SDOT is creating a bike route between downtown and Broadway via First Hill, hoping to fill a gap in the bicycle network and improve safety for people climbing the neighborhood’s steep grades. Meanwhile, Tuesday night’s Spoke & Food fundraiser includes a Capitol Hill destination among its 13 participating Seattle restaurants. 

Plans for the new route between Broadway and downtown will extend the Cherry St bike lane from 4th Ave to 7th, providing a way to safely pass under I-5. The route will then guide people north onto 7th, then east onto Marion, which was recently repaved. Both streets have relatively calm traffic, and there is a signalized crossing at Marion and Boren.

At Broadway, the route will direct people north on Boylston to existing facilities on Union. It is also fairly easy to get to 12th Ave and the Central District by taking E Columbia — which dead-ends into Swedish Medical Center — through Seattle U campus.

From the SDOT Blog:

A new bike lane was installed on Cherry Street last year from 1st Avenue to just east of 4th Avenue and SDOT had planned on extending the route to Broadway in 2011.  As staff began the design process for these proposed facilities, some potentially challenging conditions for cyclists on Cherry were recognized.  First, Cherry is steep!  Seattle is known for its steep hills, but Cherry may be too challenging for the average biker.  Second, crossing busy Boren Avenue at Cherry would be no walk in the park for cyclists either.  While the existing median island at this intersection provides space for pedestrian and bicycle crossings, there are no signals or stop signs on Boren Avenue.

SDOT staff began searching for an alternate route that provides similar connections with a less severe grade.  The perfect candidate was found just two blocks northwest of Cherry on Marion Street.  Marion handles far fewer vehicles than Cherry making this an attractive alternate route and the grade of the street, while still on an incline, is much less steep than Cherry.  In addition, the intersection of Marion and Boren is signalized so bicyclists will have a much easier time crossing this busy street.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s Spoke & Food event at Bellevue Ave E’s The Lookout will be one of many across the city offering bicyclists an opportunity to raise money for Seattle Tilth while enjoying food and drink:

The event asks people to bicycle to (and from) one of the “host” restaurants on the night of the event. This community event was launched last year as a way to influence the culture of Seattle, to show how easy and fun bicycling to and from dinner is and to raise money for a well-deserving Seattle area non-profit. A new non-profit beneficiary is selected each year. This year’s event will benefit the Children’s Garden Education program at Seattle Tilth where as last year’s event benefited the Lettuce Link program at Solid Ground.The funds raised for the non-profit are donated directly to the non-profit by each of the “host” restaurants who have agreed to give 20% of all the diner bills collected between 5:00pm and 10:00pm on Tuesday, June 28^th. In return of their gracious support, the Spoke & Food event will have only one host restaurant in each of the neighborhoods that are involved.

The Seattle City Council is picking up the Capitol Hill community’s torch in the process to shape the development of the property surrounding Broadway’s light rail station. Monday, Council president Richard Conlin and committee leader Sally Clark met with Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl to talk about a development agreement for the Broadway station area.

“We had a very successful meeting with Sound Transit today, and came to the agreement that we were ready to move forward with a development agreement process,” said Conlin of the Monday session.

The community priorities captured in the Capitol Hill Light Rail Stations Site Urban Design Framework would be part of the agreement process, Clark said.

“If negotiations go well, Sound Transit would sell its surplus properties at Broadway with strings attached, strings that make building shapes, densities and uses in line with the vision of the UDF,” wrote Clark in an e-mail response to CHS.

Those strings are planned to be defined by additions to the Seattle Land Use Code that would create a “development agreement” section of the already sprawling set of codes that guide development and construction in the city, Clark says.

We are waiting to hear back from Sound Transit about the meeting. UPDATE: Sound Transit sent us a brief statement on the process: “We look forward to continuing our partnership with the City to ensure the best possible development on our Capitol Hill property.”

Clark says she hopes to have the new code in place by the time the Council breaks for the budget process in September. Meanwhile, an agreement based on the newly shaped code addition will need to be pounded out with Sound Transit before the agency begins the process of selling the station property this winter. If all goes to plan, the agreement would be approved as legislation and by the Sound Transit Board by the beginning of 2012.

The initiative comes as some leaders of the development community have put out a call for the City Council to pass a resolution outlining principles of reform for the city’s Municipal Code — “especially the Land Use Code” — to make it “easier to use and apply.”

