City of Seattle’s plan to sweep homeless encampments and protesters at Cal Anderson waits on judge’s decision — UPDATE: DENIED

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Some of the hastily arranged barricades around encampments at Cal Anderson Park

UPDATE 4:30 PM: A federal court Thursday denied a motion to request a temporary restraining order to halt the planned sweep. More details and the full decision are below.

Original report: A Washington district federal court judge will decide the immediate future of Cal Anderson Park Thursday morning.

Is it soon to be cleared and swept of campers or will “community defense” volunteers mark a victory — however brief — in holding back City Hall?

The decision from Judge Richard Jones expected Thursday morning could open the way for Seattle Parks to move forward with its announced plan to clear Cal Anderson of tents and belongings.

Activists and black bloc protesters did their best to fill the park Wednesday, the city’s deadline for clearing the area after what it says has been an intensive outreach effort to offer homeless campers shelter across the city. The Seattle Police Department circled and patrolled the area of the occupied protest but did not enter the park to engage with protesters Wednesday and overnight into Thursday when Judge Jones was expected to announce his decision on a requested temporary restraining order to halt any sweep.

The federal civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of “an unhoused resident of Seattle” put a daylong pause to any clearance plans Wednesday but lawyers for the Seattle City Attorney said further action to clear the park would be “imminent” if the request for the restraining order were denied.

The lawsuit been filed in U.S. District Court seek a stop to the sweep on behalf of Ada Yeager whose lawyer say has been living in Cal Anderson since early June and has been subjected to “repeated harassment from the City of Seattle by way of ‘sweeps.’” Continue reading →

Oola Distillery saying goodbye to 2020 and Capitol Hill with move to Georgetown

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Kallas-Lewis on Oola’s five-year anniversary

14th and Union has been home to a lively slice of Capitol Hill with a “Southern” dive bar, a gay bar, and the neighborhood’s sole remaining craft distillery. All of that will be gone when things get back closer to normal after the heights of the COVID-19 crisis — Oola Distillery is joining the rest in exiting the corner.

Nine years after it poured its first tastes of small batch vodka and gin, owners Kirby Kallas-Lewis and KT Niehoff announced the distillery and its 10 Degrees event space are leaving Capitol Hill for Georgetown.

“We are sad to leave the Hill,” Kallas-Lewis said. “KT and I have been a devoted part of the neighborhood for almost 25 years. Covid related challenges created a sooner than expected departure, but we are staying positive and looking forward to joining the Georgetown community.” Continue reading →

Cultural Space Agency’s mission: Create and preserve arts venues in expensive Seattle (and even more expensive Capitol Hill)

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The V2 project was temporary — there are hopes for more permanent outcomes from the Cultural Space Agency

The City of Seattle has established a Public Development Authority (PDA) with the hope of creating shared cultural spaces and supporting local artists.

The move might be a last hope for arts organizations in a neighborhood like Capitol Hill that has transitioned from cheap auto row-era spaces perfect for galleries, studios, and dive bars. The latest victim here is Velocity Dance which gave up its 24-year struggle against rising rents and the COVID-19 crisis and has now given up its 12th Ave  home.

The Cultural Space Agency, which will be partnered with the PDA, will look to build community wealth and invest in communities of color as a real estate investment company focused on spaces for the arts. For example, it could partner with the city’s Equitable Development Initiative on real estate deals to ensure cultural space is included, and working with the Office of Housing to purchase ground-floor units in new developments to give ownership opportunities to small businesses, said Randy Engstrom, director of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture.

The city has set aside $1 million for the next two years for the PDA’s operating costs with the hopes of getting investments from philanthropists for projects.

“We’re doing it to make sure that, as we come out of COVID, that we not only preserve but we protect that part of our city that really is its soul: the arts and culture,” Mayor Jenny Durkan told reporters Tuesday morning. “And that we make sure that we do it in a way that can be more equitable and that our recovery is one that actually does bridge the gap to prosperity for everyone.” Continue reading →

Sound Transit board to vote on fare enforcement policy reform

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(Image: Sound Transit)

The Sound Transit board of directors will vote Thursday afternoon on what the body is calling the start of “major reforms” for how the agency handles fare enforcement.

If approved in Thursday’s vote, the proposed motion (PDF) would direct the creation of “a new fare enforcement/engagement program” and suspend all “civil infractions for fare evasion” until the board can vote “on an updated fare enforcement policy.” Continue reading →

‘Community defense’ and activists — but not police — fill Cal Anderson as sweep deadline arrives — UPDATE: Restraining order ruling expected Thursday

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Police circled Cal Anderson Wednesday morning but did not — immediately — move in (Image: CHS)

(Image: CHS)

Activists and community defense volunteers filled Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Wednesday morning as an announced city and police sweep of the park appeared to be paused — if only temporarily.

