Published January 2006

Business Briefs

Marysville food bank
building bigger facility
Construction will begin soon on a new $600,000 Marysville food bank that’s nearly twice the size of the current one.

The new food bank will be built behind St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 4200 88th St. NE. The food bank and the church will share a parking lot.

The current food bank is in a 3,400-square-foot building adjacent to the Marysville-North County YMCA on 60th Drive NE. The YMCA needs the building to expand its programs, and the food bank has outgrown it.

In October, the food bank served 1,048 homes and 3,617 people. November brought a higher demand because of the Thanksgiving holiday, and the agency served 1,501 families and 5,191 people.

Construction will begin in the next couple of months, and officials hope the new food bank will be open by summer.

Lasting Impressions to mark
25th anniversary with open house
Marysville-based Lasting Impressions Screen Printing and Embroidery is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month by holding an open house from 2 to 8 p.m. Jan. 31.

Lasting Impressions and several of its preferred vendors will join together to provide an opportunity to view new apparel and product lines for 2006.

For more information on Lasting Impressions, located at 7406 43rd Ave., go online to www.lastingimp.com.

C’ilk Styling hair salon
to open in Stanwood
Cindy Kinney is opening C’ilk Styling at 25917 36th Ave. NW in Stanwood on Jan. 7.

Kinney has been a hairdresser for 23 years and worked in several local salons before working for a sawmill the past few years. For more information, call 425-344-4647 or go online to www.cilkstyling.com.

Arlington chamber OKs merger
with Smokey Point group
In December, the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce membership voted to merge with the Smokey Point Area Chamber of Commerce, a proposed consolidation that “evolved out of a community meeting on the future of the Arlington chamber,” according to that group’s recent quarterly newsletter.

The two groups had been discussing a possible merger since the 1999 annexation of Smokey Point to the city of Arlington.

Representatives of the two chambers have been working out the details of the merger, according to the Arlington chamber, including a new name, budget and bylaws. A new membership fee structure has been proposed as well.

New articles of incorporation are being developed to submit to the state.

Landscape design business
opens in Arlington
Sheri Lee Jones of Arlington has launched SLJ Designs, a new landscape design business that will install or maintain plants and landscaping.

Jones, who has a degree in landscape design and ornamental horticulture from Edmonds Community College, can be reached at 425-879-2311.

CityBank donates $150,000
to Work Opportunities
In December, CityBank made a $150,000 donation to Work Opportunities of Lynnwood, a nonprofit organization that promotes self-determination and community participation for people with disabilities through the act of work by offering an array of job placement and support services.

The CityBank donation, which includes $75,000 from CityBank and $75,000 from its directors and employees, is not the first show of support by the financial institution for Work Opportunities, having in the past sponsored the nonprofit’s fund-raising auctions.

Quinton completes merger
with Cardiac Science
The merger of Quinton Cardiology Systems and Cardiac Science Inc. is fully complete, the combined company announced in December.

Cardiac Science Corp., as the new company is known, said it has consolidated all manufacturing work at its Deerfield, Wis., plant and moved all administrative and customer service functions to the former Quinton headquarters in Bothell.

Lynnwood bank’s renaming,
rebranding honored
The renaming and rebranding of Lynnwood-based Phoenix Savings Bank to create Pacific Crest Savings Bank recently received a Davey Award from the International Academy of the Visual Arts.

Sheryl Nilson, president of Pacific Crest Savings Bank, said the bank took on the project, completed earlier this year, because its name and look no longer reflected the growing organization. The firm has been headquartered in the Pacific Northwest since 1984.

Vander Houwen Public Relations of Mercer Island and G.A. Creative of Bellevue worked together on the selection of the new name, development of a brand identity and internal and external communications. G.A. Creative handled the creation of a new logo, signage, stationery system, Web site, brochures and other materials.

Sonus drug effective in patient tests
A Sonus Pharmaceuticals chemotherapy drug showed encouraging results in recent tests on patients with advanced breast cancer.

According to test data on Tocosol paclitaxel recently presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas, the drug stopped tumor growth in one patient with metastatic breast cancer and slowed it in 24 others among a test group of 47 women.

That response rate, according to an independent radiologist who participated in the tests, is at the upper end of response rates to similar drugs that have taxane as its active ingredient.

Tocosol paclitaxel contains the same active ingredient in Taxol, the world’s biggest-selling drug to fight cancer.

But Sonus’ delivery system uses vitamin E oil mixed with other chemicals that make oil-soluble drugs easier to dissolve and therefore potentially more effective. Tests show it can be delivered in a 15-minute dose, compared with the average three-hour infusion required with Taxol.

EdCC seeks employers
for internship fair
Edmonds Community College is seeking employers to participate in an upcoming internship fair, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 9, in the Triton Union Building 202, 20000 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood.

Employers are especially needed to offer internships in the following fields: allied health; computers, electronics and networks; computer information systems; construction; culinary arts; horticulture; international business; materials science; hospitality and tourism; and visual communications, according to EdCC.

