DPD has finally released its recommendation regarding the project. You can view the Director’s recommendation document here.

A public hearing to take public comment on the Director’s recommendation and to establish the record for this application will be held on June 9, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. at the Office of the Hearing Examiner. The address is below.

Written comments may also be submitted through June 6, 2008. Comments should be sent to:

City of Seattle
Hearing Examiner
700 5th Avenue, Suite 4000
P.O. Box 94729
Seattle, WA 98124-4729

The developer has consistently refused to talk about LEED certification except to say that certification costs too much (our guess it may be the equivalent of a week or two of attorney fees. If they achieve LEED Platinum, there are no fees. What attorney can match that!?).

LEED-certified buildings:

* Lower operating costs and increased asset value.
* Reduce waste sent to landfills.
* Conserve energy and water.
* Healthier and safer for occupants.
* Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
* Qualify for tax rebates, zoning allowances and other incentives in hundreds of cities.
* Demonstrate an owner’s commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

We think its a good idea for Goodwill of course - it would keep their operating costs way down. Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings have average energy savings approaching 50%.

Even Target claims they are green. But their project here won’t fit in with Mayor Nickel’s vision for a green Seattle.

And now there is a report that shows that LEED buildings outperform peers in not only energy conservation, but sales, rentals and occupancy rates..

There are already about 40 LEED projects in Seattle. “We will continue to make Seattle a model for the nation and the world” boasts the Mayor. We whole-heartedly agree with the vision, and only ask wouldn’t a little mitigation for the 25,000 daily automobile trips to this project be in order? A project that is getting so much support from his administration should participate in helping make “Seattle America’s Green Building Capital”.

Need we say more?

To make the consumption cycle complete, the electric car shop at Dearborn and 13th will be replaced with a 380,000 square foot self storage building. So to paraphrase Jerry Large, we can now buy a new television at Best Buy, put the old one into storage for a few years, and then when we can’t make the storage payments anymore, we can give it to Goodwill. And all within a two block radius.

Now THAT’S a sustainable Urban Village!

From our friends at Puget Sound SAGE we are passed information from Interfaith Worker Justice:
_______________________________

Dear Friends of Social Justice,
While at least one “big box” store has been the subject of much attention regarding its community and workplace practices, as people of faith and action we are compelled to ensure that ALL of our country’s corporate leaders subscribe to a policy of fairness for their workers.

We’re asking you to join us in TAKING ACTION for justice at Target stores, where not all store workers are receiving living wages, access to affordable health care or respect and dignity on the job. Worse than that, most Target store janitors are LOCKED IN overnight, with limited or no emergency escape option.We’re asking you to fax a letter to Target management, which can be sent from your computer.

Unfortnuately, Target has a history of worker problems, for example:

Jim’s Maintenance janitors in Texas worked mandatory overtime in locked Target stores. When Target canceled the contract, $150,000 in wages were withheld from the janitors. The janitors have filed a lawsuit against Target.

Wackenhut Security provides security at Target corporate headquarters in the Twin Cities. The company has a growing record of problems that include reports of discrimination, fraud (for $20 million in Miami Dade County alone), falsified training records, excessive overtime, violations of client policies, and retaliation against whistle-blowers. Recently, Target cut the pay of security officers by $1.00 per hour, even as Target reported record profits.
(For more information, go to www.eyeonwackenhut.org.)

Excel Building Services cleans Target’s California retail locations. Workers at Excel report ongoing violations of local wage and hour laws, as well as federal labor laws. The company was fined by the city of San Francisco and has settled at least one lawsuit for paying substandard wages similar to the wages Target’s janitors are now reporting.

Click here to take action.

Are big box stores better than local retailers? It depends on what you are looking for. Click here for Yuko Kodama’s report (mp3).

Chris Jordan, world renowned artist and photographer, is supporting DSCLN by offering a special edition of one of the photos from his Intolerable Beauty - Portraits of American Mass Consumption series. All proceeds from the sale of this limited edition print will go to DSCLN. The photograph, e Bank, Tacoma 2004 is 30″ by 40″.

Chris’ work is a remarkable commentary on our contemporary consumer lifestyle and on its often unseen disastrous effects on our environment. As Chris notes:

The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.

The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.

Click here to find out more.

From the Goodwill site to the Factoria Target, 8 miles, 11 minutes

From the Goodwill site to the Northgate Target, 8.7 miles, 12 minutes

From the Goodwill site to the Tukwila Target, 13.2 mile, 20 minutes

From the Goodwill site to the West Seattle Target, 9.3 miles, 21 minutes

Thanks, maps.google.com

We don’t know why, but Lowes apparently has dropped out the deal. Rumor has it they want to stay at their current site further south on Rainier Ave. Could it be because 160,000+ square feet of store - all underground and only accessible from the parking garage - isn’t the best design for them? Or the fact that there will not be enough parking at peak hours? Who will step up to be the “store in the cave”? Word is the developer is talking to Home Depot.

The Southeast Design Review Board (DRB) held its final meeting on the project. At the meeting the developer presented a plan to keep the truck entrance on Weller despite strong public opposition and prior DRB opposition to that departure. The final vote on the project was 3-2, a just-passing endorsement of the project.