ello May! Spring has sprung, and the Seattle real estate market continues to be extremely active! We have seen a continuing shortage of inventory and a demand that looks to not be slowing down.
The great housing “reshuffle” seems to continue in now its second phase. Home has been redefined for many of us; the merging of home and office, and the now further rebalancing of many people working part time at home and working out a “new normal” will continue to help shape the market. Preparing a home to present to market has never been more important; our home prep gurus, styling team and photographers and inspectors have never been busier.
The single-family home market has been particularly robust. One part of the market that has been slow over the past 12 to 14 months is the condo market, and over the past few weeks it has
Spafford Robbins Property Views
had a tremendous awakening with a lot of properties that have been on the market for some time selling and seeing competing offers. There is also a great shortage of singly-family rentals in the Seattle market citywide.
We are getting our open house signs out again, and you should see more open houses pop up in the next month. One holdover from the past year is that the showing process has been exclusively by appointment. This approach has allowed clients to
“Home has been redefined for many of us; the merging of home and office, and the now further rebalancing of many people working part time at home and working out at ‘new normal’ will continue to help shape the market.”
have time alone in a home for an allotted period — something that will likely continue from the positive feedback we have received!
By the Numbers (03/01/2021 –04/15/21)
Denny Blaine, Broadmoor, Washington/Madison Park (Single-Family Homes)
13 sold homes
Average Sales Price: $2,489,058
Average Days on Market: 68
Average Price Per Square Foot: $734
Lowest Sales Price: $930,000
Highest Sales Price: $7,500,000 There are currently 11 active
properties for sale with average offering price of $4,668,909, ranging from $1,350,000 to $13,895,000 with an average days on market of 58.
There are currently 22 properties pending sale, average offering price of 2,481,355 and an average days on market of 31.
Denny Blaine, Broadmoor, Washington/Madison Park (Condominiums):
6 sold homes
Average Sales Price: $569,333
Average Days on Market: 11
Average Price Per Square Foot: $695
Lowest Sales Price: $337,000
Highest Sales Price: $745,000
There are currently eight active properties for sale with an average offering price of $2,033,375, ranging from $718,000 to $3,500,000 with an average days on market of 129 days.
There are currently five properties pending sale with an average offering price of $846,580, ranging from $495,000 to $1,749,000 with an average days on market of 40 days.
I am honored and happy to help with anything I can in maneuvering this ever-changing and dynamic Seattle real estate market. My team and I at GBK/ Compass are here to assist with the presentation of your home in preparation of bringing it to market as well as a thoughtful home search with the utmost attention to detail and care. I am here to answer any questions.
It’s that time. Gardeners are jumping out of their skins to get their gardens started, and recent false summer temperatures just revved people up further.
Tomato, basil and even pepper seedlings suddenly began showing up at groceries around town. But what shoppers may not realize is that those plants will languish, or even die, if temperatures sink below 50 degrees at night.
So, if you have or want one of those seedlings right now, please keep it on a sunny windowsill or outdoors under a cloche or tent — probably until Mother’s Day-ish.
But which type of seedling do you choose? Seattle is not the tomato’s native habitat, and we have a short-but-sweet growing season, so you need to pick well for a good harvest. You see labels mentioning saucers, slicers, heirlooms and hybrids. What the heck does “determinate” mean in a plant? It’s a fast decider? Let’s find out.
Types
“Slicer” and “beefsteak” are used interchangeably, although there are slicers with beefsteak in the name. This means a tomato that is prime sandwich or salad material; it is somewhat juicy, with a firm texture, usually at least 4 inches across.
“Sauce” or “paste” denotes a meatier mater with fewer seeds that will cook down easily.
“Cherry,” “grape” and the I-feelsillysayingthis-one “Saladette” are salad tomato types of increasing size.
Heirlooms vs. hybrids
Heirlooms are all openpollinated, meaning naturally pollinated and will “come true” or produce the same plant from its seed the next year. They are most often passed along from gardener to gardener, sometimes over 100 years.
The usual cutoff for earning heirloom status is when a tomato variety hits 50 years old.
