Monthly Archives: February 2025

Capitol Hill’s state senator pisses off right wing social media — by explaining Washington law

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Pedersen (Image: senatedemocrats.wa.gov )

Capitol Hill’s state Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) is finding out that simply telling some people about the rule of law in 2025 is enough to set off controversy.

The veteran Washington lawmaker, lawyer, and Capitol Hill resident has gone viral across right-wing social media this week for his answer to Fox News explaining a 40-year-old state law.

“If it’s about their mental health care, we’ve drawn a line I think at age 13 in the statute and say that kids over 13 have the complete right to make their own decisions about their mental health care,” Pedersen said, according to a report featuring a full transcript of the interview. “Parents don’t have a right to have notice, they don’t have a right to have consent about that.”

“Kids over 13 have the complete right to make their own decisions about their mental health care. Parents don’t have a right to have notice, they don’t have a right to have consent about that,” is the clip Fox aired and that spread across social media. Continue reading →

‘Prop 1A Wins’ — Backers expect legal challenge to new Seattle Social Housing tax

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You can learn more about the Seattle Social Housing Developer at socialhousingseattle.org

The backers of the ballot measure approved handily by Seattle voters this week to create a business tax to fund the city’s new Social Housing program have a message for city leaders.

They are also expecting a legal challenge to the new tax.

“Despite a half million dollars in corporate spending and the unscrupulous tactics of our City Council and Mayor, last night Seattle voters delivered an unambiguous message: Now is the time for Seattle to take bold, innovative action to meet our housing and homelessness crises,” the House our Neighbors group said in a “Prop 1A Wins” statement. Continue reading →

A decade of development, affordability, and theater at Capitol Hill’s 12th Ave Arts

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(Image: CHS)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

A decade ago, 88 affordable apartment units above office space for nonprofits, and a street level theater complex opened along 12th Ave on land that had been a barbed wire-fenced parking lot for the East Precinct. While the affordable apartments and offices have become part of 12th Ave’s fabric, the stages of the 12th Ave Arts development are ready to grow after a challenging ten years.

Black Box, formed to manage the building’s two theater spaces, is looking forward to what comes next as 12th Ave Arts emerges from the pandemic.

“The nature of any kind of performing art is that a lot of it is developed in rehearsal, and rehearsal happens right before you go,” said administrative director Greg Carter.

Though he’s booked out the spaces months in advance, Carter doesn’t know all that much of what’s going to be performed than someone browsing the listings would. That’s part of what he loves about working in the space.

What’s exciting about how Black Box rents out its spaces, often up to a year and a half in advance, is that each production can be whatever the creators want it to be, so long as it can fit in the room. There are three resident production companies — Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and Velocity Dance — that are guaranteed more time throughout the year. An array of other companies produce the rest of the performances, some repeat, some one-time renters. Velocity Dance became a formal partner last year after moving from across the street during the pandemic. Continue reading →

Friends of Madison Park files appeal of Seattle growth plan proposal’s Environmental Impact Study

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As chair of the Seattle City Council’s comprehensive update committee, District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is leading the city’s push to get the new growth and zoning proposal over the finish line before summer.

She will now face possible delays from one of the neighborhoods she represents.

The Friends of Madison Park group has filed an appeal of the comprehensive growth plan update’s key Environmental Impact Study just days before a public comment deadline on the report.

“Members of Friends of Madison Park live in and own property in the Madison Park neighborhood that is being upzoned or that is adjacent to and/or near property that is being upzoned by the One Seattle Plan,” the appeal to the city’s Hearing Examiner reads. “Those members will suffer land use, traffic, stormwater,tree, view and other impacts if the legislation is adopted as is. Members of the group also use the beaches in our. neighborhood and swim in the lake at those locations that will be adversely impacted by the proposed upzone.”

