Author Archives: CHS

Sound Transit: Plan for three weekends this fall with no light rail between Capitol Hill and SODO in preparation for 2020 Blue Line construction

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Lots of good things are ahead for riding light rail to and from Capitol Hill Station but to get there, Sound Transit says coming construction will mean a few weekends without service this fall:

We’re laying the groundwork to open the Blue Line, a new Link line that will begin taking riders from Northgate to Redmond in 2023. As part of that work, we need to reduce Link service for three weekends this fall. On the weekends of October 12-13, October 26-27, and November 9-10, there will be no Link service between SODO-Capitol Hill. Trains will run from Angle Lake-SODO and UW-Capitol Hill, and free buses will connect the six stations in between.

Sound Transit says it chose those weekends because there are no Seahawks or Husky football games. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Gary Manuel Aveda Institute is making a two-block Pike/Pine move

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The black-clad students of “The Harry Potter of hair schools” are on the move (Image: Gary Manuel Aveda Institute)

By Maggie Holland for CHS

In the wake of Seattle Vocational Institute discontinuing its School of Cosmetology, a new neighbor is moving onto the block at Harvard and Pike to fill the creative space left behind. The Gary Manuel Aveda Institute is packing up and moving a few blocks down to explore opportunities on a new frontier: the Seattle Central campus.

Along with the institute comes Elizabeth Noblitt, who first stepped into her role as director of the Gary Manuel Aveda Institute when it debuted on 10th Ave in 2004. Now, 15 years later, she is spearheading the move to the former E Pike at Harvard cosmetology school space that will keep the small armies of black-aproned beauty school students in the neighborhood.

Noblitt said the target opening date is the first week in October, depending on construction.

Despite being on the doorsteps to the campus, Gary Manuel is not affiliated with the college. But this positioning is intentional on part of Aveda, whose institutes are often located close to college campuses to increase clients and interest from students. Continue reading →

Pacific Northwest earthquake early warning system gets key federal funding

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(Image: University of Washington)

Federal funding awarded this week will allow the installation of dozens of new seismic stations in Washington and Oregon to help build up the region’s early warning system for earthquakes.

“This investment in the PNSN represents a major increase in federal support for earthquake monitoring in the Cascadia region,” Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and professor in UW’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences, said in a statement from the school on the funding. “At the end of the two years of funding we anticipate having essentially doubled the number of seismic stations across our whole region that contribute to real-time earthquake early warning. This would allow for full public alerts of any potentially damaging earthquakes, across our entire region of Washington and Oregon, by the end of the two-year period.”

The U.S. Geological Survey announced the $10.4 million in funding to the network based at University of Washington to support the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system. Continue reading →

So, which District 3 neighborhoods voted for the Speak out Seattle candidate?

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With reporting by Margo Vansynghel

If the advocates of pro-policing and anti-street disorder efforts in Seattle like Speak out Seattle, Safe Seattle, and People for Seattle really are sweeping in a wave of change in the city, this is what it looks like in District 3.

CHS started the week showing you Election Night heat maps for the top two candidates moving through to November’s General Election in D3.

Here is the Election Night map for the person who cam in third and will not advance — Pat Murakami.

Supported by an endorsement from Speak Out Seattle, a pro-policing and public safety group which has opposed the head tax and safe-consumption sites, Murakami outpaced many expectations and should finish with around 13% of the vote but falling well short of Egan Orion and Kshama Sawant.  Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | New program at Seattle Central College aims to bring more people of color into teaching ranks

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From Seattle Central

Seattle Central College and Seattle Public Schools have joined forces to offer a new degree designed to bring more people of color into the teaching profession.

The new Academy for Rising Educators (ARE) at Seattle Central College offers a six-quarter Associate of Arts degree with a focus on education and social justice. Graduates will have the option to directly transfer into teaching programs at Seattle University and City University.

Students who are recent graduates from Seattle high schools will be eligible for free tuition under the Seattle Promise scholarship. The program will also offer financial and counseling support for adult working students.

The first cohort of 35 students will have the opportunity to work full time at Seattle Public Schools as paraeducators (classroom assistants), while pursuing their degree. Continue reading →

Visette Boutique new home like a luxury closet hidden in the middle of Pike/Pine’s growing fashion retail scene

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(Image: Visette)

Four years after its opening, Capitol Hill dress design shop Visette Boutique will be moving up the Hill.

Capitalizing on an expiring lease, owner Visal Sam took the opportunity to move locations and, in turn, expand her store.

“It was a perfect storm for us,” she said. “The situation provided us with an option to go with it and benefit from it.”

Sam, whose boutique primarily focuses on special occasion dresses, aims to push women out of their “fashion box.” She feels that everyone has their own style and it is very difficult for industrialized and mass-produced clothes to truly fit someone’s look.

“If you want something really beautiful you don’t know where to go because everywhere else is generic” she said. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill leather bar settles over city minimum wage and sick time complaint

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Capitol Hill leather bar The Cuff has settled a sick time complaint with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards. The relatively small “financial remedy” will make sure dozens employees get their due, of course, but the payout can also serve as an educational moment for other employers who want to do right by the city’s Paid Sick and Safe Time and Minimum Wage ordinances.

OLS says it alleged that the Cuff was not paying the correct minimum wage in some instances and was rounding paid sick and safe time accrual down to the hour for 43 employees during the period. Continue reading →

Downtown ribbon cutting includes good vibes for new bike projects including Pike protected lanes

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Now on 8th Ave (Image: SDOT)

Mayor Jenny Durkan and SDOT director Sam Zimbabwe weren’t out for a ride but they did come out to celebrate Wednesday’s opening of a new 8th Ave protected bike lane with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The redesigned 8th Ave includes a “one-way northbound protected bike lane between Pike St and Bell St, one travel lane, paid parking and load zones, and new bike signals at busy intersection,” SDOT reports. “This project completes a two-way couplet for people biking with the existing one-way southbound 7th Ave protected bike lane.” Continue reading →

City Council overcomes mayor’s veto on Seattle’s Sweetened Beverage Tax revenue plan

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The Seattle City Council doubled down on its plans for how best to spend $6 million in Sweetened Beverage Tax revenue Monday, voting to ignore Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of the legislation.

Only interim Council member Abel Pacheco, downtown rep Sally Bagshaw, and North Seattle rep Debora Juarez sided with the mayor Monday.

CHS reported on the fight over funding scraps for health and food programs as the mayor attempted to focus the tax revenue on a smaller set of existing resources vs. creating new, often progressive programs.

The tax on sugary beverages was originally earmarked for creating new programs related to “healthy food and beverage access, birth-to-three services and kindergarten readiness, a public awareness campaign about sugary drinks, support for people actively living with obesity and diabetes, community-based programs to support good nutrition and physical activity and evaluation support for those programs.” With Monday’s veto-killing vote, the council’s plan for new programs can again try to move forward.

Meanwhile, Monday’s full City Council action also included approval of Seattle’s Green New Deal resolution. Durkan’s response to the approval was much friendlier than the sugary beverage tax situation. In a statement, the mayor applauded the vote and said she was “committed to expediting climate action” by issuing an Executive Order directing City departments to “evaluate how they can accelerate their action items under the City’s Climate Action Plan, and how Seattle can best meet the goals of the Green New Deal.” The final resolution can be found here.