A few more people than usual will be out on the streets of Finn Hill, North Juanita and Kingsgate early Wednesday morning.

By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter

A few more people than usual will be out on the streets of Finn Hill, North Juanita and Kingsgate early Wednesday morning.

Some will unveil banners welcoming the communities to Kirkland.

Others, wearing the uniform of the Kirkland Police Department, will bring a larger law-enforcement presence to an area King County sheriff’s deputies now patrol.

One of the biggest municipal annexations in King County in years will take place just after midnight Tuesday, adding 31,000 people to the Eastside city of 48,000.

“I’m just very happy that it’s finally happening,” said Kingsgate resident Toby Nixon, a former state legislator who co-authored the 2009 Voters’ Pamphlet statement in favor of annexation, and who is running for City Council.

“It’s huge. I’m very excited,” said Jane Hague, who represents Kirkland and most of its new territory on the Metropolitan King County Council.

FULL STORY

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Bellevue and other Eastside cities are growing increasingly diverse, but just how diverse might be a surprise to some who still think of those communities as white and well off.
By Nancy Bartley and Justin Mayo
Seattle Times staff reporters

Bellevue’s increasing diversity
Bellevue has a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at its library, and an office for an East Indian consulate is in the works.

The city’s Crossroads neighborhood has “a mosque, temple and Christian churches right here in one little nook,” said the Rev. Tom Belleque of St. Louise Catholic Church. “When they named this area Crossroads, they didn’t know how appropriate it would be.”

As anyone might have guessed, Bellevue and other Eastside cities are growing increasingly diverse, but just how diverse might be a surprise to some who still think of those communities as white and well off.

The 2010 census data show that 40.8 percent of Bellevue’s population are minorities, up from 28.2 percent 10 years ago. And every neighborhood in Bellevue has at least 20 percent minority representation.

By contrast, Seattle’s minority population rose only slightly, from 32 to almost 34 percent during the past 10 years, and some of its neighborhoods — Ballard, Magnolia and Alki among them — have fewer than 20 percent minority residents.

The affluent Somerset area in Bellevue is a pocket of diversity where more than 38 percent of the population is Asian. Crossroads residents are 64 percent minority.
Immigration certainly plays a role in the increase in Bellevue’s minority population, said Bellevue demographer Gwen Rousseau.

According to a 2009 city survey, 30 percent of Bellevue’s population was foreign-born. Among those, 42.9 percent, or more than 16,000, entered the U.S. in 2000 or later.
Often, immigrants move to Bellevue and the Eastside after they’ve arrived to work at Microsoft or other local tech companies.

Asians are the largest minority group in Bellevue. Sixty-eight percent of Asians who are employed in Bellevue work in management or professional occupations, compared with 60 percent of the employed whites and 21 percent of the employed Hispanics. About half of the employed Hispanics work in the service industry, according to a city survey a few years ago.

The change hasn’t just been in Bellevue. Redmond’s minority population has just about doubled since 2000, from 10,663 to 21,095. Now, about 39 percent of the city’s residents are minorities, up from 24 percent 10 years ago.

And minorities now comprise 25 percent of Bothell’s population, compared with 15 percent in 2000.

Schools are a draw
So what is it about the Eastside that’s attracting minorities?

The quality of the schools is a draw for Eastside neighborhoods, Rousseau said. The June 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked Bellevue School District’s International School 10th in the nation and Newport and Bellevue high schools were within the top 100. And Newsweek ranked five schools in Bellevue within its top 100.

Read the rest of the article here

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

For some tribes, casinos no longer a sure bet
By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Times staff reporter

Once viewed as sure bets, some tribal casinos around the country and in Washington are hurting.

Revenues dipped as much as 30 percent at some tribal casinos in the state in 2009. The Nooksack tribe is in court with its lender and the Snoqualmie tribe is struggling to make payments on its casino debt. The Skokomish tribe closed its casino last fall rather than keep hemorrhaging cash.

In Indian Country, W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Washington Indian Gaming Commission and longtime chairman of his tribe, the Jamestown S’Klallam near Sequim, Clallam County, sees a business shakeout. “We were riding a high wave and a long one,” Allen said. “You didn’t have to think, you could just go ahead and implement a marketing plan because it sounded good, you didn’t have to question it or challenge it.

