17 Jan Pioneer Square in the News

Paul Dorpat is his own pioneer: then & now (Seattle Times)
THEN: The tarnished image of Sara and Henry Yesler’s home in Pioneer Square is the oldest surviving photographic evidence of any part of Seattle. It is conventionally dated 1859, or seven years after the first settlers on the eastern shores of Elliott Bay moved there from Alki Point.

Restaurateur Carmine Smeraldo dies at 69 (Seattle Times)
Carmine Smeraldo would greet customers at his Pioneer Square restaurant with warmth, offering a handshake, or oftentimes, a hug. He knew loyal crowds turned up for perfectly smoked salmon dishes and handmade ravioli stuffed with bursts of wild mushroom.

2012 guide to staying fit (Daily Helmsman)
Personal trainer Kirstin Piquette helps Paula Sampel during her morning workout at Seattle Fitness Club in Pioneer Square.

Gottesman does it again, wins Startup Weekend with home security product Iron Blanket (GeekWire)
Seattle Startup Weekend, a 54-hour coding marathon, hosted the most recent event at the Hub in Pioneer Square. Fifty four pitches were heard on Friday night, with 15 teams formed for the weekend competition.
p.s. Street Code — an app that lets you scan QR codes on homeless people (and donate) — is apparently already being used in Pioneer Square… has anyone heard about this???

The Climate Corp. picks Seattle for branch office, looks to cultivate talent to crunch weather data (GeekWire)
The Climate Corp. — a six-year-old San Francisco company that specializes in providing weather insurance to U.S. farmers — has chosen to establish a new engineering center in Seattle’s tech-heavy Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Landlord-Tenant Complaints Spiked in 2011 (PubliCola)
DPD spokesman Bryan Stevens attributes much of the increase to better record-keeping by DPD (counting email and in-person contacts, for example, in addition to phone complaints) and the fact that the Downtowner Apartments in Pioneer Square were renovated last year, resulting in the relocation of hundreds of tenants.