Here is how the CHS voting went for the top Capitol Hill news stories of 2009. Thanks for your votes and thanks again for being part of the site and supporting our effort to bring truly local community news and information to Capitol Hill.

1. Elliott Bay Book Co. moves to Pike/Pine (December)
   The rumors began in October. In December, owner Peter Aaron confirmed it. By spring 2010, Capitol Hill would be home to the city’s largest independent book retailer and Pike/Pine could put yet another notch in its belt of cultural assets.
2. Capitol Hill light rail station construction begins (April)
   Construction of the massive project — Capitol Hill’s own Big Dig — began not with creation but destruction. Blocks of Broadway were razed to make way for empty lots which are just now making way for the implements of construction. No tunneling will happen until 2011. No trains will run 400 feet below the Hill’s surface until 2016. But 2009 is when it all began.
3. Officer Brenton shooting (October)
   It was the first time a Seattle Police Officer had been shot to death on duty since 1994. The murder of East Precinct officer Timothy Brenton was the start of what has been an extraordinarily violent end to 2009 for Washington law enforcement.

It’s interesting to see how things sorted out — especially some of the items toward the bottom of the table. We’d wager that the approval of the streetcar plan, for one, will likely grow in historical importance with time.

Any predictions for the top Capitol Hill story of 2010?