The Capitol Hill Community Council is gearing up to hold its annual elections and the council needs you to get involved. There are seven officer slots that need to be filled under the new bylaws -- as of this posting, four candidates have declared so you've got good odds. BTW, you need to declare in time to be part of the second candidate night on Tuesday the 26th to be eligible for the 09 election.

CHCC 2009 election details:

The CHCC is behind creation of the new Pride festival

The Capitol Hill currency has been circulating on the Hill for a month now. Big media liked the story so much, it made the local nightly news on a few different channels. It has good messages:

• Shop local
• Remember Hill history
• Include every body and business

But is anybody using it?

Download PDF

Have you used a Capitol Hill Discount Dollar? Where? How? I have put it to use once -- at Copy & Print, who provided a print run of the bills to get the program started. I've yet to see anybody else 'spend' one. The messages behind the bills are good no matter what -- but I'm trying to gauge how much credence -- and support -- to give these things.

You can now download the new Capitol Hill dollar bills at The Capitol Hill Community Council Web site.

The council will formally unveil the new program tonight at 8p at Perfect Copy & Print on Broadway. While we're disappointed these CHS suggestions didn't make the final cut, we're happy to help celebrate the new Hill "shop local" initiative.

We're also helping to distribute the bills -- here's a special CHS edition for you to deploy.

Download PDF

The idea of the bills is simple -- anybody can print and distribute them and any business can accept them for whatever value they think is fair. The council is suggesting the coupons be good for $1 or 10% off depending on the merchant's discretion but be ready for a case-by-case situation when you use. The goal is to encourage people to shop in the neighborhood. And to have a little fun.

Here's a list of pioneer Cap Hill merchants taking the bills, according to the CHCC:
Aprie Clothing - 310 Broadway
Babeland - adult toys - 707 E. Pike St.
Bliss Soap - 619 Broadway...

Perhaps one of our more peripheral link piles. Lots of stuff here from the edges -- and just off the edges -- of Capitol Hill. Don't want to lose focus, however -- this is a Capitol Hill blog. All Pike/Pine and Broadway from here on out, I promise. Probably.

• Prosecutors charged this guy with malicious harassment, state's version of a 'hate crime' charge.
• News from our eastern border: CDNews reports that 23rd Ave needs some major work. SDOT says more than paving -- whole chunk ripping-up-age will occur. No schedule yet.
• Join the city's parking powers-that-be on a walking tour to discuss the hill's on street parking.
• Not necessarily Cap Hill, but check out Seattle Sketcher's bus series. I've ridden with them all but didn't find myself in any sketches.
• Also just off hill, but agree with blogazar that this is what I think Seattle looks like, too. Also agree it's a shame Seattle Daily Photo strikes such a defensive posture when it comes to linking to their work.
• Publicola will make you want to attend the...

seriously Originally uploaded
by Matt Westervelt

Here's a smattering of Hill-related stuff we found bouncing around the Internet. Miss anything?

• Neumo's as a house of worship? Stranger notes possible conflict between Hill culture, nightclub church.
• Capitol Hill Triangle highlights two of its favorites Hill sandwich places.
• Tonight, a Capitol Hill tasting of wine made in industrial South Seattle.
• cap to the hill announce a new content initiative. We say never depend on children. Can't be trusted.
• So, McGilvra Place "pocket park"? Capitol Hill, Central District or First Hill? Want it?
• Congrats to the Capitol Hill Community Council for securing its new semi-permanent home at the shelter house in Cal Anderson Park. Meeting tonight -- and every third Thursday of the month -- from 7p to 9p.

Yesterday, posted about the design process that resulted in the new crow banner on CHS. Call it a victory for collaborative design over the forces of "contest design."

The Capitol Hill Community Council needs similar help. The council is holding a logo contest that ends next week. You can help it develop a new logo to replace this old symbol of the old Capitol Hill:

Not going back on the design contest thing -- we'll go the collaborative route here on the site from now on. But the council is a different creature powered by "the community" and it makes "community" decisions. Sure, you could boycott the whole thing to help teach a lesson. Or you could get involved, "win" the contest and use it as an opportunity to start a collaborative process with the community members who participate in CHCC activities (yes, I'm one of those members). Oh, and you'll also earn $100 for your effort.

Happy Monday. Please enjoy this Radio Point-heavy selection of neighborhood linkitude. See anything I missed? Add a comment.

• Goodbye Radio Point, hello heart of the Central District. Twilight Exit has a new home lined up.
• BTW, a dollar in Radio Point just ain't worth what it used to be.
• Help clean up I-5 Shores -- Capitol Hill Street Sweep this Saturday at 10a. Did anybody make this clean-up and art event last Friday? We did not.
• Tree-mapping the west side of Capitol Hill for more street green.
• Task force identifies faults in system that led to Shannon Harps murder.
• Hillku spies on Nader rally in Cal Anderson.
• Talk radio monitoring BlatherWatch visits Poppy, gets static: "The controlled format may have set us up for disappointment. When the kitchen has so much control over what everyone eats, each part should be awesome. They were not awesome."
• Capitol Hill Community Council live improv "October Public Meeting" performance this Thursday night at 7p at Seattle Central. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hear about a Halloween...

