Monthly Archives: May 2013

One year ago: Seattle killing spree’s First Hill victim

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(Image: CHS)

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(Image: Town Hall Seattle)

One year ago, May 30th, 2012, Ian Stawicki ended up on First Hill after shooting four people to death inside the University District’s Cafe Racer. If it was ever sorted out, police have never released information about how Stawicki ended up in the parking lot outside Town Hall Seattle that morning. Just after 11 AM, he encountered Gloria Leonidas and murdered the 52-year-old as he stole her vehicle and fled to West Seattle where he eventually killed himself as police closed in. The loophole that allowed the mentally ill Stawicki to have a concealed weapons permit remains open today.

Leonidas was the mother of two and an expert in lighting design. In the days that followed her death, memorial messages and flowers marked the location where she was killed in the parking lot. Town Hall’s Only Light memorial also illuminated the scene in remembrance.

Report of small power outage after big boom on Capitol Hill

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Screen Shot 2013-05-29 at 11.59.50 PMGiven the details at this point — large boom just before 11:30 PM, reports of a flash in the night sky, limited power outage near 17th and Denny — it sounds like a blown transformer may have woken a few of you up and sent others to bed late Wednesday night. UPDATE: A power line has fallen along E Denny Way near 17th Ave.

No details of an outage were immediately posted to the Seattle City Light system status page but we have one report of a very limited power failure at 17th and Denny.

UPDATE: Seattle Fire’s Ladder 10 truck has been dispatched to 17th Ave and E Denny Way near Group Health to deal with reported down wires. Seattle City Light is reportedly en route.

UPDATE — 12 AM: City Light reports more than 350 customers without power in the area and reports a 6 AM estimate for restoring service.

Around 11:26 PM, one large boom echoed through the area southeast of Volunteer Park. Police were sent to the area as residents called 911 to report possible gunfire or firework according to SPD radio dispatches.

UPDATE — 5/30/13 9:30 AM: City Light tells us a tree branch made contact with one of the utility’s wires in the area, causing the massive short in the system, subsequent boom and downing of the wire.

Where are the police?

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I guess this is just a rant. But I just was standing on Pike and Broadway and some girl with a pit bull threw a full can of soda at my head while I was waiting for the light to change. I had not said a word to her. I walked into Neumos to get my tickets to a show, came out and the same people were in between neumos and the comet brawling in the street. Not a cop to be seen. Another inch to the left and I’d be in the hospital with a head injury. 3 or 4 people just have a brawl in the street with their animals running loose,not cool. After this and that stabbing the other week this place is getting bad.

Big grant means Broadway Hill Park on path for 2014

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(Image: FoBHP)

(Image: FoBHP)

Broadway Hill Park, Capitol Hill’s next public green-space project, has been selected for a big injection of cash thanks to the Seattle Parks and Recreation Opportunity Fund. The Friends of Broadway Hill Park group shares the good news, below. By the way, you can join them in celebrating the funding as the lot at Federal and Republican again hosts the community spaces for Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day on Saturday, June 8th. Sign up for the big day here… now!

Broadway Hill Park has been recommended to receive $750,000 from the Opportunity Fund by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee!!  Assuming that the City Council and Mayor approve the committee’s recommendations, the park’s construction WILL BE FULLY FUNDED and will very likely begin next year!!
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this a reality.  The impact of this funding is huge — it changes the course of this project and means that our neighborhood park will be constructed several years in advance of when it would have been, had we been forced to raise the funding ourselves.

We were only a competitive applicant for the Opportunity Fund because of all the people who volunteered their time over the past few years.  Please take a moment to congratulate yourself and your neighbors, and see the final list for yourself below!

With Capitol Hill’s Half Price slated to close Sunday, Twice Sold Tales celebrates an anniversary

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Jamie Lutton and her last-of-its-kind Capitol Hill used bookstore are celebrating the bookseller’s 30th year in the business with a big sale. Take it away longtime friend of CHS @uncle_vinny:Screen Shot 2013-05-29 at 12.00.04 PM

Lutton in 2009 after Twice Sold found a new home on Harvard Ave (Image: CHS)

Lutton in 2009 after Twice Sold found a new home on Harvard Ave (Image: CHS)

While, Lutton has been doing the book thing professionally for three decades, Twice Sold Tales is actually a little younger — CHS visited the store for its 25th anniversary last year. In 2009, we talked with Lutton about her move from Broadway to make way for the Capitol Hill Station light rail project.

2013 will be an important year of change for Twice Sold. Capitol Hill’s Half Price Books outlet is slated to shut down this Sunday.

Meanwhile, another important Seattle book retailer making its home on Capitol Hill is also marking an anniversary this year. Elliott Bay Book Company is in the midst of celebrating 40 years of selling books in Seattle.