Regarding the Broadway station, we’ve included an overview of the community priorities from the UDF below. Our larger report on the document and priorities driven by the Capitol Hill Community Council and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce as well as organizations like Capitol Hill Housing can be found here.

• Development Guidance for Sites A: Vibrant ground floor retail or active service should front Broadway
• Development Guidance for Sites B: Provide affordable housing for a range of residents.
• Development Guidance for Sites C: Orient vibrant ground floor retail or active service along Broadway.
• Development Guidance for Site D: Provide affordable student housing and other uses affiliated with the College according to the needs of the college.

Here are some of the latest cases and incidents from the streets of the East Precinct. Thanks for the tips and notes. CHS can be reached 24×7 by mailing [email protected], via Twitter @jseattle or texting/calling (206) 399-5959.

• Tipster Richard sent in this picture of a SPD cruiser vs. Volvo collision near Lowell Elementary from Monday night. No injuries were reported but it looks like another SPD auto problem following the 12th Ave cop car vs. cop car crash and the car vs. pole crash downtown Saturday night. We haven’t yet talked with SPD about details on this apparently minor fender bender but we’ll ask. Speaking of SPD auto problems… UPDATE: Few details on the crash at this point but SPD confirms there were no significant injuries. Fire was called to the scene when a woman involved in the incident complained of feeling sick.
• We also got a tip from Seajake regarding another incident Monday night around 6 PM involving multiple police cars and Metro sheriff removing people from a bust on Pine at Summit. No confirmation from any of the involved agencies but Jake says the incident involved two women who were fighting on the bus. UPDATE: According to the report on the incident, the bus had to be stopped because two women began fighting on the Route 10 coach. The fight spilled out onto the street where both combatants were arrested for “unlawful bus conduct.”

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• In a reported street robbery reminiscent of a string of attacks last summer in which people walking home or to their cars after a night out were hit on the back of the head and mugged, a woman told police she was knocked unconscious and robbed last Thursday night as she walked on E Pine near Cal Anderson. The officer’s report on the incident notes that the woman did not have a head injury indicative of being struck from behind but did have abrasions on her abdomen and other injuries consistent with a fall:

On 06/23/2011 at 2324 hours, V/   called 911 from a payphone at 10   E
Pine St, to report she had been robbed about one hour ago.

I arrived along with SFD and contacted V/  , who was obviously
intoxicated and was very unstable while standing. V/   identified
herself as being in the military.

V/   could not remember details of the robbery other than walking to her
vehicle parked in the area of 10 Av and E Pine St when she was struck from
behind with a hard object and knocked unconscious. V/   stated the
suspect was possibly a male and had no other info about the suspect.
V/   stated she was walked around for awhile after regaining
consciousness, until she called 911 from the payphone. V/   stated her
keys, wallet, and cash were stolen from her. V/   stated she only drank
a little bit of alcohol. V/   had a bar stamp which said "families are
forever" on her right wrist.

V/   had a very small scratch to the left side of her forehead. V/
had an abrasion to her left elbow. V/   had two large abrasions on her
abdomen, one on the left rib cage and one on the right rib cage. Both
looked symmetrical. However, V/   did not have any injuries to her head
consistent with being struck by a hard object from behind. V/  's
clothing was mostly dry except her jeans were wet and dirty at the knees.
It had been raining for the past 30 minutes prior to V/   calling 911.
Additionally, she had two small holes in her right shirt sleeve. The holes
appeared to be puncture marks and not rips.

V/  stated her memory was vague and couldn't provide me with a lot of
basic information. V/   stated she was active duty Navy stationed on
the   at Bremerton. As of 2011, the  is homeported in
Everett, not Bremerton. V/   could only remember her vehicle as a white
Chrysler and pointed to it being parked around 11 Av and E Pine St.
V/   could not give me her unit name, commander's name, but stated her
supervisor was  . She could not tell me her current rank, but
believes it is either E-2 or E-3, and she has been in the Navy for 2 years.
V/   has a CA driver's license.

V/   was transported to HMC via AMR. V/   was given a business card and case number.
I contacted the staff at the   located at 10   E Pike St and
verified V/  's bar stamp came from them. I described V/   to the
staff. One of the staff remembered seeing a person (possibly V/  )
wearing a green sweatshirt with the letters UCSC on the front. UCSC may
stand for University California at Santa Cruz. V/   does have a CA
license. The staff member stated that person left   alone at
approximately 2300 hours, and there was no known issues involving that
person.