There are new open-pollinated tomatoes that have been stabilized through seven generations of growing that will likely be tomorrow’s heirlooms, like “Green Zebra” or “Cherokee Chocolate.”
Hybrids have been bred by a gardener or a breeder, by hand pollinating and selection (not through genetic modification), but they have not been stabilized. If a seed packet or plant tag says “F1,” it’s a hybrid.
If you plant that seed, you might get a similar plant, and you might not. I’m not picking sides. There is great flavor to be found in both camps.
For me, heirlooms appeal to the history lover in me, and I don’t mind that they sometimes look lumpy. The tomato word for that is “cat-faced.” Sorry, cats.
Heirlooms were often not selected for shelf-life because they were saved by gardeners for gardeners. Sometimes they are not very productive, but I’d rather have three homegrown “Anna Russians” than 12 supermarket “Romas.”
Tomatoes bred for market usually have thicker skins to withstand travel, sometimes in preference to aroma, texture and that toe-curling flavor that makes me grow tomatoes.
Hybrids are usually bred for uniformity, productivity and disease resistance. If you are a chef and want a perfect-looking tomato, or you don’t care about saving seed, or you have had issues with a recurring disease in your soil, choose a hybrid labeled for that resistance.
Determinate/indeterminate
“Determinate” means it grows to a compact height, usually under 5 feet, fruits and stops. Many
SEE TOMATO, PAGE 4
Madison Park Premier Home
Erica Grivas Get Growing
Photo by Erica Grivas Seattle is not the tomato’s native habitat, and it has a short growing season, so gardeners need to pick their seedlings well to ensure a good harvest.
Legislature closes doors on 2021 session
By Ruairi Vaughan Contributing writer
The Washington state Legislature closed its legislative session Monday after a session unlike any other. The enormity last year’s events demanded a robust response from Washington’s lawmakers, who worked hard to step up to the plate — despite the difficult circumstances under which they were required to work.
One issue loomed over everything the state’s lawmakers did — the global coronavirus pandemic.
Washington was the site of the first recorded U.S. cases of the disease, and the pandemic’s effects on residents have been severe.
The Legislature passed two major bills early in the session to deal with the damage that COVID-19 has wrought on the economy: Senate Bill 5061, which was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on Feb. 8, ensured that the wave of pandemic-related layoffs in 2020 would not dramatically inflate businesses’ unemployment tax bills; and House Bill 1368, signed 11 days later, poured $2.2 billion into Washington’s economy, propping up struggling small businesses, schools, renters and many others.
The presence of the COVID-19 pandemic was constantly felt throughout the session; all legislative committees met via Zoom, as
did most of the lawmakers during floor sessions, except for a few masked and socially distanced individuals, who stood up to speak while surrounded by empty desks. The Legislature was not immune to the technical hiccups that other industries felt when going remote; lawmakers often struggled to unmute themselves, use the remote voting machines or deal with malfunctioning Zoom backgrounds.
The Legislature’s other major priority was in response to last year’s racial justice protests. While every state has had to reckon with the Black Lives Matter movement, Seattle briefly became the center of national attention during June’s protests, when activists declared a police-free “autonomous zone” covering several blocks of the Capitol Hill area.
The Legislature’s response to last summer’s events came via a slate of police reform measures. These broke into two broad categories. Several bills set new standards for how police perform their duties: HB 1054 limited the tactics that police departments are allowed to use, banning chokeholds, tear gas, no-knock warrant and other controversial methods. HB 1310 set a standard for police to use deadly force only “when necessary to protect against an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death.” SB 5066
made it mandatory for police officers to intervene against excessive use of force by their colleagues; and a series of bills made it mandatory for both individual officers and police agencies to report excessive uses of force and other kinds of misconduct to superiors and other state agencies.
The Legislature also expanded the avenues for holding police officers accountable. HB 1267 created an Office of Independent Investigations in the Governor’s Office that could investigate police conduct. Alongside investigative powers, the Legislature also made it easier to punish abusive officers: SB 5051 made it easier to departments to decertify police officers for dishonesty, excessive force or misconduct. A large number of police reform bills failed to make it through the Legislature, however, showing how complicated the process of law enforcement reform is.