“Now this is forcing tribes to step back to say, ‘wait a minute now.’ ”

Nationally, three big casinos defaulted last year: the Mashantucket Pequot’s massive Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut — the largest in the country — and the Inn of the Mountain Gods and Buffalo Thunder casinos run by tribes in New Mexico.

Default by the Nooksack tribe on its debt and cash-flow problems at the Snoqualmies’ new casino have been noted in the national investment-and-gambling-trade press, and have become the talk of the professional-conference circuit, raising questions about how lenders might be repaid in Indian Country, where they can’t seize the land or the business. And can a tribe declare bankruptcy?

When times were good, no one was paying too much attention to the fine print spelling out unique risks of investing in tribal casinos — perhaps because lenders were so eager to earn 9 percent or more betting on some ventures.

Nontribal commercial casinos, especially in Las Vegas, already had been falling victim to the recession. “It’s like nothing we’ve seen, over the past two years,” said Craig Parmelee, managing director and team leader for gaming and lodging at the rating agency Standard & Poor’s. “Going back to 1997-2007, never did more than two gaming companies default, and in many years none did, and in the past two years, 20 did.”

Indian casinos have been consistently stronger performers than nontribal casinos, making the 2009 loan defaults the more notable. “Things have changed,” Parmelee said. “It’s been a difficult time for any participant.”

There’s plenty of money at stake: Nationally, tribal casinos have attracted nearly $10 billion in investment, and that’s just counting debt tracked by rating agencies.

“What is in the back of everyone’s mind is, what happens if the bet goes bad?” said Kevin Quigley, a St. Paul, Minnesota attorney who specializes in the finance and regulation of tribal casinos. He spoke in Seattle this month at a tribal-gaming-conference presentation on bankruptcy and Indian casinos, a topic no one would have thought would be on the agenda — until now.

Tribal services

Tribal-casino investments pose unique risks for tribes and their lenders. For tribes, everything is at stake: Casino revenues aren’t just about profit.

Casino profits can be paid directly to members in per-capita payments and are used to help pay for every type of service tribal governments provide, from health care to housing. Some tribes even pay full-ride scholarships to send members to college.

Casinos have helped lift many tribes for the first time out of poverty, especially those such as the Tulalip, Muckleshoot and Puyallup casinos near the urban areas of Puget Sound.

Legalized by Congress in 1988, tribal casinos built on Indian lands boomed to a $26.8 billion business in 2008. Lenders have gotten in on the action, backing the construction and furnishing of tribal-casino properties all over the country. But now lenders are wondering how they will get repaid if debts go bad.

If a tribal casino craters, creditors can’t foreclose on the property because the land is held in trust for the tribe by the U.S. government. The lender can’t seize the casino business, either, because only the tribe can get a license to run it.

It’s not even clear tribes can declare bankruptcy. Or that lenders can sue in state or federal court to get their money back.

“We are really in uncharted territory,” Quigley said. “I don’t know the answers. I don’t know that anyone does.”

Cash burners

For some Washington tribes, 2009 brought setbacks to economic-development plans.

The Skokomish tribe shuttered its Lucky Dog casino in Union, Mason County, last September, put 80 people out of full-time jobs and sent its rented gambling machines back to the manufacturer.

“We got pushed to the point it was, ‘Do we keep it open and keep losing money?’ ” said Guy Miller, chairman of the tribe. “It was the council’s choice to save some money and not keep throwing money into a bad situation.”

The tribe is mulling whether to reopen the Lucky Dog this summer.

The Snoqualmie Tribe took on a $330 million debt in January 2007 to open a casino the following winter in North Bend. The first year was a struggle: Standard & Poor’s Rating Services in November warned investors the loan was at risk because the casino’s cash flow was not hitting projections — or even covering fixed costs.

“They are burning through cash,” said Ben Bubeck, credit analyst and director in corporate ratings for S&P, which has downgraded the credit rating to junk on notes issued by the Snoqualmie Entertainment Authority to build and equip the casino.

The casino needed to ramp up quickly to hit projections, but instead ran smack into the recession and unusually bad weather. Higher-than-expected costs also have taken a toll, Bubeck said. “We are concerned,” he added.

Tribal leaders did not return several calls for comment.

