A “blast ball” detonated on Pine as police pushed May Day protesters back to Capitol Hill. Thanks to Jen for the image.
UPDATE: Following a peaceful start to the day as thousands marched for immigrant and worker rights, police and May Day protesters tangled downtown and then back up the Hill as crowd control tactics including pepper spray and flash grenades pushed hundreds of people back into the neighborhood tonight. The push came as protesters — who had gathered tonight at Broadway and Pine before marching downtown — fought back as police attempted to clear crowds from the downtown area of the 2012 May Day riots. On the Hill, windows were reportedly broken out at several Capitol Hill businesses including Bill’s Off Broadway, Sun Liquor and Walgreen’s. More than a dozen people have been arrested including individuals in the groups that turned over garbage cans, through bottles and objects at police and briefly ran riot through the streets of Capitol Hill around 8 PM before disappearing into the night. Meanwhile, as of 10:15 PM, the streets around the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine remained blocked by police in riot gear. UPDATE x2: Police say 18 17 people have been arrested and eight officers were injured responding to the protests. Meanwhile, the streets around East Precinct have been reopened to traffic.
Original Report: May Day 2012, for all the concerns over broken windows and clashes with police downtown, was a relatively quiet affair on Capitol Hill. Doing what we can to not add to the media hype but also provide information on this year’s happenings, we’re posting this open thread to update through the day and night as events warrant. Best case scenario: there’s nothing to report beyond a maypole dance. If you see one, let us know. You can always email us at [email protected] or call/txt (206) 399-5959.
- Seattle Police prepared for May Day 2013 protest on Capitol Hill: The yearly “anti-capitalist” May Day march begins at Broadway and Pine at 6 PM with renewed attention from police.
- Street closures: On Capitol Hill, East Precinct is prepared to close off streets near the 12th/Pine headquarters if needed.
- [mappress mapid=”59″]Annual May Day March for Workers and Immigrant Rights starts near Judkins Park: Our sister site Central District News will cover the rally and march as thousands gather to support immigration reform. Rally begins at 1 PM with march to downtown following at 2:30.
(Image: CDNews)
- SPD on May Day 2013: Officials have issued this statement on “what to expect” from SPD during today’s events:
“You will, however, certainly see a large number of uniformed officers around tomorrow’s rallies. They’re there to ensure you’re able to freely and safely exercise your First Amendment rights, direct traffic around the marches, and to prevent or respond to any unlawful behavior.”
- Buses and transportation: Metro is advising of expected service disruptions downtown for the planned march that will arrive in the area around 4:30 PM. The agency also reminds commuters to be prepared for changing conditions:
… due to many factors, schedule or service disruptions in one area can cause delays in other areas. With safety as its primary concern, Metro makes every effort to operate service according to regular routes and schedules. Routes and schedules anywhere in Metro’s service area may be affected based on situations beyond Metro’s control.
- Suspicious item: East Precinct officers shut down the area around E Garfield and E Madison this morning following a report of a suspicious item. The item was determined to be harmless, according to police.
- Twitter updates: Follow @jseattle for CHS updates and @SeattlePD for more from Seattle Police as the day unfolds.
- Rocks confiscated — 3:35 PM: Via Twitter, SPD said it had collected rocks found in two places in the city — including an East Precinct location: “Rocks were taken from two locations in E/W precincts to ensure they weren’t misused. May have been placed @ locations earlier.” Police said that a “concerned witness” called to report seeing somebody place the rocks.
- Q13: Local businesses worry about being May Day targets — 4:12 PM: “The owner of Domino’s on Broadway says he will be ready to videotape threats or attacks on his business.”
- Bark fire — 4:24 PM: Seattle Fire says the engine response to Bellevue between Pike and Union around 4 PM was for a “bark fire.” Apparently the landscaping material sometimes ends up smoldering — often due to “improperly discarded smoking materials.”
- Downtown reports — 4:55 PM: Reports from Central District News and media at the scene, this year’s march appears larger than 2012. It has also been mostly peaceful with a few incidents involving shenanigans from protesters dressed as clowns along the way. There are no reports of serious property damage or arrests at this time. The Fifth Avenue Seattle news blog is also covering the march.
- Capitol Hill transportation — 4:56 PM: If you need to travel across the Hill tonight, get moving. As the crowds shift downtown and some head up the Hill for the 6 PM rally and march beginning at Broadway/Pine, there could be traffic disruptions in the busy transit corridor. It’s a good night for a walk or a bike ride.