The appeal is calling on the Examiner to decide a supplemental environmental impact study must be performed for the area that includes “a reasonable range of alternatives to mitigate those impacts in the Madison Park neighborhood.” Continue reading →

Strong Election Night tallies show Seattle set to approve new business tax for Social Housing plus two school levies

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(Image: House our Neighbors)

A low turnout February election apparently won’t stop Seattle from making progress on funding its new Social Housing Developer and backing the renewal of two school levies.

Election Night first tallies show voters approving a new tax to fund the city’s new housing program and, thus, rejecting a Seattle City Council backed alternative that critics said would have limited the new effort. 68% of voters in the first count approved funding the developer. More than 57.5% said the city should move forward with the new business tax.

With approval, the measure will add a 5% tax on companies for every dollar over a million paid to a Seattle employee in annual compensation including salary, stock, and bonuses to fund the city’s new public Social Housing Developer. The House our Neighbors group behind the salary tax proposal says it would add up to around $50 million a year to fund the development authority and power its ability to borrow to build or acquire 2,000 units of housing over 10 years. Continue reading →

Amid ICE raids and bluster, ‘routine’ Student and Exchange Visitor Program inspection at Garfield High School raises concerns — UPDATE: Rescheduled

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If fear and uncertainty are part of the goals around the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the first weeks of the second Trump administration, mark another success Tuesday at 23rd Ave’s Garfield High School.

“There is a rumor that ICE will be on campus tomorrow, February 11. According to our District Enrollment Office, this is not true.” Principal Tarance Hart said in an email to students Monday. “A Student and Exchange Visitor Program representative will visit for a brief compliance check to confirm that Garfield High School is meeting the requirements for enrolling international students on F-1 visas.”

“This is a routine visit approved by district leadership and is not related to immigration enforcement,” Hart said in the message.

UPDATE 5:45 PM: A district spokesperson tells CHS Garfield’s inspection has been “rescheduled for the fall.” The spokesperson said there are currently no other scheduled campus visits in the district. According to Seattle Public Schools, the SEVP visits occur annually as “SEVP representatives, along with district staff visit up to three comprehensive high schools” in the city. The last time Garfield was included in a SEVP inspection was 2017.

Principal Hart’s email Monday came as word spread to start the week with students and families at the large public high school serving the city’s Central District and Capitol Hill-area neighborhoods sharing concerns about the rumored inspection. Despite the assurances, a Garfield teacher reportedly offered up their classroom as sanctuary to any students in need.

The concern at Garfield comes in the midst of President Donald Trump’s blitz of executive orders including ten related to immigration that have created chaos around the federal government even as the most significant orders remain tied up in court.

Like so many of 2025’s twists and turns, the official message at Garfield is confusing. ICE may not be at the school — but the Student and Exchange Visitor Program is, indeed, an ICE program under the Department of Homeland Security. Continue reading →

Pike/Pine Business Improvement Area would take on litter, graffiti in Capitol Hill’s core nightlife neighborhood

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Efforts to create a new Pike/Pine Business Improvement Area are moving forward in 2025.

The city’s Office of Economic Development has continued to push for the zones where assessments on local properties go directly to funding neighborhood cleanliness and anti-graffiti programs.

The GSBA chamber of commerce group has been leading efforts “trying to assess the level of interest in the community.”

“The are some owners who are very, very committed,” the GSBA’s Laura Culberg told CHS about the early stages of the outreach last year.

The effort around creating a Pike/Pine BIA comes as the neighborhood has struggled with drug use and street crime that has had deadly consequences. CHS reported last week on complaints of drug gang activity from one neighborhood developer in the wake of a deadly 11th Ave shooting last fall that sparked a major Pike/Pine public safety initiative from Mayor Bruce Harrell and his deputy Tim Burgess. Continue reading →

911 | Pedestrian to hospital in Melrose hit and run

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Melrose hit and run: Police were searching for the hit and run driver of an SUV who ran over a pedestrian crossing the street Monday night near the Melrose onramp to I-5. Seattle Fire says the 29-year-old struck in the collision just after 6:30 PM was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Police were searching for the driver and suspect vehicle described only as an unknown color SUV but did not have much information to go on. The pedestrian was reportedly struck in the southbound lane of Melrose and run over by the vehicle near the onramp which continues to be a dangerous crossing area despite recent changes to the street and new markings.

