Dodgeball DJ — How music and community helped Dan Gregory heal

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Five years ago, Dan Gregory’s life changed forever when he was shot by the brother of an SPD officer during the 2020 protests on Capitol Hill. The trauma left deep scars, both physically and mentally, but through music, DJing, and an unexpected Capitol Hill community on the dodgeball court, he found a lifeline.

“Music Saved My Life”
For Gregory, DJing is survival.

“If it wasn’t for music and having an outlet, I probably would have offed myself,” he admits. “That was a lot to go through, and I’d still do it all over again if I had to, but music is how I process my emotions.”

Under the moniker DJ Danny G (formerly DJ oohchillem), Gregory has turned his pain into a magnetic force, curating sets that bring people together at everything from bus stop pop-up jams, homeless camps, or local taco stands.

Today, he brings music to the busy courts of Cal Anderson just blocks away from 11th and Pine and the center of where CHOP formed five years ago this month.

“I love how music can change an environment,” he says. “People come in stressed, and then the right song comes on, and suddenly everyone’s singing along. That energy is everything.” Continue reading →

Celebrate Juneteenth 2025 in Seattle at Jimi Hendrix Park and the Northwest African American Museum

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The Skate to Freedom Party returns at NAAM

The jackasses in the Trump administration still haven’t figured out how to cancel Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Mark the commemoration Thursday with events and celebrations in the Central District and around Seattle.

  • THURSDAY: Juneteenth Freedom Festival @ Jimi Hendrix Park: “Join King County Equity Now and Africatown Community Land Trust for big performances and even bigger legacy at Seattle’s largest celebration. Summer of Soul is taking this year’s Juneteenth celebration to new heights, gracing the stage with a Grammy award winning talent, R&B singer October London!”
  • THURSDAY: Juneteenth at NAAM: A Movement for Joy: “Juneteenth is more than a day of remembrance—it is a declaration of Black joy as resistance. At the Northwest African American Museum, we honor this powerful legacy with a celebration that is bold, vibrant, and full of life: Juneteenth: A Movement for Joy. This year’s celebration features: Skate to Freedom Party – Roll into joy and freedom Black Artist Market – Support local Black creatives The Benjamin Banneker Math Room – STEM exploration for all ages Food Trucks & Local Pop-Ups – Delicious, soulful bites Arts & Crafts Stations – Create, connect, express Come out and celebrate Black freedom, culture, and creativity with us. Bring your friends, your family, and your joy—this is a space for all generations.”

Looking for more things to do Thursday and through the weekend? Here are more area Juneteenth events. Check out the CHS Calendar for more.

 

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‘Emergent rail replacement’ — Weekend of shuttles, delayed service ahead for Seattle light rail

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The start of summer will bring a weekend of transit challenges in Seattle as emergency repairs will shut down downtown light rail service starting Saturday.

Sound Transit says to expect reduced service in addition to no service between Capitol Hill and SoDo through the weekend due to the “emergent rail replacement” work: Continue reading →

Bus riders, get ready for bigger, strong barriers to protect Metro’s drivers

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(Image: King County Metro)

Metro is planning to add buses with bigger, stronger barriers to protect drivers and sorting out how to retrofit its entire 1,400-coach fleet to add the enhanced protection, the county says.

89 buses with the stronger partitions have been ordered and King County Executive Shannon Braddock says she is committed to improved barriers across the entire Metro fleet. Continue reading →

Seattle’s $17.45M overhaul of Pike and Pine connecting Capitol Hill to the waterfront is complete

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(Image: City of Seattle)

(Image: Seattle Convention Center)

Do you feel more connected to the waters of Elliott Bay?

Seattle officials cut the ribbon last week on the $17.45 million project to improve Pike and Pine and better connect Seattle’s new waterfront to the expanded Convention Center and Capitol Hill.

It has been more than a year since the major work around the Capitol Hill components of the construction were completed. Work included transitioning portions of Pike and Pine to new one-way configurations.

“This project delivers on the core promise of our Downtown Activation Plan, creating a seamlessly connected downtown that is welcoming, accessible, and built for people—commuters, families with children, workers, visitors, and business owners alike,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement. Continue reading →

Ground is finally broken on the $9.5M Garfield Super Block bringing together a new promenade, art, and history in the Central District

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Robert Stephens Jr., second from left, joined in the ceremonial groundbreaking last week

With a planned $9.5 million in city, state, and National Parks funding, Seattle officials and community leaders celebrated the groundbreaking of the Garfield Super Block, hoped to reimagine the area around Garfield High School and the community center to create a Legacy and Promise Promenade with a .34-mile loop path and new community spaces including a new play area and parkour park, new sports courts, and a central plaza.