The Legislature approved a key piece of tax reform legislation, SB 5096, which enacts a capital gains excise tax to pay for expanding and affordability of child care, early learning and the state’s duty to fund education in Washington.
The legislation, once it takes effect, will assess a 7 percent tax on “extraordinary profits from the voluntary sale or exchange of stocks and bonds and other highly-valued capital assets,” ac-
cording to a news release. The first $250,000 in profit is exempt from the tax annually.
According to the news release, the tax is designed to avoid taxing working families and also includes exemptions for all real estate, retirement accounts, livestock, agricultural land, fishing privileges, a qualified family-owned small business and more.
The legislation, which passed the House April 21, was sent to conference as state Senators refused to sign off on House amendments. The final bill adjusted the distribution of collected revenues by capping deposits in the Education Legacy Trust Account at $500 million annually and directing additional revenues to the Common School Construction Account. It also now includes a charitable donation deduction for taxpayers donating at least $250,000 to qualified nonprofit organizations that tax year.
“This capital gains excise tax, along with the Working Families Tax Rebate that we passed earlier this session, will help support working families in every corner of our state,” said Rep. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, chair of the House Finance Committee, in a news release. “By asking the wealthiest among us to share in the responsibility of funding the needs of our communities and putting money back in the
recently spoke on a panel at the Sotheby’s International Realty® Global Networking Event, the largest virtual event in the brand’s history attended by nearly 9,500 attendees from 73 countries around the world. Joined by three fellow Sotheby’s International Realty brokers from Florida, New Hampshire, and the Dominican Republic, we discussed best practices for building personal relationships and cultivating clients for a lifetime. I was thrilled to be invited to share insight and have the opportunity to virtually connect with our brand’s global network!
pockets of low-income families via a sales tax rebate, these policies are the first steps on the path to balancing our tax code. We’ll continue down that path of tax reform with the ongoing work of the Tax Structure Work Group.”
When this excise tax will take effect is uncertain as it is likely to be challenged in a lawsuit.
Environmental issues were also a high priority for the Legislature this session. Two major bills will dramatically effect carbon emissions from the state.
HB 1091 will impose a clean fuel standard, while SB 5126, known as the Washington Climate Commitment Act, aims to create a cap-and-trade program — similar to the one in California — in which companies that emit pollution have fixed carbon allowances that they can sell and trade to one another. SB 5126 is one of Gov. Jay Inslee’s top priorities, and the Senate bill was introduced at his office’s request. Both bills passed, although SB 5126 had a lot of back and forth between the Senate and House to get to an agreement.
The Legislature also dealt with a wide range of other issues during the session.
RSIR ranks amongst the largest, most productive and fastestgrowing real estate companies in Washington with access to 24,000 brokers in 75 countries and territories generating global sales of $150 billion annually.
WHAT MY CLIENTS ARE SAYING
From the first contact, through following her advice about how to prepare our special Capitol Hill home of 28 years for sale, Laura Halliday was stellar! We hit the market at the end of February 2021, and after 30 showings over the first three days, we had three solid offers and closed well beyond our initial asking price. Our hearty recommendation: anyone in Capitol Hill, Madison Park, and points beyond wanting real estate expertise, professionalism, and a ‘gentle’ touch in such an emotional experience as selling a family home, should absolutely call Laura. In our case, she truly set the stage for happy sellers and buyers!
- David and Alicia Docter
Sotheby’s Auction House Presents Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, an exciting group of works by French Impressionists, Modern Masters, and more.
Progress continuing on arena
Photo courtesy Climate Pledge Arena
Climate Pledge Arena achieved another milestone in late April as the first seats were installed. Seat installation will now begin in full across the arena along with interior work and installation of the wiring and pipes for the ice slab. Construction at Climate Pledge Arena in Uptown continues on schedule and will be ready for opening in October 2021, according to arena officials.
TOMATO, FROM PAGE 2
sauce tomatoes are determinates and tend to be earlier-fruiting than indeterminates.
Pick determinates if you are short on space/time or are interested in one big haul harvest, say to bottle a pantry full of pasta sauce or juice for winter.