The Nooksack tribe last October wound up in court with its lender, Marshall Bank, of Minnesota, after missing payments on about $26 million in loans used to build and equip its Northwood Casino near Lynden, Whatcom County. The recession wasn’t the reason, according to a written statement provided by the tribe.

Instead, the tribe says it wants a lower interest rate from the bank. Tribal leaders would not discuss the matter further, citing ongoing litigation and negotiations.

Some success stories

Despite the troubles some tribes had in 2009, business has continued to grow overall at Indian casinos, albeit at a slower rate, with tribal casino revenues up 1.5 percent nationally in calendar year 2008 over 2007. In Washington, total tribal-casino revenues were up slightly to $1.6 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, according to the Washington State Gambling Commission, from $1.5 billion in 2008.

Slow growth was expected to continue, and that’s just what some tribes are seeing. With local markets, tribal casinos can be better situated to ride out the economic downturn than destination resorts in Las Vegas, gambling experts say. And some tribes have honed their product carefully to fit their customers’ tastes.

The Puyallups’ newest Emerald Queen Casino and Hotel offers a converted Best Western along Interstate 5 in Fife with modest restaurants and no table games. It’s a no-frills, true machine-gamblers’ casino, with 1,490 video-slot machines whirring away under a low ceiling, in dimly lit rooms with little décor save a blaring casino carpet.

The place is packed, and the tribe has yet to see a dip in its casino success. Despite the recession, the Puyallups continue to make about $250 million a year from two casinos along I-5, said Chairman Herman Dillon. The tribe is still sending every tribal member a $2,000 check each month from casino revenues, and spending on tribal-government services continues to grow.

Just ask Joyce Tobolski, higher-education coordinator for the tribe. On a recent morning she wrote a $26,000 check from the tribe to cover a student’s bills for one semester at Vanderbilt University, one of 215 students the tribe is putting through school this year. “I just paid a bill yesterday for $16,000 for one semester at Stanford,” she said with a smile. “I never thought we would be doing this; I never thought there was a future.”

The Tulalip Tribes, with a casino north of Seattle on I-5, have taken an entirely different approach to their market, with a $130 million investment in a glamorous new resort.

The tribe’s gamble on a true Las Vegas-style property, with splashing fountains, tribal art, white-tablecloth dining and a four-star diamond hotel, so far is paying out, despite opening in a difficult economic climate in June 2008, said Chuck James, treasurer for the Tulalip Tribes board of directors.

Yet the struggles of some tribal operators, especially the biggies like Foxwoods, could chill lending, said Bill Lomax, president of the board of directors of the Native American Financial Officers Association.

“It used to be, they would do anything,” he said of lenders. “Now they kind of look at things and say, ‘You know, this tribal deal is different from these other deals. And there are so many of these other deals, why don’t I just put my money there?’ ”

Allen, the Jamestown S’Klallam chairman, said lenders shouldn’t wonder whether they’ll make money in Indian Country — they already are, even now. Lenders often have charged steeper rates for rolling the dice on tribal-casino ventures.

“Don’t go whining to us,” Allen said. “They are making a ton of money. And even though they are making a ton of money off the tribes, they want less risk.

“This is not a risk-free deal.”

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Federal Way broker gets 5 years for mortgage fraud
A Federal Way mortgage broker has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding lenders of more than $47 million.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

Related

Archive | 7 indicted in state’s biggest mortgage-fraud scheme
A Federal Way mortgage broker has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding lenders of more than $47 million.

Victor Kobzar, 32, operated two area brokerage companies, Nationwide Home Lending and Kobay Financial Corp., and formed a third company, Emerald City Escrow, through which he obtained fraudulent loans in the name of “straw buyers” who otherwise would not be qualified to obtain the loans, according to federal prosecutors. They say more than a dozen banks and other lenders were victimized.

“People who take advantage of lax review by financial regulators bear a huge responsibility for the financial meltdown that harmed many people,” U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told Kobzar at a hearing on Friday.

Kobzar was one of six people indicted last March on conspiracy charges involving mail fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud. The indictment and other court documents alleged the group obtained 68 loans through fraud — all closed by Emerald City Escrow — which involved lying about a borrower’s qualification. Many of the loans were for amounts exceeding the worth of the property that was being bought.

Last month a co-defendant, Vladislav Baydovskiy, also received a five-year sentence. Three of the four other defendants received two-year terms, and the fourth was given probation.