“The community has been fighting for this project for over twenty years,” Robert Stephens, Jr. of the Garfield Super Block Coalition said. “The timeline of Seattle’s Central Area was brilliantly memorialized on the walls of Garfield High School. We wanted to bring that story to life in the art of Garfield Super Block. From the annual MLK march to historic organizing by the Black Panthers, Garfield has and always will be a central convening area for celebration and organizing with the young people of our city.”

The coalition has kept the push for the neighborhood investments alive. They first took shape twenty years ago. As part of the public process to approve building the new Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center, Seattle Public Schools had to be approved for a variance in order to build fewer than the required number of off-street parking stalls. As part of that process, the district was required to provide public benefits as a mitigation. Continue reading →

Seattle set to ban ‘algorithmic rent fixing’ — UPDATE: Vote delayed

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The Seattle City Council is set to ban landlords from using “algorithmic rent fixing” in the city.

Tuesday afternoon, the full council will vote on legislation shaped by the Housing and Human Services Committee banning “coordination of information via services that combine certain public and non-public data related to the rental housing market with algorithmic analysis which may allow noncompetitive price-setting practices for residential rental units.”

UPDATE 6/18/2025 8:00 AM: The council announced its vote on the legislation will be moved back to next week. Councilmember Mark Solomon who will end his run finishing the term of representing District 2 for Tammy Morales later this year, moved to delay the vote but did not provide an explanation. UPDATE x2: A council spokesperson says members wanted more time to review “proposed amendments.” Potential additions include adding “a recital noting that this legislation is not intended to interfere with standard recordkeeping business practices of individual landlords in noncoordinating activities” and an amendment requesting that the Department of Construction and Inspections “conduct outreach efforts to educate landlords about the provisions of this bill.”

Continue reading →

Already keeping most of its tactical comms secret from scanners, Seattle Police Department radio will ‘enhance encryption’ in 2026

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Starting next winter, the Seattle Police Department will fully encrypt its most sensitive radio communications, officially ending an era of public monitoring that officials say has become increasingly dangerous.

SPD announced Tuesday that it will make the upgrades and “enhance encryption to radios used for tactical communications” in early 2026:

In Quarter 2 of 2026, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) will enhance encryption to radios used for tactical communications among our personnel. Encrypting radio communications means radio transmissions can only be heard internally by the intended audience. The primary reason SPD has chosen to encrypt radios is to enhance the safety of community members and first responders, and to protect the public’s sensitive information from being shared to a wide audience.

The department’s leadership says it will continue to leave its main “dispatch” channels for each precinct “open for the public to hear via radio scanners.”

CHS regularly monitors the broadcasts for our neighborhood reporting. The Tuesday announcement makes official practice that has already been in place since changes made during the 2020 protests as SPD began selectively digitally encrypting its tactical channels during a variety of incidents and scenarios. Continue reading →

Woman reported in critical condition after struck by driver at Boylston and Pine — UPDATE: Fatality

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A person in the street was struck and sent to the hospital in critical condition after reportedly being hit by a driver Tuesday morning on Boylston just south of E Pine.

UPDATE 2:07 PM: SPD reports the woman has died of her injuries.

According to police, the 49-year-old woman was apparently sleeping, “laying in the roadway” when the driver exited her parking garage onto Boylston:

She did not see the sleeping pedestrian laying in the roadway and drove over her. The driver stayed on scene and cooperated with police. A Drug Recognition Expert evaluated her and found no signs of impairment.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at (206) 684-8923.

The death is the third vehicle and pedestrian related fatality in the area in June. CHS reported here on the death of two residents backed over and killed in a smoking shelter behind a First Hill senior community earlier this month.

Original report: Seattle Police and Seattle Fire were called to the scene by a 911 caller just after 6:30 AM. The driver was initially reported to have left the scene. A later East Precinct radio update reported that the collision was not a hit and run.

Seattle Fire says it treated a woman in her 40s along the west curb of Boylston and rushed her to Harborview in critical condition.

Boylston between Pike and Pine was closed to traffic during the response.

There were no reported arrests.

 

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Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍 

 
 

A smaller closure on Broadway, Revival closing shop after decade on Capitol Hill

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(Image: Revival)

While we sort out the real estate dealings and corporate grocery priorities behind the planned closure this week of the Broadway Whole Foods, there are a few smaller Capitol Hill retail losses to contend with.

The Revival vintage and fashion shop is closing on Broadway — but not because a long awaited affordable housing development is ready to dig in on the block.

Owner Ashley Busacca her decade of doing business on Broadway is ending as she is expecting a second child and ready to kiss the uncertainty of small retail in the neighborhood goodbye. “It’s been a wild ride,” Busacca said. Continue reading →