A month-and-a-half since the Elliott Bay Book Company relocated to 10th Ave from Pioneer Square, it appears that the first Capitol Hill chapter of the independent bookseller’s saga is a happy one.

“We are thrilled to be here,” manager Tracy Taylor said.  “Business is great.  Our sales are up.  Reading attendance is up.”

Michael Malone, the principal at property owner Hunters Capital who reached out to bookstore owner Peter Aaron to explore the feasibility of the move, reports that the store racks in about 800 individual transactions each day, and that sales are up about 40 percent.  “The result of a good fit is success,” Malone said.

He added that Pike/Pine benefits from the bookstore being a destination retailer, in addition to serving neighborhood residents. Elliott Bay’s customers also patronize other local businesses, he said.  “Elliott Bay is an ideal destination retailer because they contribute to social and economic diversity,” Malon said.

“It is not a Walmart or Costco where people go [only] for convenience. They come with a purpose,” Malone said. “They come for lunch at Quinn’s or Oddfellows and ice cream at Molly Moon’s.”

It’s difficult for CHS to call any bluff in Elliott Bay’s numbers, of course. In Pioneer Square, sales tanked so precipitously that Aaron said he maxed out his credit trying to stay afloat. The Capitol Hill move, for now anyway, seems to have reversed the trend. Elliott Bay, by the way, is a CHS advertiser but, as with all advertisers, that will not curry favor nor invite increased scrutiny of the largest retailer on the Hill by this site. We’ll cover the big indie bookstore as we see fit.

At Elliott Bay, Taylor said that the staff is happy with the relocation to a neighborhood with the range of amenities that Capitol Hill offers. “The staff love being in a neighborhood with restaurants, a grocery store, movies, and bars. One evening the staff organized a kickball game at the park,” she said.  “We’ve had a staff party at the Garage to celebrate.”

The quality of the space – which features exposed wood beams, skylights, and a more open layout than the bookstore’s previous home in Pioneer Square – has proven to be another boon for the bookstore.  “Customers seem amazed by the light and the feel,” Taylor said.

Malone added, “Not only did the space carry on the feel of the Pioneer Square store, but it improved it with natural light, convenience, and parking.”

What’s in store for the next chapter at EBBC? We’ll continue to follow one of the more important retail stories on the Hill. For CHS’s previous coverage of Elliott Bay’s move to Capitol Hill, click here.

The Elliott Bay Book Company is located at 1521 10th Ave. between Pike and Pine Streets.

Seattle citizens get their opportunity to interview an important new hire for the city this week — our next chief of police. Wednesday night at the Seattle Center, the three finalists to lead the SPD will appear at a public forum to discuss their views on law and order. We’ve attached “Competitive Exam Materials” for each of the three candidates to this post — each PDF contains a police work history for the candidate, his cover letter and essay answers to questions from the search committee convened to select the next chief. Our news partners at the Seattle Times examined the candidate answers in this write-up.

 As Mayor Mike McGinn prepares to choose Seattle’s next police chief, the three finalists for the job will appear at a community forum next week to talk about their experience and take questions from the public. 

The three finalists, selected by the Mayor’s 26-member Police Chief Search Committee, are Rick Braziel, chief of police in Sacramento; Ron Davis, chief of police in East Palo Alto, Calif.; and Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz. 

All three candidates will appear at the forum, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center. 

The forum, moderated by Search Committee Co-Chairman Charles Rolland, will include opening remarks by Mayor McGinn, a 5-minute presentation by each candidate and about half an hour of discussion with each candidate. Audience members will be encouraged to submit questions, with translators available, and various community members will be on hand with prepared questions as well. 

The event will be live-streamed by the Seattle Channel on the Mayor’s blog, at www.seattle.gov/mayor/. 

In addition, reporters are invited to attend consecutive 30-minute media availabilities with the finalists on Friday, June 4, in the Norman B. Rice Room in the Mayor’s Office, on the 7th Floor of City Hall. Interim Chief Diaz will meet with reporters at 1:30 p.m., followed by Chief Davis at 2 p.m. and Chief Braziel at 2:30 p.m. 

