Tag Archives: chamber

With boost from Block Party after chamber implosion, Capitol Hill Art Walk walks on

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June’s Capitol Hill Art Walk was “Queer” — the scene at Vermillion

The implosion of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce won’t mean the end of one of its most visible neighborhood promotions. Organizers of the monthly Capitol Hill Art Walk say they are ready to walk on with the event that melds local businesses and the neighborhood’s art scene with help from the Capitol Hill Block Party.

“It’s always a good time. Attendees will see people they know or meet new people. There’s no Seattle freeze on the art walk, as people are friendly and social at these things,” said Jeanine Anderson, who co-produces the art walk with Ghost Gallery owner Laurie Kearney.

Now the event’s official fiscal sponsor, the Block Party first became involved with the art walk in 2015, providing monthly support for the event. The combination of financial donations and management made the art walk’s quick transition between fiscal sponsors possible, preserving its ability to promote showcased art. Meanwhile, Block Party’s donations help pay organizers for their time, compensate artists who designed the walk’s posters, and provide funding for advertising and paper maps highlighting businesses showcasing art. Continue reading →

Chamber’s ‘State of the Hill’ to honor meal provider Community Lunch on Capitol Hill, art walk leaders

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Community Lunch on Capitol Hill executive director Don Jensen, seen here with supply coordinator, River, will be honored at Friday night’s State of the Hill (Image: Community Lunch on Capitol Hill)

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual State of the Hill event Friday night in the Loft/Bar above 11th Ave’s Queer/Bar. A big part of the night will be honoring this year’s Spirit of the Hill award winners — meal provider Community Lunch on Capitol Hill, and Laurie Kearney of Ghost Gallery and Jeanine Anderson, coordinators of the monthly Capitol Hill Art Walk.

“We look forward to this event each year, and invite chamber members, local businesses, public officials and other hill-folk to gather to hear the State of the Hill address and celebrate all things Capitol Hill over local fare and cocktails,” the chamber’s 2019 event invite reads. Continue reading →

Here’s why there are no Pride banners on Broadway

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The 2018 Dyke March will bring plenty of rainbows to Broadway

Nobody seemed to notice when the snowflakes didn’t go up around Christmas. But a few readers have asked CHS to check in on a symbol of Pride missing from the Broadway streetscape again this year. There are no Pride banners on the street’s utility poles.

A representative for the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce tells CHS that the nonprofit’s banner program had to be discontinued last year “due to increased costs associated with installation.” Continue reading →

Chamber pulls back on plan to expand ‘Business Improvement Area’ and property assessments across Hill

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The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is pulling back on a years-long plan to expand a Business Improvement Area (BIA) property assessment that would provide hundreds of thousands of dollars for providing street clean-up and merchant support across the neighborhood.

In the announcement from the chamber’s executive committee, the group said it is “re-assessing how the BIA is organized at a larger level based on the changing political situation right now in Seattle.”

“[I]t is apparent that while the intent of the proposed BIA is for a stronger and better Capitol Hill, a shifting political reality in Seattle has made communities less trustful of how money is being spent,” the chamber announcement reads. “Seattle and Capitol Hill are very different places from when this proposal was crafted.” Continue reading →

Coalition of small Capitol Hill property owners wants to halt chamber’s ‘Business Improvement Area’ expansion

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Center of the opposition: This isn’t the first time Groberman has stood up against a BIA. In creating the existing Broadway BIA, planners “gerrymandered” his Harvard Market shopping center out of the assessment zone

Seattle’s “tax revolt” spring of 2018 includes a skirmish along Broadway, Pike, and Pine. Instead of a battle over “No Tax on Jobs,”  this fight pits the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce vs. a coalition of the neighborhood’s few remaining smaller and family commercial property owners and its relatively few co-op and condominium property residents. Together, the group could prove a major barrier for the chamber.

“We have huge traction to fight the proposed Business Improvement Area,” prolific Capitol Hill real estate investor Morris Groberman tells CHS.

Groberman, who owns or is partner in a collection of Capitol Hill properties including the Harvard Market shopping center at Broadway and Pike, is at the head of an effort to organize opposition to the chamber’s proposed expansion of a Business Improvement Area across most of Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Chamber to hold roundtable with Council members on business tax proposal

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The debate over the proposed Seattle business tax has turned into a fight. Next week, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is bringing neighborhood business representatives for a “roundtable discussion” with City Council members on the proposed tax:

Capitol Hill Chamber Roundtable Discussion with Council members re: Tax on Business

“It is important that small business SPEAK UP as Councilmembers finalize their proposal,” the Chamber implores.

The proposal from the council’s Lorena Gonzalez and Lisa Herbold aims to raise at least $75 million annually to address the twin crises of affordable housing for the city’s most vulnerable people, and the increasing number of people living unsheltered. It comes in two parts: an ordinance that enacts the tax, and a resolution that lays out the spending plan.

Congratulations on your Spirit of the Hill award, Tracy Taylor — now tell us about about Elliott Bay Book Company’s coming Sea-Tac store

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Mayor Durkan congratulates 2018 Spirit of the Hill winner Tracy Taylor

Last week, “work” came up a lot as the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce recognized Elliott Bay Book Company’s general manger Tracy Taylor with its 2018 Spirit of the Hill award. Taylor will soon have even more work to do as she helps the Pioneer Square-born, 10th Ave resident bookstore expand with a new presence at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“This is an award that recognizes not only hard work and dedication but love and passion,” Jeffrey Pelletier, principal at 15th Ave architecture and design firm Board and Vellum and chair of the chamber’s board said at the organization’s State of the Hill event held last Wednesday night at Queer/Bar. Pelletier said the State of the Hill winner is usually “someone who works hard and cares and oftentimes does it without thanks.” He called Taylor a “tireless advocate” and “a voice for small business.”

“I look around this room and I see how much work everyone in this neighborhood does to make sure that our neighborhood is a wonderful place to live, to work, to run a business,” Taylor said upon receiving the award in the seventh year it has been handed out.

Taylor tells CHS that the new Elliott Bay venture at Sea-Tac is a partnership with the Hudson Book Group to operate an EBBC satellite for travelers at the busy airport. Continue reading →

Who deserves this year’s ‘Spirit’ honors? Chamber making plans for 2018 State of the Hill

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Last year, the chamber recognized two women developers reshaping Capitol Hill, had a different director, and the guest of honor was Mayor Ed Murray. It’s been a long year. The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for its 2018 State of the Hill event and Spirit of the Hill award ceremony. You can lend a hand.

The chamber’s Mel Burchett tells CHS the nonprofit’s board is gathering possible nominations for the award designed to honor “an individual or organization that has shown an outstanding commitment to the Capitol Hill community.” The Spirit Award “represents the best of Capitol Hill through community service, excellence, and passion for this neighborhood.”

Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Chamber puts out ‘call to action’ against Seattle homelessness tax

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Restless Rest

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is joining its downtown cousin the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in a “call to action” against a proposed revival of a Seattle business “head tax” to help pay for homelessness services in the city.

“They are expected to raise about $25 million a year for this proposal and put it towards homeless programs that only take us backwards,” the announcement from the Capitol Hill pro-business nonprofit reads. Continue reading →

From Melrose to 19th, Capitol Hill Chamber launches campaign to create $1.6 million Business Improvement Area

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The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is ready to start its campaign to build a $1.6 million a year program to help fill empty store fronts, attract visitors, expand street cleaning, improve public safety, advocate for affordable housing and improved service from City Hall, and make local attractions like Cal Anderson Park more inviting. Now the nonprofit just needs 390, or 60%, of some 650 commercial property owners to sign on to its plan to expand the neighborhood’s Business Improvement Area across Broadway, 12th Ave, 15th Ave E, 19th Ave E, Melrose, Olive/Denny, and Pike/Pine. If it can hit that threshold, all commercial properties in the BIA will be required to pay into the program.

“It’s gonna be a lot of groundwork,” director Sierra Hansen told CHS about the expansion campaign. Starting with Wednesday night’s announcement of the campaign’s launch, the chamber this week is delivering petitions to the 650 property owners within the proposed new BIA boundary. “I’m a very stubborn person,” Hansen said.

She is also already half way there. Continue reading →