Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Goodbye Belltown, Hello Kent!

"At about 3100 square feet, it is definitely a change from our little 630 square foot condo"

-Nick, Katie, Ava and Bella...An American Family!

From Ashleigh:

"The Belltown Gothic section is FINALLY done.

This is merely a slice of old Seattle history with six major sections, including my collaborations with these amazing writers:
Jesse Bernstein, William S. Burroughs, and Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, Esquire.

The other sections include Old Belltown before it was bulldozed, razed and rebuilt,
SCUD (Subterranean Cooperative of Urban Dreamers) and the amazing Free Mars Cafe.

I went ahead and scanned all the artwork collaborations I did with Jesse, Wilum and Mr. Burroughs because all of my books are sold out and no longer in print."

http://www.belltowngothic.com/

February 5, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Mitchell, NWPC-WA State President, 206/720-9922
 
Want to Make a Good First Impression?
On Tuesday, February 16, the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington (NWPC-WA) will kick off its 2010 Smart Women Salon Series at Spitfire in Seattle.
February’s event will feature award-winning broadcast media veteran Lorraine Howell speaking on the topic ‘Give your Elevator Speech a Lift’, a step-by-step guide to explaining how to make a memorable first impression in 30 seconds or less. 
The salon is 5:30-7:30 pm at Spitfire (2219 4th Ave., downtown Seattle). The cost is $5 for NWPC-WA members and $10 for non-members, including appetizers and a no-host bar. There will be a raffle included with the cost of the event for a copy of speaker Lorraine Howell’s book. Spitfire is a 21 and over venue. Women can get more information or RSVP by calling (206)-654-4165 or emailing info@wpcnet.org.
The Smart Women Salon Series provides political leadership...

From: Jamie Griswold

Sent: Thu, February 4, 2010 12:53:39 PM
Subject: new Belltown community page!

Hi there,

We wanted to invite you to contribute to the new Belltown community page http://local.mynorthwest.com/belltown on MyNorthwest.com.  It’s part of a larger network of 120 western Washington communities:  http://local.mynorthwest.com/ 

The page features community news, traffic alerts in your neighborhood, weather results and alerts, school closure alerts, a twitter feed with all your neighborhood’s twitter mentions, and a twitter alert system that will let you know if there is a dramatic increase in mentions of your community on twitter.

There’s also a community events calendar.  You can submit any events in your community to the event calendar here: http://local.mynorthwest.com/thesubmit.php?c=belltown

Take a look, let us know what you think.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

 
Thanks,


Jamie


Jamie Griswold

Online Content Producer | MyNorthwest.com

MyNorthwest.com...

From Belltown Messenger #76, February 2010.

ALEX R. MAYER is foiled by the Google Voice Service
Debunking Belltown's Bad Reputation

Even more on speech recognition technology in the February Belltown Messenger:
-Google Voice is a Balderdash Engine
-Be Very Afraid: Biometrics Expert Tells All
-A Garbled Word or Two About Google Voice

Comments about this? This is the place. I might pitch in. I neglected to mention that Ronald and I had a nice time at the Dahlia Lounge that night too, among other things. -Alex

A buddy of legendary Seattle tech sleazball (Microsoft, Infospace, Intelius) Naveen Jain is in some trouble ...

Intelius co-founder accused of lying about sex acts
A co-founder of the Bellevue-based people-finder service Intelius has pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to a grand jury about having sex with dancers at Rick's as part of the ongoing prosecution of strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Sr. and the government's efforts to shut his clubs down.

By Mike Carter

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Also: Naveen Jain’s Latest Scam: Intelius

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Hilarious! Here's Jain's son - deluded Seattle rich kid Ankur Jain - defending his father's good name:

"Intelius has one of the strongest business models I have come across with one of the most passionate set of leaders in the online industry. More importantly, these directors have an unbelievably high level of integrity."

Ankur Jain: “I Would Like To Address My Dad’s Character”

Join us for an evening of dinner, dancing, and celebration at our 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Ball: Vegas Nights! Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love the night before Valentine's Day as we raise funds to benefit The Pink Daisy Project (formerly Breast Cancer Sisterhood) in their noble mission to support young women and their families as they undergo treatment for breast cancer. Les Faeries Vertes is Seattle's Mardi Gras krewe formed in 2008 to raise funds for a charity selected by our members each year. We will be hosting our second annual Mardi Gras event with an evening of Mardi Gras entertainment by Miss Kitty Baby, tableau parade, cocktail hour, a catered dinner, dessert dash, raffle, and night dancing at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 722 East Union Street on Saturday February 13th, 2010. The suggested ticket donation ticket price of $80/person includes the full catered dinner, drinks, and dancing the night away to benefit The Pink Daisy Project. Tickets available at www.lesfaeriesvertes.org. Advance tickets only -- no...

