Bellevue from Lake Washington

Bellevue skyline seen from Lake Washington

Bellevue Washington

A stroll through the streets of Bellevue on a crystal clear winter Sunday afternoon. In the past decade or so, and particularly over the last couple of years, many new buildings have been and are being built. The skyline resembles the future as imagined and illustrated 50 years ago: clean lines, reflective surfaces, bright blue sky. The low-angle winter sun at this latitude brightly illuminates some buildings which reflect in the mirrored windows of others. Sharp angles scatter the view. Secondary and sometimes tertiary reflections make for an interesting scene.

Wall of Water

Bellevue skyline looms over waterfall feature at Downtown Park, Bellevue, Washington.

Urban Growth

Bellevue, WA is undergoing major growth. The tower crane that collapsed Thursday night was but one of many currently dominating the skyline.

BELLEVUE, WA, November 16, 2006 7:45PM-PDT - Crane Collapse Kills One, Damages Buildings

Just as the crane operator was shutting down for the night, the unthinkable happened: it collapsed. Amazingly the operator survived his bumpy ride down. A resident of the apartment building across the street was not so lucky. He was killed when the walls and ceiling of his unit were crushed by the falling heavy steel crane. Microsoft identified the man who died as Matt Ammon, 31, a lawyer in the company's patent group.

Paul Leeper and Linda Rosario, residents in the unit below his were outside looking at the scene as I took these pictures. They described the experience as a loud rumble and explosion-like noise as the equipment impacted their structure. As they told of their ordeal, I was reminded of earthquakes. Only this of course was a lot more localized.

Local media coverage

Google Maps overhead view of the scene