• Here is the official report on the Hugo House break-in we noted last week. Sounds like an extremely intoxicated person needed to make a phone call. Badly.

{ On 06-22-2011 I was working full uniformed patrol in a marked City of
Seattle Police car as 3-Chalrie-23.  At about 2358 hours I was dispatched
to 16   11 AV (  ) for a burglary in progress.  The caller
described the suspect as a W/M in his 20's with dark hair and a wearing a
gray shirt.

 Officers contacted the caller (  ) upon their arrival.
identified the building and stated the male inside was the same suspect he
had called about.    did not wish to be identified further.

 Upon my arrival, I saw one of the front doors of the building was open.
 The door's glass was broken out and there was broken glass, and soil,
making a trail inside the building.  There was also an empty planter lying
on its side on the steps in front of the door.
 Inside the building I saw a barefoot male (matching the given description)
seated with his feet up on a desk, talking on a corded phone.  I could also
hear an audible alarm sounding inside the building.
 The   supports local writers, but does not have any
live-in residents.  Also at the time of this incident the building was
closed to the public, as evident by the locked exterior and interior doors.
 The building also only had one interior (entry) light on inside.

 Officers contacted the suspect (later identified as   ,
DOB  -1982).  As Officers contacted  , dispatch advised that he
was on the phone with the 911 center.
    was detained in handcuffs, which were gauged for fit and double
locked.

 Officers checked the remaindered of the building and did not find any
further suspects.

• Finally, here’s a weird one (did he say now it gets weird?) from last Tuesday night involving a paid parking lot attendant and a dispute with a man who decided to exit the parking lot near Broadway and Union next to Gilda’s Club without waiting for the attendant to give him a “ticket” for not paying:

{  On 06/21/2011 at 2055 hours I was dispatched to Broadway Av and E Pine
St to investigate threats. C/   called 911 and reported that he
was a parking attendant in the   parking lot. 10 minutes prior he
was attempting to write a ticket when a driver moved a vehicle toward him.
He believes it was intentional. Vehicle left northbound.

C/   gave a license plate of   Wa. I responded to Broadway
 Av and E Pine St and contacted C/  . He told me he was writing a
parking citation to   Wa., which was parked in the
lot in the 15   blk of Broadway (east side of the street) for not paying.
The vehicle was parked against the northern wall, backed in. A male arrived
at the car, later identified as S/  , and confronted C/   .
S/   asked C/   what he was doing. C/   explained
that he was writing a ticket for not paying. S/   said it was free
parking. C/   tried to explain that it was not. S/   told
C/   to "do what ever" he "needed to do."  S/   then got
into the car. C/   continued to write the ticket. S/
then got back out of the car and approached C/   and looked
"angry" and tried to grab the ticket book out of C/   hand, but
was unsuccessful. C/   stepped back and held his ticket book
closely while getting his phone out to call 911.  S/   then got
back into the car. C/   was standing in front of the car after
 having backed away from S/  . S/   started up the car and
drove towards C/  . C/   said he had to run away and ran
next to a truck parked in an adjacent stall because he thought S/
might hit him. C/  believes S/   either heard or
realized he was calling 911 and turned to exit out of the parking lot and
northbound on Broadway Av.  C/   described S/   as a W/M/

early 20's 6-2 230-240 lbs wearing a long sleeve shirt, possibly a dark
gray.

Radio had updated the suspects vehicle license plate and registered owners
address at 17   E Madison St  . 3E, Sgt. Dietrich, responded to the
address and located the vehicle, unoccupied, in the parking garage. Moments
later a male, S/  , approached the vehicle. 3E contacted him.
S/   said he was at a   earlier, but did not remember
anything notable happening. Sgt. Dietrich then asked S/   if he had
 ID he could see. S/   said he did not and began walking away from
Sgt. Dietrich. Sgt. Dietrich told him he was not leaving and to come back.
S/   continued walking away said he was going upstairs. Sgt.
Dietrich then had to physically escort S/   to the patrol car.
S/   remained elusive to questions about the incident.

