Being ‘green’ saves money for the Salish Lodge & Spa
April 13, 2011
The results are in. After 10 months of changing to more energy-efficient lightbulbs, increasing its recycling program and holding bimonthly meetings with its green team members, the Snoqualmie Salish Lodge & Spa has saved thousands of dollars.
“This was an opportunity for us to give back to our environment,” said Salish General Manager John Murphy.
Last year, the Salish received a grant to “green” its services. Its staff focused on three aspects that affected the lodge daily.
Amity Lumper, a senior associate with the Cascadia Consulting Group, speaks at a luncheon outlining the steps the Salish Lodge and Spa has taken to ‘green’ itself. Contributed
First, staff switched most of the incandescent lightbulbs to either LED or fluorescent lighting, saving nearly $6,100 and 750,000 kilowatt hours annually.
Second, staff members developed a recycling program, buying recycling bins and training employees about recycling habits. Teaching people to unlearn old habits and exercise new ones took time, but now Salish staff are in step with the new program, Murphy said.
“It’s about changing motion,” he said. “It’s going to a different Dumpster, going to a different part of the loading dock.”
In addition to recycling paper, plastics and bottles, the lodge began composting food scraps in March, saving even more space in its trash containers — and therefore spending less money. Their efforts have paid off, saving the lodge more than $450 per month.
Homeowner associations can participate in Sustainability Challenge
April 13, 2011
Friends of Quadrant Homes, a social network hosted by Quadrant Homes, has launched a 90-day sustainability challenge, lasting through June 15.
Anybody living in a homeowner association can participate. The two HOAs that make the most creative environmental changes will receive $2,000 grants.
Of the HOAs that place, one will be urban and the other suburban, which includes communities in King County.
To register, HOA residents must do the following:
- Register online at friendsofquadranthomes.com/sustainabilitychallenge.
- Make a pledge to do at least one of the items in each of the three categories.
- Create a pledge of their own.
Participants can make a difference by being conscientious of their energy, water and land use, including giving up paper cups for beverage mugs, replacing outdated showerheads with low-flow ones or planting a tree.
In addition to sustainability commitments, participants can share their photos, videos and stories on the Friends of Quadrant Homes Facebook page.
North Bend City Council votes against downtown zoning change
April 13, 2011
The North Bend City Council voted 5-1 during its April 5 meeting against a proposed change to the city’s zoning code to allow a venue for weddings and other events to be built near downtown.
The proposal would have allowed event venues to be built on parcels zoned as cottage residential, a designation created in 2006 to encourage more affordable housing near downtown.
Several City Council members said the zoning had not had time to be effective. The city had a self-imposed building moratorium until 2009. By the time the ban was lifted, the housing market had collapsed, leaving little demand for new homes.
Still, one area zoned as cottage residential is under development by John Day Homes.
The proposed zoning change had been submitted by Heidi and Paul Moon. The couple runs an event venue in unincorporated King County, which hosts mostly weddings.
Under King County code, the couple can only operate with a six-month temporary permit. So, they want to relocate to a city that would allow for a permanent operation.
Drowsy driver slams into power pole near North Bend
April 13, 2011
A man driving a U-Haul truck on West North Bend Way fell asleep at the wheel Tuesday April 12 and slammed into a power pole.
The man suffered only minor injuries but did significant damage to the box truck, said Capt. Mark Ashburn, of Eastside Fire & Rescue.
“He had to be traveling along at a pretty good clip to do that damage,” Ashburn said.
The power pole was replaced by crews from Puget Sound Energy and Tanner Electric Cooperative after the Star went to press.
To replace the pole, Tanner Electric is expected to cut off power to its North Bend customers for about three hours during the night, according to its website.
Tell your friends to vote yes for bond
April 13, 2011
By now, residents in the Snoqualmie Valley School District should all be aware that every vote does indeed count. The bond measure on February’s ballot failed by one vote, with 59.998 percent in favor. Had one vote switched from no to yes, the measure would have passed.
Now, voters get another chance to push the yes votes past the required 60 percent margin. The ballots have been mailed.
