Broadway Seattle

Does your car have a big streak of school bus-yellow paint down its side?

Central District News East Precinct Scanner - Capitol Hill - Wed. 11/20/2008 - Full Report

Unless the Central District takes it away from us! Just kidding, Central District News -- we can share.

CDN reports on the repercussions being felt from the passage of Prop 1 on Election Day.

...if things go as planned, preliminary engineering work could start as soon as February 2009 and the system could go into service sometime between 2012 and 2016 depending on the availability of funding.

The street car is intended to fill the gap caused when First Hill lost their light rail station due to the risk and cost of constructing a facility deep underground at Broadway & Madison.  The streetcar's route would connect the International District light rail station with the forthcoming underground station on Capitol Hill at Broadway & Denny.  As originally conceived, the tracks would be run east on Jackson to 12th, then north on Broadway to Denny Way.

But, CDN notes, the plan is still ripe for modification. There's hope for a route that would also pass through a portion of the Central District -- meanwhile, some are advocating for a route that provides more service to the First Hill area. Regardless of how the details shake out, Capitol Hill is, um, on track to become a very robust transit environment.

STOCK UP FOR THANKSGIVING!

This Sunday Nov 23 is the last day of the season for the Broadway Sunday Farmers Market.  There will be PLENTY of good stuff for a holiday feast: winter squashes, sugar pie pumpkins, apples, pears and pluots, lovely bunches of greens, all kinds of potatoes and other fall veggies – plus cheeses and grass-fed meats including beef, lamb, and chicken.  (No turkeys, alas – but for those of you who don’t have turkeys and want to really go local – remember that the original pilgrims ate everything from fish to venison at their harvest feast – ie., what was local and available!).  If you haven’t already taken the pledge to eat local for Thanksgiving, you can do it now by going to: http://www.pugetsoundfresh.org/eatlocal/index.asp.  

On behalf of all the farmers, vendors and market staff, we thank you for a wonderful market season and for your support of local, sustainable agriculture.  We look forward to seeing you again next year in mid-May (and we might even be able to extend the market next year through December!).

 

The Broadway Farmers Market takes place every Sunday, 11 am - 3 pm, from May 11 through Nov. 23, in the lot behind the Bank of American at Broadway & E. Thomas.  The market is operated by the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, a non-profit (501 (c) 3) organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening Washington's small family farms.  Your tax deductible donation helps the NFMA continue to grow and serve our farmers and communities - you can make a donation at any time at the market info tent.  To find out more about how you can support the market and our local farmers, visit us at www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org. 

The Broadway Sunday Farmers Market also accepts EBT/Quest cards (food stamps), as well as WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Coupons. 

Are you going to be a Turkey Day orphan this year? Not interested in wasting your day in the kitchen? Like turkey tikka masala? I'm starting this thread to keep track of which restaurants are open for your Thanksgiving feasting pleasure. Add anything you find out about or can recommend from past experience in the comments. We'll worry about which coffee shops are open on Turkey Day closer to next Thursday.

Here's the two we've been able to track down:

• Broadway Grill: They've been advertising their Thanksgiving buffet for a few weeks now.
• Chutney's, 15th Ave: They were open last year and I assume they'll be open again this year.

Also, if you know run into anybody who needs a good meal, Mount Zion Baptist Church is hosting a free Thanksgiving feast from 11:45a-1:45p.

 

Yesterday's, um, highlights from the Capitol Hill police scanner reports, courtesy our pals at Central District News. Glad the little biker is OK.

Central District News East Precinct Scanner - Capitol Hill - Mon. 11/17/2008 - Full Report

11:38AM - 909 E. Newton St. - 911 Hang-Up - At an unit in a condo

11:56AM - 900 18th Ave E - Suspicious Circumstance - There's a man wandering around the caller's yard. Black male, 20s, orange vest.

12:44PM - 1500 E. Olin - Alarm - On the front entry of a residence

3:08PM - Harvard Ave E & E. Olive Way - Accident - Vehicle vs. "little child on a bike". eeek. Medics on the way. Update: Turns out there were no injuries

5:12PM - 10th Ave and E Seneca St - Disturbance - A woman with a blanket is sitting in a parking lot refusing to leave.

