Amy Radil

Stories

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  Losing Bidders Want A Shot At Tully's

  The Seattle-based Tully’s Coffee company was sold at a bankruptcy auction Jan. 3. But a number of bidders and stakeholders are contesting that sale. Now US Bankruptcy Judge Karen Overstreet will review the deal.Global Baristas, the investor group headed by “Grey's Anatomy” television star Patrick Dempsey, agreed to buy all 47 Tully’s stores for $9.15 million. But other bidders are trying to persuade the court to not accept that bid. Patty Edwards is the chief investment officer with Bellevue-based Trutina Financial. She said the fight is so intense because Tully’s has many stores in prime locations. She said the stores located in Boeing facilities are among the most lucrative. “That is just a gold nugget in this otherwise slightly tarnished bowl of fruit,” she said.Starbucks Corporation submitted a higher bid along with another firm, AgriNurture Inc., for $10.53 million. But Starbucks only wanted 25 Tully’s stores. Edwards said the successful bid from Global Baristas included all the stores and the corporate headquarters.  “It’s a tidier, neater way of doing things even if it’s a lower bid,” she said. “The question is, 'How much is the hassle worth?'”Edwards said Tully’s financial problems are not reflective of the local coffee scene as a whole. She said coffee remained one of the little luxuries people declined to give up, even during the recession.Tully’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October and subsequently closed 19 unprofitable stores.

  Jan 10, 2013 at 6:43 pm
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  McGinn Launches Bid For Second Term

  Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced Wednesday that he will seek a second term. At his press conference McGinn was flanked by leaders of nonprofits that

  Jan 09, 2013 at 6:53 pm
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  SPD Confronts Another Inflammatory Video

  The Seattle Police Department is facing another use-of-force lawsuit accompanied by video footage. Friday the department defended its conduct at a press conference.In 2010, Seattle police officers came across Isaac Ocak’s car left running outside a West Seattle mall. Officers suspected the owner might be shoplifting, so when Ocak came to claim it they told him to put his hands on the hood of the patrol car. In a dashboard camera video Ocak seems agitated and asks officers why they’re so rude to him. Suddenly the encounter escalates. Four officers wrestle Ocak into handcuffs. As Officer Larry Longley tries to push Ocak’s face back onto the patrol car, Ocak bites Longley’s gloved finger. Longley then punches Ocak repeatedly in the face.The City Attorney’s office charged Ocak with assault but later dropped the charge. SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb said that officers did nothing wrong during the encounter. “We believe that the force during that contact, once the officer’s finger was bitten, was also reasonable and necessary to get him into handcuffs."However, after the U.S. Justice Department accused SPD of using force too readily in its 2011 report, SPD implemented a new curriculum called “Listen and Explain with Equity and Dignity." Whitcomb praised the officers as diligent and proactive for spotting the car and stopping Ocak. But he acknowledged that the resulting confrontation was not what the department is striving for. “I think it’s fair to say that if the LEED training was in place," he said, "then this would not be an example we would use for training."The officers involved were not investigated or reprimanded. Even after the Seattle City Attorney’s office flagged the encounter for SPD’s Office of Professional Accountability, SPD officials found the use of force justifiable. Now OPA will examine the incident because Ocak’s attorney, James Egan, has filed a complaint with the office. He’s also preparing to sue the city. Egan said his client committed no crime that day, and police officers had no right to get aggressive. “We live under the U.S. Constitution where you have a right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures," Egan said. "What they should have done is say, ‘don’t park there, you got our attention, get out of here.’”At the press conference SPD also gave journalists copies of a police report from Ocak’s past when he was a juvenile. His name was blacked out since juvenile records are normally sealed, but Whitcomb confirmed that the report pertained to Ocak. Egan called his client’s record irrelevant in this case and said this incident happened because officers view any disrespect as a violation of law.

  Jan 04, 2013 at 6:10 pm
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  Compass Post Office Provides Mailing Address For 3,500 Homeless In Seattle

