Author Archives: Sumedha Majumdar

About Sumedha Majumdar

I am an aspiring journalist. I am currently a Journalism major attending school in Seattle University. I am graduating in the Spring. Writing and photography is a hobby and I want to turn them into a lifestyle. I am originally from India and I moved to Seattle back in 2004. My full-time job is in Safeway and I have been there for over ten years. I have always wanted to go into Journalism and have worked in a couple of school newspapers in the past. I have always wanted to cover serious issues and arts and entertainment. I am so looking forward to my internship in CHS and I know that I will be able to learn a lot.

Seattle parents ask why school kids have to rush lunch, recess — UPDATE

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This is the 938th time we've used this image of these Lowell Elementary kids. They are now grown and sporting amazing mustaches (Image: CHS)

This is the 938th time we’ve used this image of these Lowell Elementary kids. They are now grown and sporting amazing mustaches (Image: CHS)

Seattle Public School students, you better eat fast. 15 minutes into your 30-minute lunch period, a bell is going to ring. And the Seattle School Board has one question for your — do you want to play or finish eating?

Concerned parents have formed a Lunch and Recess Matters group to push for fair lunch and recess periods for Seattle kids.

“It really has become a choice between eating lunches or talking to friends because that is the only time they get to socialize,” Deb Escher, one of the group’s members said.

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Sam’s Moroccan Sandwich Shop opens at 23rd and Union

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Sam (Images: CHS)

Sam (Images: CHS)

(Images: CHS)

(Images: CHS)

Sam’s Moroccan Sandwich Shop — opened up at 23rd Ave and Union a month ago — is named after Hisham Habchi. Hisham Habchi, of course, goes by Sam. The shop sells all kinds of sandwiches. The most popular seems to be the tuna sandwich which they call, in a simplified spelling of its Spanish inspiration, “Pocadio Tuna”.

“Morocco was a Spanish colony in the past and a lot of our dishes have a Spanish influence in them also,” the Moroccan Habchi tells CHS.

The shop is owned by Habchi and his business partner Mostafa Said. While Habchi is from Morocco and makes different kind of sandwiches from his homeland, his business partner Said hails from Eritrea and has lived in the States for over twenty years. Said said that war with Ethiopia made him flee to Sudan and from there he migrated to the United States.

On a Friday afternoon, you could hear holy music playing in the background as they quietly went about working in the kitchen. The friends met at a local mosque and decided to go into business together. Continue reading →

Bright artists wanted for solar-powered Capitol Hill Gateway Kiosk project

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Quick -- somebody call Susan Robb (Image: CHS)

Quick — somebody call Susan Robb (Image: CHS)

Seattle City Light is joining with the Office of Arts and Culture to create new artworks across Seattle that will highlight the uses and benefits of renewable solar energy. The premier component will be a Capitol Hill Gateway Kiosk project. The goal is to have the new work in place on the Hill in a yet to be announced location by the sunny summer of 2015.

“The Capitol Hill Gateway Kiosk will serve two main purposes. It will be a gateway/informational kiosk to the newly formed Capitol Hill Arts District which will be publicly announced on November 15, and it will also be a stand-alone artwork that uses or demonstrates solar power,” Calandra Childers of the Office of Arts and Culture told CHS. Continue reading →

Plan to push ‘bus rapid transit’ on Madison moves forward

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Screen Shot 2014-10-02 at 3.49.13 PM

One of the exercises from this week’s SDOT meeting

MadisonStreetCorridorOverviewvr3Officials of the Seattle Department of Transportation hosted the Madison Corridor Bus Rapid Transit  house Tuesday night at the Silver Cloud Hotel on Broadway.

“The Madison Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Project is an opportunity to construct capital improvements that will allow a faster, more reliable, more comfortable transit ride,” said Maria Koengeter, project manager for the Madison BRT initiative.

“Bus rapid transit” refers to the use of corridors and service characteristics that would enable buses to provide its customers the same level of service as a fixed-rail streetcar.

SDOT’s  study and project is focused on developing and evaluating at least two corridor design concepts, planners said.

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