Have you made your decision, sealed, signed and stamped the envelope, and mailed it in?
Letters
April 13, 2011
School board ignoring the will of the voters
Thank you, Lauren Welling!
Your letter (SnoValley Star, March 24) about the school bond issue summarized my feelings exactly.
While we the people do have the right to vote, it has been my experience that if the powers that be don’t like what we have voted on they just annul the vote to suit themselves.
I would like to educate the School Board.
Don’t you realize we are in a recession? Where do you get the idea we the taxpayers are your deep pockets? Don’t you realize people are losing jobs, and if they do have jobs, they have seen their pay and hours reduced, and have not seen a raise in a long time?
Don’t you realize people have lost their homes? Do you realize many people are struggling just to keep their heads above water? No, you don’t seem to have a clue. Because how many times have you put a bond before the voters, not once a year but twice a year.
And what do the voters tell you?
Weak commercial real estate market makes city properties a tough sell
April 13, 2011
In September 2010, the city of Snoqualmie put four downtown properties on the market, hoping businesses would move in. But demand for commercial space in the Snoqualmie Valley has weakened since then.
The city has found tenants for two of the properties. A developer has an option on a third property.
Tom and Elizabeth Sroufe negotiated an agreement that gives the couple the exclusive opportunity to develop the empty lot at the northeast corner of King Street and Railroad Avenue.
The city had held an open competition for proposals from developers, but only one company, Brookwater Fund, entered. The Sroufes own Brookwater Fund.
The Sroufes, who live near Snoqualmie in unincorporated King County, have six months to submit a plan for the site’s development to the city. If the initial plans are approved, the couple would have six months to finalize them and apply for building permits.
If the Sroufes go ahead with developing the site, they have an option to buy it for $315,000.
The site is an ideal location for an anchor retail store, said Tom Sroufe, who has a background in retail development.
Until April 2010, he was a vice-president of Wesbild, a Canadian development company. Sroufe helped develop Westwood Town Center in West Seattle and the Kitsap Mall. He resigned to pursue his own projects.
Police & Fire
April 13, 2011
North Bend police
Someone needed a nicotine fix
At 10 p.m. March 28, a person pried open the drive-up window on the east side of Ken’s Grocery Store, in the 14000 block of 468th Street in North Bend. Once inside, the person stole Marlboro cigarettes. One fingerprint was found. The reporting party said an employee set the alarm at closing time. When the store opened the morning after the robbery, the alarm was off.
Snoqualmie Falls shows up in statistics classes
April 13, 2011
Snoqualmie Falls gets around. The impressive image of the cascading waterfall has been regionally famous since cameras were first lugged to its location in the late 1800s.
But Snoqualmie Falls is well known to some people for something not so obvious to visitors: data.
The falls are used as an example of statistical forecasting in a textbook by Peter Guttorp, a University of Washington professor. The book, “Stochastic Modeling of Scientific Data,” was published in 1995.
The textbook is still used in classrooms across the country.
Cosma Shalizi’s statistics course at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, uses the textbook and, specifically, the falls data.
“I used it in one of my lectures as an example of building and testing a statistical forecasting system,” Shalizi wrote in an email to the Star.
He had used the same textbook as a student.
“I could have gone looking for weather records closer to home, but I was already familiar with this example,” he said, “and Professor Guttorp had already done the work of collecting 40 years of data and putting it online.”
State launches website to fight fraud
April 13, 2011
Most people have heard the saying, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”
The Washington State Department of Revenue feels the same way.
To help root out things that are too good to be true, the department has set up a website, www.suspectfraud.com.
The website lets consumers check to see if a business is registered and in good standing. The department developed it in partnership with the Department of Labor and Industries, and the Employment Security Department.
“Knowledge is the best defense, and state agencies have combined forces to make it easier than ever for the public to check with the state before it’s too late,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said.
The website complements the Revenue Department’s efforts to catch businesses operating under the table.
Former Congressional candidate Suzan DelBene was named to be the department’s director after her unsuccessful campaign against Rep. Dave Reichert for the 8th District seat.
Get information about National Consumer Protection Week at www.consumer.gov/ncpw.
