Kirkland Reporter, September 21, 2012

Page 1

KIRKLAND .com

REPORTER

NEWSLINE: 425.822.9166

SENTENCED | Kirkland man sent to prison for mortgage fraud [16]

First loss | Lake Washington football team FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 struggles against Mercer Island [12]

Two wheels | Council looks to bike sharing program for city [6]

Giving Totem Lake Malls new life Part one: My Home takes over anchor position in Totem Lake’s south mall BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com

M

anagement at My Home Furniture and Decor is confident they can help change business at the sluggish Totem Lake Malls. So much, that they dropped $250,000 to remodel the anchor store. “We felt (store Manager) Barb (Jelly) and I could turn the mall around,” said My Home owner Merlin Smith. The furniture and home improvement store opened in the anchor store location of the Totem Lake Malls on July

10, which Smith said is ironic because it was the three-year anniversary from the business’ first launch in 2009. Its original location was behind the Fred Meyer in Totem Lake on N.E. 118th Street. “It was like moving 1,500 homes,” Smith jokes about the furniture store’s relocation. But it appears My Home’s presence has definitely drawn some attention. Smith said it has been fun seeing new customers come in for the first time. “One woman walked in, stopped and took a look

left and right and just said ‘Wow,’” Smith said. Jelly agrees. She says they’ve been getting that reaction from “everybody.” One problem they face now is getting the attention of the 22,000 clients who frequented their old location. But Jelly and Smith attribute new clients to the many TV and radio ads, along with the signs out front. Even though a good chunk of money was invested into the store’s appearance, Smith said they weren’t left without help. Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis Group, Inc.,

the mall’s property management, painted outside signs, sidewalks, parking lot stripes, as well as the large monument sign out front. CBRE also provides the security service at the front entrance of the mall. “(The guards) walk around and have to send in their locations,” Jelly said as she explained that the previous security guards had a different system. Smith added that there have been no homeless people “hanging around” the mall since June. In recent history, people

My Home owner Merlin Smith and store manager Barb Jelly moved their store from behind the Fred Meyer in the Totem Lake neighborhood to Totem Lake Malls this summer. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter in the community have been concerned with criminal activity and loiterers in the malls. Co-owner of the malls, Coventry Real Estate Advisors, agreed to fix the leaky

Police shoot man attempting to flee

Reduce, reuse, recycle

First officer-involved shooting since 1970s by a Kirkland police officer BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@kirklandreporter.com

Kirkland police officers were conducting a foot patrol in the parking lot of the Totem Lake Motel 6 late Monday night when they heard a woman screaming for help. The incident would result in the first officerinvolved shooting since the 1970s, according to a Kirkland Police Department spokesman. When contacted, at approximately 11 p.m., the woman told the officers she had been robbed and pointed out a white male adult who was running through the lot. Officers gave chase, yelling at the man to stop. The suspect got into an SUV and began to leave at a high rate of speed. Officers continued to order the man to stop, when he suddenly swerved his vehicle at an officer, driving eastbound through the parking lot. The officer, feeling threatened, drew his gun and fired at the vehicle. “(The suspect) was hit in

the left shoulder,” said Kirkland Police Lt. Mike Murray. This caused the driver to steer away from the officer as he continued out of the parking lot. Officers pursued the vehicle as it left the parking lot. The suspect lost control of the SUV approximately four blocks away, crashing in front of the Infiniti of Kirkland parking lot. Murray said he did not think there was any damage to cars in the lot. But a service manager at Infiniti of Kirkland said there was some property damage. Debris such as broken glass and bits of mirror were scattered around land that was damaged from the SUV. The suspect got out of the vehicle and attempted to run from officers, who eventually caught the man and took him into custody. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center where he is in stable condition with a bullet injury to his left shoulder. No other citizens or Kirkland officers were injured during the [ more POLICE page 7 ]

roof that a previous tenant, Shopsmart Bazaar, encountered, according to Smith. The roof has been an issue for decades. Shopsmart Bazaar, a flea [ more MALLS page 11 ]

Jeff Borgida, general manager at Republic Services, inspects a pile of recycled plastic at the company’s Material Recovery Facility. NAT LEVY, Bellevue Reporter

Republic Services simplifies recycling with sorting facility BY NAT LEVY Bellevue Reporter

Recycling is a lot easier than it used to be. The painstaking process of separating out every piece of material into three or four bins that have to be lugged to the curb every

week has been largely eliminated in this area. Republic Services’ Material Recovery Facility in Seattle’s SoDo area plays a big part in this enhanced convenience. The 50,000-square foot site takes in more than 200,000 tons of recyclable materials

annually and sorts them out, category by category, to be sent off for reuse. “There are more materials that can be thrown in that single can because we’ve made the investment in the equipment and the people to effectively sort it and send it back to market,”

said Jeff Borgida, general manager at Republic Services. The company, formerly known as Waste Management, collects trash in Kirkland and surrounding communities. The Material Recovery Facility was first built in 1988. Since that time, [ more RECYCLE page 3 ]


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