911 | Harvard Market overdose death, Madison Park Wells Fargo hold-up, slow truck chase arrest, Cal Anderson off-leash ‘brawl’

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Shopping center overdose death: Seattle Fire says it was unable to revive a man found unresponsive after a reported fentanyl overdose at the Harvard Market shopping center at Broadway and Pike Tuesday morning. SFD says its crews attempted CPR on the 41-year-old but were not successful and he was declared dead at the scene. Fire Chief Harold Scoggins has said the department currently responds to around 15 drug overdoses a day driven by a surge in fentanyl use. King County is adding treatment facilities, and relaunching its Seattle sobering center to take on the crisis. Continue reading →

Chicago-based dental startup Dentologie puts teeth in expansion with planned Capitol Hill location

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The Lincoln Park location (Image: Dentologie)

(Image: Dentologie)

The next startup ready to experiment with retail and service concepts on the densely populated blocks of Capitol Hill hopes to give the neighborhood’s busy young renters something to smile about.

Dentologie, a Chicago-based dental services startup backed and fronted by former Redbox CEO Gregg Kaplan, is making Seattle its first expansion market beyond the Windy City with plans for a new office amid the restaurants and shops of Capitol Hill’s very walkable Melrose Ave. Continue reading →

Council committee to decide on Connected Communities pilot program and 35 ‘community-led’ affordable housing developments

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The Seattle City Council’s land use committee is expected to make a decision Wednesday afternoon whether the city should launch a new pilot program linking community organizations with developers to create affordable “equitable development” in neighborhoods across the city. The program could help organizations like Habitat for Humanity or El Centro de la Raza more easily develop affordable housing projects on their Seattle properties.

Committee chair and legislation sponsor Tammy Morales calls the proposed Connected Communities pilot a “win-win” and highlighted the bill’s potential for streamlining a cumbersome process for community groups.

“The fact is many community-based organizations are seeking opportunities to help build affordable housing and develop vital commercial spaces and third places,” Morales said in an announcement of the planned Wednesday vote. “We just need to get out of their way. This legislation does that by cutting red tape and onerous regulations,” Continue reading →

If they can turn Seattle’s old Bed Bath & Beyond into a new arts center, just think what they can do with the shuttered Capitol Hill Amazon Fresh

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The old Value Village building was temporarily used as a pop-up arts and gathering space

With Capitol Hill suddenly faced with an empty 8,000-square-foot grocery, here is hope for filling some of the neighborhood’s most gaping retail holes with life and activity. The Capitol Hill and First Hill-connected producers behind Bumbershoot have announced they will put downtown’s emptied Bed Bath & Beyond into motion as Cannonball Arts, hosting everything from art exhibits, to concerts, to fashion shows when it opens in spring 2025.

New Rising Sun, now signed up to produce Bumbershoot for the next decade under a leadership group including Steven Severin of Neumos and Life on Mars, and Greg Lundgren of First Hill’s shuttered Museum of Museums and sorely missed Vito’s, announced plans for the new venue and said they are ready to get to work creating two stories of contemporary and performing arts space in the former 3rd Ave store.

“Cannonball Arts gives Bumbershoot a year-round platform to celebrate the wealth of creativity that calls the Pacific Northwest home,” Lundgren, co-producer and creative director of the organization, said. “It is ambitious in scale and scope, will contribute to the revitalization of downtown Seattle, and train the next generation of makers, producers and curators using Cannonball Arts as classroom.” Continue reading →

Seattle Community Police Commission to hold community meeting on new police union contract

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The Seattle Community Police Commission will hold a community meeting next week as it calls for holding strong on accountability measures in the city’s labor agreement with the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

“Stronger accountability standards create the conditions and opportunity to improve the relationship and trust between SPD officers and the community,” CPC chairs Rev. Patricia Hunter, Joel Merkel, and Rev. Harriett Walden wrote in a letter, below, on the negotiations. “Seattle deserves a police department that shares its values, and officers deserve the opportunity to earn the community’s trust and respect.”