- Rally and march — 6:40 PM: After what can only be described as a festive gathering as the groups came together with free pizza, music — and a few threatening, anti-police signs — marchers took to the street heading north on Broadway with a phalanx of bike police trailing.
- Toward East Precinct — 6:50 PM: Streets around East Precinct at 12th and Pine are now being closed.
- The march — 7:21 PM: The large group of marchers proceeded to march up Broadway and circle through PIke/Pine before headed down Hill and, perhaps surprisingly to police who had barricaded East Precinct, toward downtown. There is only one report of significant property damage at this time. Police say a window of Sun Liquor on E Pike was broken during the march. Also, SPD had to intervene as one group of protesters turned on the gathering of Seattle “superheroes” who have received a great deal of media coverage for their show of support for police.
- Downtown damage — 7:28 PM: Police say that some protesters are now throwing “metal bars” at windows of downtown businesses damaged during the 2012 protests.
- Downtown arrests, pepper spray — 8:03 PM: Police and protesters have clashed downtown near 5th and Olive. Reports from the scene say pepper spray was used after protesters attempted to block arrests. Accounts also detail the use of flash grenades and fireworks. Police, via Twitter, say the command has been given for protesters to clear the streets. Police have confirmed they are using flash devices to attempt to disperse the crowd. You can watch live coverage of the downtown situation via KIRO 7 here.
- Meanwhile, at Sun Liquor — 8:10 PM: Life goes on.
- Clash on Capitol Hill — 9:15 PM: For the past 30 minutes, a hundred or more stragglers from the downtown protests made their way back up Capitol Hill, leaving dumped garbage cans, overturned newspaper boxes and broken glass in their wake. Windows and the glass door of the Walgreens at Pine and Broadway were smashed by rocks and at least one brick as protesters yelled at the approaching police. As officers arrived and locked down Pine, the group moved north on Broadway before being stopped by another line of bike police. From there, the group gathered and milled about Cal Anderson. At just before 9:20, a group was reported headed toward the East Precinct at 12th and Pine. As of 9 PM, 11 adults and 2 juveniles have been arrested. SPD reports that one officer has been injured. We have one report of a person arrested with a hammer in Cal Anderson.
This person grabbed a bat to fend off vandals at Broadway and Pine (Images: CHS)
- Flash bang on Pine — 10:03 PM: Here’s an account from reader Jen who caught this image as protesters scrambled back up Capitol Hill earlier in the night: “I happened to walk into Lil’ Woody’s to grab some dinner RIGHT as the May Day protesters started walking up Pike. I got a picture of one of the blast balls going off, it looked like it blew the car’s front headlight off. Then after the group of people was what seemed like an even larger group of police vehicles, including ~8 huge black SUVs full of police officers with giant guns.”
- Woman injured by thrown bottle — 10:10 PM: Police are investigating an assault on a woman as protesters ascended Pine returning from downtown earlier this evening. According to radio dispatches, the woman was injured near Melrose and Pine when one of the protesters threw a bottle to break the woman’s car window and hit her in the hand. Meanwhile, The Stranger says that Bill’s Off Broadway also suffered broken windows. Police continue to collect evidence and look for suspects in the areas of tonight’s damage.
- Back to normal? — 10:40 PM: Metro just announced all lines are back on normal routes and streets are open.
- Video of Walgreens incident — 11:50 PM: Chris Davis sent us his video of the moments around when vandals began breaking glass at the Pine/Broadway Walgreens. Jump to the 6:30 mark for the point when the rocks and brick went flying.
- Arrest in Cal Anderson — 12:07 AM: From earlier, @timdurkan shared this photo of a female being arrested in Cal Anderson: “professing ‘I didn’t do what ever it is they say I did’ a protester is arrested”
- Thursday, May 2 — 7:25 AM: Seattle Police have posted this account of the May Day 2013 incidents:
Everything That Happened on May Day 2013
Written by Sergeant Sean Whitcomb on
With the exception of a few minor scuffles between clowns and our local superheroes, the 13th Annual May Day March for Worker and Immigrant Rights was a complete success and went off without a hitch.
But two hours after that march ended, at about 6 pm, another group of demonstrators smashed windows, hurled rocks at officers and bystanders, souring an otherwise peaceful day.
Earlier in the day, police throughout downtown provided traffic control and security as thousands of people celebrated their First Amendment rights during the May Day March for Worker and Immigrant Rights.
