• Elliott Bay Cafe opened Friday 6/18
• Homegrown Sandwiches pushes back 6/22 opening date – will likely open end of the week
• Monsoon begins serving weekday lunch again starting Tuesday 6/23
• Special Direct Import Italian Wine Tasting at CHS Sponsor Vino Verite Thursday 6/25
• Grey Gallery closed its 11th Ave doors on Saturday but no word on where on the Hill they’ll be re-opening. We’ve heard about the space they’re targeting for a re-birth. Should know soon.
• Seattle Metropolitan’s chief restaurant critic finds goodness (and empty tables) at Huiyona (which recently celebrated its 1st anniversary)
• New (slightly more expensive) menu at Honey Hole: look for more Field Roast options for vegans/vegetarians & Painted Hills beef
• Meanwhile, Baguette Box lowers its prices (all sandwiches now below $8) 
• Planning ahead for Wednesday morning’s Team USA vs. Algeria World Cup match? These guys were open for the last 7 AM Team USA game. Add the Roanoke to the list, we’ve been told.

Inside the new EBC.

Queer Youth Space has been recommended to receive nearly $100,000 from the City of Seattle to help create a cultural center on Capitol Hill. The Three Wings Project is documented on threewings.org

A small number of dedicated QYS volunteers drew up a proposal for a youth-led queer cultural space that would operate as a non-profit of Queer Youth Space called Three Wings. The plan reflects and responds to the voices and concerns we heard at the Queer Youth Mutiny in February as well as the many young people we are connected with through various organizations and peer networks.

This spring, CHS talked to Queer Youth Space organizers about their goals and strategy. “We need a space for people to feel comfortable in,” spokesperson Hanna King told CHS in April. “Safe space encourages self-expression, and the physical nature allows youth to really invest in it.”

Seattle Gay News reports that the group is already in talks for an undisclosed Capitol Hill location for the center. SGN also reports the group is targeting fall to open the center.

The money to build the space will come from a grant provided by the Department of Neighborhood’s Large Projects Fund. The matching fund program, which requires awarded groups to match the grant value with volunteer work, funded work at the Hill’s Polish Home last year.

Three Wings is envisioned to feature three components:

WING 1: Cultural Activism Lab builds queer peer support networks, positive youth identities, and community pride by providing a space where queer youth can socialize, work, and create together—in community. The Cultural Activism Lab will include a café, arts and cultural gallery, performance/class space, and community organizing spaces. Open and free to the general public, the lab will serve as the face of THREE WINGS and as the primary function of its physical space where young people can utilize the open format to make media, socialize, and get engaged with local activism.

WING 2: Wellness Collaborative provides critical education and mental health services to address the disparities for health and well-being

experienced by queer youth. The Wellness Collaborative will address disparities in the quality of life of queer people, and other compounding factors, through holistic counseling, coaching and goal-attainment partnerships, peer mediation, health/legal information and referral, academic support, classes/groups aimed at personal healing and community wellness. THREE WINGS offers these services in a non-confrontational and confidential way. Through a youth-led steering committee, Wing 2 will work to inspire a culture of wellness that is holistic, person-centered, and strengths-based. Prevention and wellness services are vital to our community because as queer youth, “we focus so much on just surviving in our environments, and keeping ourselves mentally afloat, that our well-being is often neglected.” Grounded in the belief that queer youth should have equal access to health/wellness information as their heterosexual peers, we intend this wing to be a platform of comfort and self-advocacy, community support, and source of information and referrals.

WING 3 | Research & Education Institute works to positively impact the policies and cultural practices that negatively impact our community by developing a “think tank” that builds leadership and promotes policy and community change through research, education, and advocacy. The Institute produces alternative media and web resources, research-based resources, and educational materials. It provides technical assistance and consultation to schools and agencies.

Queer Youth Space has made a rapid ascension from grassroots youth group to potential creator and operator of a Capitol Hill cultural facility. It has harnessed social media — its Facebook fan page now stands at more than 2,000 “likes” — and low-cost promotions like utility pole flyers to spread its message while weathering — and benefiting from the attention from — criticism from some of the older set of Seattle GLBT activism.

It is not clear how far the city grant will take the Three Wings Project and what the budget plans are to keep the new center open. We’ll follow up with QYS to learn more about their plans now that they have good news about the start of their mission.

While neighbor sparklingallison has been watching problems on her street up close and is now helping to organize an effort to spur action from city officials, CHS has gathered information that shines lights into the shadows of an abandoned home on Capitol Hill, what goes on inside and just how troubled the property must be for police officers to refuse to enter the building.

Photo: sparklingallison

In a police report released last week, the Seattle Police Department documents a reported robbery of a man who told officers he was jumped inside a home on Belmont Ave that matches the description of the property in Allison’s post. Responding officers do not appear to have been willing to enter the structure, however, out of concerns over ‘biozahard’ at the property.

According to the police report, the man said he was choked and robbed of $200 by two men who were also squatting in the structure near the intersection of E. Republican and Belmont in the June 14th crime. The man ran from the house after the robbery and contacted police using the infamous pay phone at the intersection of Thomas and Broadway to call 911, adding yet another reason people put that rare functioning pay phone to use.

