Small businesses on the edges of the Capitol Hill protest zone — many of which have been using their facilities to help the communities and activists at work there — are in the midst of figuring out how to safely and economically sustain their businesses as COVID-19 restrictions are slowly lifted and in the middle of a rapidly changing demonstration and camp right outside their doors.

“The decision to reopen was literally a survival mode decision — our staff cannot live off unemployment, they have to go back to work to feed their families. We have to go back to work to pay rent,” BANG owner Casey Nickole tells CHS.

Nickole reopened her four hair salons at 25% capacity on Monday after three months of closure. BANG’s E Pine location is situated less than half a block away from the East Precinct where protestors have established and maintained a camp and demonstration area for more than a week.

This week, King County applied to move into Phase 2 to gradually lift COVID-19 restrictions. Local businesses after an interim step this month which allows restaurants, retailers and personal services like hair salons to open to the public at limited capacities. By Friday, things could open up a little bit more.

For a little over a week, BANG turned its Capitol Hill locations into spaces to aid protestors at the Pine and 11th standoff. The business offered bathrooms, food, phone chargers, wifi and medical support to protestors.

“We treated a rubber bullet wound, tear gas — we were like putting people in the shampoo bowls and rinsing their faces off,” Nickole recalled.

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According to Nickole, BANG is now adjusting to the Phase 1.5 reopening requirements, including keeping the shop’s front door locked, having clients wait outside and issuing temperature checks.

“I felt compelled and obligated to distribute whatever equity we had, to share our space, to offer nice bathrooms and food to people who are in solidarity and protesting for Black Lives Matter, ” she said. “I really do believe in the advocacy and the occupation for change, and I can see it happening.”

On Tuesday, the City of Seattle announced an agreement with some of the CHOP protest organizers to condense and rearrange the boundaries of the protest zone. Seattle Department of Transportation officials were seen constructing traffic lanes to clear access for first responders and other emergency services.

The safety changes this week should also help address some of a growing call from residents in the neighborhood worried about the ongoing protest and camp and a reduced presence of SPD in the area.

“SFD Scoggins, SDOT, and SPU addressed a lot of the access questions,” Elliott Bay Book Company general manager Tracy Taylor said over email. “Chief Scoggins has done a tremendous job working under difficult circumstances trying to listen to as many voices as possible. His leadership has helped shape changes that will hopefully provide more safety for the protestors and better emergency access for businesses and residents.”

Taylor, along with fellow Small Business Advisory Council member Joey Burgess, sent an email to Mayor Jenny Durkan and the Seattle City Council on Friday expressing their safety concerns — including how emergency medical teams and postal services would access streets in the protest zone — and called for a safety plan for the area.

Mayor Durkan and the Seattle City Council,

We recognize the important cultural shift taking place right now. Capitol HIll has always been a place where people gather to exercise their rights of free expression, and we want to acknowledge the city’s willingness to maintain this tradition. However it must not abdicate its responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of the residents. We agree with the Mayor’s statement that we need to keep our community safe together.  In that spirit, it is critical that the City of Seattle provide answers to the following questions before the weekend begins, and as more people mass within the neighborhood.

How does the city plan to respond and provide aid to anyone needing emergency medical support?  Specifically, how does Emergency Services plan to respond to incidents that occur within a residential/commercial building that is blocked? Earlier in the week, we were told there would be easy access for fire and emergency vehicles. Today, there are abandoned cars woven into the barricades. If there is a fire in an alley, dumpster or building how is the city able to respond?  Where are the designated fire lanes that the city requires from all festivals or street closures?

What provisions are being made for ADA access?  Sidewalks are blocked, crosswalks are nonexistent. Our city must comply with federal civil rights mandates to provide equitable and accessible space for everyone. This is imperative. We can’t trade one denial of basic human rights for another.

How does the city plan to ensure that mail and delivery trucks can easily access residences  and businesses? Remediation services have been called in to repair damage and secure buildings and homes within the area. As of today, many of them have access issues. Mail is not being delivered to many. Not only are businesses who planned for a Phase 1.5 opening unable to receive much needed deliveries, but residents who rely on home grocery services and prescription drug deliveries during this pandemic are being denied access to these services.

We have an influx of outside groups coming to the neighborhood in a vigilante fashion.  Pickup trucks with flags and “proud boys” have been seen on the fringe of demonstrations. This is a neighborhood that is supposed to be a safe haven for the queer community. We have already had one act of terrorism this week on 11th Avenue and are rembering the Pulse massacre anniversary today. There is a high level of anxiety for many members of the community who are not able to seek their usual support networks. What measures are being taken to protect the safety and rights of our Queer community?

We demand a direct response from the Mayor to these urgent public safety concerns and a plan for how the rights and safety of everyone around Cal Anderson Park and the Pike-Pine area will be restored and protected in the immediate future.

Joey Burgess, Queer/Bar, Cuff Complex & The Woods, SBAC

Tracy Taylor, Elliott Bay Book Company. SBAC

According to Taylor, the City Council and Mayor Durkan have not directly responded, but “Sabrina Boulieau and other staff from the 7th floor of City Hall have reached out.”

CHS has contacted city public information officers and will update when more information is released about any further responses to the email.

While Elliott Bay’s storefront remains closed to the public, the shop is underway on online delivery orders.

Burgess, who owns multiple businesses surrounding the protest zone, has been able to reopen 13th and Pine’s gay bar The Cuff Complex at limited capacity.

“We’re doing barbecues nightly with proceeds going to Black Lives Matter King County — we’re trying to be a community space at this point,” Burgess said.

Burgess also owns 11th Ave’s Queer/Bar, which remains shuttered in the aftermath from its close proximity to the protests of the past few weeks.

“There [are] ample gas remnants and pepper spray in the businesses on 11th avenue that were discharged by the police,” Burgess told CHS. “We can’t open those spaces until we get a remediation crew in, and we are waiting to find out what the city’s plan is in supporting how they can clean up the mess that they’ve made.”

Meanwhile, as local businesses adjust to swift changes happening in and around the protest zone, the GSBA and its neighborhood business network Capitol Hill Business Alliance are distributing a survey to gauge how businesses are faring during this time.

“Has the situation with the protests changed your mind about reopening?,” the survey inquires.

12th and Pine’s Eltana bagel joint, located directly across from the East Precinct and center of the protest zone, has found a new way to maintain business during this time as it now offers neighborhood deliveries across Seattle in addition to carry-out pickups. According to owner Stephen Brown, the shop will not be opening with limited indoor seating until King County guidelines allow the store to open at full capacity again.

“I have a tremendous amount of empathy for people whose products and services don’t present them with the adaptability options that ours does,” Brown told CHS. “We’re blessed with a product that is mostly consumed in the morning and protesting is an activity that’s mostly practiced in the evening, so we’re lucky that way.”

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