board, “you’re doing it
as a business, not as an individual.”
However, Culinary Communion could soon be legit; they’re applying
for a beer/wine specialty-shop liquor license, as well as “making
changes which will allow us to be fully licensed as a regular
restaurant,” the e-mail says. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT