First look: Sur 16’s ‘New World’ flavors join the scene on 15th Ave E

Posted on by
1

IMG_8579IMG_8403For Capitol Hill restauranteurs Javier Dalzell and Mariana Martos, it is finally time to put the struggles of a first-time buildout aside and enjoy the creation. Sur 16 is open — finally! — on 15th Ave E.

“All of the neighbors have stopped in,” Martos said of Sur 16’s quiet opening over the weekend. “It’s an amazing feeling. Some have come in for a drink, then had another, and ended up staying for dinner.”

After nine months of a sometimes overwhelmingly frustrating buildout challenged by the expenses and administrative overhead of the local permitting process required to create a restaurant in the big city, Martos and Dalzell’s vision of a restaurant flavored by the Mestizo “conflict and resulting clashes and harmonies between the Old World and the New World” is now a reality in the former home of the old Bagel Deli. Continue reading →

‘Walking While Black’ rally to bring ‘woods, irons, wedges and putters’ to Cal Anderson

Posted on by
2

William Wingate and his golf club never completed his walk across Capitol Hill last summer in an incident that has sparked an SPD investigation and relegated an East Precinct officer to desk duty. This week, protesters are being asked to bring golf clubs to Cal Anderson Park next Saturday to complete Wingate’s walk in a rally designed to draw attention to “law enforcement’s racism against black males.”

Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 12.58.43 PMThe Walking While Black event is planned to begin at 2 PM next Saturday, February 7th:

“Walking While Black”
Always Dangerous Until Proven Otherwise

On Saturday, February 7th at 2:00p.m., you are invited to bring your Woods, Irons, Wedges and Putters and join us at Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse, 1635 11th Avenue, for “Walking While Black” Always Dangerous Until Proven Otherwise

WE WALK to finish the interrupted walk of a 69 year old Black Veteran/Civil Servant who on July 9, 2014, grabbed his putter and set out on a brilliant summer day. A day that would forever change both he and this city we call home.

A full statement on the rally is here.

Seattle Police have not announced a timetable for a report from commander Capt. Pierre Davis about Officer Cynthia Whitlach’s actions in arresting Wingate, her social media activity, and the East Precinct brass decisions not to more seriously discipline the officer for her actions. The Stranger reports that the FBI has been asked to assist in a wider SPD investigation around the officer’s actions.

Bid to rezone 23rd and Union block for six-story future denied… for now

Posted on by
2
MidTown Center will someday rise to six stories... but not yet (Image: CHS)

MidTown Center will someday rise to six stories… but not yet (Image: CHS)

As one of its driving members announces his campaign to join the Seattle City Council, the community group Central Area Land Use Review Committee is also celebrating a quiet victory at 23rd and Union.

Late last month, the City Council’s planning and land use committee declined to approve rezoning of the 106,000 square-foot MidTown Center property that includes a downsized Post Office, a handful of small businesses, liquor store on the southeast corner of 23rd and Union. The voting Council members said it was a matter of trying to add conditions to a hypothetical future project.

“The problem that I have with doing the approval with conditions is we’re approving a project that doesn’t exist,” Council member Sally Clark said.

“I have no doubt that this corner should be 65 feet in some way,” she said. Continue reading →

Blotter | Arrest in one ‘hateful’ assault on Hill, charges in another

Posted on by
Reply

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS Crime coverage here.

  • ‘Hateful’ arrest on E Pine: SPD announced the arrest of a man police say attacked two victims early Sunday morning in a hate-filled assault in the 1000 block of E Pine:
    The two adult male victims told officers that they were walking past the suspect when he suddenly called them a hateful name and blew cigarette smoke at them. He then proceeded to spit on one of the victims and charged at them, causing the same physical altercation that the alert officer witnessed and disrupted. The victims informed officers that they believe the suspect confronted and attacked them based on their sexual orientation.
    Police say the suspect tried to escape by ducking into a nearby restaurant before he was eventually apprehended. The he was booked into King County Jail for felony malicious harassment assault.
  • Bias charges: The suspect in a similar attack last weekend on the Hill has been charged with one count of assault and one count of malicious harassment. Troy Burns, 37, was charged for threatening three men with a knife early last Sunday near Harvard and Pike and “yelling derogatory remarks about their sexual orientation.” According to investigators, Burns has been living in shelters, is addicted to drugs, and was on Capitol Hill to sell meth:Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 9.51.38 AMPolice say Burns told them he doesn’t remember the incident admitted he had “probably” attacked the men:Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 9.51.51 AMAccording to prosecutors, Burns criminal record includes convictions on drug charges, fourth degree assault, and hit and run.

Central District slow growth activist will challenge Sally Clark for City Council seat

Posted on by
10
Bradburd
Clark

As Capitol Hill prepares to dive into its first-ever City Council District 3 election, remember that two at-large races will require some attention, too. One of those is shaping up around development and land use and could have big repercussions for Capitol Hill and Seattle’s Inner City.

Last week, Central Area activist Bill Bradburd announced he would challenge incumbent Sally Clark for the at-large Position 9 seat. Clark, who was appointed to council in 2006, is a policy wonk (some would say too wonky) who has spent several years on council trying to balance developer and resident priorities on various zoning and land-use issues. Bradburd, 57, is also a land use buff, but decisively of the community activist ilk.

“All the politics in the city really boil down to land use and zoning,” Bradburd recently told CHS. Continue reading →

House reps pass Joel’s Law in wake of 2013 death of Capitol Hill man

Posted on by
2
20140113_LegWA_0086sc-675x450

Capitol Hill’s Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (far left) passed the first bill out of the state House in 2015.

The first bill to make it out of the state House in 2015 was one with close Capitol Hill ties — it was prompted by a Capitol Hill tragedy and introduced by a Capitol Hill representative.

HB 1258, known as Joel’s Law, would strengthen involuntarily commitment guidelines for people suffering from mental illness. If a county decides a person did not meet the threshold for involuntarily commitment, direct family members of that individual could appeal the decision under the new law. The bill passed with a 98-0 vote and now moves to the state Senate.

reuterThe bill was inspired Joel Reuter’s tragic 2013 death on Capitol Hill. Reuter was killed in his Bellevue and E Denny Way apartment by a police sniper when Reuter, suffering from a manic episode, fired a handgun toward police.

Family and friends of Reuter that spoke with CHS agreed that police did everything within reason to deescalate the situation. What Reuter’s family decried was their inability to have their son involuntarily committed for treatment because of strict protections in Washington state law.

Capitol Hill resident Rep. Brady Walkinshaw sponsored the bill after telling CHS last month that it was one of his major priorities in this year’s session.

“It was really exciting to have the the first bill of the year,” Walkinshaw told CHS.

Reuters parents, Doug and Nancy, were instrumental in getting the bill introduced last year when it didn’t make it out of committee. During a hearing on the bill in February, Joel’s father said he and others had tried for months to have a designated mental health professional recommend to a judge that Joel should be involuntarily held at a hospital for treatment. During that time Reuter had a string of run-ins with police and crisis intervention specialists and threatened to kill himself and his parents.

“I was told if he had a loaded gun on his hand with his finger on the trigger, then we could get him help. That’s exactly what Joel had on the morning of July 5th, and the help they gave him was to kill him,” he said.

CHS Pics | Super Bummer XLIX on Capitol Hill

Posted on by
3
(Images: Alex Garland for CHS)

(Images: Alex Garland for CHS)

Inside the Roanoke

Earlier, inside the Roanoke

With reporting by Shane McMahon/UW News Lab – Special to CHS

Inches from sealing a historical back-to-back Super Bowl victory, the Seahawks went down the way they went up — in shocking, agonizing fashion. The team took its fans along for the ride in packed bars and restaurants across Capitol Hill Sunday. By the time the last audacious Seahawk play had been called with disastrous results, the hopes for parties in the streets like we saw last January had faded completely. Fans were left to ponder why the team didn’t opt to simply run the ball in to seize the championship. And why Budweiser chose this weekend of all weekends to run an ad about beer “brewed the hard way.”

