Washington legislators are back at work in Olympia starting this week to pound out a new state drug possession law.
Gov. Jay Inslee called the special session after failed attempts during the regular legislative session to reach a compromise on overhauling how Washington handles drug possession, substance abuse, and addiction. A 2021 Washington Supreme Court ruling struck down the state’s felony drug possession statute. Continue reading
(Image: Marjorie)
Fans of 14th and Union’s Marjorie already had some good news to soften the blow of Donna Moodie’s decision to shut the restaurant down after 13 years on the block and 20 years of business in Seattle. The busy restaurant entrepreneur and one of the few black owners in Seattle food and drink was preparing plans for a new Boujie Bar in the Central District.
Now, Moodie says she wants Marjorie to live on — Boujie Bar will have to wait. The restaurateur announced the switch in plans in a recent Seattle Times interview saying the 23rd and Union project will be “Marjorie 3.0” after her start in Belltown and eventual move in 2010 to Capitol Hill.
“I just couldn’t part with Marjorie,” Moodie told the Times. “It came to me when I was in the process of saying goodbye.” Continue reading
With the candidate filing deadline only days away — and the first legitimate candidate forum now under their belts –the field appears set for the Seattle City Council election in District 3. With these candidates, the 2023 D3 campaign seems less likely to be a race and political battle and more likely to be a conversation about how best to represent the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill and the Central District at Seattle City Hall.
“I have seen how different communities particularly historically excluded communities have been falling through the gaps of our policies throughout our entire city,” candidate Joy Hollingsworth told the crowd at last week’s MLK Labor Council D3 candidates forum. “I’m just a person that has certain type of values that wants to be able to unify our voices and amplify voices as well the fight for community.”
The first to announce and the frontrunner so far in campaign donations, the Central District resident and cannabis entrepreneur could easily be speaking for any of her competitors. If the May 9th forum is any indication, there will be few stark divides in the race to determine the top two candidates in August followed by the final election in November.
The 2023 election will be a big change from the last D3 battle when Kshama Sawant was defending her seat against a chamber of commerce-backed candidate. Egan Orion would eventually say Amazon and business-backed cash cost him the race. Along the way, the candidates traded jabs and lobbed incendiary accusations.
In 2023’s race, Sawant is shaping up to be a footnote after her announcement in January that she would not seek reelection to focus her Socialist Alternative group’s efforts on the formation of a new national effort.
Meanwhile, the organizers who failed to remove Seattle’s longest serving member of the council in a 2021 recall battle have not reemerged now that Sawant is stepping away. There is no Recall Sawant candidate who has yet joined the race and none of the registered candidates have told CHS they supported the effort to have Sawant removed. Continue reading
A shootout at a Central District trouble spot that amazingly left nobody wounded was caught on camera Friday night at 21st and Union.
Video shows groups engaged in a tussle in the street along 21st around 11:45 PM before at least three people open fire on each other in the melee.
Witnesses reported about a dozen people fleeing the scene and multiple vehicles speeding from the area after the gunfire. Continue reading
Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:
Cafe Presse’s old bar is now a Galician tapas bar — MariPili ready for its debut on 12th Ave
Three and a half times bigger and 10,000 times better to work in, the new Glo’s Diner has finally arrived at Capitol Hill Station — only one year behind schedule. It opens for regular business Monday after a weekend serving customers who helped the Capitol Hill classic raise enough cash to build out the new diner with comfy booths and the mid-century style of Denny’s, diners, and roadside motels.
Much can be made of “chef owners” in the Capitol Hill food and drink scene and at Glo’s there are two of them — both Julie Reisman and Steve Frias also proudly work the line. Reisman says the A/C in the new joint is so good that in the kitchen, “It’s almost too cold.”
“We made this a better place to work,” Reisman tells CHS.
CHS reported here way back in August 2021 on the plans for Glo’s to pull up stakes on the much-loved but increasingly challenging E Olive Way original and join the new housing and commercial development above Capitol Hill Station along Broadway. Last year, the neighborhood finally got its H Mart in the form of the company’s M2M grocery. In 2023, Glo’s has arrived.
