No joke, Capitol Hill now has a Broadway Food Court

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(Image: Comedy/Bar)

(Image: Noches En Oaxaca)

Don’t laugh. A Broadway comedy bar by night is hoping to help neighborhood food and drink startups grow in a Capitol Hill “food court” by day.

Comedy/Bar is hoping to use its venue as a stage to give a boost to a collection of Capitol Hill mobile and delivery ventures while also stretching its own food and drink menu into daylight hours.

“As a small business owner, I understand how difficult it could be for places that operate primarily in the evening and night to try to maximize their product and to try to make more money, because they’re paying rent 24 hours per day,” owner Dane Hesseldahl says. “We had this idea. We have all of this space. We have this large kitchen and we have this great bar—and it sits empty all day.”

So, the Broadway Food Court has been born, putting the Broadway comedy club just a block from Capitol Hill Station into the area’s daytime and lunchtime mix. Continue reading →

Northern Lights above Capitol Hill? ‘Best aurora viewing conditions that many of us in the PNW have ever experienced’

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(Image: NOAA)

This weekend could be the perfect time to get involved with Capitol Hill’s stargazing community.

A massive solar storm, a new moon, and forecasts calling for clear skies could match up Friday night to create prime a Northern Lights viewing opportunity in the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading →

Heads up! Dark Brandon inbound for Seattle

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Expect snarled traffic on I-5, 405, 520, and I-90 Friday afternoon as President Joe Biden arrives in Seattle for a fundraising stop.

520, meanwhile, will be closed for construction.

If past visits are any indication, the motorcade might also be making a pass near Capitol Hill bringing temporary roadblocks and traffic diversions to the area.

Air Force One is expected to touch down at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport during the Federal Aviation Administration-issued flight restrictions between 5:15 to 6:30 PM Friday. Continue reading →

City Council notes: Seattle Police recruitment program, delivery worker minimum wage rollback move forward

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The Seattle City Council’s powerful Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee chaired by council president Sara Nelson had a busy Thursday moving forward two pieces of legislation putting more teeth in the city’s drive to hire more police officers and rolling back the city’s minimum wage for delivery drivers.

Citing the city’s terrible showing in hiring new recruits — last year, the Seattle Police Department hired only 61 police officers out of 1,948 applications — Nelson’s bill moved forward through the committee with a plan she says will make for a better, more efficient path by creating a new Recruitment & Retention program “to implement best practices
and innovative new recruitment approaches,” requiring the exam for entry-level and lateral police officer positions “be offered in a manner that supports flexibility and accessibility for exam-takers,” and improving outreach to candidates. The program will require three full-time employees set to be transferred from the city’s human resources department plus a full-time manager. A fifth role would be added to “enable personalized communication with candidates within 48 hours of applying to SPD and establishing a point of contact to support them throughout the hiring process.” Continue reading →

A community of stargazers grows at the summit of Capitol Hill

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The moon from a phone attached to Meade LX200 telescope (Image: Noah Anderson)

(Image: Noah Anderson)

Seattle’s spring just might be off to a too-sunny start for locals. On Capitol Hill, turn to the moon.

Local resident Noah Anderson has found a way to to appreciate the beauty of the Seattle sky utilizing the extended night time hours of the Pacific Northwest to practice a challenging but rewarding city hobby: urban stargazing. A community of people who like to look up at the stars has formed that orbits around Capitol Hill’s park space. With days now getting longer, prime star viewing gets a little more challenging. But Anderson says stargazing is one of those rare activities that is a hobby anyone can access. The sky is communal and reminiscent of visiting a museum, he says.

“We can all speak sky.”

Anderson stumbled into stargazing when he and friends experimented with an old childhood “superscope,” Seeking guidance, he connected with the University of Washington astronomy department, which provided him with a professional telescope in need of repair. After refurbishing it with help from a Chicago repair shop, he tested it in Volunteer Park. Passersby expressed interest, leading to the formation of a thriving community of more than 600 members through word-of-mouth invitations and an email list. Meetings now occur regularly, and on dark nights, as the moon smiles down.