Continue reading →

CHS Crow | Rebecca, Tal and Carly — Belle and Sebastian Dance Party edition

Posted on by
1
‘Watch Animal Odd Couples.’
Making it happen.
Soap in your coffee …

There was a whole lot of whimsical swaying going on — and a bit of wild gesticulating — when the CHS Crow stopped by Capitol Hill art gallery and bar Vermillion for Seattle’s very own Belle and Sebastian Dance Party. Say hey to a transplanted Northern California radio DJ, a host who says he’d do it all over again and a music teacher and real-life indie rocker who were all there helping celebrate the lyrical Scottish melody makers’ particularly danceable new release.

  Rebecca

Who are you?
I was a DJ character. … I’m trying to figure out who I am in Seattle.

… where were you a DJ?
In Davis, California. I had a radio show for four years there. KVDS. And that’s how [Carly — below — and I] met. Her band played on my radio show. And I ended up moving up here. And we actually live 10 minutes away from each other in the CD. So we know each other.

Are you still working in radio?
Unfortunately not. I’m hoping to get involved somehow up here.

Live on Capitol Hill?
I actually just moved to Central District today. I just moved from Wallingford.

… what drew you to the area?
I’m working out in Issaquah, so it shortened my commute, and I have more friends who live in the Central District and it just made more sense to be closer to Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Garfield High 1, District 0 in tussle over teacher cut

Posted on by
Reply

Garfield High SchoolThanks to protests from staff, students, and parents, Seattle Public Schools has apparently backed off its plan to cut a teacher position at Garfield High School as part of its annual rebalancing of positions based on enrollments across the district.

KPLU reports the district hasn’t formally announced the decision to back off the cut but that a gambit from Garfield PTSA co-president Kirk Wohlers seems to have worked:

“The logistics are impossible because you’d have to have a teacher teach four classes at Garfield and then drive to teach one more, maybe at Rainier Beach … or wherever. That just doesn’t make sense,” Wohlers said.

Since union rules prevent the district from overruling the school, Wohlers said Garfield’s plan forced the district into a corner.

Under the district’s plan for rebalancing, Garfield’s administration was asked to identify a full-time teacher to move to another school. Instead of identifying one teacher, Garfield “identified five who would leave for only one class period each,” KPLU reports.

 

This week in CHS history: Seahawk celebration on E Pike, 12th Ave bier hall opens, Boba Fett vs. Jimi

Posted on by
Reply

8445002252_ac9919921d_oHere are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

Capitol Hill’s Thudsuan hopes to stand out in sea of great Seattle Thai

Posted on by
1
Sivatitikul (Image: CHS)

Sivatitikul (Image: CHS)

Boyd Sivatitikul is working to make sure Capitol Hill’s Thudsuan doesn’t get lost in Seattle’s wealth of Thai restaurants.

“For us, it’s not just another Thai place,” he said.

Opening Thudsuan at 19th and Madison, Sivatitikul said he wanted to create a more adventurous experience. While he used his wife’s family name to make sure people would be aware of the restaurant’s Asian roots, he didn’t put the word Thai in the name.

“We try our best to make it traditional and modern,” Sivatitikul said.

