As burglaries have continued to climb in the East Precinct, one local business is vowing to recover after a break-in emptied the Central District shop of cash and took something even more valuable — its stock of smoked salmon.
“It’s truly disheartening to report that cash, checks, equipment, and our beloved smoked salmon were taken,” Seattle Fish Guys reported about the overnight burglary this weekend of its 23rd and Jackson shop. “Fortunately, our team is safe, and we’ve acted swiftly by contacting the authorities and cooperating closely with them to gather any leads. We urge anyone who noticed anything unusual nearby to please come forward. Your assistance could be crucial.” Continue reading →
District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth’s office has rolled out a new way to ask for help around the district beyond potholes and Find It, Fix It issues.
Hollingsworth said the email address is intended to be used so messages sent to her office can be categorized and tracked. The result, Hollingsworth says, is a system that allows her constituents to reach her office directly and produces data and insights about important categories and public safety issues. Continue reading →
A group of neighborhood business representatives calling themselves the Pike/Pine/Broadway Safety Coalition are calling on the city and the East Precinct to do more to combat street disorder and what they call “open air drug markets” at Broadway and Pike and near Cal Anderson Park.
The group led city officials including Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth on a tour of the areas Friday that included plenty of ideas for change — and a flaming reminder of challenges after someone set fire to a portable toilet in Cal Anderson during the tour.
There was another stark reminder over the weekend after a woman was hospitalized in an overnight shooting in the parking lot above the Broadway and Pike QFC just up the stairs from a stop on Friday’s tour.
The coalition group including representatives from QFC-parent company Kroger, the Broadway at Pike Harvard Market shopping center’s ownership, local developers and building owners Hunters Capital and Dunn & Hobbes, and the GSBA, has placed drug dealing fueled by the fentanyl crisis at the center of its calls for help, citing areas outside the Pike QFC, in front of 11th Ave businesses south of Pike, and on Nagle Place next to Cal Anderson as “drug markets” and “a massive health hazard and public safety problem.”
“There are visible weapons and frequent violence. Addicts are in crisis and people don’t know who to call to help,” the group wrote in an “issues and requests” document distributed by the GSBA’s Laura Culberg for Friday’s tour. “Business owners and property owners are cleaning up bloody messes and dangerous drug waste.” Continue reading →
A shooting in the shopping center parking lot above Broadway and Pike sent one woman to the hospital early Sunday morning on Capitol Hill.
Multiple gunshots were reported coming from the Harvard Market shopping center above the Broadway and Pike QFC around 1:30 AM. Arriving police found vehicles fleeing from the parking lot, shattered glass from a business hit in the crossfire, and blood but no victim at the scene.
As police were still gathering evidence just after 2 AM, Harborview Medical Center reported that a gunshot victim had been dropped at the emergency room 20 minutes earlier by a driver in a grey Mercedes SUV who fled the scene. Police were able to confirm that the victim was connected to the Harvard Market shooting, according to East Precinct updates. Continue reading →
A “Myrtle” Yellow-rumped Warbler in winter plumage (Image: Brendan McGarry)
This time of year I am always listening for the next new arrival, no matter where I am. A surprise visitor is certainly more likely during spring migration — and, because I enjoy seeing common birds filter in and out as they pass by or arrive to breed. I have written about spring migration a lot on Pikes/Pines, but that’s because it is a source of renewed excitement about birds and phenology.
The same way we get excited about flowers blooming, seeing feathered friends arrive is a serious source of happiness and curiosity. Never is the movement of birds exactly the same each year because weather and other factors are never exactly the same – even with the help of Bird Cast and years of experience can’t you totally predict what birds show up (but boy, is it fun when you find that you’ve hit the mark). However, there’s always things you expect, like for instance Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata). Continue reading →
Not every business moving in on Capitol Hill will be the latest expansion of a dental services startup backed by a big name tech executive. Some of the neighborhood’s more traditional spirit is taking shape on E Pike where paperwork shows early planning underway for a new Chill Bar project in the Greenus Building next to Meet Korean BBQ and the neighborhood’s location of the Studs ear piercing studio chain.
“Located in a historic auto row building, this gorgeous 3,807 square foot space is an ideal location for any office/retail needs,” the listing for the 500 E Pike commercial space reads. “This property is surrounded by a lively retail core, and is walking distance to downtown and easy transit/parking options.” Rent will run the new tenants something around $150,000 per year.
Details of the new project are still few and far between and details on the ownership are a bit of a mystery for now but the project surfaces the ongoing demand for food and drink, and nightlife economy real estate on Capitol Hill — especially in Pike/Pine. Continue reading →
Mayor Bruce Harrell’s efforts to address public safety concerns and ongoing gun violence across the city will focus on Capitol Hill and the Central District as his administration will host the next in a series of public forums next week at Garfield High School.
Tuesday night’s meeting will bring Harrell and city public safety leaders to the 23rd Ave campus that has found itself in the middle of the city’s ongoing struggles with gun violence. This week brought the latest incident near the campus as a shooter reported firing from an SUV sunroof opened fire on another vehicle as students unloaded from a nearby Metro bus and ran for cover on the nearby campus. There were no reported injuries.
The mayor will come to Garfield as he prepares to release what his office says will be a new plan to manage the city’s public safety responses.
The One Seattle Safety Framework will include new efforts to “reduce gun violence and other violent crime” with “evidence-based solutions and enforcement strategies,” and faster, more effective responses to to 9-1-1 calls by “hiring more officers and diversifying response options.” Continue reading →
A Central District hair salon has become the unexpected host of monthly poetry nights in the midst of neighborhood development at 23rd and Union.
Soul Collective, located on the block with the neighborhood PCC and across the Midtown Square apartments and neighboring businesses Jerk Shack, Neighbor Lady, Raised Donuts, and the Arte Noir gallery, is a space committed to sharing its artistic expertise of diverse ethnicities, backgrounds and hair textures.
Owner Alexandria Folino says she founded the small business to desegregate hair care in an environment of unpretentious luxury.
“I decided to embark on a journey of creating a space that felt right for the type of hair on my head and others that look like me because they have all heard that their hair is a specialty in the beauty industry,” Folino said.
Folino was approached with the idea of hosting poetry nights by poets Joshua Griffin and Julie Feng.
“Alex is from the district. Julie’s from the south end. I grew up in the north end and we’ve all seen this city change,” Griffin said.
“We can speak back to what 23rd and Union used to look like. So what are you going to do now after you leave this space? Hopefully, continue to find ways to be in the community and not find ways to uproot the community.”
Folino acknowledges the Central District has changed a lot since she grew up there and says, by having events like these poetry nights, she can participate in building the new culture of the neighborhood. Continue reading →
The Seattle Design Review program isn’t dead yet but Wednesday night’s session for an eight-story, mixed-use project planned to rise along Capitol Hill’s E Olive Way provided a few more reasons why the process could change.
The development has been in the works for years after a massive 2019 real estate deal with Vancouver, Canada-based real estate investment and management company Low Tide Properties paying $21 million for a collection of commercial buildings including former Coldwell Banker offices and the former Fred Wildlife events space.
The east review board Wednesday night approved a small roster of updates to the project’s design in a meeting necessitated by the requirements to add an elevator and make a few changes to the development’s parking garage that emerged since the board looked at the design the first time in 2023. Continue reading →
As burglaries have continued to climb in the East Precinct, one local business is vowing to recover after a break-in emptied the Central District shop of cash and took something even more valuable — its stock of smoked salmon.
