December 27, 2000

Design Detailings: Neighborhood-improvement projects proposed

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell has recommended that 17 projects receive funding from the city’s neighborhood matching fund, a program that provides money to Seattle neighborhood groups for improvement projects.

The City Council is expected to take action on these recommendations in mid-January.

The recommended awards total about $1.4 million. The community match will be about $2.1 million. The neighborhood matching fund now stands at $4.5 million. The program began in 1988 with a $1.5 million fund.

Schell's recommendations include:

• A $135,000 award to theWard Street Park Committee, which will raise $157,000 to convert a lot at Fourth and Ward into a public park.

• A $120,000 award to theCarkeek Park Advisory Council, which will raise over $169,000 in a community match to remodel a small building into a multipurpose building.

• A $115,000 award toFriends of Rogers Playfield, which will raise over $151,000 to construct a playground.

• A $110,000 award toFriends of Greenwood Park, which will raise over $165,000 in community match to transform an empty 2.2-acre lot into an "environmentally sound" recreational space.

• A $110,000 award toWestcrest Community Action Network, which will raise over $278,000 to install a new play area, improve the off-leash area and trail system.

• A $107,800 award to theMcGilvra PTSA Field of Dreams Project, which will raise $184,500 to renovate the old playfield and make improvements to the surrounding landscape.

For more information about the neighborhood matching fund, call the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods at (206) 684-0464 or go to the Web site www.cityofseattle.net/don.

SEAW refresher course for 2001

The Seattle chapter of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington (SEAW) has released the schedule for its 2001 refresher course, which is held annually to help engineers prepare for Washington’s Structural III licensing exam.

The refresher course will be held in 12 two-hour sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning on Jan. 17. The fee is $225 for SEAW members and $275 for nonmembers. Classes will meet on the University of Washington campus. Course instructors are experienced structural engineers from the Seattle area. Topics to be covered include: analysis, lateral forces, reinforced concrete, masonry, pre-stressed concrete, structural steel, wood structures and foundations.

New this year is a "half-refreshed" option geared toward engineers who want to brush up on their skills. This option allows participants to choose any six sessions at a reduced rate of $125 for members and $175 for nonmembers.

For additional course information and an online registration form, visit the SEAW website at www.seaw.org or call (206) 682-6026.

Gehry exhibits on their way out

The Experience Music Project on Monday, Jan. 1 will permanently close "The Gehry Experience," an exhibit exploring the creation and construction of the design of the phantasmagoric rock ‘n’ roll museum.

Dedicated to EMP designer Frank Gehry the exhibit will move to Los Angeles and then to New York, to be included in a retrospective exhibition of Gehry's work at the Guggenheim Museum.

Also of note for Gehry fans, the Henry Art Gallery has extended "Frank O. Gehry: The Architect’s Studio" to Sunday, Dec. 31. The exhibit presents Gehry’s models, sketches and photographs for a variety of projects.

UW looking for design, history prof.

The University of Washington is seeking applicants for a full-time, nine-month, tenure-track position at the assistant professor level, beginning Autumn 2001.

Undergraduate and graduate design studios, as well as history, theory and/or preservation courses will be taught. Candidates should have the ability to teach large history lecture courses, including one from antiquity to the 1750s.

Candidates must hold a master’s degree in architecture or equivalent professional degree. For complete information, go to the Web site http://depts.washington.edu/archdept/ or e-mail vprakash@u.washington.edu.

CECW holds winter meeting Jan. 10

The annual winter meeting of theConsulting Engineers Council of Washington will feature discussion about ways to maintain the state’s competitive economy. The lecture will be one of several events at the CECW’s meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.

Phil Bussey, president of the Washington Roundtable, will deliver the keynote address during a luncheon to kick off the day's events. The Washington Roundtable is a public policy research and advocacy group made up of top executives from major Seattle companies. Bussey will talk about ways to meet the business community's need for infrastructure, education, and tax and environmental policies.

The CECW's annual awards program will take place in the evening.

For more information, call the CECW at (206) 623-5936.

Portland rail system receives federal award

The Westside MAX light rail system has received a Presidential Award for Design Excellence. The project was one of nine winners of the award, which is the only government-wide recognition of excellence in federal design.

Designed for Tri-Met, a regional transit agency, the Westside MAX line extends the Eastside MAX 18 miles from downtown Portland to Hillsboro. The project design team included Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership; Otak; BRW; and LTK Engineering Services.

The Westside light rail system has received three other federal design awards, as well as awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Consulting Engineers Council of Oregon and Associated General Contractors.

Give peas a chance?

Students from the University of Washington’s College of Urban Architecture and Planning are planning to go to Havana next month to help build community gardens.

Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods is seeking donations to pay for the $10,000 needed to purchase construction materials for the project. The city’s Department of Neighborhoods and Havana’s Department of Urban Agriculture established a sister-city relationship two years ago so that the two could learn from each other’s community gardening programs. Seattle has taught Havana about worm bins, and Havana has taught Seattle about integrating community gardening into the elementary school curriculum.

According to the Department of Neighborhoods, Havana has 1,700 all-organic community gardens, which provide "a major source of food in a nation heavily impacted by the U.S. embargo."

For more information about the program, call Jim Diers, director of the Department of Neighborhoods, at (206) 684-0465.

Salaries stagnant for A&E marketers

While salaries for information technology managers and project managers have increased dramatically in the last four years, salaries for marketing directors have increased only slightly, according to a new industry survey.

Marketing directors’ salaries have grown about 4 percent over the past four years, from $66,950 in 1997 to $70,000 this year, a management compensation survey from Zweig White & Associates says. Over the same time period, information technology managers’ salaries increased 30 percent, and project managers’ salaries grew 23 percent. According to the survey, firms spent less on marketing in what have been prosperous times for the industry -- a trend that may explain why marketing directors’ annual base salaries haven’t increased as much as other managers’ salaries over the past few years.

The management compensation survey for architecture, engineering, planning environmental firms costs $275. For more information, call Zweig White & Associates at (508) 651-1559.

Engineers aim for ‘girrl power’

A group of professional engineering societies are participating in an outreach program, "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day," to encourage young women to enter the engineering profession. The event will be held on Thursday, Feb. 22.

According to the National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE), the engineering profession is facing not only a dearth of engineers in general, but a lack of racial and gender diversity in its ranks. The NSPE says that only 9 percent of engineering positions and 27 percent of computer science and programming jobs are filled by women, and the number of women graduating from college with engineering degrees has leveled off in the past few years.

"Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" is part of National Engineers’ Week in mid-February, an annual series of events that aims to promote public awareness about engineering's accomplishments and importance to society at large.

NASHRO award goes to Seattle firm

Tonkin/Hoyne/Lokan Architects of Seattle was awarded the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials’ (NASHRO) 2000 Award of Excellence in program innovation and community revitalization for the Belmont Apartments, a housing complex in Walla Walla for the elderly.