Bellevue
Reporter
newsline 425-453-4270
business | Red Lion Hotel up for sale; property seen as good fit for transit-oriented development [8]
ARTS | Artful Evening helps raise $660,000 for Bellevue Arts Museum [9]
friday, AUGUST 1, 2014
SPORTS | Newport’s Li winning titles, set for Pac-12 future on course headed into final prep season [14]
Former railroad site tops list for light-rail facility BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
The Sound Transit Board emphasized the need to explore all options for mitigating the impact of constructing a rail yard for Sound Transit light-rail trains at the BNSF site in Bellevue following its selection July 24 as the preferred alternative moving forward with development of a final environmental impact statement.
While the cheapest option with the least displacement of businesses, the city of Bellevue has been critical of using more than 20 acres of the former Burlington-Northern Santa Fe site for an operations and maintenance satellite facility due to its economic and land use impacts to redevelopment activity within the Bel-Red Corridor. A rail yard is necessary to take on additional fleet vehicles when the Sodo yard reaches capacity in 2020 and light rail
begins running on the Eastside in 2023. The city of Bellevue finalized its Bel-Red subarea plan in 2009 to include high-density, mixed-use development in anticipation of East Link light rail. "The Bel-Red planning that we've done in Bellevue — that is integrated in light rail and dependent on light rail — was done years and years ago," said Bellevue Mayor and Sound Transit Board Member Claudia Balducci, who noted transit-oriented devel-
opment will be directly affected by transit. "… It is an ironic choice, if you will." State Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson echoed Balducci's concerns that an Urban Land Institute study to determine options for mitigating the impacts of a rail yard in the Bel-Red Corridor is far from over. "I don't think we're done yet, and that's See light rail, 18
Feds building sex trafficking case against Bellevue anesthesiologist BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
anyone like me that is a firefighter." Eleven years later, Saleh is a Seattle firefighter in her sixth year volunteering at Camp Blaze — an annual camp that shows girls 16-19 years of age what it takes to be a firefighter. This is her first year watching over a
The Drug Enforcement Administration is building a case against a Bellevue anesthesiologist alleged to have secured rental units throughout the city and laundered money internationally to aid his Thai girlfriend's sex trafficking enterprise here. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. Attorney's Office for search warrants to seize electronics, documents and bank accounts belonging to the anesthesiologist, which the Reporter won't name until charges are filed, the DEA claims the doctor provided apartments and condos in Bellevue for sex workers trafficked to the United States from Thailand by his girlfriend. He is also alleged to have collected those illegal profits, transferring them to Thai bank accounts. The DEA began investigating the doctor in November 2012, when the agency became aware of large deposits of money he had been depositing into Bellevue ATMs. Bank records showed the doctor purchased multiple online ads through sites like backpage.com to advertise his girlfriend's prostitutes living in the city and available for massages and sexual services, according to the affidavit filed July 18. The DEA allegedly found the doctor was using a Bellevue Way BECU ATM to deposit large sums of cash, which
See firefighters, 2
See sex trafficking, 7
Camp Blaze campers, learning what it takes to be firefighters at the Bellevue Public Safety Training Center, pose inside a car after removing its top as part of extrication exercises on Tuesday. BRANDON MACZ, Bellevue Reporter
Camp Blaze stokes future female firefighters BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
Amina Saleh was 16 when she read a two-page spread about Camp Blaze
in Teen Magazine, seeing other girls her age rappelling down the side of buildings and climbing 100-foot ladders into the sky, under the guidance of seasoned female firefighters. "I remember grabbing it and running down to my mom and saying, 'Mom, look, all the girls get to do this stuff,' " Saleh said. "… I had never met
On the Hyatt Courtyard
425.283.0461
Pat Tolle Aug 13 – Sept 6
www.gunnarnordstrom.com 800 Bellevue Way NE #111 Bellevue Place
The Art of
DOWNTOWN OFFICE 10138 MAIN STREET BELLEVUE, WA 98004 (425) 454 - 4141
EASTSIDE OFFICE 15600 NE 8TH STREET BELLEVUE, WA 98008 (425) 746 - 1200
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Weeklong event for girls ages 16-19