Good for Cleve!

And what I really want to say -- just using this post as an excuse -- is that the Slog is better than the paper. I think you ought to be putting more energy into your online work than into the print edition, which I haven't read in about one year.

Agree w/ Raw Data. This week, reading the Slog, I actually forgot that there was a paper. I still haven't read it, though I'm sure I'll get around to it soon.

I vote for a good print edition and a good online edition/good slog

I agree with Stockmeyer. The property that was to be used was taken from the property owners against their wishes in a process called "eminent domain". That is standard operating procedure for public works projects, and the property owners are compensated. But compensated or not, they have no choice in the matter. However, if the plans change, and the property isn't going to be used, I think the first default should be to offer to sell it back to the previous owner at the same price it was purchased for, if they want it. Only if that offer is declined should the property be sold at public auction.

Clarence Layton, an attorney who was my godfather and later my guardian (after I lost both parents whilst still in high school) used to talk about the difference between the "spirit of the law and the letter of the law." The former centered around what most of us would think of as the right thing to do, pure and simple.
The right thing to do in this case is give the land back to the owners. Or of they were given money for the land - maybe that was in some of the many pieces on this moribund project over the years - allow them to buy it back, for the amount tendered. Don't jack them around anymore. Don't play with their lives and livelihood.
The land was expropriated to be used for a monorail project. Whether or not one believes that was the right thing to do is irrelevant. Now the land is available for other uses - such as that which the owners were using it for, before it was bought for a proposed monorail.
One reason this project went down in flames is because cheap opportunists such as Joel Horn used it to fleece the public and showed absolutely no concern for the effect they were having on people's lives.
There's a special place in hell for people such as Joel Horn and Michael Brown. ("You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie.") Am I comparing Joel Horn to the former head of FEMA? Believe me, that man who owned the small business in West Seattle would sure agree.

Oh Erika, when ARE you going to revisit third party billing. That was a very good piece you wrote on the topic in Seattle Weekly, back in August 2001. Much has changed in the years since. It's gotten worse. Start with investigating Varnes Investment Properties, Also doing business as Varnes Enterprises. They contract with Sagewater in Bellevue WA for the 12 properties the Varnes family - evil bastards all - own. Varnes is headquartered in a condo somewhere over in Kirkland. They use this phone number: 425-417-RENT. They use this box number: PO Box 28, Kirkland WA 98051.
Word to the wise: don't ever rent from these people. Well maybe "Defman 23" can.

Oh -- such total bullshit.

People were paid in full. often at very good high value prices.

Title has passed. Property is now owned by the public whose taxes paid the bill. Sorry, time goes forward not backward.

They can bid for the property like any one else. Get in line, flash the cash, buy it back --- and quit whinning.

I suspect what was actually paid including the cost of movng businesses and buying out leases is very secret. Because most sellers made out like bandits.

Frugal was not the style of the Columbia Tower - what this is real money - Mono R. people.

You know, give or take 4 billon. So sad, I loved the idea.

Cleve was on that stupid board. One, only ONE - one decision -- as in -- well now, we only have so much money, not as much as anticipated. What can we really build?

Then build it. --- silly bloated bleating twits.

I wish Cleve put as much effort into matching monorail finances with project size as he did standing up for property owners AFTER he had bought their property. (He chose to run for this post, he is responsible for the actions of the agency)

Terry Parkhurst:

You vould not be more accurate about Varnes Enterprises! They are complete bastards. I actuallly found your post and this thread because, years after I left one of their properties, I still hate them so much that I periodically google them to see (hope!) that they've gotten into trouble.

Back in about 2000, they bought the building I lived in. The two brothers, Bjarne is one of their names. Rose was the woman who answered the phone.

The Barnes boys, some sort of Seattle version of rednecks from hell, set about trying to drive us out of the building so they could raise the rent. They would pound on our walls at 10:30PM, ostensibly fixing something. Things started breaking. They would creep around our place contantly.

When we moved out because they were so intolerable, they swiped our security deposit (I have NEVER lost a penny on a security deposit, I always leaves places clean!).

I've lived in a lot of places, and they are hands-down the most evil landlords I've ever had. Like I said, I still hate them after 6 or 7 years. I'm still hoping both brothers will fall into high walled plexiglass tanks full of stinging jellyfish and that somebody will hook up a webcam, so I can watch them squirm. I loathe them that much.

Message to Seattleguy who left a post on March 6 about the Varnes: please contact me. I am curious who you are. I think you might have lived in the complex where I live; have for a bit more than 15 years. The time frame you give for a building being bought by the Varnes, is around the time they bought the building I am in - August 1999. The behavior you describe is exactly how they were then. They came over every day in August, usually around five in the morning.
And Rose is really a psychotic. I am very sorry to hear you lost your damage deposit. They tried that with a friend of mine, who at his own cost had painted the interior of his apartment, a color he liked. The tenant that moved in after him, wanted a different color; and the Varnes tried to keep all the damage deposit - even though my friend had stayed up all night, before he left, cleaning the place by himself.
He got a lawyer, and let the Varnes know that. They then relented and sent him his entire deposit back.
I don't mean to take issue with you, but you lost because you didn't let others know - until now - how you felt. I have seen so many people lose to the Varnes, because they did not want to "be involved" in a class action suite against the Varnes. My friend is the ONLY person I know in seven years, who has beat the Varnes; and even he needed an attorney.
If you contact me, we might be able to get the revenge - justice really - that you seek. My e-mail is tparkhurst@hotmail.com Hope to hear from you.

Bjarne hit my car (my cousin was driving). He said that he would pay whatever it cost to fix my car. After he found out how much it cost, he said he wasn't going to pay for it and hung up on me. If it wasn't for some fancy internet searching, I would have never tracked him down. What a bastard.

If the people who have legitimate legal concerns about the Varnes, would ever come together, they could be stopped - cold. One or two people alone, will almost always be defeated; most especially by liars and cheats such as the Varnes family. One of the family is an attorney - a nephew to the guys you people know. He likedly should, and could be, disbarred. But again, we need to contact each other, first by the Internet; but ultimately, in person or at least on the telephone. Stopping the Varnes is the right thing to do. Please contact me at tparkhurst@hotmail.com, Nick or Former Seattle Guy. Hope to hear from you.

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