Monthly Archives: March 2019

Capitol Hill Historical Society | Jennie Lombard, Eastlake’s first principal

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Jennie Lombard’s class at South School in 1889. She’s on the top right, #30 (Seattle Public Library spl_shp_22740)
Seward School first graders, 1968-1969 school year (Seattle Schools Archive 271-376)
Child’s collage of copies of archival TOPS/Seward School material
Zoom of Jennie Lombard (Seattle Public Library spl_shp_22740)
1905 Seward building in red, 1895 in b&w on the right (Paul Dorpat photo colorized by 7 year old)
Seward School students get out the vote (Seattle Schools Archive 271-180)
I recently had the opportunity to lead a learning activity at TOPS K-8. The school is located at Boylston and Roanoke — some would call that Eastlake, others might say it’s on the side of Capitol Hill. Originally opened as Denny-Fuhrman School, it was renamed to Seward in the early 1900s and is today called The Option Program at Seward and is better known as TOPS K-8. I named the session “Old School TOPS.” A handful of 1st to 3rd graders joined me to learn about the school’s history, make art projects with old photos, and explore the different sections of the school.

To serve or to marry

At the beginning of the event, I shared information with the students about the first school’s first principal, Jennie Lombard. Continue reading →

CHS History | Bauhaus (2012) and Piecora’s (2014) blocks sold, April Fools’ Days past, Capitol Hill Discount Dollar

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Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

2018

 

Up against rent boom and affordability crunch, residents worry about plan to change 1924-built Royvue into microhousing

Club Z building sells for $2.9M but no word, yet, on what comes next


Continue reading →

Fire scorches barber shop at 23rd and Cherry

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A commercial building at 23rd and Cherry burned overnight leaving a barber shop damaged but the neighboring longtime Central District florist mostly untouched.

Seattle Fire crews were called to the intersection’s northwest corner just before 4 AM and arrived to find the building in flames. Crews battled the blaze and were able to knock it down before the fire spread through the building and damaged the florist shop.

Flowers Just 4 U moved to the corner last year after leaving its longtime home at 23rd and Jackson to make way for new development.

Update Barber Shop appeared to have been badly damaged in the fire.

The intersection of 23rd and Cherry was closed to traffic during the response and remained closed into the morning due to electricity being shut off around the fire. SPD was on hand to allow Metro bus traffic to continue through.

Seattle Fire says the fire is under investigation. There were no reported injuries.

911 | Pike/Pine stolen car arrest also yields stolen handgun

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS Crime coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or tune into the CHS Scanner page.

  • Stolen car, stolen gun: A suspect was arrested after East Precinct officers located him in possession of a stolen handgun while sitting in a stolen car on Capitol Hill early last Sunday morning:
    On March 24th, at approximately 2:30 am, officers observed a 2018 Volvo with out of state plates parked in the 900 block of East Pine Street occupied by two people. A check of the license plate showed that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Seattle approximately a week earlier. Officers called for additional officers to respond to the scene and conducted a high-risk stop on the vehicle. As officers were taking the occupants out of the car, they observed the male in the driver’s seat drop something in the back passenger seat. After the two occupants were out of the car and in custody, officers located a loaded Glock handgun on the floorboard of the rear passenger seat. A check of the serial number showed that the handgun had been reported stolen in Seattle in 2014. Both suspects were arrested and transported to the East Precinct. At the precinct, it was determined that one of the men, age 38, was a convicted felon and on active federal probation. He was the individual who was seen dropping the gun in the backseat. The suspect was later booked into the King County Jail for investigation of possession of stolen vehicle and investigation of possession of stolen firearm. The other male, age 29, was identified and released from the precinct.
    The stolen vehicle was impounded and the stolen Glock was submitted into evidence, police report. Continue reading →

Spring has sprung on Broadway with flowers — and trees now surrounded with recycled tire pavement

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Dirt is out on Capitol Hill. Cork covers Cal Anderson’s sports field. And “flexible porous pavement,” slowly but surely, is surrounding Broadway’s trees.

