Common Nighthawk, originally uploaded by kingernorth.

It has been a busy week at CHS with lots of big news -- some of it quite heavy. Thanks goodness for this lovely little essay which fluttered in from CHS history contributor Dotty DeCoster. Even if the nighthawks were still living in Seattle, they'd have already migrated away from this wet and dreary Pacific Northwest weather until spring -- when they used to return and, now, you can miss them like Dotty does. We're glad the swallows still come back to keep us company.

I’ve been reading Edward B. Dunn’s memoir called 1121 Union recently, and he asks a question:  “We always had nighthawks in summer on First Hill and in the country, too.  Where can they have gone? . . . Anyway  I miss them.  They can outdive any airplane, and I used to love watching them swooping over the housetops and abruptly coming out of the dive with a thrilling roar." (p. 53) ...

Our newspartners at The Seattle Times are reporting that the "person of interest" in last weekend's police murder is in critical condition at Harborview with a wound to the head.

They've also proven that having sources and their phone numbers is much more productive than waiting for media briefings at crime scenes. As we reported earlier today, SPD detectives were in Tukwila to investigate a tip from a citizen in Officer Brenton's murder:...

The first of two Friday updates from King County Elections shows Mike McGinn has widened his lead over Joe Mallahan in the Seattle mayor's race. McGinn now leads his competitor by 1,209 votes.

Mike McGinn: 75,657 49.99%

Joe Mallahan: 74,448 49.19%

The next drop comes after 9 PM tonight. Seattle Post Globe reports that election workers decided to put in some extra work today instead of having to work over the weekend to produce a new count on Monday.

Breaking news in the hunt for the killer of Officer Timothy Brenton. Central District News is heading to the scene:

There's a massive police response down in Tukwila, where Tukwila police are reporting that a "person of interest" in Officer Brenton's shooting was shot by police while they were there serving a warrant.

This started about 25 minutes after the conclusion of Brenton's memorial at Key Arena.

TV chopper coverage is showing a covered vehicle in the parking lot of the apartment complex where today's shooting occurred, and it appears to be of the shape and size of a Datsun 210, the suspect vehicle in the Halloween shooting.

SPD homicide personnel are said to be on the scene in Tukwila, but so far SPD isn't talking about what might be going on.

More as we get it.

The Seattle Times is reporting the suspect was shot in the head by Seattle Police. Reports are that the suspect has been transported to Harborview.

SeattleCrime.com is reporting that the man who was shot has died. survived.

Tukwila police say two other people have been taken into custody in the incident.

With the investigation into the Halloween night murder of officer Timothy Brenton stretching into its sixth day, the Seattle Police Department is about to lose its newly appointed head of the Violent Crimes Section. Berkeley news sources are reporting that Seattle police captain Mike Meehan...

I've been reviewing bathrooms in Seattle for a couple of months now. I'm not trying to create a comprehensive index and definitely don't want to spend a lot of time in nasty ones; I want everyone to know about the nice ones. I'm always looking for new ones to review, and am especially interested in hearing from business owners, because if I'm working with them, they can let me into the women's restrooms and tell me interesting stories. The blog is here, and all the entries are tagged by location, so you can view just the Capitol Hill entries if you like.

donna at the polish festival
Originally uploaded by plexipixie

The 49th Annual Fall Bazaar takes place at Dom Polski, this weekend (11/7 - 11/8) from 12 to 7 pm each day.  

Booths upstairs will offer Polish crystal bowl and vases, Boleslawiec pottery, amber and silver jewelry, pottery, books, and crafts.  Downstairs, you can enjoy traditional Polish dishes of pierogi, sausage, cabbage rolls etc. served by the young generation of waiters clad in Polish folk costumes. You can also buy home made desserts and pastries.  The address is 1714 18th Ave. Seattle, and free admission and parking.

