Mar 04, 1997

KJM & Assoc.

Bellevue-based KJM & Associates Ltd. recently hired several new employees. Todd Barrow has joined the firm to provide project control services on the Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium project. The project and construction management company also announced Laurie Beden is the new controller, Heidi Haggar an accounting assistant and Susan Seibert an administrative assistant/receptionist. Brian Johnstone has been hired as a residential engineer in the Oregon office to provide his expertise on the Cave Junction Wastewater Treatment Plant project.

PEMA luncheon to focus on Port of Tacoma

SEATTLE -- "Doing Business with the Port of Tacoma" will be the theme of the Professional Environmental Marketing Association's luncheon program this week. The luncheon is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at Latitude 47, 1232 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle. The speaker will be Suzanne Dudziak, environmental program manager for the Port of Tacoma. Dudziak will provide insight into common mistakes made by environmental consultants during the selection process for Port contracts. She will explain what firms can do to set themselves apart from the crowd. Dudziak also will discuss some of the unique pressures, issues and problems the Port of Tacoma is facing. Cleanup issues are closely allied with other activities at the Port, such as real estate transactions, risk management and maintenance. Dudziak will explain how these activities affect the way the Port manages its environmental projects. For more information on Wednesday's luncheon, call AGRA Earth & Environmental at (206) 820-4669, Ext. 3014.

$209,000 water quality grant awarded

YAKIMA -- The Kittitas County Conservation District has received a $209,000 grant from the Department of Ecology to improve water quality and promote water conservation in the Kittitas Valley. The Kittitas Water Quality/Conservation Project is designed to study current irrigation management practices and implement best management practices (BMPs) to conserve water and soil. Using both field observations and a computerized mapping system, the Conservation District will be able to evaluate the effects of BMPs for different cropping patterns, soil characteristics and irrigation methods. The grant money comes from the Centennial Clean Water Fund, which is used for improving and protecting water quality in Washington. For more information on the grant, call Jani Gilbert at (509) 456-4464 or Chris Hall at (509) 454-7844.

Big Three may violate fuel-efficiency law

DETROIT (AP) -- The Big Three automakers will sell so many gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles this year that they will fail to meet federal fuel-efficiency standards, a newspaper reported Sunday. The industry is responding with a campaign to abolish the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Law, which was enacted in 1975 after the formation of OPEC caused gas prices to rise, the Detroit News said. The law "has cost us jobs, market share, safety, customer satisfaction -- and we have not reduced our dependence in imported oil," said Mike Stanton, federal liaison for the American Automobile Manufacturing Association. Under the law, known as CAFE, the government set mileage goals: Cars must average 27.5 miles per gallon and light trucks 20.7 miles per gallon. If the vehicles don't comply with the law, the automakers must pay fines and present a plan to get back in compliance. Sales of pickups, minivans and sport-utility vehicles represent 44 percent of the market, up from 20 percent in 1980, the News reported. But those popular vehicles don't always meet the mileage standards. A Ford F-150 pickup with a V-8 engine and an automatic transmission gets about 16 miles to the gallon. A Chevrolet Tahoe gets about 15 mpg and a Chrysler minivan with a V-6 gets about 20 mpg. The chairmen of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. are meeting with President Clinton on April 3 and plan to lobby Congress and rework their future product designs to find gas-saving solutions. All three automakers' light trucks fall under the CAFE standards. Ford is the only one whose cars don't meet the standards, short by 0.1 mile per gallon. Chrysler this fall plans to introduce a flexible fuel minivan, which would run on various fuels, to avoid penalties under CAFE, the report said. But based on the company's forecast, it will not be in compliance until 2000 and is projecting fines totaling $114 million. Chrysler declined to comment on its plans to the News.

Mar 03, 1997

Electronic Arts Seattle

Electronic Arts (EA), a San Mateo, Calif.-based entertainment software company, is opening a Seattle-area game-design facility called Electronic Arts Seattle (EAS). EAS will operate under the direction of Anthony Garcia, founder of Microsoft's entertainment business unit.

Feb 28, 1997

Mortgage brokerage conference March 4

The King County chapter of the Washington Association of Mortgage Brokers will present Education '97 on March 4. Designed to bring mortgage brokers up to date on developments in their field, the conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue. Featured speaker at the event is Chuck Cross, of the Department of Financial Institutions. He will discuss 203(k), Farm Home Loans and customer service issues. Cost of the event is $50 for members of the association, others pay $90.

Conference on `new urbanism'

Northwest Landing is sponsoring a day-long conference on new approaches to neighborhood planning and design. To be held March 21 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the conference will cover implementation of neotraditional concepts, designing a new community from scratch, and a tour of Northwest Landing's neighborhoods where "new urbanism" is in use. The conference will be held at DuPont Community Presbyterian Church in DuPont. Cost is $55 per person before March 1 or $65 after. For information or to register, call Tom Phillips, 441-7579.

Feb 26, 1997

Portico

Urban designer and architect Paul Sorensen has joined The Portico Group. He is currently project manager and

Sorensen

architect for the Oregon Waters Exhibit, part of a major new Oregon exhibit zone Portico is designing at Portland's Metro Washington Park Zoo. Lorraine Pai has also recently joined the firm with seven years of experience as a landscape architect. She is working with design teams for the Kansas City Science Museum and the new Oregon exhibits at Metro Washington Park Zoo.

AKB

Newton

Lisa J. Newton has been named marketing director at AKB Engineers, Inc. Previously with a New England architectural and engineering firm, she also has a background in service marketing in New York and Asia.

Chin

Choomeng Chin has joined AKB as a civil engineer specializing in site design and development, including streets and roadways, stormwater management systems and sanitary sewer systems. His background includes the Microsoft World Headquarters Campus. Tom Underwood has joined the staff as a CAD draftsperson.

Underwood

Frum

R. David Frum has founded his own architectural firm called R. David Frum Architects. His 12 years of professional practice has included the planning and construction of River Ridge High School in Lacey, design management of a

Frum

technology park in Eden Prairie, Minn., and five noise-remedy pilot projects for the Port of Seattle.

W&H Pacific

Michele L. Kophs has joined the Business Development Group of W&H Pacific as a marketing assistant, with experience at Microsoft, PACCAR and Boeing Computer Services.

W.E. Group

W.E. Group Architects-Planners-Interiors in Portland has elected officers for 1997. They include Ron Slusarenko as president; Rick Heiserman, who has also been elected president of the Construction Specifications Institute, as treasurer; and Blane Michael Marczuk as managing principal and vice president of the firm's office and Phil Gall as secretary, also in Eugene.