SPD report detailing Car2Go vs. pedestrian collision released

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The June 9th collision involving a Car2Go vehicle and a pedestrian at 12th and Pine generated a lot of attention on CHS.

David Daley, who was struck by the vehicle as he crossed the intersection a little after midnight on that Sunday morning, suffered serious injuries and a pledge drive continues to help raise funds to aid his recovery. Daley told us he is “slowly recovering” and “spending a lot of time surrounded by close friends and family” earlier this week.

The incident also sparked debate over car services like Car2Go and pedestrian safety in the neighborhood. Below, we’ve included the report from the SPD officer who contacted witnesses and investigated the scene. SPD’s Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives did not respond to the incident so there will be no further official inquiry. SPD found that witnesses reported Daley had darted into the street against a “don’t walk” sign directly into the path of the driver’s vehicle before the driver could stop. Additional findings are below.Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 3.47.50 PM

In sharing the report, we hope to shed light without stoking the fires of blame and anger that come out in “car vs. pedestrian” conversations. We know that’s a big challenge. Sharing the results of the investigation is a rare opportunity for us to provide specifics in this kind of incident. We will be vigilant to keep the resulting conversation as useful and productive as possible.

With Capitol Hill Community Council election Thursday night, meet 7 candidates for 7 seats

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A 2013 show of hands at the Capitol Hill Community Council (Image: CHS)

A 2013 show of hands at the Capitol Hill Community Council (Image: CHS)


Grand Marshall, originally uploaded by sea turtle.

Elections for the executive committee of the Capitol Hill Community Council are this Thursday at 6:30 in the Cal Anderson Shelter House. All members of the Capitol Hill community, including residents, business owners, and employees, are eligible to participate. There are seven seats open for election, and — conveniently — seven candidates.

Here’s a quick bio on each of the officers who — once elected — will help represent the Capitol Hill community in efforts ranging from transportation to development to parks to public safety.

  • Council President George Bakan is running for a second term. Bakan, the longtime editor in chief of Seattle Gay News, has been involved with the city’s LGBT activism for three decades. In 1984, Bakan co-chaired the group now known as Seattle Out and Proud, and has worked as an organizer for two National Marches on Washington, D.C. as well as for Hands Off Washington.
  • Capitol Hill native John Akamatsu, an architect by trade, is running for re-election as Vice President of the Council. Akamatsu is a member of the Capitol Hill Champion, a joint committee of the Capitol Hill Community Council and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce that deals with city planning issues around the ongoing Light Rail construction on Capitol Hill. Akamatsu’s appointment to the Champion was met with some controversy earlier this year over concerns about changes to building height restrictions, but was eventually approved in a crowded community vote.
  • Current Council secretary Erie Jones is running for re-election. Jones has more than 25 years of experience in teaching and community organizing, helping Lowell School acquire grants to build a playscape and assisting in efforts to start a P-Patch on Thomas Street. In her candidate statement, Jones wrote that she aims to “build membership and attendance” at council events.
  • Melissa Blankenship is running for the position of Council treasurer. Originally from Oak Harbor, Washington, Blankenship is currently office manager for Capitol Hill Housing. Melissa writes that she ”is looking forward to the opportunity to serve the citizens of Capitol Hill to improve the neighborhood, take the time to work collaboratively with community stakeholders and provide leadership and sound finacial management to the Capitol Hill Community Council.”
  • Member-at-large candidate Alyssa Penner came to Seattle in 2010 to work with AmeriCorps and has lived on Capitol Hill since. Penner has made her commitment to affordable housing a central tenet of her platform; a donor to the Capitol Hill Housing Foundation, Penner wrote in her statement that, “as a young adult [she has] watched as [her] peers have been pushed out of the neighborhood because of skyrocketing rents and brand new ‘high-end’ apartments geared toward higher income brackets,” and she aims to promote “smart density—density that promotes mixed-use development and prioritizes affordability over profitability.”
  • Software developer Eric Butler is seeking an at-large seat on the Council executive committee. Butler has been involved in conversation around Capitol Hill transit for the past few years — he contributed to Seattle Transit Blog between 2008 and 2010 and developed Android app FareBot, which allows a user to scan the RFID chip on transit cards to check their card’s balance. Butler also built an Android version of popular transit app busdrone, which sources public data to show an overhead real-time view of bus, ferry, and streetcar locations. Butler wrote in his candidate statement that “help[ing] make sure the community has a strong voice” around neighborhood transit development will be a major priority of his term on the council. “Planning begins soon for two major projects in the core of the neighborhood: development above our future subway station and the streetcar extension to Volunteer Park,” he writes. “These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to build great public amenities, and I’m excited to help make sure the community has a strong voice.”
  • Jeffrey Cook has been a member-at-large of the council’s executive committee since last year, and he’s running to serve another term. Cook is co-chair of the council’s subcommittee on microhousing, an issue which the council has focused much of its attention on in the recent past. In an interview last month with NPR, Cook criticized the way microhousing development is overseen by the city.“There’s dozens of these buildings popping up all over the neighborhood, and they’re not falling into the zoning laws,” Cook told NPR.Cook wrote in his candidate statement that one of his goals in serving on the council is “to affect fair standards of construction development which impact the quality of all our lives.”

