Redmond Reporter, January 31, 2014

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REDMOND

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.com

REPORTER

A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2014

SPORTS | Evergreen Middle School girls win first-ever district basketball title [9]

SEAHAWK FEVER

PSE’s Energize Eastside project planning begins SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com

Seattle Seahawks fans get loud during a recent event at the Volume 12 store at Redmond Town Center. See Page 4 for Seahawk columns by Volume 12 partial owner and former Hawk Kerry Carter and the Reporter’s own Samantha Pak. Courtesy of Matt Robb

Redmond residents, officials, businesses get into the Super Bowl spirit ANDY NYSTROM anystrom@redmond-reporter.com

You can’t avoid the Seattle Seahawks these days. Wherever you go, there’s 12th Man flags flying, people wearing jerseys and talking Hawks. With a huge 23-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 19, the Hawks punched their ticket to Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII versus the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Both teams are 15-3, so it’s a true best-against-best matchup, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m.

The Redmond Reporter roamed around town to find out how locals are soaking up the epic Hawk season. ***** Larry Staley hangs his 12th Man flag proudly on the porch of his home on 113th Court Northeast. The 30-year Redmond resident isn’t all about football, though. He’s an ardent Jimmy Buffett fan — a “Parrothead” sticker is slapped on the back window of his truck — and he’s also a motorcycle guy, pointing to a few two-wheeled machines that sit in his garage. Staley said the Seahawks are driven by their coach, Pete Carroll: “People were critical of the coach because he was a college coach. He was a pro coach at one time and he wasn’t terribly successful. But I like the way he does it. He does it like college football: It’s a team. Nobody’s [ more HAWKS page 11 ]

Redmond’s Larry Staley stands with his 12th Man flag outside of his home on 113th Court Northeast. ANDY NYSTROM, Redmond Reporter

It takes more than just putting up a few buildings to accommodate growth in any given area. A large part of the task includes making sure the local infrastructure can support the increased population. And this is what Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is doing with its upcoming Energize Eastside project. Still in its very early stages, Energize Eastside will bring new higher-capacity electric transmission lines to the Eastside according to the project website (energizeeastside.com). The effort will upgrade PSE’s existing transmission system and the new lines — which will run from Redmond to Renton — will provide more dependable power to the area, the website states. Andy Wappler, vice president of corporate affairs for PSE, said the current transmission lines are nearing capacity and will be above capacity around 2017-18 if no action is taken. And if this happens, the area may experience more power outages, he said. In addition, Energize Eastside will improve PSE’s reliability if something happens, such as a transformer fire like the one that occurred in June 2011 at PSE’s Sammamish substa-

tion in Redmond. The new transmission lines will make it easier for the utility to reroute where it is pulling its power from. A large part of Energize Eastside is public input. PSE held the first of several planned open house events throughout the communities Wednesday evening at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center. Employees were on hand to answer people’s questions about the project, and display boards covered topics ranging from the purpose of the project and possible route options (there are 16 segments, with 19 possible combinations), to if and how electro-magnetic fields coming from transmission lines could affect a person’s health. Bellevue resident Ann Marten was concerned about the latter, but she also wanted to know why the transmission lines couldn’t be installed underground so the area’s views would not be obstructed and there would be less danger from ice and/or fallen trees. Wappler said underground transmission lines are a lot more expensive, and according to state law, the difference in cost from aboveground lines would fall on the local community. In addition, he said, if there is a power outage, it would take up to a few days to fix [ more ENERGIZE page 8 ]

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GO HAWKS!

NEWSLINE: 425.867.0353

NEWS | Overlake pedestrian, biking bridge in the works [2] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [3]


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