Mayor McGinn convened the Police Chief Search Committee in January to help him find a successor to former Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who was appointed by President Obama last year to be the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. The Mayor expects to announce his choice for chief sometime in June. His selection is subject to City Council confirmation.

For more information about the search process, see the Search Committee’s website, http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/spdChiefSearch/



What to take with us from all of this? Who and what is worthy of remembrance? Over on the CHS Facebook page, we got things started with a few ideas of what should be remembered on Capitol Hill in 2010:

Originally uploaded by blackracer

Who and what else? 1,000 here and 4,000 there, to be sure. By the way, our news partners at the Seattle Times have posted this list of Memorial Day things to do around the city including the Nisei Veterans Committee ceremony at Lake View cemetery.

These pictures of Summit Ave and note from neighbor Dan remind that the parking rules overhaul for Capitol Hill doesn’t just affect high profile areas like Cal Anderson — these are changes to the places where we live and part of the little things that make up our day to day.

I noticed these bolts this morning on Summit, I’m pretty sure this means the end of free street parking in the near future.  We knew it was coming, just sucks that it’s here.

Sorry, Dan. Just try to remember all these reasons paid parking is good for your neighborhood.

Here’s a map of the latest changes to parking regulations around Broadway and central Capitol Hill:

Tropical Flower, Volunteer Park Conservatory
Originally uploaded by Aloha Debby

Enjoy the bullshit way mainstream media looks at the world. On the mayor’s Ideas for Seattle list of hundreds of good ideas from people thinking about how to help the city, the headlines are about nude beaches and dope. We’d like to highlight the current #8 top-ranked idea — Keep the Conservatory at Volunteer Park Open:

So many of these ideas are about creating a better future. What about maintaining what is beautiful and good for this city? It’s a warm, quiet and beautiful place. We should maintain and preserve it for the future. Closing it would be shortsighted.

We know the Conservatory doesn’t necessarily involve public nudity, nor marijuana but maybe you can still stop by the site and add your vote to the tally.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Parks Department is expected to announce midyear budget cutbacks in the next week. At the end of April, Parks announced that 24 of its 27 wading pools could face closure this summer including the Cal Anderson pool. The Volunteer Park wading area is reportedly not being considered for cutbacks. Also on the most recent possible cut list — the Parks-run community centers like Miller. CHS also reported on the concerns from the group Friends of the Conservatory that says it fears the Volunteer Park landmark might face the budget axe as it approaches its 100-year anniversary in 2012.

I was passing by on Saturday night and decided to pay the newly opened Highline a visit.  The friendly door person, Zach was happily perched on his stool outside the door.  He boasted of the new place and its vegan menu.  I had to run an errand, but now I wanted to come back and get some food.  I hopped down the stairs and met the owner, the affable Howie Clark (who was proprietor of Georgetown’s now defunct vegan restaurant Squid and Ink).  He said he was excited to replace a former venue that was so hostile to the neighborhood. 

Word is the Lamborghini is a shell of what it used to be.  It sat high atop the building where the notorious Club Lagoon once sat.  That club’s failure to connect to the Capitol Hill community caused its downfall.  They only had six people patronize them during Pride weekend one year. This was when other restaurants, bars, and clubs were packed to the brim with neighbors, visitors, and tourists. The hostile clientele did not help, either.  Well now sitting on the second floor of this building at 210 Broadway East is the Highline, above Castle Super Store.  Yeah, now you know where it’s at.

I came back a bit later with a friend, a vegan who is looking for a place that serves more than just one or two things on their menu.  We ordered our drinks and were eager to eat something.  To our delight, the menu is completely vegan.  It has sides, sandwiches, and appetizers.  It serves late until midnight.  Our sandwiches were delicious.  I’ve had some bad experiences at vegetarian/vegan restaurants back in the days when I was madly vegetarian.  I had three bad meals at a place on Roosevelt.  Those experiences made me never return to that place.  First impressions mean something (and I gave that other place two more chances).  Highline did not let us down.  I ordered the Howie sandwich.  It’s a scrumptious bacon inspired club sandwich, only the bacon and ham here are vegan.  Our pleasant server, Lance, reminded us that they also serve brunch.