In between, pandemic delays including eight months waiting for permits from the city, Reisman says, and more have kept the people waiting. They didn’t even have the old Glo’s to tide them over — the original had to close down after a damaging fire last summer.
But along the way, the people also helped out Glo’s.
Reisman at work
(Image: SIFF)
As its venues including Capitol Hill’s Egyptian Theatre begin hosting the 2023 Seattle International Film Festival, cinema nonprofit SIFF has announced it is adding the city’s grandest silver screen to its family.
“We’ve acquired the Seattle Cinerama Theater from the estate of Paul G. Allen and will be reopening later this year,” the organization announced before Thursday’s opening night of the 49th edition of the festival. “This acquisition adds to our current venue offerings: SIFF Film Center, SIFF Cinema Uptown, and SIFF Cinema Egyptian. We look forward to stewarding this historic venue for magical moviegoing experiences well into the future—with all of you.” Continue reading
(Image: nursingclio.org)
Gay and bisexual men are now able to donate blood just like everybody else. The Food and Drug Administration released a plan Thursday to replace the stigmatizing restrictions that have restricted gay men from becoming blood donors with updated federal guidelines that focus on behavior and not sexual orientation.
The new guidelines will remove the rule requiring men who have sex with men to abstain from sex for three months prior to giving blood and create a new questionnaire to screen all potential donors for their HIV risk. Anyone reporting anal sex with a new partner in the last three months will have to wait to donate.
“This proposed policy change is based on the individual behavior of the prospective donor and not on their sexual orientation or gender,” Bloodworks Northwest said in a statement. “This means that ALL prospective donors will be asked the same risk-based questionnaire when signing up to give blood. While these changes may take months to implement, we look forward to swiftly implementing the new guidance and welcoming donors who have previously been deferred from blood donation.”
LGBTQ health groups and blood clinics like Bloodworks Northwest are praising the change. “Our community has been excluded for quite some time, so this is a big step in the right direction,” Luis Viquez, an HIV/STI tester at Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center on Capitol Hill told the Seattle Times.
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Retail Therapy’s Wazhma Samizay
(Image: CHS)
By Kali Herbst Minino
Near the corner of Pike and Broadway, there’s a two-story shop displaying colorful clothing, a unique candle selection, cards with character, dazzling jewelry, and creations from independent artists. The shop, Retail Therapy, has watched Capitol Hill evolve for the last 20 years all while never changing location. Owner Wazhma Samizay is celebrating the milestone.
Samizay moved to the neighborhood almost 30 years ago, and recalls the store’s location as a part of Capitol Hill that hadn’t really developed. Retail Therapy emerged from that opportunity, its support for independent artists setting it apart from other businesses at the time.
“Part of it was the opportunity to do something and support my actual neighborhood that I walk through and live in,” Samizay said. “When I started, there really wasn’t that many spaces that had independent artists being featured. Now two decades later everybody is doing it.”
The store was originally brick-and-mortar and had operated that way for over a decade. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Samizay created an online store alongside the physical shop which was open with a limit on the number of people allowed in at a time. In addition to the online store and physical limitations, a tab on the store’s website titled “Look Out for Eachother” contained an extensive list of resources for anyone struggling during the pandemic.
As for business on E Pike, Samizay says it has been doing better than it was during the pandemic, though she wouldn’t call it a recovery.
“Having done this as long as I have, I’ve learned to ride the roller coaster. There’s always ups and downs, it’s best not to get off the ride while it’s still moving,” Samizay said.
There are also new neighbors.
The National Weather Service has done something it doesn’t normally do in mid-May — issued an “Excessive Heat Watch” in Seattle.
Forecasters are predicting highs in the upper 80s and possibly into the 90s — conditions typically unheard of for this time of year in the region.
The watch is in effect from Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon with conditions posing “a moderate risk of heat-related illness.”
The intense start to warmer weather in the region follows a hazy end to summer 2022 as wildfire smoke poured into the Puget Sound area. CHS reported here on the increased threat of wildfire smoke and what cities like Seattle should do about it.
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