The internship fair is free for employers and students. For more information, call the college’s Career Action Center at 425-640-1256, send e-mail to careeractioncenter@edcc.edu or go online to http://careeractioncenter.edcc.edu.

MediQuest testing new drug
MediQuest Therapeutics Inc. of Bothell is enrolling 200 patients for a late-stage test of its treatment of Raynaud’s phenomenon.

Raynaud’s, which may affect 6 million or more people in the United States, constricts blood vessels in the fingers, toes, ears and nose and is often triggered by cold temperatures.

MediQuest’s MQX-503, a gel formulation of nitroglycerin, has been shown in tests to help enhance blood flow to the affected areas.

Everett Events Center
ranks high among tour stops
The Everett Events Center recently was ranked No. 11 in the world for midsize venues by Venues Today for its Top Stops on tour.

The Global Spectrum-managed facility’s No. 11 ranking for venues ranging from 5,001 to 10,000 seats is based on total gross sales, while also ranking at No. 8 for attendance and No. 8 in number of shows for the period of Oct. 16, 2004, through Oct. 15, 2005.

The Everett Events Center’s total gross of $5.6 million includes concerts and tours only and does not include sporting or community events held at the venue.

Accounting firm creates
Hascal Sjoholm Foundation
Hascal, Sjoholm & Co. PS recently formed the Hascal Sjoholm Foundation to serve the charitable needs of the community, company officials said.

Shareholders of the accounting firm have each contributed funds to the tax-exempt, private foundation, which will be overseen and administered by a volunteer board of directors consisting of employees of Hascal, Sjoholm & Co.

Each year, the contributions will be divided up into four groups: the Capital Campaign Fund, the Cause Fund, the Employee Matching Fund and the Discretionary Fund.

For more information, contact Rich Anderson at 425-252-3173 or richa@hascal.com.

Port of Everett crane project
gets city’s OK
James Driscoll, an Everett hearing examiner, has approved a shoreline permit for installation of two cranes on the waterfront.

The Port of Everett sought the permit to install rails for gantry cranes on the Pacific Terminal to handle a sudden increase in container traffic. The intention is to move the cranes later to a newly remodeled facility.

Driscoll noted that if the cranes are not moved after five years, there will be a public hearing to investigate why.

“We think it’s fair and appropriate,” Port Director John Mohr said of the decision. The property has been operated as waterfront industrial for over a hundred years, he added.

Imagine Children’s Museum
honored by magazine
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett recently was recognized as the “Best Museum for Kids 2005” by Seattle Magazine.

The museum, which serves children from 12 months to 12 years of age, offers hands-on exhibits including a 16-foot tree house, a mountain with climbing wall, a farm with a life-size cow that can be milked, a theater, an art studio and the brand new Snow Days exhibit with snow bowling and snow block building. Recently, the museum opened Rooftop Adventure, one of only four children’s museum outdoor areas located on a rooftop in the country.

Jobless rate up slightly
despite addition of 2,500 jobs
Snohomish County continued to add jobs at a torrid pace in November. But a number of unemployed people also entered the job market, pushing unemployment up to 5.1 percent.

That’s an increase of two-tenths of a percentage point from October.

The county added 2,500 jobs in November, enough to push its annual growth rate up to 8 percent. That compares with a 2.7 percent rate for job growth throughout the state and a 1.5 percent national rate, according to the state Employment Security Department.

How can unemployment rise when we’re adding so many jobs?

“Our labor force expanded, but we also added 1,000 more unemployed residents,” said Donna Thompson, a labor economist with the state.

Among the areas adding jobs in November were the Boeing Co. and other aerospace firms, which added 400 jobs; retailers gearing up for the Christmas shopping season, who added 1,000 workers; and restaurants and bars, which beefed up payrolls with 300 people.

YMCA receives $600,000
from Gates Foundation
The YMCA of Snohomish County recently received a $600,000 donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In support of the YMCA “Building Strong Communities” capital campaign, the funds are designated to construct a new YMCA facility in Monroe and provide new offices for its Big Brothers Big Sisters branch.

The proposed new Monroe Family YMCA, with a community center and indoor pool, is projected to serve more than 13,000 members annually, while the new home headquarters for Big Brothers Big Sisters will provide a permanent facility to match adult mentors with children.

EvCC, UW-Bothell sign
dual-enrollment agreement
Leaders from Everett Community College and the University of Washington, Bothell, inked a deal in December that will allow qualified students to take courses at both institutions.

The dual-enrollment agreement is a small piece of a larger effort to help more local residents enter the halls of higher education without going far beyond their doorsteps.

Another piece of that effort includes UW-Bothell’s participation in the newly renamed University Centers of North Puget Sound in Everett, where, beginning this month, the university will begin offering classes.

For more information about University Centers of North Puget Sound or the new UW-Bothell classes, call 425-352-5000 or 425-252-9505.

Back to the top/January 2006 Main Menu