In addition to the prison terms, the government seized a 2004 Lamborghini, two BMWs, a 31-foot yacht and bank accounts containing $2.4 million.

A hearing is scheduled for later this month to determine the amount of restitution the defendants will have to pay, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Deal to make Pete Carroll next Seahawks coach is close to done
Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke traveled to Los Angeles on Saturday night to talk to Pete Carroll.

By Danny O’Neil

Seattle Times staff reporter

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TED S. WARREN / AP

Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, will apparently hire Pete Carroll as his coach.
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Do you think Pete Carroll is a good choice?
Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke headed to Los Angeles on Saturday night, planning to meet with Pete Carroll.

Just what Leiweke returns with will depend on what happens in negotiations in the next day or two over the exact titles that might ultimately appear on Carroll’s business cards.

The possibility Carroll will be named Jim Mora’s replacement as head coach is now a probability, but there’s still the semantics of job titles and the not-so-small question of just how much control Carroll might have over Seattle’s football operations.

ESPN reported Saturday morning an agreement was reached in principle to make Carroll head coach and president. But the Seahawks indicated nothing was finalized, and in fact if Carroll is hired as coach, his jurisdiction over personnel would not extend beyond decisions about who makes the 53-man roster.

The Seahawks had no comment, attempts to reach Carroll were unsuccessful and messages from The Seattle Times for his agent, Gary Uberstine, have not been returned.

But while Carroll’s prospective position in Seattle remains a subject of conjecture and disagreement, the Seahawks now have a clear path to hiring Carroll as coach. The Seahawks complied with league protocols by interviewing a minority candidate, according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. The commissioner told reporters the Seahawks had complied before Saturday’s playoff game in Cincinnati, according to a league spokesman.

Leiweke interviewed Leslie Frazier, the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator, Saturday morning in Minneapolis. Frazier is African-American and NFL teams must interview at least one minority candidate for a head-coaching vacancy, a requirement commonly referred to as the Rooney Rule.

Seattle’s interview with Frazier occurred only after the Seahawks specified the type of job Carroll was being considered for. That clarification was requested by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors compliance with the Rooney Rule.

John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, said the Seahawks had to clarify the role Carroll might fill to make sure Frazier would not be interviewing for a lesser position than Carroll had already been promised.

Wooten said he was told by the Seahawks that Carroll’s potential role would be just like “most” of the coaches in the league.

“Here was their statement to us,” Wooten said. “If Pete Carroll does in fact accept the job and is in fact the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, he will not be in charge of football operations.”

Those football operations would include final decisions in the draft, free agency and trades. Wooten said the Seahawks indicated Carroll would control who makes the team and how much they play.

If Carroll were in consideration to not only coach Seattle but hold final say over football operations, Wooten said he would have recommended against candidates sitting for interviews for the Seahawks coach or general-manager positions.

Given the Seahawks’ clarification, Frazier interviewed for the Seahawks’ head-coaching position, and Seattle is still looking for a general manager. The Seahawks are scheduled to interview Marc Ross, Giants director of college scouting, next week.

The fact Seattle is planning to hire a general manager is one more indication that Carroll’s control of personnel won’t be all-encompassing as was the case when Mike Holmgren was hired in 1999.

Carroll has coached USC the past nine seasons, winning two national championships and having seven seasons of 11 wins or more. This season was the Trojans’ least successful since Carroll’s first year, and USC could be facing NCAA sanctions in the near future.

Carroll has previously flirted with a return to the NFL, and has repeatedly stated he would not return to the league without a say over personnel. Just how large a say Carroll might have if he comes to Seattle is just one of the things that is not yet clear.

Danny O’Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Seattle home prices show monthly gain for first time in 2 1/2 years
Home prices in Seattle rose on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from September, the first increase in almost two and a half years, according to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller index.

By Seattle Times staff and news serivces

Home prices in Seattle rose on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from September, the first increase in almost two and a half years, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.

The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller figure for Seattle rose 0.44 percent in October. The index had fallen every month since peaking in May 2007; it’s still down 22.5 percent since then and down 12.5 percent since October 2008.

Seattle was one of 11 cities in the 20-city Case-Shiller index to post a seasonally adjusted increase in October.

On a non-adjusted basis, the local index has been essentially flat since March.