The report says that officers went to the Belmont Ave house and checked the area but could not find anybody matching the suspect descriptions. The officers did not, however, report entering the building. “This location has significant biohazard and is unsecured by the property owner,” the officer filing the report notes. According to the report, the victim was “advised” he was trespassing at the Belmont Ave house and was “admonished” not to return to the location.

We asked the Seattle Police Department for more information about the officer’s decision to not enter the premise and the how SPD handles problem properties. The neighborhood policing unit we were referred to did not answer our calls or respond to messages for two business days plus this weekend. We will continue to follow up with the unit on Monday.

According to a SPD spokesperson, the Community Policing Team’s role is to devote focus to long-term neighborhood problems.

In Allison’s post on 502 Belmont Ave E, CHS community members document years of complaints filed against the property with the Department of Planning for issues with garbage in the yard to leaving the building unsecure. In total, the DPD Web site lists four active complaints for the property. The most recent complaint was filed way back in January 2009 and was just moved to the “law department” this February. We’ll ask DPD and City Hall more about that this coming week, too.

A city complaint against the property (View PDF)

According to King County Property records, 502 Belmont is owned by Seattle resident Kyle Clark and is for sale. Catalyst Commercial Partners, the agency trying to move the property, sent Allison this e-mail in response to her initial inquiry to them about the derelict state of the house:

Catalyst is not the owner of the property.  The owner is in the process of trying to sell the properties.  After the fire, the owner has been in a struggle with his insurance company to receive his coverage money to fix the house. This should be resolved soon since we have an offer on the property.

Attempts to reach Clark to speak to him about this situation have not yet been successful.

The property suffered significant damage in a November 2008 blaze. Seattle Fire Department later said that fire appeared to be started by squatters burning candles inside the house. SFD put the cost of damage in the fire at $100,000.

Another commenter on Allison’s post, MountDana, said that Capitol Hill Housing reps were at the site on Friday “out of concern for the property.” We have a call out to CHH to find out more about their involvement in helping to get this mess cleaned up.

I’m not saying that it’s perfectly understandable for you to be completely sick of the weather we’ve been having. In fact, if you had the opportunity to miss out on this morning’s downpour from the comfort of your covers, all the power to you. Just don’t forget to call your dad in between your cups of tea and episodes of True Blood.

But if you had happened to adventure out to the Farmers Market, as you might often do on a typical summer Sunday, you might have seen a different picture from what you normally see: almost no customers.

Knowing that her stand might be the hardest hit by the weather, I asked Cle Franklin of Half Pint Homemade Ice Cream about the lack of business. Being her 3rd season at the farmer’s market, Cle could not recall any other summer day where the weather was this cold and rainy. She certainly has felt the results of the wet and gloomy atmosphere too, having sold approximately 1/10th of her normal amount of ice cream by that point in the day. Fortunately it wasn’t a total loss as her regulars still showed up to buy their weekly cone.

Other vendors were more lucky. As I bought a flower bouquet from a vendor, I casually asked if business was slower than usual, but they denied any hit from the rain and claimed that things were still steady. Maybe gloomy weather makes people want flowers more. I know that was true for me.

I also caught sight of a meat vendor sign that was sold out of their free-range chicken. Perhaps the market can truly survive on their regular customers.

As for Half Pint, Cle is taking the whole thing in stride. “I’m getting some knitting done.”

Around the clock, every day of the week, Fire Station 25 is working to keep the Hill safe. The station at 13th and Pine is a center of activity for the firefighters and medics who respond to incidents across Capitol Hill. It’s a vital component of life on the Hill and recent sad news from another part of the city is a good reminder of just how important the fire house is. You can learn more about the fire house and meet some of the people that make make it all work Monday night as part of the Capitol Hill Preparedness People tour of the station:

Come join your neighborhood emergency preparedness group for a tour of our local fire station! Learn what keeps the 208 firefighters on duty each day in Seattle busy, and get your questions answered.

Tour starts at 7 PM. Fires Station 25 is located at 1300 E Pine St.

Father and Daughter., originally uploaded by chelseatatum.

This one is for all the daddies, poppas and father figures of Capitol Hill. What did your dad teach you? My favorite lesson learned from jseattle Sr. is how to tie a good-enough fishing knot. Wrap six times. Pass it through. Pull it tight.

Bat N Rouge photos: Staton DuBois

Two Saturday events helped fight off the June overcast blahs and raise funds for worthwhile causes. We’ll follow up to find out how much money was raised for the Capitol Hill Alano Club at Saturday night’s annual Bat N Rouge match-up of Drag Queens vs. Dykes. Suppose we should also find out who won — last recorded score we know of had the Drags up 10-4. If you didn’t get a chance to give at the game — or want to give more — you can make an online donation via Paypal here. Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Foundation’s annual East Precinct picnic turned 12th Ave into a community gathering space complete with a bouncy house and (CHS approved) free hot dogs.

Council member Tom Rasmussen throws out the first pitch

East Precinct Photos: Jseattle

Respect a hot dog that comes with 2 wieners

Kid jail

Latest in riot gear on display

But mostly just a nice opportunity to eat a Sponge Bob ice cream or catch up with friends