Police were prepared to provide the same level of public safety service for a 6 o’clock demonstration, that began at Seattle Central Community College. The Capitol Hill march was unpermitted, and demonstrators did not provide the city with any information about which route the march would take through the city. According to a flyer, this march was advertised as the Anti-Capitalist/Anti-State May Day 2013 Rally and March.
Even without a permit, police worked to assist demonstrators as they marched down Broadway, providing traffic control.
The behavior of the group during the evening demonstration steadily escalated into violence. Just after 7 p.m., protestors began spraying the costumed Rain City Superheroes with silly string. Shortly after that, the window at Sun Liquor was smashed.
The march then wound its way downtown on Pike Street towards the Downtown Retail Core, where demonstrators began shoving and attacking reporters as they provided live on-air reports from the event.
Shortly after that, demonstrators ignited a smoke device, spewing orange pinkish smoke throughout the block.
After demonstrators began damaging property, throwing fireworks and rocks at officers, police formed a tactical line to prevent the marchers from moving any further into the retail core or on to the Interstate on-ramps.
After demonstrators began throwing metal rods and full water bottles at officers and business windows, officers moved in and made arrests.
When officers arrested several protesters and began loading them into transport vans, demonstrators surrounded the officers and prevented the vehicles from leaving.
Some demonstrators then began to throw large rocks and pieces of asphalt at officers.
In the interest of safety, police commanders issued clear orders to the crowd to disperse. The order was repeated three times.
Meanwhile, some demonstrators continued to hurl rocks, bottles, fireworks and a skateboard at officers.
Officers chose to deploy oleoresin capsicum, better known as OC pepper spray, to move the crowd.
It should be noted that all officers equipped with OC spray must be pepper sprayed during training before they are able to use OC in the field.
Officers gave demonstrators numerous opportunities to leave as police worked to clear downtown streets. However, a large group of demonstrators moved up Olive Way. Officers followed them using pepper spray and blast balls to keep the crowd moving.
Officers endured a barrage of rocks and bottles throughout the melee until the crowd finally did disperse around 9 p.m.
In all, 17 people were arrested for various offenses including property destruction and assault.
Eight officers sustained injuries, mostly bumps and bruises with the exception of one female officer who was struck in the knee by a fist sized rock.
A woman driving by the scene of one of the protests was injured when a protester hurled a glass bottle at her car, shattering her window. The woman sustained cuts from broken glass and was treated at the scene by medics.
Reports indicate limited damage to cars and business around the demonstration route. A complete tally of damage will be forthcoming.
The department will form a task force to investigate all criminal activity that occurred during the evening demonstration. Anyone with pictures or video clips is asked to save them.
The department will thoroughly review all force used by officers, per department policy.
- Echoes of WTO — 7:27 AM: While it was nowhere near the scale of the WTO riots in Seattle, the tactic of pushing crowds back up Capitol Hill from the downtown core on May Day 2013 also was put into motion in 1999. Here’s the CHS report on the 10-year anniversary of the WTO clashes between police and protesters and the scenes that played out on Capitol Hill.
- A quiet overnight? — 7:32 AM: It seems like East Precinct and Capitol Hill had a quiet overnight. We’re checking for any reports of newly discovered damage.
- Charges — 11 AM: The City Attorney has released details of charges of obstruction, resisting, property damage, and failure to disperse brought against six of the 17 people arrested during the May Day incidents downtown and on Capitol Hill.
City files May Day misdemeanor charges
The City Attorney’s Office on Thursday charged six individuals who were arrested in downtown Seattle and held overnight in the King County Jail. Three others who were arrested posted bail overnight and will be considered for charges at a later time.
1) Sebastian Harris, 5/22/91, obstruction of an officer and resisting arrest, at 8th and Howell
2) Gregory Husted, 4/17/91, obstruction of an officer and resisting arrest, at 400 block of Olive
3) Bryanna Stader, 6/3/85, obstruction of an officer, at 6th and Olive
4) Paul Novasky, 5/19/68, obstruction of an officer, failure to disperse and resisting arrest, at 9th and Pine
5) Justin Gonzalez, 9/21/87, obstructing of an officer, at 8th and Pine
6) Devin Bahm, 12/30/92, property damage and obstruction of an officer, at Boylston and Pine
Resisting arrest is a simple misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Obstruction of an officer, property damage and failure to disperse are gross misdemeanors, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
BTW, if there are any questions or things you want us to look into, let me know. Our contacts list is ready to help :)
Round the Maypole dances Miss Prizm
Unaware of its phallic symbolism
(you can make it rhyme if you work at ti)
Uh-uh, nope — This “protest” lost all veracity and any/all sympathy when business windows were broken. Destroying that which they did not build. Idiots did precisely as the police expected. I hope they throw all of your keisters in jail now.
