Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 7, July 2004
Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.
Seattle Sun business briefs
Ave improvements win award
The Puget Sound Regional Council has honored the University Way Northeast (a.k.a., "The Ave") street improvement project with a Vision 2020 award.
The PSRC award recognizes the project as "an exceptional effort that promotes a livable region and exemplifies Vision 2020," the region's growth management, economic and transportation strategy.
The $8 million roadway and sidewalk project was completed last August. It was designed to improve pedestrian safety and mobility, while increasing transit speed and reliability.
In addition to reconstructing streets and sidewalks from Campus Parkway Northeast to Northeast 50th Street, the project added street trees, benches, bike racks, and new lighting.
The award was presented to the City of Seattle and its partners, which included The Ave Group, the Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle City Light, Seattle Public Utilities, and King County Metro Transit. The Greater University Chamber of Commerce and the University of Washington were also major project supporters.
Goodwill opens Ballard store
Seattle Goodwill held a grand opening celebration on June 17 for its new store in Ballard. The store is located at 6400 8th Ave. NW on a site formerly occupied by Doc Freeman's Marine Supply Store.
The Ballard Goodwill store features a 15,000-square-foot sales floor and an attended donation center where donated quality reusable goods such as clothing, household items, books and toys may be dropped off.
Revenue from store sales provides funding for Seattle Goodwill's award-winning education and job training programs. Each year, these programs provide thousands of hours of free educational classes, job training and placement services to hundreds
of low-income people in the northern Puget Sound.
Odermat earns industry honors
Vic Odermat, founder and owner of the Fremont-based Brown Bear Carwash chain, recently received the Industry Leadership Award from the International Carwash Association at the2004 Car Care World Expo in Las Vegas.
Odermat, who repurchased the business last year from a company that had been running it for the past several years, was recognized with this annual award based on his level of commitment to his employees, the car wash industry, and his community over the years, according to John Nix, a member of the Western Carwash Association's Board of Directors.
Nix cited Odermat's cutting-edge promotion, advertising and charity work in his community, plus his role in the development of the Puget Sound Car Wash Association. Odermat has also supported many local charitable causes, most notably sponsoring the "Brown Bear" exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo.
Mae's cinnamon rolls in stores
Cinnamon Rolls from Mae's Phinney Ridge Café are now available in supermarkets all over Seattle. Check your freezer section for the pastry of choice among the folks who "Graze at Mae's," reports cafe owner Jeanne Mae Barwick. "Treat the family to our decadent rolls, slathered with creamy, sweet frosting, fresh and hot right out of your oven at home! The cinnamon rolls have made our café famous."
Making the rolls available frozen and unbaked has been a long-time dream for the Phinney Ridge entrepreneur. Barwick plans to market more of her home-cooked dishes through local super markets. Look for the signature cow image for "moo-velous" treats from the kitchens of Mae's Café on Phinney Avenue, just north of The Woodland Park Zoo.
The old Phinney Ridge Café has been a fixture in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood since the days when trolley cars rolled down Greenwood Avenue, through the Greenwood and Phinney neighborhoods all the way to the Fremont District.
The café has had surprisingly few owners during its long history. Once famous for fruit pies and cinnamon rolls, later it was most famous for its blue-collar bar.
Barwick purchased the café in 1988 and immediately closed the bar and reinvented that space as the "Moo Room," a monument to Wisconsin and the mighty Holstein. Customers were so enthusiastic about the cow theme, that the place was soon overflowing with cow "moo-morabilia" brought in as gifts by the customers.
Today, the cafe, which has won numerous awards in recent years, employs 18 workers.
City Light honors Wallingford man
Wallingford resident and City Light employee Payne Fifield and his work team were recently honored with the utility's prestigious Light, Power and Pride Award.
The awards are given to recognize creativity, innovation, excellence in customer service, money saving ideas, community achievement or heroism. Winners are nominated and selected by their peers.
Fifield was honored in the customer service division as one of a team of nine City Light employees responsible for the successful upgrade of 1,600 computers to the Windows XP operating system.
Light, Power and Pride awards were given this year to eight individuals and six teams from among Seattle City Light's more than 1,600 employees. Each individual honored also received a cash award.
Windermere adds staff
Windermere Real Estate has added new sales associates at its Ballard and Northwest offices. Julie Burgess is the new sales associate in the Ballard office. She has worked in technology and consulting sales for more than 10 years. Jeff Graham has been added as a sales associate at the Northwest office. He brings 24 years of experience at Graham Steel in Kirkland, where he managed projects in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii.