It must be the holidays. There’s so much on the calendar this first Friday in December, a CHS calendar post is warranted.

Glad the underwear model party isn’t at the Conservatory — those cacti are prickly. Here are Friday’s CHS calendar highlights:

Friday December 04 2009
05:00 PM – 08:00 PM	Volunteer Park Conservatory After Hours http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/links/2009/11/25/volunteer-park-conservatory-after-hours The Volunteer Park Conservatory offers one of Seattle’s only… (more)
06:30 PM – 09:30 PM	Underwear models! Benefit for Velocity Dance From: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=212001004814&index=1 Looking to kill your recession and winter blues? Come join us for a little fun. I recently… (more)
08:00 PM – 10:00 PM	HOMO for the Holidays! It’s that time of year again! The time for aerosol snow, festive embroidered sweaters and family togetherness! That’s right, friends, it’s “the Holidays!… (more)

A follow-up on the news we reported Wednesday of the armed man hauled in by SPD after a 911 caller reported him walking down Belmont Ave with a handgun in one hand and a knife in the other.

SPS send out robocalls to parents saying at no time was anyone in direct danger. My son said there were unidentified helicopters circling the playfield, and the kids were told to take cover under the tables.

CHS talked to Seattle Public Schools spokesperson David Tucker about the situation. Tucker tells CHS that school principal made the decision to go into “shelter in place” mode after being notified by SPD about the report of the armed man near Belmont and Thomas. Tucker said that in “shelter in place” status, the school’s exterior is secured with only one entry/exit available while instruction continues inside the classrooms. Tucker said there was no direct threat made against the school and the action was part of a standard response to this kind of situation.

Lowell Elementary is located at Mercer and 11th Ave, under a mile away from where the man was spotted and arrested.

A SPD spokesperson said the decision to initiate a security response at Lowell was the responsibility of school officials but that SPD does inform schools of potentially dangerous situations.

We have no additional information on the man arrested. A report from SPD will be available in coming days.

Ursula & Jules- I love the daring combination of colors and patterns that these two have used to create their unique and eclectic outfits.  The yellow nail polish is a brilliant way to brighten up winter attire.  Jules is a local musician and Ursula is currently working on her own clothing line.

For more photos from Capitol Hill and the rest of Seattle check out It’s My Darlin.

It’s not every month that the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meeting features a giant sheet cake.The community group said goodbye to Paul McDonagh Thursday night. McDonagh has been promoted to Assistant Chief in charge of special operations and Captain Jim Dermody has taken his place as East Precinct Commander.

The East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meetings are a monthly opportunity to get together with SPD and the city attorney’s office and talk about crime and safety in the area east of I-5.

Thursday night’s finished with cake but started on a much more somber note with a moment of silence to honor the officers killed in Pierce County. McDonagh said that more information will come out about what happened that Sunday morning. “To say the officers were heroes is going to be an understatement,” he said. He also credited witnesses to the shooting for doing a tremendous job that helped identify the escape vehicle, eventually leading police to name Maurice Clemmons as the suspect.

The SWAT standoff that started later on Sunday evening in Leschi was a lengthy item of discussion. As Central District News reported this morning, a family’s home was destroyed during that operation, and SPD Director John Hayes said that he spent a big part of the day at the house helping the family complete the necessary paperwork to apply for reimbursement from the city. 

As for the damage inside the house, which the family and other community members have said was excessive, McDonagh said that they SPD did what was necessary to protect officer’s lives in a dangerous situation, but that he couldn’t speak to damage that might have been done by other agencies.

On the murder of Officer Tim Brenton, McDonagh said that officers were “overwhelmed by the appreciation and support from the community.” He also said that although the investigation was very complex, police are “very very confident that Monfort was THE suspect.”

There was also news from the law side of the law and order discussions. Bob Hood, Chief of the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, said he will likely not be continuing in his role ‘due to the results of the election.’ As part of out-going City Attorney Tom Carr’s team, Hood helped create the Drug Market Initiative underway in the East Precinct. Hood said the DMI will ‘probably’ continue under the next City Attorney, Peter Holmes.

Other crime updates:

• Burglary Arrest – Monday morning in Montlake, where a 17 year old juvenile female was arrested as a result of a neighbor’s call to 911. A male accomplice is at large and the female is not cooperating, but police hope that a car they recovered might provide some clues.
• 9th & Columbia shooting – Detectives are making “Pretty good progress” in the case where a CD man was killed, hopefully good news soon.
• Capitol Hill shooting – From two weeks ago at Union & Boylston – The victim is being cooperative. He’s a convicted felon under DOC supervision, but Capt. Dermody says “thank goodness there were no other innocents who were hurt”
• Pedestrian Safety – Be extra safe on foot during these dark rainy nights. Several bad car/pedestrian accidents in the last couple of days.
• Carprowls – Are way up during the holidays. Don’t leave any valuables in your vehicle

Thanks to Scott at Central District News for providing additional coverage of the meeting.