I then transported C/   to 17   E Madison St for a show up.
C/   said he would be able to identify the suspect if seen again.
C/   positively identified S/  .  I contacted S/
about the incident and asked him what happened. He said he had nothing to
say. While I informed S/   that his behavior was unreasonable
during the incident, he occasionally laughed and appeared to think the
incident was funny. S/   was elusive and unwilling to take
responsibility for the incident. He was issued the parking citation from
earlier and advised he was free to go.

The results of Seattle Central’s budget crunch-inspired cutbacks have been known to students for a couple weeks now but we haven’t documented the roster of changes here on CHS since reporting on the fiscal process at the start of the month. SCCC’s administration has been searching for some $2 million in cuts to join another $2 million in reductions the school had already decided on. Below are the programs impacted by the slices. Cut back will be the school’s Apparel Design program. Eliminated in whole: Film and Video and Publishing Arts, a program that trained students in skills involving printed and bound paper. Also to be eliminated: the school’s interpreter training program.

In the statement announcing the decisions, the SCCC administration said the cuts are the product of reduced funding for higher education:

These decisions have been reached after great deliberation. The decisions have been painful to make and they will be painful to live with. We are losing dedicated faculty and staff. And we have scaled back or eliminated important community services.  Our state voters and our Legislature have drastically reduced funding to higher education in our state. We are seeing the consequences.  

The school also announced it is making across the board 5% cuts in all “instructional divisions.” Eliminated programs, the announcement said, will be subject to a union “teach out” agreement meaning SCCC will support the programs until enrolled full-time students complete their coursework. In the meantime, the cut programs will be funded out of the college’s reserves.

Here are the programs cut, cut back and kept intact:

Apparel Design: This program will be fiscally restructured to include the hiring/conversion of one full-time faculty position and the elimination of some part-time faculty positions. In addition, we are suspending major purchases in the Apparel Design program and intend to increase student completion through curriculum review.  

Film & Video: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out.   

Publishing Arts: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out

School of Opticianry:  Effective Summer Quarter 2012, this program, as well as the Opticianry store-front, will be removed from state-support/tuition support and placed on tuition and fee support alone (i.e., self-support).  

Interpreter Training Program: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out.  We will continue to offer American Sign Language. The college is pursuing a partnership with Western Oregon University on a possible two plus two transfer program for Interpreter Training which may include an online degree option.   

Parent Education Program: The college will maintain the nine sites that offer parent education courses, but reduce the number of state-funded/tuition based sections. 

Information Center: The college will close the Information Center. An automated voice menu system will be used to handle incoming calls.   

Basic Skills: The college will reduce the number of sections offered by five percent — the same percentage for all other instructional divisions.  

Distance Learning: To increase revenue, the staff within the program will be restructured to stimulate growth in credit and non-credit distance and eLearning courses. An instructional associate dean will be hired to lead this effort, with the expectation that increased enrollment and revenue will offset the expense.  

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The person arrested during this weekend’s vandalism on Capitol Hill is a transgender anarchist and activist best known for smashing windows at the Democratic party headquarters in Denver in a summer 2009 attack, CHS has learned. Maurice Schwenkler, 25, was booked into jail early Sunday morning after being arrested as police busted up a march on Broadway that also resulted in broken windows at businesses along the crowd’s route and attacks on police cruisers. Schwenkler, who goes by the name Ariel Attack, was booked for pedestrian interference but has not yet been charged with a crime.

CHS has confirmed Schwenkler’s identity by comparing Seattle and Denver court records for the 25-year-old.

More on Schwenkler from the Denver Post

Schwenkler pleaded guilty in the 2009 Denver case and was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. Anarchist groups raised funds to help cover the penalty and Schwenkler’s legal bills.

According to a spokesperson for the Seattle City Attorney’s office, charges in the case could take weeks as police gather evidence and prosecutors weigh their case against Schwenkler.

The Saturday night/Sunday morning melee started as a gathering billed as “a roving dance party in the streets.” Participants report a situation that quickly turned hostile and destructive as some people in the crowd of 100+ participants began attacking police cars and attempting to break windows. Two businesses suffered broken glass, an ATM was smashed and two patrol cars were damaged. SPD called the situation a “mob” in its report on the incident.

Schwenkler’s arrest was the only one reported by police in direct connection with the incident. No significant injuries were reported though SPD did say one officer suffered a minor shoulder injury. A police officer responding to the East Precinct from downtown as the situation escalated was also injured when his car smashed into a utility pole downtown as he rushed to assist.