  The holidays often bring extra presents and messages from loved ones. But to receive those messages, you have to have an address.Anyone who needs a mailing address can have the mail sent to 77 South Washington St. in Seattle's Pioneer Square. That’s the post office run by the Compass Housing Alliance. Most of the 3,500 people in Seattle who use that address are homeless or in temporary housing.Compass program manager Teresa Dillard points to a pile of packages in the mail room as a sign of the holidays. One says, “Do not open this box until Christmas!”“Typically we wouldn’t have quite that many,” she said. “We would have maybe a quarter of that number of packages.” Some packages say “perishable” so she hustles them to a refrigerator.Compass offers banking and mail services at one counter, so clients line up at two tellers’ windows to access their savings accounts and get their mail.One client, Ernest Pitre, looks excited when he’s handed a sizable box from Walmart. “I got my Christmas present,” he said. “I got my 9-inch digital portable TV so I can watch the games and stuff.”Games for Pitre mean one thing: his beloved 49ers football team. He said he can’t wait to open his package in the men’s dorm upstairs where he stays. He said he already sent off gifts to his kids and has no intention of waiting until Christmas to open his own. “I’m going to open it now!” he said.Compass director of development Cindy Jackson said the organization has held mail for people since it started as a church mission in 1920. “It started off as a reading room, a place where loggers or sailors or people that were down on their luck could come get a meal, receive their mail, spend some time. And then it’s evolved over the years to what we have today.”This is the most mail they’ve ever dealt with – right now they’re adding about a dozen names a day. Nathaniel Bergstein works with clients at the tellers’ window. He does a job that’s part banking, part mail clerk and part social worker.  He said the hardest part of the job is the sheer volume of mail they receive.  “I would say that’s difficult because everyone here is committed and wants to process things as quickly as possible,” Bergstein said.  “But that gets harder and harder the more clients we add to the system.”They log all the mail they receive into a computer, especially since about half the recipients get benefits from state agencies. There were also 800 King County ballots sent to their mailroom this year.Some other homeless shelters also hold mail for clients, or people can have mail sent “general delivery” to the downtown post office. But once someone who’s homeless picks up mail, there’s the question of how to keep it safe and dry. Stephen Emory said he sleeps at a shelter in the University District. He’s been homeless in Seattle for over a year. “All I have right now is what’s in my tote,” Emory said.  “Because at our shelter you’re allowed to keep one plastic tote with a lid on it.”Emory also has access to a locker in another location downtown. He travels between those places, a job in South Park, the public library to check email, and Compass to pick up his regular mail, like some boots that his brother sent him. "[Someone my brother works with] ordered some boots for me on Amazon, had them delivered right here. I get all my mail, obviously there it is right there. So it’s pretty important.”Emory said he’s dealing with alcoholism and bipolar disorder. But he juggles the logistics that allow him to find meals, medication and a place to stay. He said getting his mail here helps him stay connected and get things done.  “I’ve lost everything, many times over,” he said. “But what are you going to do today? That’s my question. What are you going to do right now.”A lot of the people who get their mail here are waiting for something – for a job offer, to get off a housing waitlist, or for a question about their benefits to be resolved.  But like everyone else, they say the mail they look forward to most is a personal letter.

  Dec 24, 2012 at 8:59 am
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  Medical Marijuana Providers Want Access To Forbidden Cities

  Marijuana legalization in Washington is taking effect against a patchwork of conflicting city laws. Some cities don’t allow marijuana dispensaries. But Seattle began requiring business licenses for them last year. Some medical marijuana providers see benefits to playing by cities’ rules. Others are fighting their restrictions.

  Dec 17, 2012 at 12:00 am

• Medical Marijuana Providers Challenge Seattle Licensing In Court

  Medical marijuana providers are challenging Seattle’s licensing rules in court. They say having to obtain business licenses forces them to incriminate themselves under federal law.

  Dec 13, 2012 at 12:00 am
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  Supreme Court Rulings Could Benefit Same-Sex Couples In Washington

  Washington’s law allowing same-sex marriage just took effect this week. And that could be not a moment too soon for same-sex couples hoping to receive marriage-related federal benefits.The US Supreme Court has announced it will review the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA restricts the federal definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. DOMA’s provisions mean that same-sex couples cannot receive one another’s Social Security benefits and may not receive the other’s pension benefits when one of them dies. University of Washington law professor Peter Nicolas said the court is unlikely to extend same-sex marriage to states where it’s not already legal, although the court's ruling could pave the way for that. Instead he expects the most immediate repercussions in states like Washington that have legalized same-sex marriage. He said if the court overturns DOMA, it could extend federal benefits to same-sex couples in those states.So Nicolas said Washington’s timing was crucial in switching from domestic partnerships to marriage. “Because if DOMA is struck down,” he said, “then same-sex couples will be entitled to those benefits in a way that they wouldn’t have been if we were still doing domestic partnerships.”Jane Martin said extending those benefits to same-sex spouses would give her some peace of mind. She’s 14 years older than her longtime partner, Alice Goodman. Right now, because of federal policies, Goodman cannot inherit Martin’s pension.  So Martin said they’re trying to put other money aside.  “We try to do whatever we can to boost her retirement income or we try to save a lot," she said. "And I’m also trying to figure out what I can do to go back to work."Martin is looking for work at age 69. She said if money were no object, she’d rather be traveling and doing volunteer work.  She said being in a same-sex relationship causes other hardships, like higher income taxes and worries about traveling outside Washington. But still, things are shifting. Martin said at her partner’s holiday office party this year, she was surprised at the warmth and acknowledgement they felt as a same-sex couple. She’s kind of in shock. Martin said, “It takes a little while to shift social gears from outcast to included, you know?”Martin said people at the party were curious to know whether they’re getting married. They are – they’re looking at an August wedding, in their backyard, with a Klezmer band. Meanwhile, oral arguments in the Supreme Court cases are expected this spring, with a decision in June.

  Dec 07, 2012 at 5:17 pm
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  Medical Marijuana Distributors Divided On New Law

  Sean Green is the owner of Pacific Northwest Medical, a medical marijuana collective in the city of Shoreline. Today he’s wearing a suit and tie, a vestige of his former career in real estate. Green says he supported Initiative 502, but he’s celebrating legalization by turning off his phones. That’s because he’s gotten so many calls from recreational users who are under the delusion that it’s now legal for Green to sell them marijuana.A voicemail message advises callers that under Initiative 502, “licenses will not be available for some time” and that the collective can only provide access to “current medical marijuana patients.” “We just don’t have the manpower to take all the phone calls,” Green said. Despite this minor inconvenience, Green embraces the new marijuana law. It requires the state to develop a licensing system for marijuana growers and distributors in the coming year. Once that’s in place, Green wants to build a retail chain to sell marijuana across the state and maybe nationwide.“Initiative 502 is just progress,” he said. “We’re moving forward into a new day. The end of Prohibition. I look forward to seeing this program or something similar roll out across the country.”But there are some serious obstacles ahead. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law. Banks won’t take marijuana businesses as clients – that’s why Green’s office contains a huge black safe.Also, Green said some landlords have become more reluctant to rent space for marijuana storefronts. And zoning in many cities restricts them.And while Green supports I-502, other medical marijuana providers do not. Arthur West is a medical marijuana patient and a board member of the group “No on 502.” The group is also backed by medical marijuana providers. West filed a lawsuit in Thurston County. He’s seeking to have the initiative voided. He said it was deceptive because it didn’t give voters enough information on new penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana.West also said the initiative could be a boon to drug cartels because the state distribution system doesn’t exist yet.  “What I see this being is a green light for large-scale manufacturers from out of state to load up truckloads of marijuana and drive it into Washington to sell it,” he said.A hearing in West’s lawsuit is scheduled for Friday, December 8 in Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia. Meanwhile Sean Green says he’ll be making the trip to Olympia frequently this year, to watch as new state rules are put into place.

  Dec 07, 2012 at 9:08 am
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  Marijuana Use Becomes Legal This Week But Many Questions Remain

  Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has been a longtime supporter of legalizing marijuana. But when he was elected in 2009, he said he never would have

  Dec 03, 2012 at 7:52 am
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  Washington State Patrol Expects No Big Changes From Legalized Marijuana

  Officials with the Washington state Patrol say about 8 percent of the drivers they pull over turn out to be impaired by drugs. A lab test verifying marijuana in the blood is a factor in showing driver impairment, they say, but there’s never been a legal limit the way there is for alcohol. That changes with the new law allowing marijuana possession, which takes effect Thursday, Dec. 6. It contains a new limit on marijuana components in a driver’s bloodstream.Bob Calkins is the Washington State Patrol spokesman. He said the new limit doesn’t change how state troopers do their job. They’ll still pull people over based on driving behavior.  “It takes so long for the blood test to come back after the actual contact and arrest that it’s going to be more of an issue for prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys to hash out,” he said. “It really isn’t going to change what the trooper does on the street at the roadside at the time of contact and arrest.” The Washington state Patrol also runs the state crime lab. Calkins said the impact there is not clear either – while there could be more blood tests on impaired drivers, there may be fewer tests to verify marijuana use in criminal cases.A major question with the new law is how the federal government will react, since it still outlaws marijuana. An analysis by the state’s Office of Financial Management says the state patrol could have to return some federal grants and be denied others as a result of the law. Calkins said those federal grants help pay for the emphasis patrols that put more troopers on the roads around holidays. “We certainly hope that whatever the federal government does in response to this, they won’t attempt to influence our behavior by using traffic safety grants as a leverage point,” he said.The state’s financial review predicts that more drivers will lose their licenses because of driving under the influence of marijuana. It estimates a 4 percent increase in the number of suspension and revocation hearings by the Department of Licensing. Those hearings are expected to generate $4.2 million in fees for the state over five years.

  Nov 28, 2012 at 6:57 pm