It’s not the end of the world or even Capitol Hill. But it is the end of an era. A lot of old Capitol Hill was on display tonight. But we didn’t come to bury the old Hill — we came to praise it.

There will be more on books and Bailey Coy on CHS. But most of that will be forward looking. Tonight we say goodbye to the past. And bury it.

(To find out who is who, you can click the picture to visit flickr for names and more info)

It’s a busy Thursday night on Capitol Hill. Here are the highlights from the CHS calendar . Following the community crime meeting, CHS will be at the Bailey Coy party to pay my respects. I’ll be the guy wearing black. You?

Thursday December 03 2009
06:00 PM – 09:00 PM	Bailey/Coy Wake Our final day of normal sales operation will be this Friday, November 20th. BUT…Please join us for our party/wake/auction/fundraising event that promises… (more)
06:30 PM – 08:00 PM	East Precinct Community Crime Meeting Thursday, 12/3/09 EPCPC meeting will address Nov 29 officer slayings Dear East Precinct Neighbors: We are all shocked and saddened by the… (more)
07:00 PM – 09:00 PM	The WTO Protests in Seattle The WTO Protests in Seattle – Then, Now and What’s Coming Next? On Thursday, December 3, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), in partnership with… (more)
07:30 PM – 10:00 PM	DIY Night at Faire Gallery & Cafe Calling all Seattle DIY enthusiasts!along with some of my favorite people at Faire Gallery & Cafe, I’ll be hosting a diy night on Thursday, DEC. 3 from… (more)

Notes and a flower left to mark the passing of Bailey Coy

Picture says it all. A one-day-only  politically correct alternative to the Dunshee House tree lot.  

All the details on the order form (but we missed the ordering deadline).

In my last snapshot , I asked if anyone knew the history behind the stone benches at Harvard & E Roy.  Lucky for us, commenter Glenn was one of the people who came up with the idea and fills us in on how they came to be.

David,

I appreciate your appreciation. Actually the benches were put in approximately 15 years ago, using materials salvaged from the Mountaineers Building, a nice old building formerly at the corner of 7th & Pine and torn down for the Convention Center. The terra cotta ornamentation was stored in the basement of the Eagles Hall for awhile at the instigation of Paul Schell (not then mayor). There they stayed until a local architect/U.W. professor took them all, Kevin Kane. The deal, as I understand it, was that he could have them for free if he took it all.

At the time I was a student at the U.W. Urban Planning school and lived just down from the corner (still do). The corners were broadly cut at the time, with huge curb radiuses, mirroring the Cirque. (If you want an idea how wide, they bordered the sidewalk that goes by the building). As a result, for pedestrians crossing Harvard while walking east on Roy meant this meant walking across a lot of road with cars making fast right turns on to Harvard. So I thought it would be a good idea to bring the curb out to closer to a 90 degree angle, create some public space and make things safer for pedestrians.

The Department of Neighborhoods provided a small grant, Kevin Kane donated the materials, did the design and lent an intern from his office to help with installation (as well as showing up some afternoons himself). He also made some tiles, like the one installed in the “window” of the wall. At the same time, to help across the street, the DAR agreed to fill out their corner too.

Since then they have been mostly maintained by the Cirque Apts. I still see people sitting in the benches and the graffitti, though annoying hasn’t been too bad, so I guess it worked out.

Glenn,

Nearby resident, ex urban planning student and hardly at all a power that be, or even a power that was.

One thing that I’ve always thought about the benches as I’ve walked by is, “man, they just don’t build stuff like that anymore” referring to both the sturdy stone construction, and just the whole idea of using a couple of benches and modest amount of space to create a public common area.  So in that respect it’s encouraging to find out that it’s not so old.  

I did quite a bit of digging online, but wasn’t able to find much more info.  I really wanted to find a picture of the building to see what all the detailing looked like in it’s original use, but couldn’t come up with much.

I did find this page out of a packet called “Making Streets that Work” that describes the project in more detail.  

And based on the info about the original building, I found this picture of the ground floor (pulled from this book preview ), but (as far as I can tell) you can’t see any of the ornamentation that ended up on our corner. 

The building was at 715-19 Pine St.  If you know where to find a picture of the rest of the building, send it or link to it and I’ll add it to this post.

To commenter Glenn, thanks for the info, and thanks for your hard work helping make the neighborhood more livable place, back while I was busy learning long division.

Now who’s got some old building pieces laying around to fix up this giant waste of space?

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First Hill Streetcar Map, originally uploaded by Oran Viriyincy.

Our friends at CD News advocate strongly for a 12th Avenue route. With the funding approved, the city wants input from us on the routing.  Construction will start in 2011 and the street car should be open by 2013.  Plan to attend one of the three community meetings to provide your input: