Downtown News

It is an issue so important to Seattle drivers, a lot of people feel it cost the mayor his job.

Back at the end of August, I posted some stats for Seattle Home Sales breaking Seattle into North of Downtown, North of Downtown to 85th and South of Downtown.

Artis Kalsons, Fairmont Olympic Hotel's pastry chef, builds a gingerbread Eiffel Tower for the holidays.

It wasn't spontaneous, but the city of Seattle hopes it drew attention. On Saturday, city transportation leaders spoke at Pacific Place, and on cue, a "flash mob" broke out and started cutting a rug to the old classic song "Safety Dance." SDOT says it was the first time they knew any city department had tried such a thing.

Belltown became famous in the days of "grunge" music and the "grunge" look. So there's no small irony in a business group urging the neighborhood's condo and property owners to pay extra taxes so they can make their streets as clean as an indoor shopping mall.

The California-based performer--whose real name is Corey Scoffern--will kick off his "How the Grouch Stole Christmas" trek Dec.

Seattle is one of the few western cities that offers a large amount of street food vendors throughout the city.

Ready or not, the holidays are coming. And with them, the downtown Seattle trimming, such as the tree that tops the trampled walkways of Pike Place Market and the star over the downtown Macy's -- both of which will be hoisted in place in the next week.

THESE 15 BRANCHES will be open five days a week, a total of 35 hours: Columbia, Delridge, Fremont, Green Lake, High Point, International District/Chinatown, Madrona-Sally Goldmark, Magnolia, Montlake, NewHolly, Northgate, Queen Anne, South Park, University, Wallingford.

Seattle is a beautiful city with its own special charm. Once you go there, you'll want to go back again.

The housing market continues to stabilize nationally, according to the third-quarter report from Seattle-based real estate site Zillow.com. But a neighborhood-by-neighborhood look at Seattle shows that fortunes can vary in the distance of a few bus stops.

"Strong African Maidens,'' a group effort by Sistah Quilt, displayed at the Pacific Northwest African American Museum.

That noise you heard Monday night in Seattle was the collective wailing of the city's big shots as they came to grips with the fact that Mike McGinn will be the next mayor.

My second pizza stop in Seattle, after Serious Pie and some digestion time spent at the Space Needle, was the Tutta Bella on Westlake Avenue in the area known as South Lake Union.

I got an email from BECU's West Seattle Admiral manager Sue Mariotti yesterday, informing me that the credit union will be opening a branch in Lower Queen Anne.

It's official: This adorable little tyke just got an early Christmas present. More details from the Joe Mallahan concession speech to come.

One thing is certain -- Seattle's next mayor won't have the same old King County Metro snow plan to drag him down .

The City of Issaquah's Lodging Tax Advisory Grant Committee doled out more than $100,000 to local tourism and promotion groups last Friday, money raised by a 1 percent tax on hotels and motels in the city.

King County Metro Transit is rerouting its buses to accommodate hundreds of police cars that will take part in Friday morning's memorial procession for Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton.

Downtown Edmonds has put out the welcome signs for visitors coming to sample its wares.