The local numbers compare to a seasonally adjusted October increase of 0.37 percent in the 20-city composite index, the fifth month of gains. Without adjusting for seasonal factors the index was flat from September.

Home price gains since the summer reflect the rush of homebuyers trying to close their deals before the original expiration date of a federal tax credit. The Nov. 30 deadline was extended last month to April 30.

Besides a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers, Congress expanded the program to include homeowners who have lived in their current properties for at least five years. They can now claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they relocate.

The 20-city home-price index was off 7.3 percent from October last year, nearly matching expectations of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Many economists, however, are predicting a double dip in prices this winter as foreclosures increase and government support wanes.

“I’d be very surprised if we don’t go below the lows we hit this year,” Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning Washington think tank. “We still have a very glutted housing market.”

The 20-city index is now up 3.4 percent from its bottom in May, but still almost 30 percent below its peak in April 2006.

Information from Seattle Times reporter Drew DeSilver and The Associated Press is included in this report.

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

More Seattle neighborhoods considered affordable
The King County housing slump made six geographic areas affordable for those earning the county’s median household income of $68,821 in 2008. When the market was sizzling in 2007, only Auburn was considered affordable, a Seattle Times analysis showed.

By Lisa Pemberton Butler; and Justin Mayo

Special to The Seattle Times; Seattle Times staff reporter

Demi Troncoso commuted to Seattle from a Tacoma rental for nearly three years before buying a home in Auburn’s Lakeland Hills subdivision last October.

“I was waiting until the bubble burst,” said Troncoso, a safety consultant for the state Department of Labor and Industries. “I wanted to catch it before things started normalizing again.”

The newly built, four-bedroom home was bank-owned, and at the height of the real-estate market fetched a price of $410,000. Troncoso paid $330,000.

For middle-class folks such as Troncoso, the burst in the regional housing bubble means more homes and neighborhoods are within their financial reach.

King County’s median household income in 2008 was $68,832, according to estimates by the state’s Office of Financial Management. At that income level, buyers had easy accessibility to six geographic areas whose median home prices were between $248,450 and $290,500, a Seattle Times home-price analysis showed. Median means half are more, and half are less. But in 2007, when the market was sizzling, only one area — Auburn, where the median price was $266,750 that year — was considered affordable. And in 2005, median wage earners could afford to buy in 14 neighborhoods, including Seattle’s Georgetown/Delridge area.

“It was unsustainably unaffordable in 2006 and 2007, and it has come back to where it’s looking more normal now,” said Todd Sinai, an associate professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “These pendulums tend to swing from one side to pretty far over to the other side. The pendulum should swing to the side of increasingly affordable in the next year or so.”

But the lower home prices are offset by a struggling economy, Sinai said. The state’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.1 percent in April, with at least 317,890 people looking for work. As a result, many would-be buyers are taking pay cuts, or are afraid their jobs could be axed next.

Meantime, lenders have clamped down on their mortgage requirements.

“That begs the question: ‘Affordable to whom?’ ” Sinai said. “Housing is affordable if you can attain credit, but that’s not always easy.”

In 2008, all of the King County neighborhoods with affordable median prices were south of Seattle.

Auburn topped the list, with a median home price of $248,450, followed by North Burien, Des Moines/West Kent, Algona/Pacific, Enumclaw and Twin Lakes.

“All of those areas, except for Enumclaw, have always kind of been lower (in price),” said Laura Papritz, an agent with John L. Scott Real Estate’s Kent North office. “But because everything moved up, you were out of that first-time homebuyer’s price range. Now that everything has self-corrected, you’re seeing some of those areas drop down.”

South King County has been deluged with foreclosures and short sales, which have driven home prices down even further, said Loren Ellingson, an agent with Redfin.

In Auburn alone, prices have declined nearly 25 percent since the summer of 2007, according to the online brokerage.

“My investment home has nearly lost its entire equity due to the comparables of bank-owned properties and short-sale listings selling for well below what the sellers originally bought the home for,” Ellingson said. “I do feel, though, that a buyer can take advantage of these drops in home prices and get a screaming deal on homes in most of South King County.”

That’s what Haris and Rasema Svraka were hoping to take advantage of when they set out three years ago to find a home that boasted a family-friendly neighborhood, good schools for their children and an easy commute to their jobs in South King County.