Clark’s ambition to replace the negative place that was once there seems to have come true.  He wants to serve vegan food to the community, but mostly he wants the Highline to be a Capitol Hill bar to hang out and have a good time.  It opened on Thursday and the crowd tonight is exuberant and lively.  A group of about twenty people celebrated their friend’s birthday.  You would never know this bar had only been open a few days. 

The space is roomy.  Inside the bar, there is one of those photo booths where sweeties can take pictures of themselves smooching.  I could hear the classic sounds of air hockey playing in another section.  There is seating on the balcony that overlooks Broadway with sliding doors that will allow for pleasant summer breezes.  However, on this cool evening they are shut. 

As for the Lamborghini, well that is gone.  Clark cut it down and dismantled some of it.  He gave it to a friend who plans to use the frame for a bike-art project.  Maybe we will see it soon at Fremont Solstice.  The memory of the tilting Lamborghini will fade fast as crowds visit a new spot high above Broadway, the Highline. 

The Highline is located at 210 Broadway E. Yes, above the Castle Super Store.

It’s a challenge for many low-income communities and non-profit service providers to afford the architecture and urban planning services necessary for most any real estate development project.  That’s where Capitol Hill’s Environmental Works comes in.  In 2010, the non-profit organization is celebrating its 40th anniversary of providing affordable architecture and planning services to some of the Seattle region’s neediest populations.

The festivities kicked off on April 22, also the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, right in front of EW’s home at the converted firehouse on 15th Avenue East.  “We held an outdoor event, kind of an architectural lemonade stand,” said executive director Daniel Glenn.  “We wanted to let people know we’re here and what we do.”  Glenn estimated that approximately 100 people attended the event.  Commemoration of the organization’s four decades of service will continue through the year with a traveling exhibit showcasing its work.  The exhibit will circulate through Seattle community centers, libraries, and possibly City Hall.

EW was formed 40 years ago by UW professor Bob Small and students in response to urban renewal programs taking hold across the nation.  These controversial initiatives aimed to improve the quality of life in urban areas through the dubious practice of bulldozing and rebuilding entire neighborhoods.  At that time, several similar community design centers were established in architecture and urban planning programs at universities nationwide.  As EW evolved, it moved in a different direction from other community design centers nationally in that it began operating primarily as an architectural design studio.

The organization soon took root in Capitol Hill at the firehouse, which it renovated, initially sharing the building with affordable housing developer Capitol Hill Housing and Country Doctor  community health center.  While the other two have since relocated in the neighborhood, the three still share ownership of the firehouse.

EW specializes in designing spaces for clients that typically cannot afford other firms’ services.  Since 1970, EW has carved out its own unique niche in designing affordable housing, childcare centers, and community centers, and its portfolio also includes some single-family houses.  “Our clients really are our life blood,” said Glenn, who joined the organization a year-and-a-half ago after a stint at another community design center affiliated with Arizona State University.  In addition to its direct architectural design work, EW helped write the Washington State guidelines for the design of childcare centers. 

EW is an expert in sustainable design, and its primary green strategies include conserving resources, designing healthy interior environments, and carefully adapting buildings to their sites’ natural and cultural conditions.  The organization’s Trugott Terrace project in Belltown is the first affordable housing development in the country to earn LEED certification, a designation that recognizes the use of sustainable building practices.  Other recent projects include the design of a childcare center in Wallingford and two community centers for the Neighborhood House organization in High Point and Rainier Vista.

Going green while serving primarily low-income clients has proven to be complex.  “It is a serious challenge to do green buildings on a tighter budget,” Glenn said.  However, he does see signs of hope.  “With the Obama administration, there’s been more funding available for green strategies in affordable housing and for facilities serving lower-income people,” he said.

