PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA
VOL 35 NO 50
DECEMBER 10 – DECEMBER 16, 2016 FREE 34 YEARS YOUR VOICE
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Large-scale development in the ID receives a mixed housewarming
By Peggy Chapman NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Courtesy: Studio19 Architects.
There will be a new kid on the block in the Chinatown-International District neighborhood on the corner of 8th Avenue South and South Lane Street beginning summer of 2017. The proposed land use application at 616 8th Avenue South states that there will be a 14-story, 230,060 squarefoot, mixed-use structure containing 158 hotel rooms and 103 apartments, with retail space on the ground level. There will also be parking for 175 vehicles. The existing structure
Artist’s rendering of the SpringHill Suits on 8th Ave.
Chef credited with inventing General Tso’s Chicken has died
(behind King’s Hookah Lounge) will be demolished. The new building will be a SpringHill Suites by Marriott. According to Han Kim, construction is expected to start in the summer of 2017 and is estimated to take about 18 months. Kim, who is Korean American, is the Seattlebased partner of Hotel Concepts and stated this will be his first development project in the International District (ID). Hotel Concepts purchased the site in 2014 for $4.5 million. Studio19 Architects are the lead designers on the project and KPFF see MARRIOTT on 6
DRIVING THE RIDESHARE MARKET The ethnic faces of Uber and Lyft drivers. » see 5
FINDING AN ALL-ASIAN CAST Who will star in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’? Maybe you. » see 8
JOYFUL GIFTS Happiness doesn’t always come in a gift-wrapped package. See publisher Ng’s take on the holiday season. » see 10
By Amanda Lee Myers ASSOCIATED PRESS
caption
Brown was being held on a $1 million bond. It’s unclear if he has an attorney. Brenton Keller, who told The Associated Press see TJAN on 12
Sammy Lee, 2-time Olympic diving champion, dies at 96
General Tso’s Chicken
By Verena Dobnik ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Meet community members among us who have gone above and beyond. » see 3, 7
Students: Slain USC professor was caring; arrested student quiet LOS ANGELES (AP) — A graduate student arrested on suspicion of killing the professor who oversaw his work at the University of California was described by some of his fellow classmates as a quiet but seemingly normal young man while others say he was troubled and pegged as most likely to quit the group’s rigorous doctoral program. David Jonathan Brown, a 28-year-old brain and cognitive science student, was arrested on a murder charge in the Dec. 2 attack on the Los Angeles campus. His mentor, 50-year-old Bosco Tjan, was stabbed to death inside the building where he runs an intensive lab that studies vision loss. Brown, one of just five students who worked in the lab, was arrested without incident, police said, adding that the killing was targeted.
NEW YORK (AP) — The chef credited with inventing General Tso’s Chicken, a world-famous Chinese dish smothered in a sweet sauce that was never a staple in China, has died in Taiwan at 98. Peng Chang-kuei died of pneumonia on Nov. 30 in Taipei, his son, Chuck Peng, told The Associated Press. He was still cooking in the family’s Taipei restaurant kitchen just a few months ago.
TOP CONTRIBUTORS HONORED
Peng first brought the sticky, sweet and spicy dish to New York about 40 years ago.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sammy Lee, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning diver who later mentored four-time Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, has died. He was 96. The University of Southern California said that Lee died on Dec. 2 of pneumonia in Newport Beach. He was the school’s oldest living Olympian. The 5-foot Lee, who was of Korean descent, was the first Asian-American to win an Olympic gold
see PENG on 13
see LEE on 13
Peng Chang-kuei
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