The Capitol Hill Community Council is a nonprofit “created for the purpose of preserving and improving the neighborhood and encouraging a sense of community.” You can check out the latest news for the council here. For the latest CHS coverage of Community Council doings, check out our archives here.

Blotter | Burglary victim finds woman wearing his pants, carrying his bag in Cal Anderson

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See something others should know about? Let us know via email or call/txt (206) 399-5959.

  • Cal Anderson burglary arrests: Police arrested two people after the victim in a recent 11th Ave E burglary found a woman wearing his pants and carrying his unique yellow backpack in Cal Anderson Park. According to the SPD report on the Tuesday night incident, the burglary victim told police his shed had been broken into Monday and clothing and a yellow Ortlieb waterproof pack were among the stolen items. The victim called police Tuesday night after spotting the woman but lost sight of her and returned to his home. Police found the woman looking through the backpack nearby and placed her under arrest after her story about where she acquired the clothing and bag didn’t add up. A man who was with her was found to have a felony warrant and also arrested. In their search, police found the suspects were carrying a small amount of marijuana and meth as well as bolt cutters, keys that did not belong to them and a checkbook stolen in a recent North Seattle burglary. The male suspect was arrested on the warrant and the 20-year-old female was arrested for possession of stolen property.
  • QFC choking assault: An employee who said he was afraid he would lose his job if he reported the June 9th attack, told police that a suspected shoplifter had assaulted him two days earlier after a manager learned of the incident and asked the employee to report it to SPD:Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 11.43.46 AMAccording to the SPD report, the suspect was caught on surveillance video during the initial shoplifting incident. We’ll check to see if an arrest has been made in the incident.
  • QFC backpack melee: Police were called to the Harvard Market QFC at Pike and Broadway early Monday to a report of three men fighting inside. By the time police arrived, the incident had become a robbery with two of the men reportedly running off with the third’s backpack in the 3:15 AM incident. No word of any arrests in the reported robbery. UPDATE: SPD has provided the preliminary report on the incident which apparently stemmed from a dispute between the involved parties. Two men were arrested:Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 12.36.29 PM
  • QFC pepper spray attack: Early Saturday, the Harvard Market QFC was also the location of a reported pepper spray attack. According to the SPD report on the 4 AM incident, the victim said he was looking through his bag just outside the store when he ended up in argument with a woman who “walked past” him. The victim told police the woman suddenly pepper sprayed him in the face and left the area. Medics treated him at the scene. Police were unable to find the female suspect.
  • Loitering sex offender busted at Seattle U: From campus security, news of a Tuesday arrest on campus:

The Department of Public Safety responded to a report from a community member of a non-affiliate male loitering inside a Law School Annex restroom. DPS Officers contacted the individual and were able to escort the person outside while awaiting Seattle Police response. The individual was identified by police as a ‘known sex offender’ and arrested for outstanding warrants with the Department of Corrections.  I would like to thank the DPS Officers that responded to this incident as well as the community members who called DPS.

Seattle’s mayoral candidates take on cultural, economic development in the Central District

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JuneteenthForum-copyThe next stop in the race to be Seattle’s mayor is in the Central District Wednesday night as the candidates will weigh in on the neighborhood’s future, social justice, education and youth issues amid Juneteenth celebrations in the area.