The idiocy of saying “the protestors” broke those windows is akin to saying “the shoppers” stole a DVD from a store. How many people were down there, and the hated SPD treated them all like criminals. The town deserves a better class of cop.
Note a change in attitude towards SPD, the majority of the upstanding and law abiding in this city are tired of the brow beating. They TOOK IT BACK tonight, this is my city and I will NOT support lawlessness. Thanks Seattle Police. Excellent job this evening. Bring it!
Seriously, destroying our neighborhood–breaking windows at our local businesses–what does this prove? Who does this help. I hope the cops round up a whole bunch of people. As for those I saw cheering the destruction in the streets or adding to the mayhem, GROW UP
The abuses of capitalism are absolutely worth protesting, especially given everything that led up to the 2008 crash and the recession that followed. But vandalism sets the cause back.
Violent, anti-American, anti-capitalist May Day protesters are simply “focusing attention” on “workers issues.”
Hasn’t pink mohawk guy graduated from SCCC yet?
I don’t think “pink mohawk guy” goes to community college anymore, and I think many of him in this community (myself included) can identify him by name. He talks about this kind of destruction like it’s a very positive thing, so I can’t say I felt too bad seeing the pictures. So many of these destructive people have no consequences whatsoever for the destruction and crimes they commit. I think he got off easy.
Seriously?! Bills off Broadway? Why the hell would you smash their windows? God I hate these people.
A friend of ours had his tires slashed while he was delivering some Indian food. We went down to their restaurant before closing to hang out and watch the news with the mom (tiny, family-run place) as her son was still stuck out there in a cordoned off area. I was so angry but the mom just quietly sighed and said, “I hope those people can find answers for the problems they seem to have.” She has far more forgiveness in her than me. I just do not get the point they’re trying to make by harming small, independent businesses. At least the Immigrants Rights March that happened earlier in the day was fantastic.
From Seattle to Oakland, we aint jokin
From Cairo to Greece, FUCK THA POLICE
Seriously, another fail by SPD. Expect 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars in civil suit sttlements.
Wow. That was embarrassing. I mean everything after 6:00pm. Everything before that was awesome.
Well, so just you know the cops did not start out friendly when protesters started out friendly…..they were the suspicious one who was scared and can only hide under their weapons. These aren’t polices, they are mafias who oppress whoever is in the way
Why would you bring your baby to this protest?
Imagine the worst parody of an anarchist rally that SPD could ever deploy to kill the movement’s credibility and you’d have just about what you got tonight. Great job kids, keep up the good work, have some more booze, hope your parents keep paying your rent and tuition.
Yes, those who peacefully protested are a credit to themselves. As to the people claiming the cops were just out looking for trouble, it was announced that the anarchists wanted violence. The cops didn’t start with flash bangs or other tools until they started to be assaulted with rocks, fireworks, concrete, and iron bars. Even so, their methods (the flash bangs) create mainly noise and light and had a little pepper so some people had to endure the pepper spray. As far as was reported no protesters were injured, eight cops were, and many businesses had property destroyed (and will probably have to raise prices to pay for the damage–harming the people who go there, not “the man”). And yes, most of the comments from the other side here are just name calling or swearing. I’d be happy to listen to intelligent discourse.
I’m sympathetic to peaceful protesting, but I’m tired of this violence. I really hope that the people who threw rocks get charged for felony assault and locked away.
You don’t see Seattle residents going down to Eugene and smashing up your town. Midterms must be coming up, mom and dad won’t be happy with what their tuition money is buying when they find out you were up here instead of studying.
Living in a society that welcomes free speech must have a certain amount of tolerance for, well, the bottom 1%. As reprehensible as the actions are, in the grand scheme of things nobody was seriously hurt, thus a small price to pay to live in a free society. (I’m not sure those who have to replace windows would agree however)
That said… just a bunch of petulant little children.
Right?
Love the cute zombie boy carrying the Seattle Weekly box …as if they are the ENEMY! lol, and Bill’s On Broadway, oh yeah, one of the worst of the Capitalist Exploiters, haha.
Too bad these clueless morons are distracting attention from a completely legitimate protest against our unfettered robber barons; i.e, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs…
…not to mention, how these idiots are overshadowing real concerns about exploitive employers like McDonald’s & Walmart.
because you built those businesses right?
Ugh. This is so humiliating for the city of Seattle. What was the point of staying out past the organized, peaceful protests if not to stir up an angry mob, taunt police, and destroy property? I am very thankful to the SPD for being on top of this and taking the necessary steps to not allow it to become the absolute shitshow it was last year. Still, the reports of property destruction, vandalism, violence, and trashing the streets reflect so poorly on this amazing city. Very sad.
And thank you to all of those on the hill who went out last night to help clean up te streets.
That’s what I say too!!!
What these angry losers don’t seem to understand is that their lawlessness and property destruction is counterproductive to what they supposedly are “protesting.” Do they care? Probably not. I fervently hope that at least some of those arrested will be prosecuted and get some jail time.
I’m concerned that this might become an annual event in Seattle for the foreseeable future, and that makes me damn angry.
As a Hill resident, I just want to add my voice to the chorus of those decrying the violence from last night: so senseless and, frankly, lazy. I don’t see anything that would suggest SPD acted inappropriately in dealing with them (certainly that’s happened in the past, but it looks like some lessons have been learned). Creation is vastly more complex and demanding than destruction; breaking windows and trashing a neighborhood has zero meaning behind it. What exactly are these people “for”?
I’m sure the tax dollars that had to go to cover overtime pay, cleanup, and whatever else yesterday and last night could be much better spent on a hundred other priorities.
Why don’t they go “protest” in Bellevue where it might mean something?
Hear! Hear!!
Why don’t they trash Bellevue? Probably because Mommy and Daddy live there and they don’t want to endanger their stream of income.
I’m not sure what the privileged kids are mad about. Did the price of skinny jeans go up?
Once again our city’s leadership (Mayor McGin, the worst mayor ever) and our police prove that they are completely inept. Our media too. Were it not for the huge media presence covering essentially a group of rich white kids with daddy issues none of the violence would have happened. Why on earth would the idiot police have pushed this crowd back up into the most densely populated neighborhood in the State when they could and should have been able to easily contain them in the downtown area?!
How is it that we have one of the highest paid police forces in the nation and also the most inept and incompetent police officers in the nation. We aren’t the only city with anarchist but we are the only one that the rest of the nation is laughing at today.
Let’s get rid of McGinn and then fire the entire leadership of SPD. As for the media, cover things that are actually happening. Don’t sit around and wait for things to happen. Had the media not been there in such force yesterday this probably wouldn’t have happened.
We’ve been failed again by our mayor and by our police.
I’m angry that small businesses like Bill’s have to incur all kinds of expenses to fix the damage. For what? I don’t understand.
It should go without saying any remaining tolerance and good will the community had left for BS like this is gone now. That was incredibly ugly, and I’m not talking about the SPD. But then again the organized “anarchists” hate lefties and want nothing to do with us either. Good luck with that! Great May Day though, until the narcissists took to the streets.
Or… Just breaking things like easily-amused babies, under the guise of “social comment”.
They didn’t trash Bellevue because that long bus ride over there would harsh their buzz, man.
ILCH asked, “Why on earth would the idiot police have pushed this crowd back up into the most densely populated neighborhood in the State when they could and should have been able to easily contain them in the downtown area?”
Because the Downtown Seattle Association gets what it wants. Money talks. The big businesses downtown received an enormously disproportionate share of public resources yesterday. Police officers were stationed every 20 yards around the retailers near 7th and Pike/Pine when I walked by around 8:45 yesterday evening. Niketown was ringed in police barricades. Small businesses on Capitol Hill, however, were left largely to fend for themselves when police threw water on a fire, then squeegeed the burning mess up the hill into our neighborhood.
Seriously. I was actually kicked out of Westlake mall for taking pictures from their balcony of the media and police twiddling their thumbs during my lunch break. Our police department needs a serious leadership enema.
So you have hundreds of cops, hundreds of “journalists” following a smallish group of insignificant thugs look for a reason to start something. Eventually something bad will happen. And it did. Anyone with a high school diploma would know that if you give these idiots an audience they will perform. And apparently every other city has figured this out except Seattle. Other cities have anarchists too, none of them have the incompetent police and mayor we do apparently though.