CHS will be covering the memorial procession to honor Seattle Police Department officer Timothy Brenton as it passes across Capitol Hill this morning. The more than 1,000 vehicles and thousands of police, fire and emergency personnel expected to participate in the procession leave the University of Washington's Husky Stadium parking lot starting at 9 AM. They are expected to begin passing through the Capitol Hill area after 10 AM on their way to Key Arena where the memorial will be held.

• A map of the route can be found here.
• There is no street parking along the route and bus service will be disrupted. Seattle Transit Blog has a list of planned re-routes. Metro says to expect delays.
• If you have a report from your morning's bus experience to share, leave a comment here or Tweet to #caphillbus

Watch this post for updates and pictures from the procession. Our news partner the Seattle Times is also updating an interactive map and timeline of today's events . You can watch live video coverage from KING-5 here .

UPDATE:

Photo: Scott Durham/Central District News

Central District News has coverage of the memorial ceremony at Key Arena . You can also check out photos of the procession's path through the CD here .

...

It's been a long time since Seattle's last big shake had everybody diving under desks and thinking about being more prepared for emergencies. If you were here for the Nisqually earthquake in 2001, you'll be happy to know that we apparently got lucky. These scientists say 'the big one' might end up being even bigger than previously thought when it finally strikes the city.

All of this toward freaking you out a a bit and encouraging you to give serious thought to attending a community meeting on disaster preparedness this Saturday -- or, at least, getting prepared on your own....

A wind-driven lightning and hailstorm that quickly passed across the city also rumbled across Capitol Hill late tonight. The storm arrived on Capitol Hill around 10:42 if you believe Twitter -- about 5 minutes after reports started spreading across the social messaging service's Tweets from the West Seattle area. In the 15-minute window around the storm's coming and going, there were 1,267 Tweets about 'thunder' in the Seattle area.

Here's what a few of you had to say about it:...

Consider this your Friday morning, crowd-source Capitol Hill transportation bulletin. With all due respect to the officer and the department Friday's memorial procession honors, there is a lot of confusion about transportation in the Capitol Hill area as the streets will be blocked and Metro's buses delayed and rerouted. Metro's bulletin on the service disruptions lacks specifics and the promised reroute information has not been posted as of 10:45 PM. It's for a good cause -- we'll just need to make the best of it. UPDATE: Seattle Transit Blog has reroute info.

Our partner site SeattleCrime.com is reporting tonight on a large police and Metro sheriff response at Bellevue and Pine around 8:15 PM.

According to a Seattlecrime.com tipster, there are about 20-25 police officers, and sheriffs deputies at Bellevue and Pine with guns drawn. A man is lying face down on the pavement, crying.

CHS hustled down there to find the scene breaking up and the bad guys already taken away. A deputy at the scene said the incident involved two men 'making bad decisions' in a Metro bus shelter but wouldn't elaborate....

First we had the Neighborhood Plan Status Update Meetings: most neighborhoods got one, Capitol Hill was so special it got to have two.  Now it's time for Neighborhood Plan Status Checks, which will be summaries of what the community told the Planning Commission and the Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee to change in our Neighborhood Plans during the aforementioned Update meetings. In short, it's time to find out if the city was paying any attention to what we were saying.

The Capitol Hill/ Central District/ Eastlake/...

Here are the latest totals from King County Elections and the state for the mayor's race and R-71. You can see all the races here. Make sure to track your ballot to make sure it's been counted. See a problem? Contact the elections office:  http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/aboutus/contactus.aspx

Various news sources are calling the R-71 race over -- here's what Publicola had to say about the victory. Congratulations to everybody on the Hill who worked so hard on the campaign.

...

A reminder that tomorrow morning's procession to honor Seattle Police Department officer Timothy Brenton will cross Capitol Hill and pass by East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine. The precinct HQ will likely be a congregation area for many to observe the procession and pay their respects to the fallen officer. Seattle University has encouraged students to gather there and along the route which will enter the Hill from Madison, down Pine past the East Precinct to Broadway and then, down Denny on its way to Key Arena.