While there are the staples like pad thai, tom yom soup and a host of curry dishes, there is also a menu section called modern twists. There, diners will find things like a papaya salad, but added to it will be soft shelled crabs. Or a pad kee mao made with fettuccine instead of the typical noodles (traditional pad kee mao is also available). Continue reading →

CHS Pics | This week in Capitol Hill pictures

Posted on by
Reply
wired(less) (Image: Dean Forbes via Flickr)

wired(less) (Image: Dean Forbes via Flickr)

The CHS Flickr Pool contains more than 18,000 19,000 20,000 21,000  22,000 23,000 24,000 photographs -— most of Capitol Hill images, many glorious, some technically amazing. The pool is a mix of contributions from Capitol Hill — and nearby — shutterbugs. Interested in being part of it? If we like your photo and it helps us tell the story, we may feature it on CHS so please include your name and/or a link to your website so we can properly credit you. Interested in working as a paid CHS contributor for scheduled assignments? Drop us a line –- our roster is full for general assignments but pitch us on an idea.

Continue reading →

The Pike/Pine bucket drummer honor code

Posted on by
66

Screen Shot 2015-01-30 at 2.08.31 PMSPD has its own problems to solve right now. And while there are bigger questions about our neighborhood identities, and smaller but important questions about those identities, too, CHS has another riddle of living in the big city to solve: At what hour should the bucket drummers of Pike/Pine cease operations?

Here’s an email we received from a reader:

I live on the corner of E Pine and Broadway.  Bucket drummers have been playing at all hours and the SPD have done nothing about it. This has been going on since the summer.  I figured that when the weather turned cold it would cease but that has not been the case.   It is my impression that during the day this may be legal but that noise ordinances kick in at 11pm.  Last night they started at 10:30pm and ended a little after 4am.  This has become the norm.  Sometimes they start around 1am or so.  Myself and other tenants have called the police many times (including last night) and nothing is ever done.  I have asked officers about how this gels with noise ordinances and have not once been given a straight answer.  Can you assist? Can you throw this problem out there so more people who are affected by it can chime in?

Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Pride Festival to add rally, Broadway parade in 2015

Posted on by
1
Capitol Hill Pride Festival 2014 including plenty of sunny people watching on Broadway (Images: CHS)

Capitol Hill Pride Festival 2014 including plenty of sunny people watching on Broadway (Images: CHS)

Slowly but surely, Charlotte LeFevre is bringing Pride back to Capitol Hill.

Growing steadily from its grassroots start in 2009, plans for this summer’s Capitol Hill Pride Festival announced this week detail an event that continues to expand in scope and purpose. This time, the longtime curator of north Broadway’s long-gone Museum of Mysteries is bringing a Pride parade back to Capitol Hill:

10-11am Capitol Hill Pride Festival March Seattle Central Campus to Main Stage on Harrison St. “Never Forget” 1969 Stonewall with speakers and history. The Capitol Hill Pride Festival March will be an all ages, all orientations, all gender/transgender civic march with no fees open to the public. The march has no fees as the Directors of the festival feel an individual should not have to pay a fee to march, demonstrate or show civic and community pride.

“Seattle has not had an all gender inclusive LGBT march for many years since the Parade started charging fees thereby shutting out individuals and low budget organizations. Marchers are encouraged to bring hand written signs,” the announcement of the 2015 event notes.

Organizers say SPD estimated 25,000 people attended the Broadway festival in 2014.

The 2014 Seattle Dyke March -- More pictures here (Images: CHS)

The 2014 Seattle Dyke March — More pictures here (Images: CHS)

Continue reading →

After 15 years, Metro Clothing is closing but won’t leave another hole in Broadway retail

Posted on by
6
(Images: Metro Clothing)

Changing neighborhood dynamics and shifting fashion styles have conspired to end Metro Clothing’s 15-year run of selling alternative and goth clothes on Capitol Hill.

Last week, owner Angel Theurer began putting up signs announcing a liquidation sale in order to bring on new line of spring clothing. But Theurer and Metro founder Carl Medeiros have now decided to close Metro and start fresh with a new clothing store in the same space.

“A lot more New York influenced, edgy but not gothic, and definitely low price points,” is how Medieros described the new direction he wants to take. Medieros said the new offerings will be a higher-end complement to Panache, his clothing shop next door. Continue reading →