Monthly Archives: December 2021

CHS Year in Review 2021 | The year in pictures

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CHS believes deeply in the power of the written word. We also know there are some stories only a good picture can tell. Here is a look back at 2021 through the photographs and images that helped tell the stories of Capitol Hill, the Central District and the nearby. We looked at 2021’s most important CHS stories here. Some of the images from those stories appear below. Other photos capture the scenes from our smaller, day to day coverage. But we think you’ll find valuable stories in those images, too. Please consider becoming a “pay what you can” CHS subscriber to help us pay reporters and photographers for their amazing work covering the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, explore CHS’s 2021 in photos, below. Each image links to the CHS post where it was featured. Thank you for being part of CHS and happy New Year.

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CHS Year in Review 2021 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories

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Heading into 2021, there was more at stake in the hopes for the new year than normal. We were coming out of the bleakness of 2020 and the arrival of COVID-19. As we begin our path into 2022, it turns out hope is even more important. 2021 showed us that none of this is going to be easy. Meanwhile, smaller 2021 stories also unfurled across Capitol Hill. After a 2020 with the neighborhood pulled into the global media eye amid the unrest and protests, many of the neighborhood stories from around Capitol Hill and the Central District over the past year feel even teenier and tinier. CHS is ok with that. There are plenty of big lessons to be learned, sad passings to be mourned, and new beginnings to be celebrated in this small part of the big planet.

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Here’s a look back at 2021 on CHS:

Day 5 of Seattle cold and ice: more snow, more crashes, more slippery-er sidewalks

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People took street closures into their own hands near Interlaken (Image: CHS)

A fifth day of freezing temperatures added more than an inch of snow Thursday morning to the layer of packed powder and ice already covering Capitol Hill. At the top of the Hill, overnight snow piled up more than two inches. With the neighborhood already bunkered down due to the pandemic, many are able to stay inside and keep activities close to home. Not everybody is so lucky.

While the snow for the day is done, temperatures are predicted to barely rise above freezing Thursday before dropping again into the 20s along with forecasts for gusty winds. Saturday will bring the first 24-hour period with temperatures above freezing since Christmas — even then, the high is predicted to reach only the mid 30s. Temperatures will rise into the 30s and the low 40s in the next week but there is a chance of more, smaller bouts of snow that could snarl Seattle’s emergence from the holidays into the first days of 2022.

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‘Postponed’ — Capitol Hill venues canceling New Year’s parties amid COVID surge

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The cases — from across the nation to right here on Capitol Hill — have exploded:

Hospitalizations are starting to rise:

More deaths will follow:

Venues on Capitol Hill are starting to pull the plug on plans for New Year’s Eve parties. For some, it just doesn’t feel right to ring in 2022 in a crowd.

“With much sadness, we have decided to cancel our NYE Party in addition to postponing our 37th Anniversary Party on Dec 30th and 31st,” E Pike’s Wildrose announced. “The safety of our staff and community is our primary concern.”

The ‘Rose promises it will reopen in January.

One of the longest running lesbian bars in the country is being joined in its decision by a newer addition to Capitol Hill’s entertainment scene. Continue reading →

911 | E Madison shootout sends bullet into apartment, Pike crisis response, icy road crashes

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or tune into the CHS Scanner page.

 

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    • E Madison shootout: One person was arrested and there were no reported injuries after a midnight shootout last week near 14th and Madison sent bullets flying including one that crashed through a nearby apartment window. According to SPD, police were called to the area around Chop Suey late on the night of Thursday, December 23rd after reports of gunfire and vehicle fleeing from the nearby parking lot. Arriving police stopped a vehicle that appeared to have been part of the incident and found the driver was wanted on a warrant. Police say officers located evidence including “multiple bullet fragments” and “a well preserved .30 caliber rifle round that was fired through a victim’s apartment window across the street from the scene.” Continue reading →

Another Capitol Hill favorite is closing: Vios to make way for TacoOx and Money Frog on 19th Ave E

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(Image: Vios Cafe)

Thomas and Alexander Soukakos in 2015 — “Vios, which means life, became a hub of community and nurturing for families across Seattle as Soukakos raised his son, then two years old. Nearly two decades later, with his son off at college and opening contemporary Greek Omega Ouzeri, Soukakos is ready to turn the page and begin the next chapter of his culinary career.” (Image: CHS)

Another Capitol Hill institution is preparing to serve its final meals. 19th Ave E’s Vios Cafe will grill its “last souvlaki” on Friday, making a New Year’s Eve exit after 17 years in the neighborhood. The restaurant space will welcome an ambitious new food and drink project in the new year.