Police did not immediately enter the park and made a few shows of cruisers and lights while a mix of law enforcement and media helicopters buzzed the area around the 7:30 AM deadline for the announced clearance of “personal property” from the homeless encampments and mutual aid activities inside the 7.4 acre park in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

CHS reported here on the city’s order posted Monday morning to clear the park after months of closure, protests, and camping in the wake of the CHOP occupied protest and Black Lives Matter rallies and marches. The city says outreach workers have been in contact with campers including 40 in the past week with 10 being referred to shelter facilities. Continue reading →

As it prepares to clear Cal Anderson Park, city cites neighborhood support from nearby property owners, Seattle Central College, and businesses — UPDATE

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(Image: CHS)

The City of Seattle is citing support from property owners, businesses, and community groups as it prepares to clear homeless encampments and activists from Cal Anderson Park.

“The situation within the park grows worse and more unsafe by the day,” one key letter — sent to Mayor Jenny Durkan December 14th and provided to CHS this week — reads. “The park has now morphed into a safety concern for both the individuals within the park and the neighboring community. Violence, drugs, vandalism, and other harmful activities in Cal Anderson are adversely affecting our community members to the point where any park activation efforts cannot make any lasting impact.”

The December 14th letter is signed by Hunters Capital’s Michael Malone who owns properties across Capitol Hill including the Broadway Building across from Cal Anderson, Shelia Edwards-Lange, president of Seattle Central College, Chris Persons, CEO of affordable developer Community Roots Housing, and a dozen more signatories including property owners, small business owners, and the developer of the major mixed-use project rising above nearby Capitol Hill Station. Continue reading →

Design review: First look at proposal for preservation incentive-boosted project that will rise above 110-year-old E Pike Rowland building

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Wednesday night will bring two virtual design review meetings that could help set the course for new developments on Capitol Hill in 2021 including a project planned to preserve the E Pike facade of the 1910-built commercial building that has been home to Gay City and Kaladi Brothers as part of an eight-story, incentive boosted mixed-use project.

CHS reported on the early plans from developer Hunters Capital and longtime property owner Chip Ragen to redevelop the corner of E Pike and Belmont.

Wednesday night, the Studio Meng Strazzara-designed project will take its first step in front of the East Design review board. Continue reading →

Helmed by Pike/Pine nightlife vets, Post Pike Bar and Cafe now open for days and nights on Broadway

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Day drink or night drink or don’t drink at Post Pike (Image: Post Pike Bar and Cafe)

The Post Pike Bar and Cafe, helmed by two veterans of the Pike/Pine party scene ready for a more chill neighborhood existence on Broadway, is now open.

CHS reported this fall on the project from former Lost Lake manager Onjoli Dela Torre and Comet bartender Max Lovelace to create a daytime/nighttime spot on the Broadway strip replacing the short-lived tamale and cider joint A&A Cafe.

“I love Capitol Hill and working on this side — the fun part,” Dela Torre told CHS earlier about opening on Broadway. “When I lived on Capitol Hill 15 years ago, this is where I hung out.”

Next to the Broadway post office, Post Pike is also opening just in time for your last-minute holiday shipping needs. Continue reading →

Washington Build Back Black Alliance forms to ‘speak with one voice’ in Olympia at Seattle City Hall

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When Paula Sardinas moved to Washington, she noticed that despite lawmakers’ rhetoric, “Black Lives Matter” was not reflected in policy.

Sardinas, president of a government relations firm, said she’s been advocating for equity in Olympia, but has always come up against better-funded special interests, noting specific fights in the cannabis industry that activists have argued has kept out Black business owners. So she asked herself: “How can we create a concentric circle which centers around social and equitable racial justice in policy and bring all the members to the table?”

Sardinas and colleagues hope they have answered this question by forming the Washington Build Back Black Alliance this fall, which includes members from Tacoma to the Tri-Cities, to both develop policies and give feedback on existing legislation that could affect the wellbeing of Black people.

“Every piece of policy we draft we need to ask ourselves one simple question: Does this hurt or advance the cause of Black lives and if it does, how is it helping us to create generational wealth and equity,” Sardinas told CHS this week. “If a bill or piece of legislation doesn’t answer those two questions, then why are we hearing the bill?”

Some elements of the group’s 2021 agenda are already taking shape. Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled his equity plan for the state’s next budget including “$365M for equity-related decision packages and budget items.”

Continue reading →

City Council passes disclosure rules targeting ‘indirect lobbying’ like Move Seattle Forward

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This summer, the Move Seattle Forward group helped organize opposition to the City Council’s efforts to cut back on police spending in the city. it was a slick effort. And it probably helped shape the final budgets that followed.

Monday, the City Council passed new rules based on recommendations from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission to clamp down on so-called “indirect lobbying” efforts that shape public opinion without having to disclose who was calling the shots and where the money was coming from. Continue reading →