There’s no need to tell you how few stars people typically see in Seattle. Who can spot the planets and tell Venus from Sirius? It’s a public good that Anderson and others lug large telescopes to Volunteer Park. Continue reading →

‘Closing Schools for Excellence’ again, Seattle plan would shutter 20 elementary campuses

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The Seattle School Board has approved a plan that could shutter 20 of its elementary school campuses across the city to help cover an expected $105 million budget gap.

Wednesday’s vote approved a plan from superintendent Brent Jones to consolidate the system’s elementary school campuses from 70 to 50 based on the district’s “Well-resourced Schools” framework it says has been shaped by public feedback and establishes a base level of resources that should be available on every campus including the number of teachers per grade level and additional resources like “education intensive service classrooms.”

To achieve that level, Jones says the district must reduce the number of elementary schools it supports to more than 400 students per campus. It currently supports about 23,000 students across 70 sites — just under 330 per campus.

“K-5 students would be better accommodated in approximately 50 sites evenly distributed with 10 per region,” a presentation on the proposal reads.

The framework would also call for maintaining the district’s current level of staffing that has also added to the deficit under the three-year deal reached with the teachers union in 2022. In the three-year pact, the district agreed to 7% raises for educators across the board, plus a 4% salary increase in year two, and a 3% raise in year three to cover the cost of inflation.

Continue reading →

Watch out for the Washington Liberation Front! Canadian neighbourhood transformed into Capitol Hill for The Last of Us Season 2

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An E Olive Way scene from the popular game

Capitol Hill has helped these people find exactly the partner they deserved in the reality TV show Love is Blind and starred as part of the cast’s home turf in a season of MTV’s Real World.

Next year, Capitol Hill will serve as part of the apocalyptic wasteland that backdrops the second season of The Last of Us,

But there will be a stand-in.

Canadian industry tracker Hollywood North Buzz has posted pictures and a few details from the sets where production is currently underway in a Nanaimo, British Columbia transformed to represent the overgrown apocalypse of Capitol Hill abandoned to the zombie-creating, mass fungal infection at the center of the video game-inspired story.

HNB reports: Continue reading →

SPD says rare cello part of heist in $250K Central District burglary

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(Image: SPD)

Seattle Police are asking for help tracking down a rare and very expensive musical instrument ripped off in a weekend 24th Ave burglary.

SPD says the rare 1890 Enrico Marchetti cello was discovered stolen along with bows and a blue and black carbon fiber case in a $250,000 burglary reported Sunday evening around 5 PM at a home in the 1600 block of 24th Ave near Pine.

“The homeowners found the residence had been broken into with the front door open and a window shattered,” SPD reports. “The cello was last seen on May 4.” Continue reading →

Introducing Capitol Hill’s about to open Cheese Room, hoping to continue the ‘approachable and affordable’ spirit at Pine and Melrose

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(Image: Cheese Room)

With one end of the block going Voodoo pink, the other is going Cheese Room red.

Restaurateurs Heong Soon Park and Scott Han have announced details and a planned opening next week for their new dinner venture set to keep the corner of Pine and Melrose part of the neighborhood’s food and drink community.

“Capitol Hill has been my second home since opening my first restaurant with Chef Park. The community, its people and our fellow businesses in the area are all so special. I’m proud to bring another restaurant to the neighborhood,” Han says in the announcement.

A soft opening is planned for May 15th. Continue reading →

Mayor’s office: Powell Barnett Park asylum-seeker camp being cleared

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(Image: CHS)

The city has acted quickly to clear the camp of asylum seekers that has filled the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park for the past week.

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office said Tuesday most of the remaining families had already moved out of the park and that any remaining tents and material were to be cleared by 8 AM Thursday morning:

This morning, about 30-35 people were in the park, including mutual aid workers and other people who are helping to break down tents. Our Unified Care Team posted notice that all individuals will need to leave the park by 8 am this Thursday. UCT will provide anyone still remaining at the site at 8 a.m. on Thursday with the option to store any personal belongings and will conduct a thorough cleaning of the site.

Next will come clean-up and any any needed repairs. “Following resolution, the Parks Department will evaluate the park for environmental and hygienic impacts, cleaning and restoring it as necessary to ensure it is available to the broader community for its intended purpose,” the mayor’s office statement reads. Continue reading →