Sep 16, 1998

MBT

David Bendet has been named an associate at MBT Architecture. Bendet, who has been with the San Francisco-based firm since 1994, is credited with leading MBT's efforts to integrate architectural design and management with computer-based information systems. He has taught computer graphics applications for architecture at the University of California at Berkeley.

Sep 15, 1998

Vashon tackling its smelly secret

VASHON ISLAND, Wash. (AP) -- The problem with Vashon Island's sewage system is immediately evident with every inhale, particularly at low tide. In some areas of the island, some residents flush directly onto the beach. In others, the untreated sewage is simply drained into barrels cut with drain holes so it seeps directly into the ground. But the Vashon Island Sewer District is leading a cleanup effort that would use technology to convert sewage to water clean enough to return to the aquifer. On a recent day, Mark Salkind stood at the edge of Cove Beach where a small creek dives out of a ravine on the island's west side. Most of the beach is bare gravel, but where the stream meets saltwater, a thick bed of seaweed flares into the brine. "I've been on this beach at times when you can't make up your mind whether to breathe through your nose or through your mouth," said Salkind, a retired marine engineer and vice president of the Vashon Island Sewer District. The stream is fed mostly by fresh water from the island's aquifer, but it picks up its scent as sewage oozes through the ground water from Beulah Park, a community on the bluff above, Salkind said. Since the early 1990s, Beulah Park-Cove and two beach communities -- Bunker Trail and Spring Beach -- have been tagged by the state Health Department as "severe health hazards." Bunker Trail is a community of 30 homes mostly in a line behind bulkheads that flank the ferry dock at the island's north end. Beulah Park is a collection of about 50 small homes on the island's west side. Spring Beach is a community of 13 historic houses near the island's south tip. Most of the houses in those areas flush raw sewage directly into Puget Sound or do so indirectly by letting it seep into the ground water, Salkind said. In most cases, the lots are too small or the ground too thin to utilize a system that would be more efficient, he said. The district's final solution involves two technologies:

• In Bunker Trail, sewage would be collected into a central pipe that leads to a pumping station under the pavement at the highway-ferry dock junction. From there it would be pumped about two miles up to a sewer line leading to the island's only treatment plant in the town of Vashon.
• For Beulah Park and Spring Beach, the district plans a collective sewage-tank system. Gravity would feed household sewage into a train of neighborhood septic tanks, where solids would settle out and undergo the microbial digestion.

The remaining effluent would be put through a purification process to produce water clean enough to drink. The water then would be pumped to a drip-irrigation system installed in a plot of suitable neighborhood ground -- a vacant lot or a park -- where it would re-enter the area's natural ground-water system as clean water. The proposal stalled recently when a $4 million initial construction estimate jumped to $6 million, Salkind said. "To have gone ahead anyway would have found us in the curious position of issuing a contract we couldn't pay for," Salkind said. "That would not have been a good place to be." Jon Savelle is the Journal's environment editor. He can be contacted at (206) 622-8272.

Immunex

Barry G. Pea has been promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel of Immunex Corp. Pea formerly served as associate general counsel. Immunex is a Seattle biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing immune system science to protect human health.

Metawave

Metawave Communications Corp., a Redmond-based provider of spectrum management solutions for the wireless communications industry, has promoted Dr. Martin J. Feuerstein to vice president of advanced technology. Feuerstein formerly served as director of research. Feuerstein will lead efforts to expand the smart antenna systems.

Sep 14, 1998

Data I/O Corp.

Data I/O Corp., the Redmond-based firm specializing in programming technology for programmable integrated circuits, has added Jim Rounds as vice president of engineering. Rounds formerly served as a manager for Hewlett-Packard.

Sep 11, 1998

Foster Pepper & Shefelman

Joyce J. Dillon has joined the Seattle law office Foster Pepper & Shefelman as an associate practicing intellectual property law, with a concentration in copyright and trademark issues. Dillon formerly served as an associate at Mound, Cotton & Wollan in New York.

Extreme Internet

A new company, Extreme Internet, has recently opened in La Conner. Owned by Rob Oliver, the company will focus on helping clients utilize the world wide web in marketing. Oliver has transitioned his company TargetMarketing Group from a heavily marketing based consulting company to an internet focused organization. The new website can be viewed at extremeinternet.com.

CB Richard Ellis

Roger Hodge, assistant vice president and senior real estate analyst, has relocated to the Seattle Appraisal Department of CB Richard Ellis. He has been a senior appraiser at the company's San Francisco office where he specialized in downtown office and retail properties and complex assignments, such as appraisal of the Microsoft Redmond campus and the Playa Vista development of the former Howard Hughes estate with the city of Los Angeles.

Windermere

Windermere's revamped website is earning praise from online real estate publications. Real Times opines about how rare it is to find a company that, like Seattle-based Windermere, updates online data daily. The site address is windermere.com.