The Seattle Times: Bellevue Blog

San Juans murder-suicide started in Bellevue

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:44 PST

Detectives have pinpointed a time and place in the murder of Sammamish music teacher Rhan Rha, who was found strangled on Aug. 12 on a powerboat in the San Juan Islands.

Bellevue police say they have evidence that Albert Carl Beutler, who Rha had been dating, strangled the 39-year-old woman around 2 a.m. Aug. 12 at his condo in Bellevue. Beutler then took her body with him to Seattle and the San Juan Islands, where investigators tracked him down on a powerboat.

Beutler shot and killed himself as investigators pursued the boat off of Orcas Island, police said, and Rha's body was found on the boat.

Police and the U.S. Coast Guard started looking for Beutler after he sent a text message to a friend claiming he killed his girlfriend, police said.

Bellevue police have taken over the case from the San Juan County Sheriff's Office. The murder is the second one for the city this year. There were no murders in 2008 or 2007.

With friends like these ...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:20:40 PST

Two items in today's Bellevue Police Department blotter made us take notice:

A woman in the 9600 block of Southeast Seventh Street reported to police that she believes an acquaintance of one of her "longstanding friends" stole a ring while they visited her house four to five weeks ago. She estimated the value of the loss at more than $4,000.

And another woman, living in the 5400 block of 116th Avenue Southeast, tells police she thinks a friend of her granddaughter has been burglarizing her home for the past few months. She reports more than $10,000 worth of items have been stolen.

That sign means you're getting on I-405

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:54:12 PST

Bellevue blog reader Blaine Stare grabbed this snapshot of some new street signage on 112th Ave Northeast and sent it in, asking if we knew why the city added the new street marking.

The new signs are on southbound 112th in the lane just right of the left-turn lane to Northeast Eighth Street.

The entrance to I-405 southbound is already marked overhead, but the city added more last week because drivers appeared confused and still tried to make a left onto Northeast Eighth instead of getting on I-405, said city transportation spokesman David Grant. There were some "close calls" and occasional side swipes, he said.

The markings also are part of the final work to 112th after widening the street and getting ready for the opening of the Northeast 10th Street bridge on Nov. 24, Grant said.

Do you get confused at this intersection? Do you think the new signs will help?

Bellevue considers school levies for 2010 election

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:52:20 PST

The Bellevue School Board will talk about placing two levies on the Feb. 2010 ballot during Tuesday's board meeting. The levies are:

The educational program and operations levy, which replaces a levy that expires in 2010. The levy funds a number of things that aren't fully funded by the state, including: salaries and benefits, a seven-period day (the state only funds five periods), transportation, gifted and special education, English as a Second Language (ESL) and athletics. This levy accounts for 21 percent of Bellevue's operating budget, and would raise $191 million over four years.
The techology and capital projects levy, which replaces a levy that expires in 2011. The levy will pay for: an upgrade to the former Ringdall Middle School to house middle school students whose schools are being remodeled, large-scale maintenance projects such as replacing roofs or medical systems in older buildings, new computers, software licenses, programs to help teachers use technology in the classroom, and sports-field improvements and replacement. This levy would raise $74 million over five years.

District officials say the levies will increase the local school tax bill an average of three percent a year for the next five years. That's expected to be the average rate of inflation during that time period, school officials say.

How much will it cost? The district's projection works in a housing valuation drop over the next five years. A homeowner whose house is valued at $600,000 today is currently billed $1,140 for local school taxes. Under the proposal -- and assuming the homeowner's house drops in value to $539,935 -- the bill would be $1,307 in 2014. Update: the district is making some changes in their projections - stay tuned regarding cost figures.

Finally, Tuesday's meeting wraps up with a session with state legislators from the 41st and 48th districts, who have been asked to make predictions about possible budget changes for 2010-2011.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Rainier Room of the Wilburton Instructional Services Center, 12241 Main St., Bellevue.

Bellevue council, residents get chance to talk about light rail alignment

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:29:42 PST

If the alignment of Sound Transit's light rail line through Bellevue is of interest to you (see thispost by reporter Mike Lindblom), you'll want to know about two meetings next week to discuss the plan:

On Monday, Nov. 16, the Bellevue City Council will hold a study session on the alignment, and a Sound Transit project manager will discuss the agency's preferred downtown route alternative and other options being studied. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in Room 1E-113, on the first floor of Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E. If you can't make it, you can watch a live broadcast of the meeting on Bellevue Television (Channel 21 on cable, or via the Internet), or look for the video online (again, on Bellevue TV) after it has been posted.
On Wednesday, Nov. 18, Sound Transit will hold a public workshop on the East Link project from 4 to 7 p.m. (with a presentation at 5 p.m.) in Bellevue City Hall's first-floor concourse. It's a chance to give your input during the preliminary engineering phase of the project.

Proposed Bellevue light-rail alignment eliminates need for a tunnel

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:55:48 PST

Sound Transit is tinkering with a new Eastside light-rail alignment that might serve downtown Bellevue without resorting to an expensive tunnel.

The latest concept, unveiled to transit-board members Thursday, would put tracks on the surface of 110^th Avenue Northeast, serve a station between the Bellevue Transit Center and City Hall, then go elevated at Northeast Sixth Street near Meydenbauer Center. From there, it would cross Interstate 405. The next station would be just north of Northeast Eighth Street, serving a redevelopment zone next to local hospitals.

That route avoids a major Achilles heel in Sound Transit's original surface option -- trains would have crossed busy Northeast Eighth Street every three minutes or so, risking traffic delays, accidents and a political backlash.

A peer-review panel suggested the new 110^th Avenue idea last month. Sound Transit's East Link project director, Don Billen, asked for and was give 2-1/2 extra months to study it, and other options, until the end of January. Then the agency's executive board, made up of local elected officials, would choose a preferred route for environmental studies.

"The time we spend upfront, trying to get it right, will have a positive effect on the schedule as we move forward," said transit-board member Fred Butler of Issaquah.

Sound Transit promised to reach downtown Bellevue by 2020, as part of the plan for three suburban lines that voters approved last fall. Since then, the city government endorsed a tunnel and pledged to seek an extra half-billion dollars or so in cost savings and revenue sources, a task complicated by the recession.

At least one tunneled route is still in play, beneath 110^th Avenue, but requires roughly $300 million more than a surface route, Sound Transit estimates.

Some rail supporters, including the Microsoft Corp., have urged Sound Transit not to spend so much time and money on downtown Bellevue that they delay extensions reaching Overlake and Redmond.