Our sister site Central District News has full details on tonight’s forum where six of the eight current candidates for mayor are expected to appear:

Of the eight candidates currently running for the post of Seattle Mayor, six have confirmed their intention to participate in the Forum including Mayor Mike McGinn, Bruce Harrell, Ed Murray, Kate Martin, Joey Gray, and Mary Martin. Charlie Staadecker’s campaign did not respond to the invitation while Peter Steinbrueck reported a schedule conflict.

Following the most recent polls and endorsements, the race toward August’s primary appears to be down to frontrunners McGinn and Murray with Harrell and Steinbrueck continuing to challenge for the “top two” opportunity to go through into November.

Follow CHS’s Election 2013 coverage here.

What Broadway’s planned ‘Hollywood Lofts’ will look like — Plus, ‘affordable’ apartments on Summit

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Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.33.22 PMTwo projects envisioned for Capitol Hill residents on the opposite ends of the earnings spectrum will take the final steps in the design review process Wednesday night. At 127 Broadway E, developers are looking for the final blessing on their plans to create a six-story loft-style apartment project that will incorporate the brick store and office building that has stood at the site since 1929. Meanwhile, at 422 Summit Ave E, a “workforce” apartment project is ready to rise six stories next to its much older multifamily neighbors.

127 Broadway E
There is a lot of history wrapped up in the Hollywood Lofts project. The old Del Teet furniture store was designed by, of all architects, Frederick Anhalt, and over the years has been home to a succession of Broadway businesses including the long-shuttered Hollywood Video. Today, longtime Capitol Hill real estate investor Ron Amundson is developing the project as his second foray into unlocking his many neighborhood holdings. The first project is also Dick’s-adjacent at 120 Harvard Ave E.Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.33.36 PM

Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.31.53 PM Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.33.07 PMThe Hewitt-designed mixed-use project will include 24 lofts, a restored facade and 3,600 square feet of restored commercial space. The building will also add one underground level of parking for 11 vehicles. Across the street, the Capitol Hill Station light rail project is slated to begin operations in late 2016 — around the time the Hollywood Lofts could be ready for move-in.

Design Proposal (10.28 mb)
Review Meeting: June 19, 6:30 PM
Seattle University
901 12th Ave
Admissions & Alumni Community Room
Review Phase: Recommendation past reviews
Project Number: 3013985 permit status | notice
Planner: Garry Papers

Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.34.04 PMConsultant and Capitol Hill developer Maria Barrientos talked to CHS about the lofts project last year:

“We’re keeping the building as intact as possible,” Barrientos tells CHS about the Broadway project. An existing skylight structure will be extended to become a European-style central court. Heavy old timbers from the building will be re-incorporated. At street-level, retail will remain but the upper floors of the existing structure will be melded with new construction to create a three-story building with two floors of living units and lofts.

“Broadway will be totally different,” Barrientos said. “The industrial lofts — we haven’t finished the plan exactly yet — but they will be either 1 or 2 bedroom.”

“Everybody else is building for the totally tiny units. We wanted to go after a different demographic.”

The city’s records show that no members of the public showed up at the project’s first step in the design process last December. Don’t despair, Ron and Maria. That’s how we say we like you.

422 Summit Ave E
Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.39.13 PMFinally a place we poor people of Capitol Hill can hope to afford.

Designed to take advantage of the city’s affordable housing incentives that allow extra height for building’s in exchange for providing units available for a period at 60% of median income, the 422 Summit Ave E project also had a smooth go of it during its first visit to the East Design Review Board in December despite seven members of the public taking their turns to mostly lodge various complaints about the building blocking views and not being truly “affordable” for a long enough time — 50 years is the duration of the controlled rent in order to qualify for the height bonus, by the way.

Design Proposal (60.2 MB)
Review Meeting: June 19, 8:00 PM
Seattle University
901 12th Ave
Admissions & Alumni Community Room
Review Phase: Recommendation past reviews
Project Number: 3014079 permit status | notice
Planner: Lindsay King

The Runberg Architects-designed project will rise six stories, provide 48 apartment units and include one underground parking area for 13 vehicles. There will be — shocker, we know — no retail space included in the building’s plans.