SPD has asked for the public's assistance in solving the Halloween night murder of the veteran officer and has released pictures from police car cameras that show the suspect's car and also made an extensive psychological profile of the suspect available.

CHS will be moving along the Capitol Hill portion of the route and broadcasting pictures and updates to the site from the streets. We'll also feature coverage from Central District News and our news partner, The Seattle Times.

Parking will not be allowed along the route and bus service will be 'disrupted,' Metro says. The agency did not list specific delays or reroutes but said to expect both if you are traveling in the area of the procession which stretches from Montlake to Key Arena....

UPDATE: 4:25 PM
At an afternoon conference, Seattle Police released pictures believed to capture the suspect's car before and after the shooting of officer Brenton. The also provided a psychological profile of the suspect included in this post below the photos after the jump....

Regardless of the outcome of the still undecided Mayors race, one of the biggest stories coming out of this election cycle is the grassroots, all volunteer campaign run by Mike McGinn.  McGinn was outspent and out staffed by the Mallahan campaign and rarely led in the polls, but won the primary and is currently in the lead after the first three batches of votes have been counted.  I went to the McGinn Campaign Headquarters yesterday to talk to the volunteers to find out what it was like working on the groundbreaking campaign.  ...

The new face of the poster-covered Sunset Electric building is slowly coming to light. Wednesday night's Early Design Guidance meeting at the new Seattle U AA building was the second in a long process to develop the property where the brick building has stood since 1916. As the first development project to go through the city's design review process under Pike/Pine's new conservation overlay district, the Sunset represents a test for the city and the Capitol Hill community of how to best redevelop the area without losing the historical character of the neighborhood.

If you haven't been following the process, here's a quick run-down of developer Pryde + Johnson's stated plans for the historic building:

• Retain and restore the existing two-story facade and use as retail space.
• Create a 7 story structure, building on top of the historic area, and filling 5 floors with 92 units.
• LEED Silver certified
• 20% Workforce Housing
• 36 Stalls of underground parking.

Wednesday night's meeting unveiled a revamped design for the project as Pryde + Johnson has brought in a new architecture firm on the project.

"The new concept will save the existing character, but not imitate it," said Dwayne Kohler, of Kohler Architects, Wednesday night. ...

As an independent retailer I notice a lack of ongoing coverage of retail activity.  Sure things get coverage when they open, when misfortune strikes or when they close.  Reading this blog over the last month I have definitely seen a lot of love shown towards local retailers like Bliss and Bailey-Coy.  So why wait for these types of events to share our love for what makes our local shopping experiences unique to our neighborhood? 

There are dozens of retail gems that are just waiting to be discovered...

Oddfellows (Veg) Breakfast Panini

• Zhivago's Cafe is open reports Thrillist (Daily Candy for men) - I stopped in there this morning & they said they would be open at 1 pm
• From 11/1 to 12/31, Ethan Stowell restaurants, including...

I sat down and talked with Michael Wells this morning about the closure of his bookstore, the future of the publishing industry, and the changes he's seen in Capitol Hill in his 20 years with Bailey Coy.

Connection to Capitol Hill
Michael explains why Bailey Coy couldn't have existed in any other neighborhood, and how being on Capitol Hill affected Bailey Coy....

McGinn's lead has dropped from 910 to 462 (less than the # of write-in ballots counted). Your vote really is going to count this time. King County lets you follow the path of your ballot through the system, which you might care to do....

In the Seattle, King County, and statewide races:

Seattle Mayor

Mike McGinn: 52,238 49.77 percent

Joe Mallahan: 51,776 49.33 percent

Gap: 462 votes

City Attorney

Pete Holmes57,251 62.17 percent

Tom Carr 34,661 37.64 percent

Gap: 22,590 votes

City Council Position 2

Richard Conlin 70,207 76.20 percent

David Ginsberg 21,688 23.54 percent

Gap: 48,519 votes

City Council Position 4

Sally Bagshaw 64,324 69.08 percent

David Bloom 28,587 30.7 percent

Gap: 35,737 votes