In fact, he said that EW is doing particularly well despite the ripple effects of the economic downturn on architecture firms.  “We have a true advantage in competing against some of the more recognized firms in that we have certain expertise in affordable housing, community facilities, and childcare,” Glenn said.  The firm has added five new staff members in just the past year.

A major initiative for the organization in the year ahead will be to encourage the reinstatement of the Community Facilities Architectural Assistance Program, which enabled the organization to provide free design services to community organizations.  Funding for the program was cut three years ago.  Glenn hopes to demonstrate to Seattle city officials that this initiative was a good investment for city dollars.  Over a nine-year period, he said, a $1.5 million investment in feasibility studies has leveraged more than $32 million dollars in non-city funds for capital improvements.

Glenn also seeks to expand EW’s fundraising strategy to attract more individual donations and foundation grants.  Most of EW’s funding currently comes from fee-for-service work for clients.  Additional funding would allow the organization to expand its work in advocacy, research and education, and free design services.

Turns out MOHAI has produced some pretty cool videos about the history of Seattle including this piece on the statue in Volunteer Park. Who is that stationary man, anyhow? They bring to mind our CHS-V Snapshot series — currently on hiatus while cheesecake takes care of his real job. For more Emerald City history and pondering if Peder’s look will look more or less ridiculous 100 years from now, check out the rest of the MOHAI Minutes here.

A year ago, Capitol Hill nonprofit Home Alive was struggling and eventually made the hard choice to shut down its space to try to keep going as an advocacy group and trainers for women’s self-defense. This week, the group announced it was shutting its organization down with a celebration on June 12th to mark the group’s 17 years of work. Home Alive was created in 1993 following the rape and murder of local singer Mia Zapata.

Here’s the e-mail we received from organizers announcing the decision — and the party:

Dear Capitol Hill & Home Alive Community,

The members of Home Alive’s Board of Directors, together with the
instructor collective, have decided to close as a 501(c)(3) organization
and to lay the Home Alive program dormant. We are throwing a party to
celebrate and commemorate our 17 years in the community, as well as to
look forward together to the ways we can carry on the work and spirit of
Home Alive. We hope you will be able to attend!

When: Saturday, June 12, 2010

Where: Hidmo, 2000 S Jackson St
Time: 7pm-midnight
What: Live music, food, a collaborative expressive arts opportunity, free
stuff! Please contribute to our celebration by showing up, listening and
sharing stories or memories about Home Alive. There will be open mic time 
and we want to hear from you!
Who: YOU! Hidmo is ALL AGES until 11pm
(If you'd like to help out with the party, please contact us at the email
address below.)

As you may know, Home Alive closed our studio in the beginning of 2009 and
continued to operate at a very minimal capacity while we successfully paid
off our debt. On April 15, 2010, after weighing a variety of options over
the last several months, the instructors and board members of Home Alive

made the hard decision to discontinue operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
 While this means dissolving our assets, we intend to make as much of our
organization's amazing history and curriculum available as possible to the
community (mostly via our website, www.homealive.org).  A few instructors
will remain available on a limited basis for consultations and workshops.
They can be reached at [email protected].

The awesome work and movement-building that Home Alive has been a part of
for many years continues to grow, and you can continue to support it!
Check out local and national organizations like the Northwest Network,

Creative Interventions, For Crying Out Loud, Feminist Karate Union, Seven
Star Women's Kung Fu, Generation 5, Chaya, Queer and Trans Jailstoppers,
Break the Silence, Communities Against Rape and Abuse, and Incite! Women
of Color Against Violence, among others. Also, Home Alive will be leading
a workshop at the US Social Forum in Detroit in late June.

We’re incredibly grateful for the support you've given us over the years.

Thank you for being a part of the Home Alive community, and we look
forward to seeing you on June 12!

Zapata’s July 7, 1993 murder was a mystery until the arrest of Jesus Mezquia in 2003. He was sentenced to 34 years in prison for the crime, had the conviction overturned on a technicality, and was re-sentenced again in 2009.