Update 2-10-2010
The PI has given blogger David Nelson the lead story again, complete with another giant graphic. See screenshot #2 above and also his inanity here: Is Belltown Parking Too Expensive?

I love the comments this guy gets. And I love how ugly and useless the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has become. Only a year ago I was getting it at my doorstep every morning. And they paid their writers.

Update 1-19-2010
David,
I'm glad you are taking the high road in response to my snarky blog post!
I saw your web traffic (see screenshot) - people do indeed love those top 10 lists.
Although a Pulitzer prize seems out of reach for you, the more voices Belltown has the better, I say!

Truly,

-Alex (Gern

re:

David Nelson wrote:

http://2andbell.com/

Coming Saturday and Sunday August 14 & 15, 2010

Be updating this one soon ...

Publicola.net has some great writing on the dirty world of local politics. Stranger defectors Josh Feit and Erica Barnett are producing some great work and have convinced wealthy people to pay them to do so over the past year. Advertisers have been harder to convince.

That Northwest Film Forum ad that's been there for a year? Can't be generating much revenue. Bill Sherman is a great guy and a progressive, but is his banner ad (running for a year now) really going to sustain the salaries of two professional journalists? As Publicola's hippie elders Crosscut have proven - there's no money in online journalism right now unless you can get the Gates foundation to fork over some of their ill-gotten cash.

After a year of being sponsored by tech millionaires with very little ad revenue ("mid-four figures," according to our source) in my opinion Publicola should concentrate on news and drop the hipster reportage. If Publicola "gets" the Internet so much (the bottom line - no print costs like the ones that burden the alt-...

Belltown People
belltownpeople.com
Last post: November 30, 2009 "We'll be back soon..."

Belltowner
belltowner.com
Last post: October 16, 2008 "Sunset from the sculpture park"

Belltown Bent
http://belltown.typepad.com/
Last post: October 9, 2008 "Line of sight"

Belltown Seattle
belltownseattle.org
Last post: July 29, 2009 "Closing in on a Foreclosure"

Ah, the wonders of the Internet - here we have a Google ad for Jones Soda appearing above our vicious 2008 bash of the same company.

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Oh, and Happy New Year!

Don't expect much from the Belltown Dispatch in 2010 other than an occasional post. This site remains a no-budget not-for-profit experiment through 2011.

-Gern

In December we visited the Pacific Science Center and found a giant plastic blob trashcan advertising Coke outside the entrance to the IMAX Theatre (now playing: Avatar). In the background a donor wall honors the folks who sponsor the institution, with so many millions that you'd think they would not need to advertise corporate soda.

The Seattle Aquarium is always leaking, and who can blame them? The Pacific Science Center, not located over any body of water, is also always leaking. Here's a shot of a recent leak being stopgapped with a plastic chemical can. There's also a box being used as a trashcan there for an extra touch of class. The water smelled funky or moldy.

The kids love the Science Center. The young people who work there are great - obviously science geeks. Things went downhill in 2009. Complaints too numerous to mention here, but maybe we'll revisit this piece. Note to donor wall - give more money.

Update 1-12-2010
I love all the traffic this post is getting - even though I wrote only a headline and linked to someone else's story. As lazy as a blog post gets.

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McGinn on marijuana: Legalize it
Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn said during a radio interview Friday that he supports efforts to make it legal to use marijuana in Washington state.

-Seattlepi.com

Posted by Chris Grygiel at December 18, 2009 3:27 p.m.
Categories: Seattle politics, Washington State Legislature

Every winter the International District Housing Alliance (IDHA) organizes the holiday gift drive in the Chinatown/International District (CID) to help bring seasonal cheer to neighborhood residents and community members. Our youth program organizes the Holiday Dinner dinner to allow elderly residents of the CID celebrate the season with friends and family. Activities include live entertainment, 6 course Chinese banquet, raffle and door prizes. IDHA also holds an annual gift drive where CID elderly residents, youth and family clients send in gift requests to IDHA. Sound Transit and the University of Washington Law School help distribute gift requests and collect presents for participants. Presents will be wrapped and delivered between December 18-23. IDHA provides these activities so that our clients, friends, and neighbors can share the warmth of the holiday season! If you would like to donate, volunteer, wrap gifts and/or deliver, or for more information, contact Alma Dea Michelena at almadea@apialliance....

Austin A. Bell's final resting place in Seattle's Lakeview Cemetery is now home to a small fir tree of the Charlie Brown variety – which thrives on the roof of his tomb. What could be cheerier during the holiday season than this accidental miracle of nature blossoming in all it's pagan glory?

Austin is the son of Belltown's pioneer founder William Bell and you can also see his name on First Avenue and Bell streets on the Austin A. Bell building facade, above Starbucks. He killed himself there and some say his ghost can still be found wandering around Downtown.

Also growing on the tomb of "Seattle's first spoiled rich kid" are some flowers (see photos). The entrance to the tomb has been sealed with modern-day cinder blocks.

SEATTLE - A couple was attacked by about 10 men outside a hot dog stand as they walked home early Saturday in the Belltown area.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/78599827.html

Schram: Belltown should star in this 'B' flick

"It'll be a true-life little ditty about how upper crust yuppies buy overpriced condos in a once seedy Seattle neighborhood called Belltown.

And that once they move in, are then left cowering in fear of those seeking spare change."

Digital sweatshop alert! A Belltown-based company wants a digital artist to use a tablet and Photoshop to create elaborate illustrations "in about a day."

Digital Illustrator - Full Time - Fine Art Background - Sweet Job!! (Belltown, Seattle)

You know what sucks worse than having to show up at a job working for someone else churning out low quality schlock commercial art day after day? Working for a husband/wife team. Especially one describing themselves as "younger." Oh, and you'll have to kiss their dog's ass, too.

"You must be deadline driven, a team player with a positive, easy-to-work-with attitude and enjoy a small company environment. We are an energetic office in lively Belltown (downtown Seattle), run by a younger husband-and-wife team, with an office dog."

"Outsider" they call him. "Underdog." He biked to work once.

Attacking right wing Republican lunatics is easy, but it's much more pleasurable to call out faux leftists who use the slick PR resources of folks on a billionaire's payroll to guide them, gently, into office. A kind, gentle insertion - painless, for now. Oh man, I'm gonna have a good time calling Mike McGinn out on his hypocrisy in the coming years.

Band of advocates, activists now McGinn's likely insider - Seattle Times 11-13-200

"David Postman, a spokesman for the Vulcan real-estate development company, which did not make an endorsement in the general election, is advising McGinn on media relations during the transition"

From comments thread:

"Well at least we have Dave Postman, Spokesman for Vulcan advising McGinn on Media relations. Wheew! dodged a bullet there. McGinn might have released something that wasn't Paul Allen approved."

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See also: David Postman on McGinn’s Transition Team. May Get Communications Director Spot in New Administration.- BY...

This is a topic I try to avoid - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Wow. Don't get me started. Let someone else go after it and I'll link to it.

Bill Gates lives in a billion dollar house, and he's building a five hundred million dollar headquarters for the Foundation arm of his financial empire in downtown Seattle. He lives large, and gives large.

Bill And Melinda Gates Give $350-Million to Their Foundation- Chronicle of Philanthropy

Paid professionals at nbcconnecticut.com say downtown New Haven, Connecticut (7,000) has greater population density than downtown Seattle. Ten thousand folks live in downtown Seattle.

In this radical new era of unpaid journalism fact-checking is hard to come by, even for affiliates of multinational media monopolies.

And less than 7,000 in downtown Chicago? What a hick town.

-Rex

New Haveners Hate Driving

Updated 1:00 PM EST, Thu, Nov 12, 200

"Unlike cities like Hartford, which fills up with employees mid-day and then turns into a ghost town around 5:30 p.m., New Haven claims 7,000 people who live in the downtown area, making its population density greater than downtown Seattle, Chicago or Baltimore."

Seven months later: What's happened to Seattle P-I Journalists
"Only 15 percent have found fulltime paid work in journalism. Another 25 percent are blogging, freelancing or working on journalism start-ups like Post-Globe or InvestigateWest for little or no money."