Monthly Archives: October 2017

Officer charged with theft for skipping 55 days of work in the East Precinct

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East Precinct cop Michael Stankiewicz has been charged by the King County Prosecutor for getting paid for days that he was not actually working.

On August 15th, a lieutenant noticed a discrepancy in Stankiewicz’s scheduled work day when the officer was absent, according to the charges. The lieutenant then checked other logs, saw a pattern, and notified respective commands. The Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) acted on its investigation of Stankiewicz on August 29th, inducing the officer’s paid suspension.

Once the OPA found the accusations grounded, the prosecuting attorney was notified, and Stankiewicz was put on unpaid leave. Of the 321 days the OPA checked, the investigation found the Marysville resident got paid 55 separate times where he made $49.29 an hour but wasn’t working.

The total amount of unwarranted pay Stankiewicz is charged for taking: $23,905.65.

Stankiewicz was previously cited for excessive force in 2015 in which he received eight days suspension. In this incident, he was found to have unnecessarily lifted a sitting, arrested individual only to knock out the man’s legs from underneath him and choke him.

The defendant will be arraigned on November 6th at the King County Courthouse.

Another pot shop in the works on Capitol Hill? Guess where we found Uncle Ike

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With reporting by Kelsey Hamlin

The intersection of local, state, and federal concerns has made finding spaces for retail pot a challenge on Capitol Hill. A new project being lined up on E Olive Way may expand the Hill’s options. You’ll find some cannabis-familiar names behind it.

John Davis, a longtime marijuana advocate and regulator in the Seattle area, confirmed to CHS that he is making plans for a new venture in a recently sold office building in the 1400 block of E Olive Way neighboring The Crescent. Davis declined further comment at this time. A new application for marijuana retail and medical marijuana licenses filed October 20th for the address lists a business name of Northwest Cannabis.

Another familiar character in PNW pot is also in the mix. Continue reading →

Take a tiki vacation to E Olive Way at Capitol Hill’s Hula Hula

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Hula Hula manager Heather Sharpsteen (Images: Alex Garland)

CHS is still catching up after a summer without news and we still have a few new places to visit that opened up when we were gone. Including E Olive Way’s only tiki bar, the Lower Queen Anne transplanted Hula Hula.

“Oh, the karaoke is great. It’s like a live concert in here,” manager Heather Sharpsteen tells CHS.

With high(er than average” production values — and a boost from softcore porn in the background to keep things interesting during instrumentals and guitar solos — Hula Hula has imported its kitschy karaoke vibe up the Hill. Continue reading →

‘Sharps’ program collecting 2,000+ old needles a month across Seattle

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Left Behind

It’s a tragedy that heroin addiction destroys so many lives in Seattle. Discarded needles add another sad layer to the problem. A push from Seattle Public Utilities started in February 2016 can’t help with the addiction but officials say it is helping make streets safer by collecting some 2,000 used needles a month:

In its first 15 months of operation, Seattle Public Utility’s pioneering Sharps Collection Pilot Program has collected and safely disposed of 32,012 hypodermic syringes, improving both the safety and cleanliness of the city’s neighborhoods. Since February, people disposed of 26,647 syringes in nine SPU sharps disposal boxes around Seattle. (See attached map.) Another 5,365 needles have been removed from public property since the program began, in August 2016, in response to 1,113 complaints. Complaints were filed online, with the City’s Find It, Fix It app, or phoned in to (206) 684-7587.

Officials say the one-of-a-kind Seattle program is part of a group of test initiatives related to clean streets and safety. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s turn for upzoning: HALA process to begin next month

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Earlier this month, Mayor Tim Burgess signed off on the Uptown neighborhood’s rezoning but that was only one part of a 30-year plan. Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA), which sits under the larger Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) program, puts Capitol Hill and Central District up next in the Seattle City Council process.

The mayor’s office will hand Capitol Hill, Madison, Ballard, and the Central District over to City Hall next month for the start of the rezoning process. This is when the Council will work out the upzoning details and timeline. The majority of zoning slated for Capitol Hill will change to Low Rise 3 and Neighborhood Commercial 3 and 2 zones (or NC3 and NC2, at 75 feet or 55 feet height maximum). They mostly permit one more story. These categories have square footage limits codified in them as well.

The City Council will likely vote on Capitol Hill zoning changes in 2018, but Jesseca Brand with the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods said we’ll see housing built under the framework before 2021. Continue reading →

Renaissance ‘Act One’ plans include improved streetscape, one-way Pike and Pine below Hill

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A project to transform Pike and Pine from the waterfront to the base of Capitol Hill with an improved streetscape — and the possibility of shifting the busy streets to one-way traffic — is nearing the end of its first early design phase. You have one more day to weigh in on the Pike Pine Renaissance: Act One.

Here is the “online open house” for the project including the opportunity to leave public comment on the proposals. Continue reading →

CHS Subscriber Drive: The blog by the numbers

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  1. CHS is your Capitol Hill neighborhood news source around the clock, 7 days a week
  2. We need 2,000 subscribers to sustain our business without implementing the inconvenient, news-stifling, browser-slowing PAY WALL. This is who “we” are, by the way.
  3. As of this posting CHS is approaching 550 subscribers. Subscribe to CHS here
  4. We know 2,000 will take us months of work to get to. Our short-term goal is to get to 800 by Halloween.
  5. That’s 10 more per day for 8 days. Seems doable. When we get there, we can remove those pesky pop-ups and clutter-y subscriber promos from the site.
  6. So, for now, we need 250 more of you to say, yes, we like having high quality neighborhood news available to all.
  7. CHS has been publishing community news for more than a decade — around 125 stories or more per month.
  8. Some 5,000 to 8,000 visitors come to CHS every day — we’ve had days serving 10x that many when big news breaks.
  9. 36% of CHS’s readers return every day, 50% at least once per week.

Capitol Hill Chamber puts out ‘call to action’ against Seattle homelessness tax

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Restless Rest

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is joining its downtown cousin the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in a “call to action” against a proposed revival of a Seattle business “head tax” to help pay for homelessness services in the city.

“They are expected to raise about $25 million a year for this proposal and put it towards homeless programs that only take us backwards,” the announcement from the Capitol Hill pro-business nonprofit reads. Continue reading →

‘Divest the Globe’ protest briefly shuts down Capitol Hill bank

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A day of protest against “tar sands funding banks” in Seattle and beyond started on Capitol Hill Monday morning as a small group arrived at the Broadway Wells Fargo only to find the branch locked-up — with a few customers still inside.

The Divest the Globe effort included an afternoon rally at Westlake before a planned set of protests at “100 SEATTLE BRANCHES OF THE TAR SANDS FUNDING BANKS: Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, TD Bank and US Bank.” Continue reading →

Election 2017: Which school board candidate is best for Capitol Hill kids?

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Last week, concerns about the challenges faced by a Seattle Public Schools elementary campus on Capitol Hill were a reminder of just how challenging it is to maintain — let alone build — the system amid tight budgetary environments and further squeezing from Olympia. November’s election to select new school board members will be one step in helping the district’s children grow and, hopefully, thrive.

DeWolf
Vasquez

Seattle Public Schools District 5 representing portions of Capitol Hill and the nearby of Central Seattle presents a spirited November contest. candidates, Zachary DeWolf and Omar Vasquez, tried their best to make their case at a recent forum held in the Madrona neighborhood.

Vasquez was previously a Summit Charter Schools board member. Since running, however, he has distanced himself from the work and updated his online resume information.

“I don’t always have control over my work profiles,” Vasquez said. “I’m not hiding anything about this.” Continue reading →