For a company flying Scandinavian flags outside its store front, Safeway isn't being very neighborly.

The Crown Hill grocery store on NW 85th Street and 15th Avenue NW is planning on building a five or six pump gas station in the southwest corner of its expansive parking lot. That's the potential for 12 cars at a time to fill up for gas, or about two and half times the size of the usual two-pump station.

Neighbors are concerned the petrol mecca would create traffic bottlenecks, as well as fill the lot and expand parking onto residential streets behind the store.

It's not being done for nothing. Safeway needs to show its investors growth and that means thinking up all manner of reasons why people should queue there instead of some other big box discounter. The Wal-Mart wolf is always at the sliding door.

So Safeway has decided to expand on Crown Hill during a gap between an emergency ordinance barring such a gas station, and a permanent ban on such businesses, passed by the city council a few weeks later.

Some neighbors aren't happy with Safeway's lucky loophole but in an eventual clash, the smart money is on Safeway. The company earned $38 billion last year and is represented by legal heavyweights like Foster Pepper when they want to battle the city. The happy few of Whittier Heights, Loyal Heights and Crown Hill probably don't have that kind of cash to burn or legal resources to draw upon.

Safeway officials certainly seem confident. They are of the opinion that no one is upset about the proposal, and it showed during their non-attendance at a neighborhood council meeting last week. No one from Safeway bothered to show up and address concerns about the project, instead sending an ill-informed ambassador from a public relations firm, along with a half-hearted handout about how much better things are now and the variety of trees they might plant.

It's a shame Safeway doesn't want to be more engaged. When driving east on NW 85th from 15th Avenue NW, you'll see a parade of flags for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland hanging outside of Safeway. It suggests that the company is at least respectful of the neighborhood's heritage, and by extension, the residents who live here. If Safeway isn't interested in hearing the community's opinions, maybe they should take the flags down.

500 safeway.doc - 1 -