Perhaps a logical response to the Reddit photo we shared last night:

k_hack: http://twitpic.com/9p190 - Only on Capitol Hill... I love this neighborhood! Anti-gentrification graffiti with a twist

Graffiti only makes people want to kick your juvenile, gay asses out of the neighborhood more.

There's pretty much just one use for the building on the southeastern corner of 11th and Pine: play host to wild postings and paste art. The "sad happy horny sad" bottle is a fave and longtime fixture on the building. It's been joined by "no guilt boy," pictured here in this post (click here for larger version). This young man captures the caphill ethos of sexual freedom. He also welcomes the fruits of summer with the sort of giddy abandon that only a sunstarved-cum-sundrunk Seattleite can truly appreciate.

Anybody know who the artist is?

Thought I'd start the day with a little romance. A down-in-the-dumper kind of year so far with tanking economy and frigid temps -- don't think I've ever heard more friends say they can't wait for winter to be over. Easy to let Valentine's Day slip by. Here's a little non-corporate expression of love to get you going.

We've neglected the CHS flickr pool for too long -- it's turned moody and a little dark, full of unrecognized art. Recognize it!

Capitol Hill Times has a thoughtful piece documenting the impact on special needs students who will be scattered across the district when their centralized program at Meany is cut as part of Seattle's planned school overhaul.

[Meany teacher Devin] Gruver said he understands the district's economic realities that led the closing several schools. But he's concerned the move will have a negative and disruptive impact on his students. He said he and his colleagues are worried that much of what has made the Meany special-ed program unique won't translate well to the new locations. Meany is small - one of the reasons the district is discontinuing the program - but the relatively smaller size compared to Hamilton or Washington works to the special-needs students' benefit. Gruver said there is a great deal of concern that the special-ed kids will be somewhat lost in the crowd.

Meanwhile, this second peek inside the school comes from quite a different source -- Seattle PI's 911 Blog reports on the investigation of possibly...

The party kids over at cap to the hill stepped over the line today, stumbling off their comfortable bar stools just far enough to make a visit to Broadway's Museum of Mysteries, and worse, writing about it.

This is against the rules. Quirky neighborhood discoveries are our beat. My only choice is to fight back. Thursday night is cap to the hill's happy hour at Moe Bar from 5p-8p. I'll be there at straight up 5 geekin it up and making c to the h sorry they ever walked outside the friendly confines of Pike Pine. Join me. Let's teach these brats a lesson.

Also, I want to talk with c to the h about their liberal stance on graffiti and tagging -- look what it's done to my child.

After a day of joy and hope for the future, here's a look back at the last week's activities in Capitol Hill's shadows. Items are culled from Central District News, SPD reports and, on occasion, other media outlets. Bonus lowlight -- this report of an attempted home break-in on Sunday, Jan 11.

Capitol Hill Police Activity for Jan 12 trough Jan 16 - CDN Scanner Reports

Monday Jan 12
2:53PM  - 1300 E Madison St  - Narcotics Activity  - Several people doing drugs under the bus shelter

Tuesday Jan 13
2:25PM  - 900 19th Ave E  - Suspicious Circumstance  - Man going through a yellow purse. White male, 40s, 6'2

Wednesday Jan 14th
5:49PM  - 417 Broadway E  - Shoplifting  - 15-year-old boy in custody at QFC. His parents are refusing to pick him up.

Thursday Jan 15th
4:33PM  - Bellevue and E Pine St  - Vandalism  - Three men tagging a building, hispanic males, teens, dark hoodies. Update: the men are contracted to paint over the graffiti

9:45PM - 100 block of Broadway...

It's random out there!

• Got em! Clean-up crew mistaken for taggers at the site of the Bellevue apartments fire.
• SPD claims 'malicious harassment' arrest last night in the vicinity of Dick's. Man allegedly made threatening statements that referenced the victim's sexual orientation.
• Sound Transit says new crosswalks might be needed and parking eliminated to ease light rail construction traffic on Olive and Denny. Also says neighbors "let us know they've got some issues" with night-time dirt hauling.
• Chapel bar made the Travel Channel.
• Hillku suggests the next focus area for Cap Hill development.
• Seattle U student pub makes cute headline typo in piece about Oddfellows. Sounds hot.
• Play Wii, build a park.
• The dude who brought you Vita and Tribulani is trying his hand at Madrona french (pronounced 'fronch') with Cremant takeover.
• Slog reports eyewitness of account of group of men dressed like George Washington roaming Pike/Pine.
• There's an election going on.
• A few not-sold-out Inauguration Day events on...

