Monthly Archives: May 2018

Police: Reported assault over groceries and sex led to 13-hour standoff with deputy at Capitol Hill apartment building

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Berdon Parsons via Linkedin

Police say the 13-hour standoff with a King County Sheriff’s deputy at a Capitol Hill apartment building started with an alleged domestic violence assault over a fight about groceries and sex, according to court documents released Thursday.

Berdon Parsons faces charges over assaulting officers as Wednesday’s long standoff on the fourth floor of the Granada Apartments escalated after police say the deputy sprayed officers with pepper spray as they attempted to contact the 30-year-old from outside his apartment door early Wednesday morning.

“While officers were in the hallway they attempted to talk through the door with Parsons,” the report reads. “Suddenly, O/C Spray (aka Pepper Spray) started being sprayed from inside Parsons apartment along the seals of the door, therefore being sprayed out into the hallway where the 5 on-scene officers were.” The officers were forced to retreat and the standoff would then last through the morning and into the afternoon. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | New friendships forged at Cal Anderson with Pets in the Park

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While a life and death situation played out below Broadway Wednesday, above Broadway in Cal Anderson Park was a much more chill atmosphere. Anybody stressed out by the 13-hour standoff could find some comfort in a fuzzy buddy or three as the Seattle Humane Society came to Capitol Hill’s central park with adoptable pals.

Sponsored by the soon to open development at Broadway and Madison The Danforth, Pets in the Park matched the Seattle Humane MaxMobile Adoption Van with Capitol Hill residents looking for a feline companion. Continue reading →

2018 count shows 8,600 people homeless in Seattle

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While Seattle sorts out what part it can pay for of the hundreds of millions of dollars required to reverse the trends, here are the numbers behind King County’s ongoing homelessness emergency:

A total of 12,112 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Seattle/King County on January 26, 2018. Fifty-two percent (52%) of the population was unsheltered, living on the street, or in parks, tents, vehicles, or other places not meant for human habitation. Compared to 2017, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Seattle/King County increased by 4% (469 persons). The unsheltered population increased by 15% (835 persons).

The report on the 2018 point-in-time count of King County homelessness has been released and — if you’re looking for even the faintest silver lining — at least the problem didn’t grow significantly more challenging in the past year. The Count Us In report shows a smaller than expected 4% total increase from 2017. But the count of unsheltered homeless in Seattle rose 17%. The full report is below. UPDATE: CHS erroneously described the Seattle population as “living unsheltered” when the report count we referenced was for the total homeless individuals. Sorry for the error and any confusion. Continue reading →

Victrola’s downtown cafe brings along Capitol Hill roots (and opportunity to make some big new giant retailer friends)

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Born in 2000 on 15th Ave E, Victrola has survived neighboring competitive corporate mimicry — remember 15th Ave Coffee & Tea? — and downright overwhelming investment on a global scale. This week, the small chain of cafes has expanded into new Seattle territory directly in the maw of massive brands downtown at 3rd and Pine — and it has made some surprising alliances along the way.

Wednesday, Victrola opened its new cafe inside the Macy’s building, well off Capitol Hill.

Victrola’s Andrew Wheeler tells CHS one of the 15th Ave cafe’s earliest customers called that shop “the living room of the neighborhood.” It’s an ideal Victrola hopes to carry downtown. Continue reading →

SWAT standoff blocks off area around E Howell — UPDATE: Suspect taken into custody

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UPDATE 4:07 PM: A sniper took his position atop this E Howell building across from the suspect’s fourth floor window

UPDATE 3:35 PM: After a long, sometimes tense standoff with police, the suspect — identified as a King County deputy on administrative leave and a fourth floor resident of the building — was removed from Capitol Hill’s Granada Apartments, splayed in cuffs on a blanket on the street outside, and then attached to a gurney as he was taken into custody and removed from the scene.

UPDATE: Berdon Parsons, 30, was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault. He has not been charged. Parsons has served as a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Office since 2015.

The incident began after a report of domestic violence more than 12 hours earlier after police say a man came to the East Precinct to report the situation. Police arrived at the Belmont and E Howell building around 3 AM and the standoff ensued.

Through the early morning and into the day, police widened the closed corridor around the building as details of the situation emerged and it became clear the suspect was armed and had a rifle.

Loud booms from flash bangs used as a diversionary tactic and, police said, to keep the suspect alert and conscious as the long standoff dragged on, sporadically interrupted the otherwise mostly calm scene around the old apartment building as SWAT and SPD officers took their positions and entered the building. An Arson and Bomb Squad robot was used to breach the apartment door where cameras revealed the suspect had barricaded himself in the bathroom.

