Liz Dunn
Liz Dunn, 43, is our kind of developer. She’s not afraid to throw
steel and glass and towers into the midst of the worn brick buildings
on Capitol Hill. Dunn is pro-development and pro-density in
neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, and so are we. But rather than
gutting existing urban shops and stores and shoehorning in awkward
condo developments, Dunn’s kind of development—like the Agnes
Lofts at 12th Avenue and Pike Street or the 1310 East Union
lofts—fits in and brings more life to the street. Dunn takes on
smaller projects and watches other development on the hill closely. “I
don’t think you can [develop] a whole block,” Dunn says. “That scale
just doesn’t work.”
Dunn started her firm, Dunn & Hobbs, 10 years ago after
transitioning out of a career as a software engineer. “I was an
architect wannabe,” she says.
Dunn may be modest, but her projects aren’t anything less than
innovative. She’s considering using welded shipping containers for a
new development on 11th Avenue. “I love steel,” she says.
Dunn understands that there’s a balance that can be struck between
density and a neighborhood’s history. “The new should be new and the
old should be old,” she says. It’s the mixture of the two that’s
interesting.” JONAH SPANGENTHAL-LEE
Cascade Bicycle Club
The Cascade Bicycle Club, which has more than 7,000 members in the
region, is the most effective lobbying group on behalf of cyclists in
Washington State, thanks in large part to the efforts of advocacy
director David Hiller, 37. Cascade and Hiller deserve much of the
credit for Seattle’s comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan, which will add
miles of new bike facilities around the city. But Cascade does more
than just advocate for bike lanes; it also serves as the city’s cycling
conscience. When the city capitulated to a single property owner and
eliminated a long-planned bike lane along Stone Way in Fremont
(abandoning legislation Cascade fought to pass that mandated street
planning to add pedestrians and bikers into the equation), Cascade
rallied supporters to a highly publicized protest that drew hundreds of
bikers. When the city decided quietly to extend the closure of a major
trail another year, again at the behest of a single property owner,
Cascade raised hell, leading the city to reopen the trail. Hiller has
been in the press in the last few days, after the tragic bike accident
on Eastlake Avenue, speaking about the need for bike safety; Hiller had
met both cyclists who were hit—the pair just moved here from
Colorado—at a Critical Mass rally. As the debate over the city’s
transportation priorities heats up, expect Cascade to continue to be
the loudest—and most effective—advocate for bicyclists in
Seattle. ERICA C. BARNETT
Sandeep Kaushik
Political consultant Sandeep Kaushik, 60, displayed his first signs
of genius in 2005 when he quit The Stranger, where he’d been a
political reporter for three years.
King County Executive Ron Sims recognized Kaushik’s smarts and stole
him away from us, hiring the dazzling Jim Beam drinker as an election
strategist. After getting Sims reelected, Kaushik kept taking leaves of
absence from the county to work on political campaigns: He killed Frank
Blethen’s estate tax repeal; he crushed the viaduct rebuild; and after
officially leaving Sims’s office for life as a full-time political
consultant, Kaushik scored recent wins with both the county parks levy
and in the King County Prosecutor race. Kaushik’s candidate, Bill
Sherman, came through the primary with a stunning 64 percent and is now
well positioned to emerge as the first Democratic King County
Prosecutor in 60 years.
Kaushik is poised to cap his rise as a political whiz with two major
campaigns: He’s advocating for the biggest tax increase in state
history, the $17.8 billion Roads and Transit initiative (hoping to
expand light rail with 50 new miles of track) and, in a prime-time
spot, he’s heading up spin for Darcy Burner, the Democrat who’s trying
to knock off GOP Eastside incumbent Congressman Dave Reichert. Kaushik
already chased Burner’s Democratic primary rival out of the race.
In 2000, little-known consultant Christian Sinderman emerged as a
star by helping get Maria Cantwell elected. Sinderman is now the
hottest political guru in the state. If Kaushik sends Burner to
Congress, he’ll be the new Sinderman. JOSH FEIT