And the media. Don’t even get me started. The TV media instigated this. Period.
grease fire, that is
This is an old police tactic: Agressively push protesters away from high value part of town, then pull back uniformed officers a bit and maybe instegate some property destruction. In a few minutes a photo op of kids smashing windows is created and beamed around the world to eclipse the 99% of the demonstration that was peaceful.
Watch the videos, you can see the DT precict stopped at Linda’s. The CH precict was nowhere to be seen.
Enjoy your civil lawsuits Seattle!
And blaming “police tactics” as the cause of entirely unjustified property destruction and narcissistic dick-waving by way of airborne public property is an old “anarchist” tactic to plant FUD in the minds of skeptical leftists.
It’s not working. No one but your tiny little daisychain of sycophantic pals believes your “action” was anything but pointless noise. At least own up to the fact that you’re running around with a bunch of trust-funded slacker college kids with an abundance of privilege and an absence of intelligence, forethought, strategic cognizance, or useful purpose.
Word. Though I think the cops could have better leadership and could have robbed these trust fund kids of their opportunity for an audience.
Implying you ever do anything meaningful.
Well, lifeguard, if it’s such a time-worn tactic, why do these peace-loving, altruistic “protestors” fall for it?
Simple– because they’re not really protesting much of anything, they’re just looking for an excuse to smash windows and throw temper tantrums like the babies that they are.
To the gentleman with the bat outside of Walgreens, good for you. This city and neighborhood needs to stand up to this trash that vandalizes our neighborhood. Time to fight back against the impotent and worthless protesters.
Hell no! Keep that mess west of the lake..
Yes, I am so tired of senseless violent protesters in my hood. I’ll protest that with my bat next year.
Is anybody concerned that some of the people that perpetuated this violence took refuge at Black Coffee Co-op? Are we concerned that a “local” business is harboring these people? What about the owner of the building, Ron Amundson? Does he support anarchist street violence? He allowed anarchists to create a shelter in his building, so it makes me wonder.
[…] CHS reported the use of blast balls and pepper spray by police as groups reformed along Pine as they were removed from downtown following an unauthorized march that started earlier that night at Broadway and Pine. Some in the crowd ascending from downtown vandalized local businesses, busting windows and emptying waste bins into the streets as the police presence transitioned back onto Capitol Hill behind them. For CHS coverage of the night’s incidents following a mostly peaceful May Day afternoon, see our Capitol Hill May Day 2013 open thread. […]
A.J. — I don’t know if anyone is still following this, but I live near there and am very concerned about any role they may have played and their role in bringing more trouble to the neighborhood just in general. I am investigating what can be done about businesses that are not good neighbors and may write letters to their landlord or take other actions like that. I hope I am not alone, but I am also hesitant because a certain percentage of the people that support that cause and/or go there are part of a criminal element (and for people who want to start namecalling me–breaking windows is a criminal action, as is throwing things at cops, as is selling drugs on the street–which I have seen some of their patrons doing) and so I don’t want to be targeted. I think concerned people should do something to address this—and if the owners (or whatever they want to call themselves) of Black Coffee want to address the problem themselves, so much the better. I have no problem with people having different viewpoints. I just don’t want it bringing down my neighborhood. (And attention namecallers, I am not some yuppie–I am actually a low-income person who has lived in the neighborhood for years before the influx of the condo people.)
I’m late for this one, but I’m with you all the way. Thank you for posting.
You certainly are not alone. Those of us that live in the vicinity of Black Coffee do know that they, and especially many of their clientele, are not good neighbors. As a property owner & neighborhood resident, I’m well aware that crime, drugs, and graffiti are on the uptick since Travelers moved out and BC moved in. I appreciate the SPD for keeping an eye on this place and have also contacted the building owner.
Thank you David, and thank you to the person who posted the name of the building owner. I was at the library trying to get that info the other day and realized I need a street address first.
I watched everything that happened on 8th and Pine, the SPD did a fantastic job, and treated everyone with respect and care. I hope the idiots who were breaking everything get locked up for the full year.
Ian Finkenbinder, but this comment will be deleted for naming him. Interestingly if you search the net he bounces from one cult to another. He was supposedly a military translator helping to pursue the murder enof civilians in Iraq, then a don’t ask, don’t tell opponent chaining himself to the white house gate, then some sort of internet personality for risque fashion shows, then an Occupy Seattle spokesperson, then an Anarchist, now a unicorn anarchist, whaterver that is, bent on spitting on cops whenever someone else with a worthy cause produces a moving protest. Way to hijack everyone else’s peaceful successful movements to shout ” Me! Me! Look at me!” Sad.