I asked Seattle neighborhoods that have already gone through light rail construction what Capitol Hill should know about the process. Here's an interesting answer from Beacon Hill:

It would be worth talking to some of the folks who were involved in the NBHC and the Beacon Chamber of Commerce back in 2004-05, I believe, when construction issues and mitigation methods were being addressed. I was involved in the noise issue and can suggest some ways to address this. The Beacon HIll construction required a variance of the standard noise rules and an application was made available for public review and a public comment meeting was held. My first suggestion to the Capitol hill folks would be to find someone in the neighborhood who knows permitting, contracting, or general construction issues. As a last resort, pool your money or get a grant to hire a construction management professional to spend a few hours here and there reviewing documents. I found a few substantive errors in the noise permit application. Prior to the noise permit, a survey of ambient noise will be done and this will need strong critique as well. Second, get people to go to the comment meetings. Hardly anyone showed up to the Beacon Hill noise permit public meeting.

Third, distribute the final noise conditions and complain when they are not met. Consider setting up independent noise monitoring equipment or convincing ST to contract out the noise monitoring and committing to distributing data to the local community group for review. ST will rely on complaints for enforcement, even when noise limits are exceeded.

The basic principal to remember is that there are laws, contract specifications, and unenforceable promises. Just because Sound Transit promises something doesn’t mean they have the ability to deliver. It became obvious after a while that ST relies on complaints to deal with nuisance issues such as noise and parking. Assign neighbors to be “enforcers” and come up with some sort of call list so that it doesn’t look like there is one crazy person in the area that calls on every little issue. Some of the community-impact issues should make it into the design and contract specifications from the start, so that ST can’t just say their hands are tied. This is another opportunity for help from a construction management person.

One other thing on Parking. THis issue isn’t a huge deal on BH, as there is a decent amount of parking surrounding the site, but this needs to be anticipated on Capitol Hill. On BH, the plan was for EL Centro to lease their south lot to ST for contractor parking. It wasn’t long before that area became equipment staging and contractor employees started parking in the neighborhood. ST basically said this is not enforceable and was limited to “encouraging” the contractor to make the El Centro lot more available to employees. This could have been prevented by a temporary residential parking zone and some enforcement, but the El Centro lot was justification for not being creative with this issue.

El Tajin's passing may be lamentable, because it offered inexpensive and tasty Mexican fare. And it's sad to see that light rail construction may have killed off an ailing business on Broadway.  However, one thing I probably won't miss is their X-rated drinks menu.  Does anyone know what was up with that?

The adviser at my college newspaper made his living writing obituaries for the San Jose Mercury News. His pieces on politicians, actors and singers were simple and to the point. He saved his best for the rest of us. His obituary about a 9-to-5 commuter rat was poetry.

With the passing of two Capitol Hill restaurants in recent months, here are our obituaries. It ain't poetry.

RIP El Tajin
Born: August 2007
Died: October 2008
Place of residence: 614 Broadway E
What they said: "El Tajin is great if you order the right thing. The key here is simple: MEAT! They make very delicious meat dishes, the beef is especially well flavored and cooked. The dishes are huge, expect to take food home." -- Katy H., Yelp
What happened: When I talked with him on the phone earlier this week, owner Luis Martinez blamed bad timing. The economic downturn killed El Tajin.
Famous last words: "We really appreciated everybody's business. We apologize that we couldn't maintain in this bad economy. But if things go better, you never know." -- Luis Martinez

Pike's Bar & Grill
Born: July 2008
Died: September 2008
Place of residence: 1200 E Pike
What they said: "Everything new that pops up on the Hill is far cooler now, all courting hipsters and yuppies like a calculating lover. Pike's Bar & Grill, the new restaurant in the old digs of 1200 Bistro, isn't cool, it isn't trying to be and it's perfect that way." -- NWSource
What happened: Restaurant medical examiner Captothehill says lack of focus, gross lighting, steep prices.
Famous last words: Calls weren't returned. Who knows?

