A few weeks ago, a favorite women's clothes shop, Mercer (University Village) held their clearance sale to prepare for the spring arrivals. We are familiar enough with this shop to track their changes in merchandise and we noted several changes--all of which impressed us. more ›

We were wondering when we'd hear from the PWC about the extra-extra-final-nope-not-another-word bored tunnel decision. The letter begins equably enough, with them talking about how the state, county, and city have divvied up responsibility, and what Seattle gets out of it:

The City is going ahead with Mercer and Spokane projects, the new waterfront street, other street improvements, the First Ave streetcar line, and investments to increase transit speed and reliability downtown. Funding sources have been identified, and the package looks viable--if Seattle citizens are willing to stomach some new taxes. The County gained the authority to levy a 1% MVET tax for transit, which can be spent to boost transit service countywide. Some of this money will be invested in increased service to West Seattle, Delridge, Ballard, and Aurora north.

Through January 1st, SIFF Cinema is screening Francis Ford Coppola's masterpieces The Godfather and The Godfather II, and they've got newly restored, Coppola-approved studio reels. After the Xmas Eve and Day closure, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, both films will show back-to-back (Part II, which plays tonight at 8 p.m., includes a ten-minute intermission). New Year's Eve and Day are also double-feature days. Tickets are $10 ($7 matinee) for each film. SIFF Cinema is in McCaw Hall, on Mercer in lower Queen Anne. more ›

Today, two charter buses slid down icy, cobblestone East Thomas Street on Capitol Hill, across Melrose, and crashed through the guardrail, almost plummeting onto I-5. One bus made it several feet past the guardrail before coming to a stop. Buses frequently use East Thomas Street--they exit I-5 at Olive but can't make the left turn down Denny, so they go two blocks up, turn left at East Thomas and then right on Denny to get to the Greyhound station. This time it appears two of them attempted East Thomas at the same time, and the results were heart-stopping. At this point we're not hearing of any major injuries. Updates to come. more ›

We just had to run down to SeaTac, and along the way lost count of the amount of road repair and construction projects going on. August is the Pacific Northwest's official Road Repair Month, on account of its stretches of good weather, and transportation crews work around the clock to get the most paving done possible. SeaTac is always under construction, so nothing new there, but Mercer has a lane closure or two, which ought to make forehead veins bulge a little during hot afternoon rush hours. Here's a map of road construction projects in and around Seattle which will serve mainly to convince you that you're screwed--you can nowhere at no time on no street without running into orange cones and people wearing safety vests doing that "my arm is a tipped over metronome" mime. It's hot out there and your exhaust stinks, so the least you can do is give 'em a brake. more ›

Lower Queen Anne is dead to us. And we like Lower Queen Anne, we do: Many's the night we've whiled away down at Solo chatting up Kultur Shock's Val behind the bar, or closing out the Great Nabob with co-workers. But last night, it became clear that they no longer want us to visit. Because for reasons we don't quite understand, there is no longer any parking in Lower Queen Anne. more ›