A crane on every block

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Screen Shot 2013-05-29 at 11.19.28 AMIt feels like there is new construction on every block. This visualization shows recent building activity based on permits filed with the city in the last 5 years. The first tab shows large multifamily buildings on the hill. The second shows all permits and provides some simple filters. Continue reading →

911 | Head injury in 12th Ave car vs. bike, mugger has no sympathy for victim on crutches, man makes iPhone theft tackle

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959.

  •  Car vs. bike on 12th Ave: A woman riding her bicycle suffered a head injury in a collision involving a car at 12th Ave and E Barclay Ct during Wednesday morning’s slippery and messy commute. According to Seattle Fire, the woman was rushed to Harborview in the 9:30 AM incident near the Seattle U campus. Northbound 12th was blocked during the medical response. No word yet on what lead to the crash.
  • Man on crutches robbed: It takes a brazen thief to steal from a man on crutches *and* punch him in the face. Here’s the report on an ugly incident early last Saturday morning at 11th and E Olive St.Screen Shot 2013-05-29 at 10.48.34 AM
  • Man tackles would-be iPhone thief: A man is credited with tackling a suspect and holding him until police arrived in an attempted phone grab last Tuesday night in the 900 block of E Pine. Sadly for the victim, her iPhone was damaged beyond repair in the incident. Ezekiel Potts, 30, has been charged with counts of theft and assault in the incident and is currently being held in King County Jail.
  • Ford Taurus phone rip-off: In a Thursday May 16th incident, a man told police his phone was stolen by a thief in an incident on 11th Ave just after 10 PM. According to the report on the incident, the victim told police he was checking his phone after parking in a pay lot in the 1500 block of 11th Ave when the suspect grabbed his phone and fled to a car waiting in the same lot. The victim ran to the car but one of the occupants told him to “leave or I will shoot you.” The victim fled the area and the suspect’s green Ford Taurus left the scene. The victim was able to provide police the vehicle’s license plate number but a search for the car was not successful.
  • 23rd and Jackson shooting: Police are investigating Tuesday night’s shooting of a reportedly armed man by a security guard in the shopping center parking lot at 23rd and Jackson. Continue reading →

8-story E Pike preservation+development project, E Olive microhousing to take bows in front of review board

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8872832460_6d6df991ef_hLast week, we showed you the plans for longtime Capitol Hill developer Mike Malone’s planned transformation of the CK Graphics building at E Pike and Summit into an eight-story replica of what Mike Malone would have built in 1920 if Mike Malone was an auto-row era developer — with even more money.

We’ll find out what the East Design Review Board thinks of the whole thing Wednesday night when the Studio Meng Strazzara-designed project comes before public scrutiny for the first time. More on this project and the rare beast that is a microhousing project going through design review, below.

Continue reading →

Candidate Steinbrueck brings his ‘com­plete neigh­bor­hood’ campaign to Capitol Hill

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Steinbrueck didn't get the endorsement but he did a sweet picture of the crowd at last week's meeting of the 43rd District Dems (Image: CHS)

Steinbrueck didn’t get the endorsement but he did get a sweet picture of the crowd at last week’s meeting of the 43rd District Dems (Image: CHS)

It’s a busy night for Capitol Hill slow-growthers — there’s this microhousing design review complete with 330 square-foot units to be concerned about. Meanwhile, the Seattle mayoral candidate with the most NIMBY clout will also be on the Hill as former City Council member Peter Steinbrueck visits 19th Ave E for a talk with prospective voters.

Steinbrueck’s Saving the Livability and Human Scale of Our Neighborhoods session is slated for 7:30 PM at the Russian Community Center, 704 19th Ave E —

Meet Seat­tle can­di­date for mayor Peter Stein­brueck on May 29th at 7:30 p.m. on Capi­tol Hill for an infor­mal dis­cus­sion about the liv­abil­ity and human scale of Seat­tle neighborhoods.

Peter is run­ning for mayor because Seat­tle needs to rebal­ance our city’s pri­or­i­ties around peo­ple, com­mu­ni­ties, and neigh­bor­hoods before we lose what mat­ters to us most. Peter knows the impor­tance of liv­abil­ity and human scale in Seattle’s res­i­den­tial neighborhoods. Continue reading →

Semi-truck crash, fire snarls I-5 traffic below Convention Center

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Earlier this morning on I-5

Southbound lanes of I-5 were completely blocked Wednesday morning following a semi-truck crashing and bursting into flames beneath the Convention Center below Capitol Hill.

Cars were being diverted off the highway during the emergency response first reported at 4:30 AM and the subsequent removal of the vehicle and investigation at the scene. Meanwhile, multiple crashes have been reported in the long back-up that approaches the scene as television news helicopters hover above.

We have no details of any injuries in the crash at this time.

Authorities are advising southbound I-5 commuters to use 99 through the city if possible.

You can view area streets on the CHS Capitol Hill Traffic Cameras page.