Along with larger efforts like winning the return of homelessness outreach services on the street, the Broadway Business Improvement Area also is marking a smaller win with spring as the first phase in a two-year effort to fill in the street’s tree wells is complete. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | Father seeks sanctuary at Seattle’s Saint Mark’s Cathedral

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From Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
Jaime Rubio Sulficio, father, husband, and community leader, has been received into Sanctuary at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. He has a United States citizen son and is married to a U.S. citizen. He seeks a legal remedy that would allow for a stay of deportation to Mexico and allow for the reuniting of his family. He sees the prospect of permanent separation as immoral, arbitrary, and unjust, causing long-term hardship to his wife who faces health challenges and inflicting emotional trauma for his son, a tender six years of age. Going into Sanctuary was not an easy choice. “It’s difficult to be apart from my family. I can’t imagine not being able to see my son and wife. I will stay in Sanctuary while we find a legal remedy for my situation,” states Rubio Sulficio.

The Dean of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, The Very Rev. Steven Thomason shares the Cathedral’s decision to accept Jaime into Sanctuary: “From our faith teachings, we are instructed to care for our neighbors as ourselves and to offer hospitality and kindness to people in need. Such as is the case for Jaime. We will stand with Jaime and his family until he is granted the opportunity to return home and restart his construction business.” Continue reading →

With solution to ‘aspirational recycling,’ Ridwell growing to pick up what Amazon leaves behind

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Ridwell’s Justin Gough (Image: Ridwell)

It’s one of those perfect spring afternoons. The sun rays glitter on the water of Lake Washington. Ryan Metzger swiftly opens up his car door, walks up to the porch of a grand Leschi house and immediately reaches for the trash.

To clarify: it’s very clean trash meant for recycling; and the people who stuffed it all in cloth bags in the white bin on the porch knew Metzger, CEO of the local recycling startup Ridwell, would be there to pick it up. They pay for Ridwell’s subscription service (which starts at $10 a month) for pick-ups of used light bulbs, batteries, clothes, plastics and other materials that shouldn’t go in the garbage or are better off recycled and reused.

Metzger fishes one small bag out of the bin filled with a couple of batteries. Another is stuffed with old clothes, and a third one brims with what fits in the ‘plastic film’ category of scrunchable plastics, including ziplock bags and dry cleaner bags.

“It’s a lot of Amazon packaging,” Metzger says, while he opens the bag to check its contents. “Bubble-wrap-envelopes and stuff, which doesn’t fit in regular recycling.” Continue reading →

Next affordable project for Capitol Hill Housing? Station House

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https://twitter.com/CapHillTOD/status/1108018829584535553

CHS began the week with coverage of hope for a new start in the Central District with the opening of the equitably developed affordable housing and mixed-use project, the Liberty Bank Building. We also noted that Africatown and nonprofit developer Capitol Hill Housing were looking forward to another possible collaboration with a new Africatown Plaza project at 23rd and Spring.

But CHH’s next addition to the area’s housing mix will come at Capitol Hill Station.

Station House will create 110 homes affordable for “working families” – people making roughly between $19,000 to $55,000, depending on family size. “Units will be a mixture of studios, one, two and three bedroom units,” Capitol Hill Housing says. “The first floor will include a 1,400 square foot community space open to the neighborhood.”

The project is currently under construction at 10th and John on the northeast corner of the housing, community plaza, and retail development rising around the light rail station. CHH says the final concrete deck will be poured in early April and then the wood framing will go up. The project is currently expected to be complete in spring of 2020.

Capitol Hill Housing is also working on plans for new affordable, LGBTQ-friendly housing for low-income seniors at 14th and Union.

Last week, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed the city’s new expansion of its Mandatory Housing Affordability expansion into law in the lobby of Capitol Hill Housing’s 12th Ave Arts building.

Capitol Hill Pets | Aggie, comforted in Cal Anderson

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Delsey Huitt had her hands full in Cal Anderson with her fairly new-to-the-family pup, Aggie. No, not named because of the Texas Aggies, but because “I was going to name her Maggie, but one day I decided to drop the M, and Aggie was born,” Huitt says. Gentle and sweet, Aggie is a year and seven months old mix of German Shepherd and something else. A rescue from Seattle Humane, Aggie has only been with Huitt for about two months, so give her a pet, and don’t mind her whimpers, she’s an “excited crier.” Continue reading →

$3.2M deal puts Broadway Grill property back in motion

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(Image: CHS)

There isn’t a month that goes by that somebody doesn’t ask CHS what is happening with the old Broadway Grill. For six years, the answer has been nothing. That is about to change.

“It definitely will be kicking back into life,” prolific Capitol Hill real estate investor Ron Amundson tells CHS. “Paint, lights, a clean-up. It’s time.”

According to King County records, Amundson purchased the property home to the 1936-built restaurant building for $3.2 million in February. Continue reading →