THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS are showing up, weeks ahead of schedule. Nice.

Spring is on the way, which means street construction work is about to resume. This time, it’s on Third Avenue between Virginia and Cedar streets.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will build concrete bus bulb/curb and sidewalk extensions at bus stops along Third. They’re intended to eliminate the need for Metro buses to pull in and out of traffic. The city will also build new curb ramps, install new bike racks, and improve street lighting. You can expect the usual temporary lane closures, parking restructions, and what SDOT calls “moderate” construction noise.
In other street-construction news, Washington state received a $30 million Federal grant to help rebuild the infamous “Mercer Mess” in south Lake Union.
---
The City of Seattle is holding a series of public meetings in March entitled “Creating a Great Central Waterfront.” None of the meetings are being held anywhere near the waterfront or adjacent Belltown.
The meetings are hosted by the City’s Central Waterfront Partnerships Committee and the Department of Planning and Development, and will discuss ideas for “safe, attractive and inviting new public spaces on the central waterfront.”

The closest this show gets to here is on Thursday, March 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave. E.
---
“Love, Peace, Planet—Belltown” is an evening of networking and promotion for neighborhood merchants. It’s Thursday, March 4, 6-10 p.m. at Salon Ciba, 2301 1st Ave.

At the event, motivational speaker Kevin Givens will discuss the value of local business networking. Jeff Newsom of the environmental group AShirtBag will give away save-the-Earth gifts, including “ Tree-in-a-Box” kits. There are also demonstrations of hair trends, massage, health and beauty products, clothes, and art photography. For more, email cindy@ salonciba.com.
---
The medium-rise condo development at First and Bell that had been called the “Alex” during construction is almost done (about a year later than originally expected). And it’s been rechristened the “Volta.”
The name change is part of a repositioning of the project. With a glut of residential projects on the market, particularly at the higher price points, Volta’s developers have opted to install more standardized finishes and to charge less than they’d planned to. Units now start at $299,950 for a one-bedroom unit.

A sales center will open at the site in April or May. See VoltaOnBell.com for details.
---
Robert Taylor, author of the book I’m Spritual, Not Religious, is coming to Belltown to speak on spirituality as a “Common Ground for Global Engagement.” It takes place Thursday, March 18, 7 p.m. at at Antioch University Seattle, 2326 6th Ave. The free program is part of Antioch’s “Global Issues and Perspectives” lecture series.
---
The Pacific Science Center has applied to the City to nominate its campus as an official City of Seattle Landmark. The nomination’s part of the center’s ongoing plan for upgrades to its buildings, which seemed so futuristic when they opened 48 years ago.

Even more intriguing is the name of the Science Center PR official who sent us the announcement: Crystal Clarity. (If only more publicity had that...)
---
As we await the launch of Seattle Sounders FC’s second season, our city’s at the intersection of an international soccer sex scandal.

Ann Corbitt, an aide to City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, admitted to the British press that she’d had a one-night stand with visiting Chelsea soccer star Ashley Cole (then-husband of a UK reality-TV show judge). It took place last July, in Cole’s room at the new Four Seasons Hotel. She either gave or sold her confession story to Rupert Murdoch’s paper News of the World, complete with what Publicola.net called “numerous salacious details about her encounter with Cole.”

In response, Belltown’s 5 Point Cafe offered $3 “Ann Corbitt Cheap Shot” drinks in the last week of February. They contained vodka, rum, cranberry and pineapple juices, 7 Up and soda water.   –CH