Tax the rich? 43rd District’s Rep. Scott at the center of debate over a Washington wealth tax

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Saturday’s town hall (Image: CHS)

By Kali Herbst Minino, UW News Lab

“Tax the rich” might seem like something you see scrawled in Cal Anderson graffiti or on a Pike/Pine hipster’s ironic t-shirt. Against a backdrop of now fully uncertain federal support, the slogan a part of core 2025-era political debate in Washington and its largest city. This past weekend, it was the center of the discussion on First Hill.

People gathered at 43rd District Rep. Shaun Scott’s town hall Saturday at Seattle First Baptist Church to hear panelists from Working Washington and Seattle Democratic Socialists of America talk about turning the “tax the rich” slogan into real world legislation.

Advocacy group Balance Our Tax Code took videos of personal testimonies about the benefits of progressive policies and someone handed out “Tax the Rich” buttons. Continue reading →

Misdemeanor charges — and Capitol Hill SODA zone ban — for suspect in ‘war on graffiti’ helicopter chase

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No felony charges have been filed in the gunpoint arrest of a wanted tagger who was chased through the streets of Capitol Hill by a Seattle Police K9 unit and the King County Sheriff’s Guardian One helicopter late last month.

CHS reported here on the Tuesday night manhunt pursuing Montrell Shawn Clifton that stretched along Harvard Ave E with officers swarming the area as the law enforcement helicopter tracked the suspect from above.

SPD later said witnesses had reported Clifton pointed a gun in a confrontation near the building home to the Broadway Market QFC leading to the heavy-handed pursuit. Police were unable to locate a firearm. After his arrest, police say Clifton claimed the gun was a lighter. Continue reading →

Seattle U president stepping down to lead Georgetown

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(Image: Seattle University)

Seattle University president Eduardo M. Peñalver has been named the next leader of Georgetown University.

The Seattle 7,000-student private Jesuit university along 12th Ave south of Capitol Hill announced Peñalver’s planned departure this week. He will step down at the end of March ending his five years at the school.

“This was not an easy decision but one I make with gratitude for all that we have accomplished together and confidence in the university’s continued momentum,” Peñalver said in Seattle U’s announcement. “While I am excited about the opportunity to continue my work in Jesuit higher education at such a pivotal moment, I am also sad to be leaving Seattle University and the Pacific Northwest, which will always be my home.” Continue reading →

One year later: How Bonito Café y Mercadito became Capitol Hill’s newest cultural hub

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What began as a simple pop-up market to celebrate their photography has transformed into something much larger for Ismael Calderon and his husband Daniel on Capitol Hill.

One year after opening Bonito Café y Mercadito at Melrose and E Olive Way, the Bakersfield transplants have filled a distinct gap in Capitol Hill’s coffee landscape, creating a community hub that weaves together Latino and queer culture while reimagining traditional flavors through an innovative lens. From the Calderon’s first space in the old Rainier Brewery, where Aqui photography studio first sparked this unexpected journey, Ismael reflects on how a modest celebration evolved into one of the neighborhood’s most distinctive gathering places.

Bonito’s origin story begins with that impromptu celebration two years ago at the opening of Aqui. What started as a one-off event featuring about 10 vendors quickly grew into something more significant when attendees kept asking when the next market would be.

“There was such a vibe, and there was such a warm feeling that people felt when they came,” Ismael Calderon recalls. “Everyone was like, okay, cool. When are you gonna have another one?”

That market, focused on POC and queer vendors, has grown. This summer, they hosted over 15,000 people at the waterfront in what Calderon called the biggest event of its kind. The success of these markets inspired the couple as they leapt into brick-and-mortar cafe culture and retail.

“We wanted a market that felt something close to us, being queer and Latino,” Calderon explains. “We wanted something that represented us.” Continue reading →

Groups planning Capitol Hill ‘No Kings 2.0’ rally before meeting up with Saturday’s Seattle Center march

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Marchers crossed Capitol Hill during the June No Kings demonstration

This summer, an estimated 70,000 marched from Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park as part of a nationwide “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration. Saturday, thousands are again expected again to march in the city — but this time the gathering spot will be the Seattle Center before the demonstration fills the streets for a march downtown.

A group of organizers are planning a “No Kings 2.0” demonstration on Capitol Hill before meeting up with the downtown crowds.

CHS has reported previously over the years on the spirited, grassroots-organized, and sometimes lightly attended rallies, demonstrations, and marches led by the Capitol Hill Pride group formed long ago around efforts by the long-gone Museum of Mysteries on Broadway to create an alternative queer Pride event in the neighborhood every summer.

Saturday, Capitol Hill Pride is hoping to capture some of the No Kings 2.0 spirit for its planned, rally, “chalk-in,” and march scheduled to step off from Seattle Central in time for the procession to make its way to the Mexican Consulate on Harvard Ave and then to Seattle Center to meet with the larger rally. Continue reading →

‘Things are getting worse out there not better’ — In re-election tussle, Nelson touts progress at a Capitol Hill park

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As another Capitol Hill green space remains fenced-off by the city due to “bouts of negative park activity,” City Council president Sara Nelson is taking credit for the approach she says saved Capitol Hill’s Miller Park in her campaign to retain her seat at Seattle City Hall.

In a story reported by the KING 5 television station, Nelson credits her approach to addressing addiction treatment and homelessness leading to the clean-up the park and community center next to the Meany Middle School along Capitol Hill’s 19th Ave E.

“This is a microcosm of what you would see across the city is actually the restoration of our parks and playfields for their intended use,” Nelson says in the interview. “We did make progress and we have to keep going.”

CHS reported here in 2021 as encampments were cleared from Miller Park following months of complaints as pandemic restrictions on clearances slowed the process.

Nelson took office in 2022 but tells KING 5 Miller Park is representative of her efforts at City Hall. Continue reading →

Amid Capitol Hill’s growing set of shuttered spaces, Seattle considers ban on agreements that block new groceries and pharmacies

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With two major grocery store locations shuttered and two former big chain drugstores empty and boarded-up on Capitol Hill, Seattle leaders are looking at a ban on legal agreements they say are keeping some of the city’s prime spaces from being filled with new businesses.

Mayor Bruce Harrell included the plan in his 2026 budget proposal, proposing legislation “that will prohibit the use of restrictive or negative covenants preventing a property from being used as a grocery store or pharmacy.”

“My proposed budget increases the City’s food investments by 20%, however, affordable food and medicine are inaccessible for too many Seattleites. When a company closes a grocery store or pharmacy, they can add a restrictive covenant into a property’s deed or lease that blocks a new grocery or pharmacy from locating at the same place,” Harrell said in his announcement of the legislation to be considered by the Seattle City Council. “They do this to block competitors, and these actions harm neighborhoods and contribute to grocery and pharmacy deserts.”

The Harrell administration says the legislation would “make these restrictive covenants illegal in Seattle.” Continue reading →

‘Hey, what should go in this space?’ — Calls from neighborhood to fill empty Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill campus spaces being answered along 15th Ave

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture

Kaiser Permanente has responded to calls from the neighborhood to do more to fill the empty retail spaces of its Capitol Hill campus along 15th Ave. There is a new property management effort in place, a new coffee shop lined up to join the campus, and a survey process underway to shape what kind of businesses are courted to help fill in other spaces along this stretch of Capitol Hill.

CHS reported earlier this year on calls for Kaiser to do meet its requirements for activating its streetfront spaces from the citizen Implementation Advisory Committee that oversees the city’s Major Institution Master Plan put in place in 2018 after the health care provider’s takeover of Group Health.

The retail spaces lost tenants coming out of the pandemic and have remained empty for years.

A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson says it has now finalized an agreement with a firm to manage its “available retail locations,” saying Health Hospitality Partners is a healthcare amenities company “that works exclusively with hospitals and health systems to bring modern retail onsite.” Continue reading →

Stateside, Mamnoon, the Roastery — Plans for Blue Willow hoped to fill one of the recent holes in Capitol Hill food and drink

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It isn’t the largest piece of the puzzle but one of the holes recently torn in Capitol Hill food and drink is about to be filled back in.

Permit and license paperwork shows a new restaurant project from the Tyger Tyger food and drink family is lined up to take over the Stateside space on E Pike just above Melrose.

There are few details about the Blue Willow project from restaurant owner Benjamin Chew who has grown Tyger Tyger into a Sichuan favorite in Lower Queen Anne.

Chew is familiar with Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

Regional Transit Safety Task Force recommendations: bigger barriers to protect drivers, stronger rider code of conduct, better responses for ‘vulnerable riders’

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A task force formed to address operator and rider safety on public transit in the wake of the slaying of a Metro bus driver last year has delivered its recommendations.

The Regional Transit Safety Task Force handed over its report to the King County Council’s transportation committee last week.

The task force identified six initiatives including adding bigger, strong barriers to protect Metro’s drivers. The recommendations also focus on improving communication and coordination during emergencies, increased focus on rider Code of Conduct, increased security resources, and increased focus on mental crisis response, youth-centered strategies, and support for unhoused riders: Continue reading →