The CPC says the city’s 2017 police accountability ordinance was gutted in the previous rounds of deals with the city’s police officer union. Continue reading →

RapidRide G will do a lot of things — but it won’t have the 14th and Madison crossing bell

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It is a tiny thing in the scheme of things of 2.4 miles of new bus stops, transit priority, new crosswalks, and better sidewalks. Enjoy it while you can. Unlike other crosswalks in Seattle, 14th and Madison has a vintage bell that rings when it is time to cross the street, but as the city works to finish the RapidRide G project and increase pedestrian safety through initiatives like creating lead time intervals for pedestrians and full-way crosswalks, the old bell — maybe the last of its kind on Capitol Hill — won’t remain for much longer.

“We will be replacing old equipment and modernizing the traffic signal to meet federal standards for ADA accessible crossings,” Ethan Bergerson, press secretary for SDOT, told CHS.

Once installed, the new crosswalk button will trigger an electronic voice message when it is safe to cross the street. The button will also vibrate for individuals who cannot hear the spoken message or see the walk symbol. The intersection will continue to have automatically displayed head-start walk signals.

“The new signal will also prioritize buses to help RapidRide G and other bus routes move through the intersection efficiently and reliably,” Bergerson said. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth amendment for Seattle Transportation Plan focuses on Lake Washington Blvd safety

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(Image: City of Seattle)

A Seattle City Council committee Tuesday morning will take up a handful of amendments including a proposal from District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth as it finalizes the city’s new long-term transportation plan.

CHS reported here on the proposed 20-year transportation plan for transit, street, sidewalk, and bridge projects across Seattle that will serve as the framework for the city’s planned transportation levy renewal.

Tuesday, the committee could move the plan forward to a full council vote after debate on a roster of amendments including downtown representative Bob Kettle’s push to remove funding from the so-called “Pike Place Event Street project” and amendments that seek to help better address the estimated 27% of Seattle streets that do not currently have sidewalks. Continue reading →

Madison Valley down a vegan joint as Araya’s Place moves out, Hanuman Thai Cafe moves in

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Araya’s ube soft crystal dessert (Image: Araya’s Place)

Once of Central Seattle’s dedicated vegan eateries is gone.

Araya’s Place Madison shut down as it reached its tenth year in Madison Valley last month.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your unwavering support over the past decade,” a message posted by the vegan Thai family of restaurants reads. “It has been an incredible journey serving you at Araya’s place in Madison.” Continue reading →

After 10 years of legal cannabis, Uncle Ike’s an early ‘social equity plan’ adopter in Seattle

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Uncle Ike’s Ian Eisenberg (Image: CHS)

With Seattle’s cannabis shops preparing for this week’s 4/20 celebrations as the state marks its 10th year of legal marijuana, one of the city’s leading retailers will be the first to take part in Washington’s new Cannabis Social Equity Program designed to increase participation in the industry “by those most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.”

State permitting shows that the original Uncle Ike’s at 23rd and Union will be the first cannabis business in Seattle to have its license fee refunded under the equity program.

According to a Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesperson, Ike’s qualified for the program under a provision “that encourages all retail outlets to submit to the Board a ‘Social Equity Plan.'” Continue reading →

St. Mark’s affordable housing and adaptive reuse development on agenda at Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board

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A rendering showing the planned massing of the new structure (Image: Atelierjones)

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board will be briefed this week on the planned redevelopment and adaptive reuse project envisioned to create more than 100 affordable homes on the St. Mark’s Cathedral campus on northern Capitol Hill.

The project would transform the landmarks-protected St. Nicholas building that has stood on the property for 98 years. CHS reported here on the project taking shape with designs calling for 109 affordable apartment units in a development that would create a new twin to the historic building.

Designated as a protected landmark in 1982, the St. Nicholas structure’s protections include the “entire exterior of the 1926 building” and “the entire site” but the restrictions do not extend to the structure’s interior. Continue reading →