BELLEVUE .com
REPORTER
NEWSLINE 425-453-4270
COMMUNITY | Ageless Newcastle woman finds youth in song [7]
Sports | Preps get underway around Bellevue with state championship hopes for spring [11]
Arts and Entertainment | Teatro ZinZanni wows audiences again with Nordic Gods [21]
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013
Sound Transit to put a ‘face’ on light rail stations BY CELINA KAREIVA BELLEVUE REPORTER
Sound Transit is entering its final design stage and moving forward with a public art plan for East Link. As the project design edges forward, details such as station materials and landscaping will need to be taken into consideration. With 14 miles, 10 stations, retaining walls, tunnels and yards of concrete rebar, says Barbara Luecke, Art Program Manager for ST, design is critical to the final product. “[Sound Transit’s] established public art
program is tightly integrated with the design process,” said Luecke, “because public art is a big part of the culture here.” Outside Seattle’s Central Link Columbia City station, Luecke recalls a piece by Gale McCall, called “Relic in the Garden.” Two colossal bronze magnifying glasses, enclose what look to be etched into the lenses, outlines of flowers, a garden faucet and other intricate details, a piece that she says reflects the character of the neighborhood. In Rainier Beach glass mosaics adorn a substation and service building. At Othello,
stacks of oversized icons – chopsticks, a rice bowl and a Japanese sandal – created by Roger Shimomura is said to provoke conversation about immigrant culture in the U.S. The agency hopes to preserve the same attention to detail with its East Link extension. That means taking into account that the city will grow and demographic change before East Link opens in 2023. Luecke says development of city pockets like the Spring District, will be monitored to account for final design.
OVER THE HEAD AND THROUGH THE HOOP
“It’s an exciting question for the communities: What makes a good space? What are the features that make people want to linger?” says Luecke. “Alignment doesn’t open for 10 years. It will be a larger place with different people using these stations and I think this is an exciting opportunity for people to contribute to the community…Because it’s rare that any of us gets to build on this scale.” The city’s decision to incorporate a SEE LIGHT RAIL, 3
New signs to take residents to city’s lush landscape BY CELINA KAREIVA BELLEVUE REPORTER
Chip Conyard of Bellevue glances over his shoulder as a basketball he shot backwards falls through a net, one of many trick shots he and his friends have developed over the past several years. The group, called United Shots of America, had videos of their tricks featured during the Olympics. Story, more photos on page 4. COURTESY PHOTO
The Bellevue Parks Department plans to install seven new interpretive signs at Coal Creek Park by the end of the year. A kiosk near the top of the hill will orient visitors and introduce them to the park’s history. The remaining signs will note locations easily overlooked, says Dustin Van Nieulande, a park ranger and program coordinator at Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center. “One of the coolest things about Coal Creek Park is once you leave your car and walk down into the canyon, you’re surrounded by nature,” says Van Nieulande. “It’s so thick and lush down there that you forget you’re walking through a suburban area of the city.” The signs, which are funded by a grant issued to the Eastside Heritage Center, will eventually go up in portions of the park, spotlighting for instance the concrete foundation of an old steam generating plant, a railroad grade and places in the stream where you can see the culvert that once carried water and allowed trains to ride on top. Coal Creek Park used to be the site of an extensive coal mining operation in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Nothing comparable has been done at the site before, except for a few independent efforts by Boy Scout Troops and invested citizens. Steve Williams, a retired manager of Cougar Mountain Regional Park, occasionally hosts history or nature hikes through the Eastside Heritage Center. Once construction is complete on the culvert and new SEE SIGNS, 12
BellevueFatBurn.com LOSE 20 LBS. IN 14 DAYS! No exercise, no shakes, no expensive pre-packaged food with our medically supervised weight loss program. Call today and receive a free medical consultation and 20% off.
NEW LOCATION: 210 105th Ave NE, Bellevue
Underground parking. Enter from the alley off of 2nd.
(425) 455-2126 www.OMEGAPHOTO.biz
All cameras includes one year limited warranty.
425-247-1961 10655 NE 4th St. Suite 101 | Bellevue, WA 98004