Like the coming closure of Cafe Presse on 12th Ave, the changes on 19th are part of the lifespan of a successful restaurant with small-scale ownership. Owner Thomas Soukakos is ready to simplify his business life — and travel.

“The downsizing of this upcoming chapter gives Soukakos more time to focus on culinary adventures both at home, and in Greece,” an announcement from Vios on the December 31st closure reads. “With future group excursions in the works, he hopes to continue to share his passion for the Greek cuisine with his customers; taking groups and leading wine and food tours in his native country.”

 

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Schools: Test Seattle kids before Monday’s return from winter break — UPDATE

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Seattle Public Schools has reported just over 1,100 cases since the start of the school year — a number that is expected to leap with the return to classrooms next week

With the Omicron wave of increased COVID cases still cresting across Seattle, the city’s public school system is asking families to be careful and get children tested before school returns Monday following the two-week winter break.

UPDATE 12/30/2021 4:20 PM: To give people more time to arrange for testing, SPS announced the start of in-person classes will be delayed until Tuesday. The district says it is offering “voluntary, universal testing for all SPS staff and students” on Monday. You can find more information on the announcement and testing resources here.

Original report: With supplies of at home kits low and long lines and cancellations common at testing centers in a Seattle covered in snow and ice, many families won’t be able to meet the district’s expectations.

“We are still tracking public health in Seattle and monitoring the surge in COVID-19 cases. The number of COVID-19 cases at schools more than doubled in the week before winter break, reflecting rapid spread of the Omicron variant throughout the region,” reads the message from Seattle Public Schools this week calling for students to avoid large gatherings and directing families “have your student tested for COVID-19 before returning to school on Jan. 3” Continue reading →

2022 is going to be just fine: Korn Dog is bringing Korean-style corn dogs to Capitol Hill

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(Image: Korn Dog)

You can mourn Cafe Presse. Or celebrate Maripili. Sob for Mia’s. Or get hot and bothered about Korn Dog.

We prefer to see the tteokbokki in life.

CHS reported here earlier this month on the exit of much-loved Mia’s off Broadway after nearly 15 years of affordable, friendly, delicious service on the southeast corner of the Seattle Central parking garage.

2022 will bring a new day as the Korn Dog era begins just off Broadway. Continue reading →

Fentanyl suspected after one dead, two revived with Narcan in Boylston apartment overdose

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One person died and Narcan helped revive two others after a group suffered overdoses Thursday night in a Boylston Ave apartment. A worse tragedy may have been averted thanks to an alert neighbor.

According to Seattle Fire, crews were dispatched to a building in the 1400 block of Boylston around 8 PM Thursday night after a 911 caller said they could see a male in the apartment unit across from their building slumped on a barstool against a window.

Seattle Police and arriving medics made entry into the fourth floor apartment and reported three patients at the scene including the unresponsive male and two other patients suffering from a suspected drug overdose. Seattle Fire crew members administered Narcan opioid antidote and began CPR on the occupants of the unit. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill snow updates: coldest day in 23 years, frozen sidewalks and streets, grocery store reports, more snow?

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More powdery snow fell overnight in Monday morning as Capitol Hill remains encapsulated in snow and ice making getting around a slow and slippery proposition. There is likely more to come. While the official forecast from the National Weather Service remains conservative in its prediction, Seattle’s weather nerd community is getting excited. There will be more snow Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The NWS says somewhere around an inch. Seattle weather nerds? Well, they say more:

UPDATE 12/29/21 8:58 AM: Forecasters say the weather models have solidified on a prediction of around 1″ to 3″ of snow in Seattle starting Wednesday night into Thursday.

The Seattle area is already setting records after the Christmas weekend “two to four inches” storm left the city covered in powdery snow and shivering under sub-30 temperatures. Monday brought record low temperatures to the area including 17 F at Sea-Tac, the coldest here since November, 2010. The high temperature of 24 F — achieved as light snow began falling again Monday night — was also a record low making the day the coldest in the city in 23 years.

As for Sea-Tac, if the streets of Capitol Hill feel unusually quiet, many of your neighbors may still be out of town for the holidays. Seattle’s snowy, icy weather and its impacts at the airport, along with COVID-related staffing issues have helped snarl air traffic up and down the West Coast and across the country with delays and cancellations.

Closer to home, sidewalks around some commercial and residential buildings have been cleared while many have not making getting around increasingly treacherous as snow is packed into ice. Side streets are frozen and mostly uncleared. You’ll want to aim for the city’s “green and gold” snow clearance priority routes if you have to drive. Check the city’s winter weather response map for details.

The city says crews will continue “24/7 operations” as needed and SDOT is reporting that approximately 90% of Emerald and Gold routes are “bare and wet.” Continue reading →