I've created a few 3D views of some Capitol Hill sights using Microsoft's Photosynth software.

Click on the photos to link to the 3D view.

Graffiti wall behind Wildrose (be sure to check out the wraparound view of the water tower thing on the left):

Stainless sculpture at SCCC:

Fountain at Cal Anderson park:

(Note: Photosynth only works on Windows.)

The case against Long Hoang Le, the 20-year-old man we named as the suspect in the Kerse tribute tagging in Pike/Pine last month, is now with the King County Prosecutors office, spokesperson Dan Donohoe confirmed for us this week. But it's still not clear if Le will be hit with the felony-level malicious mischief charge authorities initially were considering for the incident. From Donohoe: "There has been no decision regarding charges. The case is still under review."

According to Capitol Hill Triangle, the Obama Mural on E John St has been restored.  Let's hope the taggers show a little respect this time around. 

Speaking of tagging, there was some talk a while back about possibly asking neighborhood stores to restrict the same of spray paint.  Another way that may be easier to help control the persistence of tagging is to be aware of what's going on in the neighborhood.  Keep an eye out, report taggers to the police, install lights near popular tagging places, and keeping our neighborhood clean.  A study, echoing the "broken windows" theory, has shown that the present of graffiti (not art, but plain graffiti) tends to raise the persistence of littering and theft.

The suspect arrested in the Kerse tribute tagging in Pike/Pine is a 20-year-old man named Long Hoang Le, Seattle Police Department confirms. He was booked early Sunday morning and released Monday night as the investigation of "malicious mischief" continues. Thanks to help from Scott at Central District News and Tracy over at the West Seattle Blog in tracking down the info.

No touching brown bear
gallery Originally uploaded by
raspberryteacup

SPD is using its fancy new blog to tout the collar of a 'prolific' tagger allegedly responsible for graffiti on "multiple buildings, including several car dealerships, and several businesses in the areas of 700 East Pike, 700 East Pine and 900 East Pike street."

Report sez the 20-year-old suspect was out to mark the recent death of Bay Area graffiti legend Kerse BTM and was caught in the act early Sunday morning. Hopefully they don't try to nail the kid for all the Kerse-work they find out there on the streets because this gentleman has company.

Will give SPD a call to see what else I can find out.

UPDATE: SPD confirmed that the suspected tagger is being charged with a felony level count of malicious mischief. From my understanding, if there was less than $1,500 damage, maximum sentence would be around 5 years. You can read more about the charge on the Avvo legal site. Also, no specific location of where he was apprehended.

Kerse tag on 10th Ave<...

The artist says she's going to restore the Obama mural:


She also notes that the tagger seems to be enjoying the 'negative attention.' Agreed. Will write about the restoration. Tagged again? Silence here.

Tagged

This tag on a power pole at 19th Ave E and Roy is a sad and odd cultural artefact. It appears to mark the death of 15-year-old Quincy Coleman, gunned down Halloween night in a shooting near Garfield High. There's another on the back alley wall of the Russian Cultural Center across the street.

Not to become all tagging, all the time here on this site, but this tag, in particular, warrants note because authorities contend that Hill tagging is not gang related. Is this how real gang bangers say goodbye? Is this how wannabe punks do it? Ironic hipsters?

The inevitable next chapter in the Barbarella-Obama mural saga begins like this. From neighbor by2drumallday3:

I was so sad this morning to see this new painting vandalized. Someone spray painted over Obama's face.

Have not verified this -- will check it out in the morning. Not a surprise if it's true but still disappointing.

Also on the unverified front, a commenter claiming to be the owner of El Tajin says the Broadway Mexican restaurant is, indeed, out of business:

To all of you who dined at El Tajin, I appologize for closing the doors. We opened El Tajin with the purpose of bringing back the Mexican home cooking many of us (Mexicans) who migrated to the U.S. crave. Our goal was to provide the best Mexican delicacies in Seattle, but unfortunately the timing for this terrible economy and the lack of resources pushed us to close. The restaurant business is a tuff business when there is not enough clientale and for those who become regular clients, I thank you for your loyalty, and also for those who might of had...

The Obama-Barbarella mural graffiti episode shined a little light into the dark alleys of tagging culture putting the mural artist face-to-face, or e-mail to e-mail with taggers.

The exchange brings to mind my contact with a tagger from this summer via Facebook. Through a series of tips, I tracked down the name of a man who lives on Capitol Hill who, a few who claimed to know him said, was the notorious Syrup tagger.

While his profile was covered with graffiti applications and graphics, my interaction was less than fruitful. Here's the Facebook back and forth from this summer:

do you tag?
Between XXXXX and You
 
Chs Blog
July 23 at 10:36pm
Sorry if I've got you confused with somebody else :)
 
XXXXX
Add as Friend
July 30 at 2:55pm
Report Message
are you a snitch? what kinda question is that. i use axe bodyspray.
 
Chs Blog
July 30 at 3:36pm
Not a snitch. I write about Capitol Hill and thought you -- if you're the same XXXXX people have told me about -- might tell me about why you tag. Some pissed off people gave me your name but...

Want the real scoop on the Barbarella-Obama mural transmogrification? The artist has a blog with details about the reaction she's received from the neighborhood and what's she's learned about the tagger who broke a few rules of the tagger creed.

he is what we refer to as a "toy" and that was a definit toy move…That kid has no can control, he writes for a whack crew that gets no love in seattle and doesnt even existed outside the 206 like the better more prolific crews that have cells here.

We wrote about the idiotic tagging that destroyed the Barbarella space warrior princess mural near 12th and John. The Slog has a picture of your neighbor Shelly reclaiming the mural space for another warrior.

Nice work, Shelly.

Some dipshit thought it would be cool to tag over the garage door space mural on E. John Street heading up the Hill toward 15th. The response to the vandalism is this "NO" sign and lots of Sharpie-written notes expressing sadness for the space warrior princess's passing.

Thanks a million to neighbor ERIK98122 for this contribution to the CHS flickr pool. Like Erik, we wonder. Will she return?

Elphaba lives Originally uploaded by Levi Clark

Others agree -- this Heart Shoes art project making its way around the Hill is a little spooky. Now it has creeped into the CHS flickr pool. The "Elphaba Lives" tag -- I think -- is probably unrelated. But maybe these shoes are new style ruby slippers.

An enterprising young Capitol Hill resident found a solution to our graffiti woes once and for all.  How simple it is!  This passive-aggressive note was found on the side of Amante on Denny & Olive.

You know what you need to do, Capitol Hillers!  Grab your post-it notes or duct taped notebook paper and let those graffiti artists and local neighborhood businesses know how you really feel.

(Note:  I'm still researching whether this method works on stopping light rail station art, bicyclists that run through stop signs, drivers that run through bicyclists, Kurrent, homelessness, or Mexican restaurants that play music too loud.)

I don't usually like to get my advice from Portland and QFC but after seeing the mess of tagging that the upper floor of the Russian Cultural Center on 19th Ave has become, I think it might be time for Capitol Hill  -- if not all of Seattle -- to look to its neighbor to the south for inspiration. In 2007, Portland started requiring merchants to keep spray paint under lock and key and keep records of paint purchases. The real, um, key to the lock and key thing is that it puts the spray cans out of arms reach. A Broadway QFC ex-employee recently told me that kids shoplifting spray paint there is a daily (hourly?) occurrence. Locking the paint away would put an end to that hobby. An end to defacing easy targets like the Russian Cultural Center? Probably not. But at least only vandals savvy enough to work the system would be able to easily get their hands on paint while the crappy "Bone Shanks" of the world would be left to writing on the sidewalk in chalk or slapping stickers on the back of No Parking signs.

Artists have been using chalk and charcoal at Cal Anderson Park to add a bit of flavor to the pavement.  I caught this beautiful drawing (unfortunately with my camera phone) a few days ago and stood looking at it for probably 15 minutes much to my puppy's impatience.  Today, someone drew a sudoku puzzle, I believe, on the same spot with a request to finish the puzzle.