“Indeterminate” means the plant’s growing time is undetermined until cold temperatures hit. It will keep. On. Growing. Can be 10 feet or more — even if it’s an innocent-looking cherry tomato. Generally, indeterminates are more flavorful because they have longer time to gather up sugars soaking in the sun.
I’m all about the flavor, so I found a workaround to have my flavor and sauce too: “Oxheart” tomatoes.
Oxhearts are a lesser-known part of the family tree, of which “Cuore di Bue” is the best known. They are usually roughly heartshaped, sometimes with wispy foliage that barely seems like it could hold a marigold. They are also intensely flavored, indeterminate, great for fresh eating and have the smooth near-seedless texture of a paste tomato. “Anna Russian,” “Purple Russian” and “Taiga” are some favorites.
Tomato roulette
But back to choosing. First, remember, you live in Seattle, not San Antonio. Our summers are
SESSION, FROM PAGE 3
Medicaid coverage to new mothers, expanding patients’ rights to sue hospitals and enabling the state to buy or manufacture generic drugs in response to price gouging. SB 5030 impacted both health and education by increas-
getting hotter, but we still have a comparatively short growing season. The first factor to look at is your risk tolerance. If yours is low, your best bet is to stick with tomatoes with a DTM, or days to maturity, of 60 to 75 days.
Feeling lucky? Stretch it to 80 to 85 with the help of season extenders like red plastic mulch, frost cloth and Wall-o-Waters that all boost air or soil temperatures for your plants.
Smaller tomatoes typically ripen faster than big, fat bruisers, but check that DTM.
Many Seattleites grow only cherries to avoid the heartbreak of nursing a single 2-pound tomato along all summer just to see it mold on the vine in September, still half-green.
Some early medium-sized maters are “Stupice” (pronounced Stoo-peech-ka), “Moskvich” and one I recommend despite its wince-worthy name: “Bloody Butcher.”
Call it what you like, but it’s both productive and packed with rich flavor for such an early type. If you want to be almost guaranteed some homegrown slicing tomatoes, you can’t go wrong with these.
Next, pick varieties that like it on the cooler side, or at least tolerate it. Choose seeds or plants grown locally, and buy varieties selected or bred in places with cold nights — Russia, Czech Republic, the Ukraine, San Francisco
ing mental health services in schools. Other bills passed by the Legislature included a ban on new private prison contracts, which will directly affect the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment center in Tacoma; a bill barring bringing a weapon to a protest, a response to the Jan. 6
and Oregon. Vaunted heirloom “Black Krim” is named for the Crimean Sea. Of those oxhearts mentioned above, two are Russian heirlooms, and “Taiga” is a new variety by independent breeder Karen Olivier from British Columbia.
Short on space? Go with a determinate, a tiny patio tomato like “Tumbling Tom,” or a new dwarf tomato. These are full-sized fruit with heirloom heritage and flavor on compact plants about 3 feet tall. “Tasmanian Chocolate,” “Copperhead” and “Firebird” are some great ones.
Flavor myth-busting
On “acidic” tomatoes: Studies have shown that tomatoes all have comparable acidity. Sweeter tomatoes have more sugar, masking acidity. So, if you say you like a “low acid” tomato, you probably prefer a sweeter one.
There are so many combinations of colors in tomatoes, it’s tempting to generalize and say all yellows are mild, purples are smoky and greens are tangy, but those attributes come in all sorts of colors. Craig Lehoullier’s “Epic Tomatoes” cites blind taste tests that show taste is not linked to flesh or skin color.
You can plant tomatoes in Seattle through about early June for a successful harvest now that you know how to choose wisely. When in doubt, ask the nursery staff or the grower for advice.
riot at the U.S. Capitol; and mandating legal counsel for renters facing eviction. To see how District 43 representatives voted, go to www. washingtonvotes.org.
— Editor Jessica Keller contributed to this report
Home Starts Here
Seattle Public Utilities Shape Our Water project features self-guided tours
Seattle Public Utilities’ Shape Our Water project is offering tours for exploring how water shapes people’s lives as it flows through homes and streets to creeks, lakes and the ocean. The tours are self-guided and can be done in person or virtually. The Madison Valley Stormwater Improvement
Project Tour takes residents through reforested park, past artwork and to scenic overlooks designed to double as a wastewater system that can store up to 1.7 million gallons of stormwater.