“I just felt like the money they were asking for the houses wasn’t worth it,” said Haris Svraka, a fueling supervisor at Sea-Tac Airport. “I was patiently waiting.” And that wait paid off.

Last May, the couple snagged a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Des Moines for $228,000. The one-story, 1,500-square-foot home was built in 1964.

“The best deal at the time was in Des Moines,” Haris Svraka said. “It was a foreclosed house. … A great neighborhood. It’s nice and quiet.”

Although Troncoso’s new 2,600-square-foot home was priced slightly more than the Auburn area’s median home price, it boasted everything he wanted: plenty of room, walking distance to his children’s schools and a short drive to the Sounder train station.

The home also features several construction upgrades, such as premium appliances and hardwood floors, that he hopes will help the property hold its value.

“It was a great school system, a great neighborhood, and the commute was a lot easier,” he said.

“I wish I would have held off a little longer. But I still believe I made a good decision.”

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

More Real Estate headlines…

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Holmgren is ready to return to the NFL
Former Seahawks coach doesn’t know if he wants to return as a coach or in the front office, but either way, the desire to return is there.

Seattle Times staff columnist

ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Steve Kelley

Mike Holmgren retired after 10 years as Seahawks coach.
Mike Holmgren misses the game. Misses the Sunday rush. Misses those circles on the calendar that tell him where he should be and what he should be doing.

At certain points in this sabbatical season, the loss of the game has been especially profound, like that day last spring when he went into the Seahawks’ headquarters in Renton to pick up some mail.

Since his departure after being the Seahawks’ coach since 1999, Holmgren periodically came to the Virginia Mason Athletic Complex for some final housekeeping chores.

He tried timing his visits for what he called “the dead time,” when most of the players and coaches and front office people were gone.

But this one day, he walked into the teeth of a mini-camp practice. The players were on the field and Holmgren went to the window in an upstairs office, scanned the field, watched the drills and, briefly felt the pain that told him exactly what he was missing.

“I walked in to a full-blown deal,” Holmgren said. “When I walked to the window, I thought, ‘Man this is hard,’ and I backed away and thought ‘I can’t do this. I can’t watch this.’ ”

An hour before Saturday’s Apple Cup, Holmgren sat in a conference room inside the University of Washington athletic offices, a short walk from Husky Stadium and talked about his season away from the game and his future in the game.

He said there have been “three or four times” when the sense of loss was the most profound.

Last April’s draft was especially hard for him. Holmgren said he found himself yelling at the television set. His wife Kathy said to him, “Listen to yourself. What are you doing?” Finally, Holmgren had to turn off the TV.

A coach’s biological clock reminds him what time of the year it is. The alarm goes off on draft day, on the first day of training camp and on the opening day of a new season.

“I was so dialed in to those times of the year,” he said. “There was always that time in the summer when we would have to leave our cabin in Santa Cruz to start training camp. The same thing, every year, but not this year.”

Now Holmgren, 61, is ready to return to the National Football League.

In addition to his 10 seasons as Seahawks’ coach, Holmgren was the team’s general manager from 1999-2002. He said he isn’t sure if he wants to come back to the league as a coach or a general manager, but he will have options to do either.

“That (whether he wants to be a GM or a coach) is still to be determined,” Holmgren said. “I don’t know yet. But we’re getting near the end of the season, so I probably should come to some conclusion. I know I would like to work again, so I’m trying to stay open to the opportunities that will present themselves.

“It depends on who is trying to hire you. They have an idea of what they need. So I don’t want to lock myself in, necessarily, and say, ‘This is what I want.’ That’s how I’m looking at it.”

The miserable Cleveland Browns want him, but closer to home, the team that needs him is Seattle. General manager Tim Ruskell’s contract is expiring and, arguably, the quality of the Hawks’ player personnel has diminished every year after 2005, Ruskell’s first season in Seattle.

Holmgren wouldn’t discuss his level of interest in succeeding Ruskell, but Holmgren still lives here. His children live here. His return would be greeted with generous cheers from the majority of Seahawks’ fans.

I believe hiring him is a no-brainer. The Hawks don’t need to turn the search for Ruskell’s replacement into some national American Idol-type audition. They should cut to the chase and give it to a future Hall of Famer, who knows the game like a geologist knows rocks.