Capitol Hill loves all you young designers. First, your neighborhood blog offers to feature your brilliant Obama ad banners. Now, your community council offers you an opportunity to stamp your look on its brand -- the Capitol Hill Community Council is holding a logo contest. Here are the details:

Tonight, the newly revived Capitol Hill Community Council will meet in the rather-nice-for-events and mostly-ok-for-meetings Cal Anderson Shelter House. The $50 in staffing fees the council will pay will burn about 3% of remaining funds. That's the cost of doing bidness.

But here's the issue: the heart of Capitol Hill, the first or second (depending on who's counting) densest neighborhood in the city, doesn't have a dedicated community meeting facility. The best options are the Capitol Hill library meeting rooms, which are only available until 8p, and the classrooms of Seattle Central, which are only available when school is in session and aren't necessarily the best environment for a public meeting. Beggars, though, can't be choosers.

There are community "centers" around the edges of Capitol Hill like Miller and Yesler. After those options, the choices range from the private sector -- the former CHAC, the Olive Way Starbucks -- to churches. But the true center of activity in the area is missing this key ingredient...

A few items of good news mixed into an otherwise disturbing mix of Capitol Hill items:

• Beware SUVs. First attacking gas stations, now an accident on 12th Ave sends a biker to hospital with life threatening injuries. Seattle PI says SUV driver 'not impaired.'
• QFC on Broadway will be part of pilot wine tasting program.
• East Precinct issues safety alert on sex creep in the neighborhood.
• Cool old-school serial film series at NWFF covered by Capitol Hill Times. (the CHT online version butchers the interview format so check it out on paper).
• Capitol Hill Community Council reduced to meeting at a Starbucks this September.

We wrote about money troubles for Capitol Hill's two planned parks when the budget shortfall was announced at last month's city design reviews. The Summit at John project is in the biggest trouble -- the parks department is $80 grand short on the $250k required to build the park to plan. Contingent plan is to simply build about 2/3 of the park and finish the bottom slope of the park with a grassy grade.

The hope, say the city planners, is that the community steps in to lend a hand so the full design can be realized. Fortunately, a community is starting to develop around fundraising for the park. Meet neighbor Jen and the Unpaving Paradise group -- they're hoping to solve the John & Summit shortfall and help Capitol Hill preserve and create open space. The first step for UP is to create awareness by participating in National Park(ing) Day -- on September 19th, groups creates grassy and tree-shaded park spaces in the middle of paved parking lots and the like. There's a meeting Wednesday night to begin organizing...

If you think Sound Transit should do more to keep the empty storefronts in the light rail station construction zone from becoming a dead zone in the middle of Capitol Hill, sign this petition to support the Capitol Hill Community Council proposal to utilize some of the space for community events and meetings. It will take you about 23.7215 seconds to complete.

No coincidence that we're talking about empty storefronts and the feeling that there is an increase in panhandling on Broadway. The core of Broadway is undergoing a massive, potentially very damaging change. And I'm not talking about the digging that we're about to go through for eight years -- that's how you build a tunnel. I'll take it.

Instead, the damage appears to already be starting from the creeping decay of the buildings emptied in the light rail construction zone. We're only a few weeks in -- some of those buildings will simply be fenced off and sit there, empty, for a year before being demolished. That's a long period of chain-link ringed decay.

It's not going to be easy to stave this decay off. But the Capitol Hill Community Council has made a proposal to work with Sound Transit on using some of the buildings in the area for community gatherings and events. The Council (yeah, I'm an officer) is proposing to hold a council meeting and a community event in the former US Bank building as a way to test out...

We're talking about what technology to use to make the Capitol Hill Community Council work better online. Silly, it seems, to be stuck making decisions in long, boring meetings. But, so far, the Council's forum is pretty dead despite a few prominent links from this very blog. While the old forum we used to support wasn't the most lively discussion on the planet, it did manage to create a few interesting conversations along the way. So, is this a technology thing? A layout thing? A Capitol Hill discussion overload thing? Whatever it is, the new Council forum is broke'd and we need to fix it.

In case you missed the news, I recently became Capitol Hill Community President. I want to share the secret of my success so you, too, neighbor, may achieve your goals.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the Stanley Sharpshooter (Light-Duty model). It brought out the vote at the CHCC election and it can bring out the people for you. Please staple responsiblity, don't cover other flyers, remove your old messages and, please, never tape.

BTW, the first CHCC meeting with the newly elected officers is Thursday, June 26th at 7p in Seattle Central Community College lecture room 3211.