The tour visits Madison Valley and Washington Park at the entrance to the Arboretum.
People who live in around the park helped Seattle Public Utilities decide what features to include, like a footbridge that runs over a wet patch.
• A Western Red Cedar Facility has intercepted about 250 gallons of rainwater this year, preventing 82 gallons of stormwater runoff from entering the combined sewer system.
• That scenic overlook into Washington Park’s play fields and the rain garden around it? It doubles as backup for a 1.3 million-gallon storm water storage tank.
The tour is a part of the Shape Our Water effort to ask the community what types of drainage and wastewater improvements residents would like to come to their neighborhood over the next 50 years. Learn more at www. shapeourwater.org.
Seattle Public Library hosting virtual programs for older adults in May
This spring, The Seattle Public Library and Silver Kite Community Arts have partnered to offer online intergenerational workshops, talks, social hours and performances for the community. These virtual opportunities provide engagement opportunities, as well as social connection. Each program is free, and family is welcome to attend.
Virtual arts for 50+ schedule
Visit the Library’s calendar at spl.org/fiftyplus to find and register for these upcoming events:
• Introduction to Pastels — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 8
• Indian Cooking — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 10
• Senior Social Hour – 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, May 12
• Writing Poetry — 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 14
• Puppet Making —1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15
• Song writing — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 17
• Bollywood Dance — 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, May 19
• Beginning Portrait Drawing — 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 21
• Sip and Paint Acrylics — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 22
• Dances of the 20th Century — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 24
Senior Social Hour — 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 26
• Storytelling — 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 28
• Journaling — 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 29
• MORE INFORMATION
The Library is offering limited in-building services at the Lake City, Southwest and Beacon Hill branches. Visit the Library’s Road to Reopening page, https://www.spl.org/ hours-and-locations/road-to-reopening, for more information on curbside service, book returns and other services. Contact the Library’s Ask Us service by phone at 206386-4636 or by email or chat at www.spl.org/Ask. Staff are ready to answer questions and direct people to helpful resources and information during this challenging time.
Seattle Public Library offering free certification exams
This spring, The Seattle Public Library is partnering with Washington State Library to add free Adobe (ACA) and QuickBooks (QBCU) certification exams as a part of the
Microsoft Imagine Academy Program.
In an effort to aid those seeking these certifications during this time of social distancing, exams are temporarily being offered virtually as Exams from Home. As always these exams are free and open to all residents or college students in Washington state.
To register for a certification exam or find out more information about Exams from Home, please visit www. spl.org/Certifications.
About Certification Exams
Adobe Certified Associate (ACA), Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS), Microsoft Certified Fundamentals, Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) and QuickBooks Certified User (QBCU) are industry-recognized certifications that demonstrate skill and can aid in career development.
Check Certiport’s Test Candidate Guide, https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Support/Install/Exams-from-Home/ Test-Candidate, to ensure devices meet all the technical requirements needed to take certification exams through the Exams from Home service.
Classes and Study Guides
SPL offers several options to help review for these tests. Preview the exam interface, https://portal.certiport.com/ portal/common/htmllibrary/mos/mos_2016_tutorial/ page_1.html
Take a LinkedIn Learning class online, https://www. linkedin.com/learning-login/go/seattlepl, with an Seattle Public Library card (ACA, Microsoft Certified Fundamentals, MOS, MTA, QBCU); or
Review an O’Reilly Complete Public Library study guide, https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/temporaryaccess/, or take an online class with an SPL card (ACA, Microsoft Certified Fundamentals, MOS, MTA, QBCU).
Digital versions of the MOS 2013 Study Guides are also available for download. Email Certifications@spl.org to request the login to download the study guides. Hard copies of the MOS 2016 Study Guides are also available for check out.
SPL also offers online practice tests: Take a LearnKey class online (ACA, MOS, MTA, QuickBooks). Email Certifications@spl.org to receive instructions on how to access LearnKey.
Take a GMetrix practice test online (ACA, MOS, MTA, QuickBooks). Email Certifications@spl.org to receive instructions on how to access GMetrix.