“When I left the building after last season was over, I wasn’t sure at all whether I wanted to come back,” Holmgren said. “We had a poor (4-12) season. I was tired, just like I always am after each season. You kind of go, ‘Gee whiz, I don’t know. Let me catch my breath. Maybe I don’t want to do this anymore.’ ”

Holmgren said he had an “epiphany” about three months after he left the Seahawks. Kathy and he were sitting in their backyard in Arizona, drinking coffee and enjoying the sun. There was nowhere he had to be. There was nothing he had to do.

“I just had this feeling, you know, that I just don’t think I’m quite ready to do this all the time,” he said. “I think I want to work again and I told that to Kathy. I was feeling kind of squirrelly. I had this itch I couldn’t scratch.”

This season away has given Holmgren the clarity he was hoping to find. It has reawakened his excitement for the game.

“I realize I miss it. I miss the players, the coaches, the people,” he said. “Miss the chess game on Sunday. Miss the excitement of it.”

Holmgren gets too much of the blame for his bad draft picks in the years he was general manager, like defensive end Lamar King and tight end Jerramy Stevens, but not enough credit for building the Seahawks into a championship contender.

Every general manager makes mistakes and Holmgren’s successes far outweigh his failures. He rebuilt the Hawks into a playoff team. And he could do it again.

“There’s no question I goofed up early on,” he said. “One of the reasons is just setting it up. You come into a new place and, our first draft, I tried to merge what they had been doing with how I wanted to do it.

“Our first draft, well, we were better after that, let me just say that. Once Ted Thompson came on board (in 2000) and we settled down a little bit, we started making good decisions.”

Holmgren is available and the Seahawks would be foolish to over-think the process of replacing Ruskell. Holmgren is here. He is ready. He is rested. And he is tested.

But in the meantime, Holmgren isn’t going to hang around the house, waiting for the phone to ring.

Later this week, he and Kathy are leaving for Oaxaca, part of a group from Medical Teams International that will build concrete floors for dirt-floored houses that will improve the health of families in this startlingly poor part of Mexico. They will spend a week there.

Kathy Holmgren has gone on many of these humanitarian trips, including a trip to the Congo, during the Seahawks’ Super Bowl appearance in 2006.

“In the past, I’ve been able to help out financially, but the beauty of this trip for me is that I can help physically,” Mike Holmgren said. “I don’t have the same calling Kathy has, that way. She has a heart for people who are really in trouble, whether it’s internationally, or at the Pike Street Clinic. It’s awe-inspiring to me.”

Oh yeah, keeping Kathy Holmgren in the community, just another reason to bring back Mike.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

Bomb squad responds to device found in Bothell newspaper box
Suspicious device found in Bothell newspaper box.

By Seattle Times staff

The King County Bomb Squad was called out this morning after a suspicious device was discovered inside a sidewalk newspaper box on Main Street in Bothell.

A Seattle Times delivery driver found the device in the 10100 block of Main Street at about 3:30 a.m. and police were called. A section of Main Street was shut down as police investigated, said Bothell Police Capt. Denise Langford

The bomb squad then “disrupted” the device, she said.

Langford said she did not know if it was exploded or even whether the device was real or a hoax.

However, the FBI was called in, and it told local police authorities that it would take the lead on the investigation, according to Langford.

FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs in Seattle said Sunday the bureau would examine the device. She said she didn’t know yet whether it was an explosive device.

Burroughs said it can be a federal offense to use an explosive device or carry out a hoax.

She said the FBI is working with Bothell police.

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed

This is the latest article on the man charged with killing the Seattle Police office Tim Brenton. This article is from the Seattle Times.

Man charged with killing police officer is paralyzed

Christopher John Monfort, the 41-year-old man charged with aggravated murder in the Oct. 31 killing of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot in a confrontation with police last Friday, Monfort’s family said today in a written statement.

By Jennifer Sullivan and Steve Miletich

Seattle Times staff reporters

Christopher John Monfort, the 41-year-old man charged with aggravated murder in the Oct. 31 killing of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot in a confrontation with police last Friday, Monfort’s family said today in a written statement.

Monfort’s mother, Suzan Monfort, 64, of Bethel, Alaska, issued the statement hours after Monfort was charged with numerous criminal counts, including one that could result in the death penalty. She said she hasn’t been allowed to see her son, who is recovering from gunshot wounds at Harborview Medical Center, but has been informed of his condition.