Police say Parsons was in communication with negotiators though the day and a department spokesperson said the situation was handled under standard procedure despite the involvement of a suspect familiar with law enforcement procedure.

A phone box is prepared for delivery

Some residents of the building were evacuated early in the standoff while others learned of what was unfolding from neighbors and the media. Neighbors trying to reach their buildings, cars, or work, were directed around the scene. Others with homes facing the suspect’s apartment window on E Howell were ordered to stay inside. Despite the orders, some gathered in nearby alleys and parking areas for a better view of the suspect’s window with glass busted out by the delivery of a special box containing a phone from SWAT as officers swung and worked above the window.

Full details on the day’s incident are below.

ORIGINAL REPORT 8:50 AM: Seattle Police and SWAT units blocked off an area around the Granada Apartments on E Howell at Belmont Wednesday morning in a standoff following a reported domestic violence incident.

The Seattle Police Department has not confirmed details of the situation but traffic is reportedly blocked off at several points in the are between E Olive St and E Denny Way. UPDATE: SPD has confirmed it is trying to contact a barricaded individual in a building at Howell and Belmont. People living in the building say the suspect is a resident on the 4th floor. Continue reading →

Coalition of small Capitol Hill property owners wants to halt chamber’s ‘Business Improvement Area’ expansion

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Center of the opposition: This isn’t the first time Groberman has stood up against a BIA. In creating the existing Broadway BIA, planners “gerrymandered” his Harvard Market shopping center out of the assessment zone

Seattle’s “tax revolt” spring of 2018 includes a skirmish along Broadway, Pike, and Pine. Instead of a battle over “No Tax on Jobs,”  this fight pits the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce vs. a coalition of the neighborhood’s few remaining smaller and family commercial property owners and its relatively few co-op and condominium property residents. Together, the group could prove a major barrier for the chamber.

“We have huge traction to fight the proposed Business Improvement Area,” prolific Capitol Hill real estate investor Morris Groberman tells CHS.

Groberman, who owns or is partner in a collection of Capitol Hill properties including the Harvard Market shopping center at Broadway and Pike, is at the head of an effort to organize opposition to the chamber’s proposed expansion of a Business Improvement Area across most of Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Community groups call for ‘restart’ on Seattle Police Chief search

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A group of Seattle community leaders including members who were part of the 25-person Seattle Police Chief search committee have called on Mayor Jenny Durkan to restart the selection process.

“The process itself has not been an honest process,” community advocate, Community Police Commission member, and part of the search committee Enrique Gonzalez said Tuesday at Seattle City Hall. “It has been a broken process. And we are very concerned that we are not in the position to select somebody that the community can accept based on a broken process.”

Last week, the three finalists to take the job were announced — interim SPD Chief Carmen Best was not on the list despite being one of five candidates put forth by the community-driven selection committee. Continue reading →

Person safely down off freeway sign after emergency response brings I-5 traffic to halt below Pike

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A person threatened to jump from a freeway sign below Pike onto I-5 Tuesday night in an incident that brought southbound I-5 through downtown Seattle to a standstill.

The person was reported safely down and in police custody around 10:15 PM.

Thanks to reader Ella for the pictures

The incident began just before 9:30 PM as a person was reported climbing on sign scaffolding below Pike and emergency vehicles began to stage in the area as traffic was brought to a stop on southbound I-5.

After 45 minutes, the patient was safely on the ground and with police, according to East Precinct radio reports.

I-5 traffic was reopened shortly after.

CHS Pics | Eritrean Independence Day in Volunteer Park a sign Capitol Hill summer is near

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One of our favorite signs that Capitol Hill’s summer is coming played out again Saturday as hundreds of members of Seattle’s East African community filled Volunteer Park’s amphitheater meadow for a celebration of Eritrean Independence Day.

The annual celebration marks the 1991 arrival of Eritrean People’s Liberation Front forces in the capital Asmara following a 30-year-long battle against Ethiopia’s military regime. 2010 estimates put the Eritrean population of Seattle at around 6,000 to 8,000 residents. Continue reading →

Celebrate Doughnut Day as Raised Doughnuts makes final preparations on 23rd Ave home

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It’s not quite ready for business yet but 23rd Ave’s coming soon Raised Doughnuts couldn’t let the celebration pass by unmarked.

Friday in celebration of National Doughnut Day, Mi Kim’s crew will be ready starting at 7 AM with half-dozen boxes all set for you to grab and go from in front of the about to open shop on 23rd Ave at Spring. Continue reading →