Wednesday’s board discussion of the project is likely to center around the request to skirt zoning rules regarding setbacks from property lines on the back of the structure.Screen Shot 2013-06-18 at 2.37.05 PM

12th Ave microhousing and restaurant project from Melrose Market backer ready to dig in

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Practice makes perfect as SFD tears into the old market prior to demolition (Image: @warmdarm)

Practice makes perfect as SFD tears into the old market prior to demolition (Image: @warmdarm)

If you noticed a prolonged Seattle Fire response atop the old Capitol Hill Market/Style Syndicate space last Saturday, it was, indeed, a sign of things to come. The practice session is prelude to demolition slated to happen over the next week or so. After that comes “32 micro apartments and a 1,700 retail/restaurant space on the first floor,” developer Scott Shapiro tells us. One of the backers of the Melrose Market, Shapiro talked with CHS about his foray into microhousing on 12th Ave here in this 2012 CHS post on his project. The ‘Microhousing Melrose Market’ — not its real name :) — should open by spring 2014, Shapiro said.

A little more Bill’s off Broadway

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(Image: CHS)

(Image: CHS)

Breaking news from Harvard and Pine:

Update. We have been informed that the development of the property that has housed Bill’s off Broadway since 1980 is moving a little slower than originally thought. As a result we have decided to remain open until at least November 30th. (maybe longer) As part of our (wind down) we stopped brunch last weekend but will start it up again soon. Plus we will be open for at least the first three months of NFL Season. The Greenwood location is still scheduled to open on September 1st.
Don

We told you here about the plans for Don Stevens to open a second Bill’s in Greenwood and shutter the original at the end of July for two years of construction. Sounds like fans get — at least — a four-month reprieve.

Capitol Hill food+drink | Dulces to take another spin at 19th/Madison

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9076796675_c04d85612f_b9076797511_fe198fe41fTip your neighborhood blogger. You can reach us via mail or call/txt (206) 399-5959.

Dulces Latin Bistro is ready to give Capitol Hill another try, it seems. After a two-year odyssey that began with a 2011 exit from the restaurant’s original Madrona home, Carlos Kainz and Julie Guerrero are making plans to revive their bistro inside the Lawrence Lofts project at 19th and Madison.

The husband and wife team haven’t yet confirmed the project but permit filings indicate the project underway in the new retail space on the backside of the Hill is a Kainz-Guerrero production. “We are moving to the Madison Valley and will reopen in mid-September,” the Dulces site promises.

Geographic labels aside, the project marks the couple’s third bout of interest in becoming part of the Hill area’s food and drink scene after leaving Madrona. CHS reported at one point that Dulces was later lined up for Broadway’s Joule building. Next came word that the new Dulces was destined for the Oola Distillery project where Zoe roosts now. Ultimately, after 19 years in business in Madrona, Dulces landed downtown on Western Ave. By summer of 2012, Dulces was shuttered again.

With the Dulces project lined up to connect the street to E Madison, 19th Ave will have a somewhat disconnected but bolstered food and drink scene. This fall, Tallulah’s from Linda Derschang and a Molly Moon’s ice cream and cookie shop Hello Robin will open in the soon-to-be-completed 19th and Mercer building just south of the Kingfish Cafe, Fuel Coffee and Monsoon.

What shape the new project will take is left to be seen. Contractor Atelier Drome is at work in the space below the Lawrence’s “131 High-end/Loft Apartments.” Rent runs $25 per square foot per year for the two 2,600 and 3,500-square-foot spaces that were available. Lawrence Lofts is also home to the Breathe Hot Yoga studio.

Meanwhile, another new restaurant project in new construction on the edges of Capitol Hill is ready to open its doors at 15th and Pine. Le Zinc, from the folks behind Maximillien, is preparing for its soon-to-be-announced debut.

You can learn more at dulcesbistroandwine.com.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes

Patio-400x300

(Image: Garage Billiards)