In announcing the charges during a news conference, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Christopher John Monfort waged a “one-man war” against the Seattle Police Department that began with the firebombing of several police vehicles on Oct. 22 and ended with the shooting death of Brenton.

The charges include aggravated first-degree murder, filed in the slaying of Brenton, who was fatally shot while sitting in a police cruiser with rookie officer Britt Sweeney, who was wounded. Satterberg called the shootings “coldblooded.”

Prosecutors also charged Monfort with three counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly trying to kill Sweeney, pulling a handgun on Seattle police Sgt Gary Nelson and for trying to kill officers by firebombing police vehicles.

Monfort was also charged with one count of first-degree arson for the Oct. 22 firebombings at a city maintenance yard.

Aggravated first-degree murder is punishable by one of two sentences — life in prison without parole, or the death penalty. State law mandates that an aggravated murder charge can be sought only under specific circumstances — if the premeditated slaying happened during the commission of a rape, robbery, kidnapping or other high-level crime; if a suspect killed someone after escaping from prison; or if the victim was a police officer.

Under state law, once an aggravated murder charge is filed the prosecutor’s office has 30 days from a suspect’s arraignment to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

Satterberg said the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst offenders, the worst of the worst offenses.” He quickly followed that by saying he believed Monfort fit within that category, perhaps hinting which direction his office is leaning.

Monfort targeted Seattle police “solely because of the badge they were wearing,” Satterberg said.

“He had a plan to wage a personal war against the Seattle Police Department,” Satterberg said of Monfort.

In today’s statement, Suzan Monfort expressed her family’s “sincere sympathies” for the families of Brenton and Sweeney, according to Christopher Monfort’s attorney, Julie A. Lowry.

“Chris Monfort’s family, like any other family in the same position, is heartbroken for all parties and is struggling to understand this tragedy,” read the statement. . “At the same time they love and stand by Chris and look forward to coming to a fuller understanding of recent events.”

Monfort was shot and wounded Friday by Nelson and two other Seattle homicide detectives who showed up at his Tukwila apartment after the manager reported seeing a car parked there that matched the description of a vehicle seen on the night Brenton was killed.

When the detectives tried to talk to Monfort, he pointed a gun at Nelson and pulled the trigger, charging papers said. The gun “clicked” but didn’t fire. Monfort ran up a stairwell toward his apartment and again pointed a handgun at the detectives again and was shot, police said.

Police said earlier this week the car — a Datsun 210 coupe — was registered to Monfort.

Monfort, who was wounded in the cheek and stomach, is in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center. Satterberg said he should recover to face the charges filed against him.

After he was shot, police searched Monfort and found a small book in his pocket that contained copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, according to court documents.

Monfort is also charged with the firebombings of four police vehicles at a Seattle city maintenance yard on South Charles Street on Oct. 22, nine days before the officer’s slaying. Police said one fire bomb had been timed to go off as officers and firefighters responded in an attempt to inflict injuries or death.

Satterberg said the first bombs were set to lure officers and first firefighters.

“The intent was clearly to kill those officers and first responders,” Satterberg said.

No one was injured at the yard.

A note, listing grievances over police brutality was taped to the window of a nearby vehicle, police said. It referenced “police funerals” in the past tense, which police take to mean that whoever found it was to have also discovered the bodies of officers who were supposed to have died in the blasts.

A “military-style” knife and the flag were also found at the scene. A bandanna with a flag printed on it was found near the shooting scene on Halloween night.

Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said earlier this week a search of Monfort’s apartment has turned up a rifle that is “an identical ballistic match” to the .223-caliber weapon used to kill Brenton and wound Sweeney. Police also have matched DNA from Monfort to “signature” items left at the firebombing at a city maintenance yard and at the scene of the shooting — an American flag left at the arson scene and a flag-emblazoned bandanna found near Brenton’s patrol car.

Satterberg called the investigation extraordinary and “some of the best police work this county has ever seen.”

Brenton, 39, and Sweeney were seated in their parked patrol car on 29th Avenue, just north of East Yesler Way, shortly after 10 p.m. on Halloween when a car pulled up next to them and someone opened fire. Brenton was killed immediately and Sweeney suffered minor injuries.

Sweeney managed to get out of the patrol car, radio for help and return fire, striking the other car at least once.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Seattle Real Estate Tyler Freed