A Few Months Back, alarmed at developers’ plans to convert
the historic Alaska Building in Pioneer Square into a nonunion Marriott
Hotel, the council voted to restrict any expansion of the building to
residential uses. Or at least they thought they did. The
developer, Kauri Investments, now plans to add a small sink,
refrigerator, and kitchenette to each of the contested upper
suites—potentially converting them to “long-term stay” hotel
units that Kauri CEO Kent Angier insists would comply with the city’s
definition of housing. “Technically, they’re apartments,” Angier says.
Unite Here Local 8, a pro-union group, has appealed Kauri’s proposal on
the grounds that long-term hotel rooms don’t meet the standard the
council set; however, Angier says Unite Here’s appeal “has nothing to
do with whether it’s residential or anything else,” and is all about
forcing Marriott out. Unite Here organizer Stefan Moritz did not return
a call by press time.
THE MAYOR’S BUDGET, uncontroversial save for a few big-ticket
inclusions ($12 million for an underground utility network in South
Lake Union) and omissions (funding for traffic control to protect
pedestrians), has now entered the tinkering stage, in which council
members propose adds ($2.1 million for new libraries) and cuts
(potentially, that South Lake Union utility extravaganza). One
still-obscure proposal that’s likely to cause consternation at Team
Nickels HQ is a study proposed by council president Nick Licata that
could change the way the city inspects rental housing.
Under the current system, city inspectors don’t investigate a
problem unless a tenant or neighbor files a complaint. This system
tends to benefit landlords because the tenants who are most likely to
live in substandard housing are also the least likely to call in
complaints, for fear of retaliation. Licata’s proposal would replace
the complaint-based system with universal inspections—in order to
be a licensed landlord in Seattle, you have to let the city inspect
your property. The idea is modeled after a similar system in Pasco,
upheld by the state supreme court last month. Expect the Rental Housing
Association—last seen advocating against a cap on the condo
conversions that are decimating Seattle’s rental housing—to lobby
Nickels and the council hard against the measure, which would target
all landlords, not just bad ones.
PROVING, perhaps, that Nickels’s fight against “dangerous
nightclubs” is really a war against music and nightlife, the city’s
Department of Planning and Development (DPD) issued a large fine last
month for repeated noise violations—against 107.7 The End’s
Endfest, an annual festival put on by promotion company AEG Live.
Endfest, which featured Against Me!, Bright Eyes, and others, took
place outside Qwest Field—a massive sports stadium that hardly
ever qualifies as peaceful or quiet. According to DPD spokesman Alan
Justad, DPD’s noise inspector noted 30 violations, of which DPD charged
Endfest with 16. The result: a fine of around $8,000. Andy Roe,
marketing director for AEG Live, says he’s not sure if the fine will
deter Endfest, which had never taken place downtown before, from coming
back into the city in the future. 