  • The timely project to better connect Garage to the new bustling south Broadway of streetcars and Pike/Pine party crowds has been completed as the billiards and bowling joint unveiled its new streetside patio and bar. “The 2,000 square foot space features a covered, heated and open-air bar.” Noted!
  • It’s time to say goodbye to Chutney’s “Grille on the Hill” – the Indian restaurant about to be booted by the project to build this four-story apartment building on 15th Ave E is telling customers this is its final week of business. CHS walked away with a commemorative can of mango pulp and a Taj Mahal lager promo mirror as management-approved souvenirs.
  • Also on 15th Ave E, Monday afternoon report of swarm of bees wandering the avenue. Don’t panic. It’s for a good, sticky sweet cause.
  • One more 15th Ave E note. Frequent visitor to the street Parfait Ice Cream is taking its truck and going brick and mortar for the first time… in Ballard.
  • Cantinetta opening down the Hill in Madison Valley.
  • A food+drink angle on The Egyptian’s demise:
  • If you have any Seattle Times paywall clicks left, here’s what they say about Chico Madrid: “It’s part of the new wave of casual eateries with a European sensibility, where the food is understated and unfussy, focusing on charcuterie, cheese and other imported gourmet products so the kitchen staff doesn’t do the heavy lifting.” Suppose you don’t necessarily need to click now, no?
  • Entrepreneurs considering the food and drink economy on Capitol Hill might want to consider the food and drink and cannabis economy.
  • The Canterbury will have new kings — kings who “would like to explore keeping the Canterbury name and having an expanded family seating area.”
  • Capitol Cider finally opened to the public last week. CHS showed you inside. What do you think of it?

 

This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory

Wanted: Tenant for one Capitol Hill movie theater, moviegoers for another

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Anticipation, originally uploaded by liquidnight.

We’ve held the funeral. Now it’s time for the plot twist in which the hero springs back to life.

While all of the machinations haven’t fully been revealed, it’s official: The Egyptian Theatre will go dark June 27.

Lauren Kleiman, spokesperson for Landmark Theaters, confirmed Monday that the Mark Cuban-backed art-house chain is ending its lease with Egyptian building owner Seattle Community College at the end of June.

“We couldn’t come to terms on a new lease with the property owners,” Kleiman said.

Kleiman said Landmark had only known about the closure for a few days. She could not offer any specific details on why Landmark had so abruptly ended the lease at 801 E Pine, only that “the economics of running a single screen theater are very difficult.”

SCC Spokeswoman Janet Grimely confirmed in an email that Landmark had declined to renew its lease. Grimely said the theater space would remain empty until a new tenant is found. The school already operates a theater space in the Broadway Performance Hall across the street.

The 600-seat Egyptian will be up for lease sometime after July 1, once Landmark fully moves out its theater equipment. In the meantime Grimely said the building’s classrooms and offices, known as SCCC’s Fine Arts Building, will stay open. SCCC will also continue to host its own events in the theater space.

Despite Landmark’s departure, Seattle International Film Festival hopes to be back in the theater space for next year’s festival.

“Seattle Central Community College has been a great steward of the building and the Festival since they purchased the property,” SIFF artistic director Carl Spence said in a statement Monday. “We are hopeful that SIFF will be able to continue to host the Seattle International Film Festival at the Egyptian Theatre in the future.”

WA-loc-EGYPTIANSIFF and the Egyptian share an extended back-story. Built in 1916, the former Masonic temple was bought by SIFF founders Darryl MacDonald and Dan Ireland in 1980. The duo were the first to transform it into the Egyptian-themed theater. After running it for nearly a decade, SIFF sold the theater to Landmark in 1989. SCCC bought the building two years later, keeping Landmark as its tenant.

SIFF has no stated plans to swoop in and keep the Egyptian running as a full time theater, like their 2011 move to re-open the Uptown.

Another interesting element that could affect the future of the theater is the building appears to be eligible for preservation under the National Register of Historic Places and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.

CHS broke word of the Egyptian’s closure on Sunday. According to several witnesses and people close to the situation, management at the Egyptian told midnight moviegoers that the theater would be closing soon.

For those planning to be there for the final show on the 27th, it looks like you will be saying goodbye to the current iteration of The Egyptian with the continued run of Before Midnight slated for the last listed showtimes next Thursday, according to the Landmark site. This weekend’s final midnight movie will be Brazil.

Landmark had been struggling in recent years, going on the block in 2011 in an effort to recoup massive investment in the theater chain. The company is not currently up for sale.

Kleiman said Landmark’s other Capitol Hill theater, the two-screen Harvard Exit, is not closing. CHS could not reach The Exit’s landlord for comment.

UPDATE: You can listen to jseattle talk with KUOW about The Egyptian here (MP3).

UPDATE: Seattle Central tells the Puget Sound Business Journal it will issue a “request for proposals” for the theater space within a month. KING TV reports that rent for the facility has been about $8,400 a month.