I'm scheduled to be on KUOW's Weekday program to talk light rail construction and life on Capitol Hill. Could be Monday. Could be Wednesday. Depends on when officials can make time in their schedules. Depends on whether more interesting topics emerge. So it goes for the coming light rail construction -- nobody knows how much attention to pay it.

After all, Sound Transit has already been digging tunnels and laying track across south Seattle for years now. Their University Link project is more of the same, right? When they start tearing down buildings next month, it won't be any worse than the projects underway south of us in neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, right?

I've asked a variant of this question before. Here's one answer:

Beacon Hill is different byPairustwo - 4 months ago
I've been a first hand witness to the Beacon Hill dig and what you get is a single building made of blue plywood that is exactly one block wide and one block long, about two stories high. No roof. That is the sound deadening around the dig. Not pretty, not hideous. I think the big difference between the two is that Denny and Broadway are (were) in the center of a pedestrian thoroughfare and commercial corridor. The beacon hill dig is across the street from a Red Apple parking lot. Not a lot of foot traffic around there. The streets are not as small around Beacon Hill. I can't imagine what it will be like pushing those trucks up and down John/Denny. And blocking the freeway for 9 months...Jesus.

I went digging through some of the neighborhood blogs from the areas where light rail construction is underway and moving toward completion to see what they have written about light rail construction's impact. Mostly, the focus seems to be on positive (and some negative) changes the rail system will bring to the character of the areas -- not a lot of hand wringing about the pains of digging and construction.

• The Beacon Hill blog speculates about the possible rise in home values along the rail line.
• And BH is also in the midst of discussions that seem far off for Capitol Hill like what kind of businesses do residents want to see involved with the light rail station's commercial space.
• The Mid Beacon Hill blog laments -- and celebrates -- the buildings and areas that will no doubt make way for development with the arrival of light rail.
• The Rainier Valley Post concerns itself with changes to the area's bus routes and parking.
• And the boys at Central District News get geeky with video of the tunnel boring machine.
• Even a site devoted to the topic of public transit can't find anything worse to post than schedule delays and cost overruns along with a "they seem to be doing a fabulous job."

Maybe the sites are all too new and the phases of construction all passed, but there is not a "Woe to ye who dare to tunnel" post in the bunch. Check the rest of Googledom, too. Nothing.

So maybe Capitol Hill has nothing to worry about. We worried about a dead zone from abandoned buildings, they gave us art to fill it. The chamber of commerce has a war fund to help it thrive and survive. We asked for a fruit market and, heck, we'll probably get that too. Maybe tearing down four blocks and digging a tunnel in the densest neighborhood Sound Transit has ever worked in won't be the big deal you might have expected. Could make for the most boring hour on KUOW. If we don't get bumped.

The Dawg and I were strolling through Cal Anderson Park a few days ago in the rapidly shrinking twilight, when I happened to look to my left. I saw a man standing up, looking at the failing sunlight, and then he laid down his mat on the grass, knelt, and performed sundown prayers. His yellow taxi was parked behind him as he worshipped. Dawg and I walked as quietly as we could on the gravel path so as not to disturb.

A few days later, the Dawg and I stood at the corner of Denny and Broadway, waiting to cross to Cal Andersen again, when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I glanced up. The post office across the street was taking down their flag. The man let the line slack slowly, catching the flag it as it descended.

One of the most amazing things about the Hill--and what makes it feel so European, to me--is the amount of daily life that's lived out on the street. Cafes spill onto the sidewalk, coffee stands have walk-up windows. People fight, laugh, and make out. Some days the Hill neighborhood feels like a living, breathing thing, in which hundreds of tales in the naked city spin together to create one ongoing graphic novel of sex, drugs, love, hate, dog walks, fights, food, tears, make-outs, dirty copies of the The Stranger and The Weekly, fashion shows, hugs, and violence--you can almost feel the thump, thump, thump, of the collective rhythm. Belltown is the liver, and say, Downtown is the brain, but Capitol Hill is surely the heartbeat of the Emerald City.