The Broadway benches outside Capitol Hill Station are gone — but tables in the station plaza are coming

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The CHS Facebook Group noticed the missing benches this week

It’s not a big mystery why the benches along Broadway are gone but it’s not easy finding someone to talk about the removal of seating along the mixed-use developments above Capitol Hill Station.

Back before the holidays, sidewalk benches along Broadway outside the M2M store and the buildings were ripped out. According to employees at local businesses, the benches had to be removed because they were attracting camping and drug use, CHS reported in December.

While they are located along the public right of way, the benches were assets managed by the properties but sorting out who makes the call on what around Capitol Hill Station isn’t easy. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | ‘We Choose Community’ — 2026 Seattle MLK Day march carries city’s messages from the Central District

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The words and spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. carried the causes of 2026 in Seattle Monday as the city’s annual MLK Day march crossed from the Central District across Capitol Hill to downtown.

The volunteer MLK Jr Organizing Coalition took inspiration from a MLK question for this year’s day of workshops, gatherings, and marching from the Central District’s Garfield High School — Where Do We Go From Here? Continue reading →

Gunfire scare clears out Capitol Hill Trader Joe’s — UPDATE

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Concerns around a loud bang and possible gunfire in a dispute outside the Capitol Hill Trader Joe’s Saturday night sent shoppers and staff rushing to take shelter.

According to witnesses and East Precinct radio updates, multiple 911 callers reported some kind of dispute and the possible gunshot outside the busy grocery in the 1700 block of E Madison just before 5:30 PM.

As officers arrived, shoppers and Trader Joe’s employees were taking shelter in the back of the store before being evacuated. Continue reading →

Seattle Social Housing Developer moving forward with new leader — UPDATE

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House our Neighbors campaign leader Tiffani McCoy is now leading the Seattle Social Housing Developer

The Seattle Social Housing Developer is moving forward under a new leader as the Seattle City Council takes up legislation this week that will set the terms for taxpayer funding to power the new development authority to borrow enough to build or acquire 2,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years.

Tuesday morning’s meeting of the council’s Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee chaired by Dan Strauss will take up the ordinance allowing the city to enter into an interlocal agreement with the Seattle Social Housing Developer “to establish the terms and procedures for the implementation, administration, transfer, reporting, and oversight” of the voter-approved social housing tax.

Seattle voters approved formation of the public developer and later a 5% tax on employers who pay any employee more than $1 million in compensation to finance the program. The tax is expected to raise more than $50 million annually. Continue reading →

The First Hill Streetcar — weird, hard-working, and a little lonely — turns 10

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The first rides in 2016 were free

(Image: SDOT)

2016 was a neighborhood-changing year when it comes to public transit on Capitol Hill. While the ten-year anniversary of Capitol Hill Station and light rail serving Broadway is coming up later this year, January brings a decade milestone for a smaller, weirder, but still hard-working piece of Capitol Hill’s transit puzzle.

Ten years ago this week, the bright cars of the First Hill Streetcar first hummed to life on Broadway and service began on the 2.5-mile line connecting Pioneer Square, the International District, First Hill, and Capitol Hill. At the time, the streetcar was envisioned as part of what would eventually grow with the infamous SLUT into a small streetcar network to service the core of the city.

Today, while the SLUT plugs away in South Lake Union, the First Hill Streetcar still stands alone. It might always. Continue reading →

Police: Post-heist thrift shop stop undid Capitol Hill bank robbery suspect

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Police say a Capitol Hill bank robbery suspect’s clean getaway was stained when he took his loot for a shopping stop at the neighborhood Goodwill Friday night.

According to the Seattle Police Department, the suspect entered the Columbia Bank branch at Broadway and Mercer just before 5 PM and handed the teller a note reading, “This is a robbery; I have a gun no dye packs.”

Police say the teller complied and the masked suspect was reported fleeing the bank on foot with “a fair amount of cash,” according to East Precinct radio updates.

According to police, details of the Friday hold-up matched a similar heist the previous afternoon targeting a downtown BECU. Continue reading →

Video: Cops rallied with ‘here to fuck people up’ speech before crackdown on Cal Anderson demonstrators

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Bodycam video revealing an officer pumping-up cops with a “here to fuck people up” pep speech in the lead-up to last May’s Seattle Police Department crackdown on demonstrators against an anti-trans Christian group’s rally in Cal Anderson Park has drawn criticism from officials and calls for the city complete its review of the heavy-handed response.

In the video, the officer says, “We’re going in this time with guns blazing and all our pieces in place,” in one segment from the video’s clips posted to social media after the recording was obtained through public records and shared widely, Continue reading →

This week in CHS history | Cafe Pettirosso says goodbye, MLK Day marches, COVID-19 vax clinic at Seattle U

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(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

2025

 

With smaller crowds but lots of resistance, People’s March Seattle crosses Capitol Hill


Continue reading →

Ch-ch-changes as some of the last remaining parents of Pike/Pine hand over the keys to the Cha Cha — UPDATE

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(Image: Cha Cha Lounge)

Some of the last remaining progenitors of Pike/Pine cool are handing over a key neighborhood hangout to a new generation. New permits and state corporation filings show E Pike’s famed Cha Cha Lounge is moving into 2026 in new hands. Its street-level sibling Bimbos Cantina is apparently along for the ride.

“Viva La Cha Cha!,” is all owner Jeff Ofelt said in reply to a string of calls, texts, emails, and social media messages over the past week as CHS tried to pin down the Cha Cha’s iconic ownership group to learn more about the deal.

The business face and voice of Cha Cha and Bimbos over recent years, Ofelt first crafted the Mexican lounge and cantina vibe 30 years ago with its original location on E Pine with co-owners Rebecca Olson and future husband and Pike/Pine founding father Wade Weigel. Continue reading →

‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ the theme of 2026 MLK Day in Seattle

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Seattle MLK Day organizers have turned to the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. for the message behind this year’s workshops, rally, and march from Garfield High School.

From the volunteer-run MLK Jr Organizing Coalition:

This powerful question comes from Dr. King’s 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?. In it, he warned that America stood at a dangerous crossroads—facing deep racism, poverty, militarism, and division. He challenged us to decide: would we descend into chaos, or would we build a community grounded in justice, democracy, and love? Nearly six decades later, we face a strikingly similar crossroads. Democracy itself is under attack—from voter suppression and political violence to laws rolling back hard-won rights. And even Dr. King’s own legacy is under attack, with his words often misused to silence the very struggles he gave his life to advance. That is why this year’s theme is so urgent. “Where do we go from here?” is not just history—it’s a question for us, right now.

The group’s 43rd annual celebration begins Saturday with a youth forum at Washington Hall followed by an opportunity fair and workshops Monday morning at Garfield High School before a 11 AM rally in the school’s gym and a march set to begin at 12:30 PM from the Garfield parking lot.

Around 4,000 people took part in the event last year.

Learn more at seattlemlkcoalition.org.

 

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