  • Teens busted in attempted Judkins Park carjacking: Two juvenile suspects were chased down by police after an attempted armed carjacking Sunday night at 24th Ave and Judkins. Police say three suspects approached the victim’s vehicle and attempted “to gain entry by force” —
    The victim was able to drive off and call 911. Officers conducted a thorough area check and located two out of the three suspects. One, was found near MLK Jr Wy S and Charles St and was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit. The other was located hiding in a backyard of a nearby residence. Rounds were found on suspect’s, pocket.
    SPD says officers searched yards in the area and located a pistol with an extended magazine. The two suspects were booked into the Children and Family Justice Center.
  • Friday scissors and bias crime arrest: Police arrested a man for investigation of a bias crime and felony harassment after he was reported using slurs and lunging at people with a knife in the area of 11th and Pine Friday morning. SPD says officers were called to the scene around 11:42 AM and observed a male suspect lunging at a victim, while holding what appeared to be a knife:
    Officers gave verbal commands to the suspect and refused to cooperate, while still holding the weapon. Officers were able to bring the suspect under control; he went to the ground and dropped the weapon.
    Police say the weapon turned out to be scissors. The suspect was taken into custody for investigation of a Hate Crime and Felony Harassment.
  • Brother arrested in pistol-whip robbery: Police say an early Wednesday morning pistol whip robbery in the East Precinct was a family affair:
    At 0205 hours, officers responded to a report of a robbery in which the victim was pistol whipped. The suspect was the victim’s estranged brother. The suspect was still in his apartment at the time officers arrived. The apartment was contained and the suspect surrendered. A search warrant was obtained; the firearm was seized from the apartment.
    SPD says the suspect was booked for Investigation of Robbery and Domestic Violence Assault.
 

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Seattle setting new rules for how police use crowd control weapons like pepper spray, blast balls, and tear gas

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(Image: Matt Mitgang with permission to CHS)

The Seattle City Council is set to approve new rules for how the Seattle Police Department can use crowd control weapons.

CHS reported here on the legislation needed to replace SPD’s crowd control policy as part of changes required to fully end federal oversight of the department. The department’s “interim” policies on the use of things like blast balls and pepper spray have been in place since a federal judge blocked the city’s attempts to ban the weapons in the wake of the 2020 protests.

The new rules set to be approved by the council Tuesday will leave the discretion on deploying crowd control weapons like pepper spray and blast balls to SPD incident commanders while requiring outside agencies like the Washington State Patrol to follow SPD’s command in crowd control situations. The use of more serious weapons like tear gas would require an official state of emergency to be declared by the mayor. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill, your long wait for Carmelo’s Tacos on Broadway is nearly over

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@FifthCrichton, your wait is over

Its signs have been up for months and the space looks ready for customers. The time has finally come for Carmelo’s Tacos on Broadway.

Early last year, CHS reported the family-owned destination for Mexico City-inspired street food planned to open a new spot in the former Starbucks space at the corner of Broadway and East Denny Way. Workers installed colorfully branded signage, and passersby could peek through the windows to monitor the build-out’s progress, imagining the beefy and cheesy griddled quesabirrias served with a side of consommé for dipping, chorizo-and-steak campechano tortas, and cinnamon-dusted churros served with vanilla ice cream and Nutella drizzle.

A year and a lot of passersby later, the new Carmelo’s Tacos on Broadway has yet to open.

“It has taken longer than expected, for sure,” Carmelo’s son, Raúl Delfin, told CHS last week. Continue reading →