Tag Archives: cal anderson

Cal Anderson’s sidewalk is fixed — Now, city looking at public safety around Capitol Hill’s central park

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Seattle’s new transportation plan makes a big deal about making the city’s sidewalks better and adding new ones to the remaining areas without. Cal Anderson Park is out in front on things.

Capitol Hill’s central park is starting spring with its buckled eastern edge lined by a smooth new sidewalk and new solutions to help save the space’s Red Sunset Maples. Meanwhile, city officials are meeting with area business representatives and organizations with hopes to address larger questions around public safety on the park’s west side.

On the east, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s three-block project combined a variety of strategies including moving some areas of sidewalk, installing metal sidewalks that can leave more space for roots, and planting more trees along the park in an effort to replace cracked and buckled sections of sidewalk while preserving the park’s canopy. Continue reading →

‘Student Rally for Palestine’ at Cal Anderson Park part of planned walkouts across state

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Groups including Washington State Unite, The Revolutionary Student Union of King County, and student groups at the University of Washington and Evergreen College say they have organized a “statewide walkout” Tuesday morning with rally points across Washington including Cal Anderson Park calling for the end of U.S. aid to Israel and for the end of the Israeli occupation of Gaza.

“We the students of Seattle refuse to turn a blind eye to the atrocities that Israel and the U.S. commits every day! Being silent is being complicit in these crimes against humanity,” the message from @wawalkoutforpalestine promoting the Capitol Hill rally reads. “On April 23rd at 10:30 am, walk out of class and meet at Cal Anderson Park at 11:45 am. Bring posters. There we’ll have speakers and educational pamphlets.”

While it is unclear how many students may join the protest, some of the organizing groups have also been involved in recent demonstrations that brought attention to the conflict in Gaza while making headlines around blocked roads and snarled traffic. Law enforcement response to the demonstrations has so far been mostly peaceful with arrests to clear roadways and streets. 46 protesters were charged in one of the most recent rallies that blocked traffic outside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Seattle Public Schools had not issued any alerts or updates to families about a walkout as of Tuesday’s morning’s first bells.

 

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International Working Women’s Day March circles Cal Anderson with calls for Palestinian solidarity

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Friday night’s International Working Women’s Day March on Capitol Hill included a focus on the war in Gaza and Palestinian solidarity.

“Women, especially women of color, have been at the forefront of many movements throughout the ears and have led the way to fight for a better world,” said Christina López of the Seattle branch of the Radical Women organization that helped organize Friday’s event. “And we will continue to do so as horrific events call on us to keep on struggling and keep on fighting.” Continue reading →

Cal Anderson homeless encampment ‘obstruction clean-up’ came during search for killer

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While Seattle Police detectives were spending the overnight hours secretly watching for a suspect feared to be preying on people sleeping outside in the area’s streets and parks, city clearance crews were also being dispatched to clear encampments around Capitol Hill.

In one example, according to a SPD brief on the inclusion of their personnel to provide security for the “obstruction clean-up” operation, Seattle Parks and Recreation and SDOT led a clean-up along Nagle Place on the west edge of Cal Anderson last Friday morning out of concerns around the attacks.

“Recent incidents of stabbings and assaults in the area prompted the request for immediate intervention,” the brief reads. Continue reading →

First Hill man arrested in ax murder as Seattle Police secretly searched for suspect preying on homeless — UPDATE: CHARGED

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The Town Hall murder scene (Image: SPD)

Details from Chief Adrian Diaz of the arrest of a First Hill resident in the brutal ax murder of a homeless man outside 8th Ave’s Town Hall last month reveal Seattle Police were secretly tracking a possible killer preying on Seattle’s unhoused.

Liam Kryger, 25, is being held in King County Jail on $5 million bail after being arrested by SWAT and police Sunday at Spruce and Broadway near his 10th Ave First Hill apartment. Prosecutors say they expect a charging decision in the case Wednesday.

Diaz revealed details of Kryger’s arrest two weeks after the killing in a lightly attended press conference Monday night as he described the SPD detective work that led to police pursuing a suspect carrying an ax early Saturday into Freeway Park. Diaz says the suspect was able to escape but dropped the ax.

Police were able to trace the ax to a February purchase at the Lowe’s store on Rainier Ave. Kryger was identified as the purchaser after a department of corrections officer recognized him from images police obtained of the home improvement store transaction.

According to the police report and initial court documents in the case, 52-year-old Daravuth Van was murdered as he camped near First Hill’s Town Hall, suffering a crushing blow to the head. Continue reading →

Despite owning its Capitol Hill home, Hugo House’s struggles continue as executive director steps down

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(Image: Hugo House)

Instability in its leadership will continue at Hugo House, one of Capitol Hill’s most prominent arts nonprofits and operator the 11th Ave literary center and complex across from Cal Anderson Park. The organization announced this week that executive director Diana Delgado will resign her position after less than a year on the job.

It comes amid reports of signifcant financial challenges for the organization.

CHS reported here last April as Hugo House brought on Delgado with hopes of forging new paths for the literary center after years of conflict over diversity.

Delgado was Hugo House’s first permanent executive director since Tree Swenson resigned in February 2021 in response to a letter demanding her removal based on racial equity concerns. Continue reading →

Thousands raised to help tattoo artist recover from Capitol Hill assault

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(Image: @bunkyart)

Hundreds of donors have rallied around a Capitol Hill tattoo artist who must undergo medical procedures and surgeries after a nighttime assault earlier this month as she walked near Cal Anderson on the way to the light rail station.

Danielle “Bunky” Oyster detailed the apparently random Saturday, February 10th assault that left her with facial injuries in a fundraiser plea that has raised thousands to help the tattoo artist’s recovery. Oyster told KIRO the situation has become even more dangerous as she is now fighting a flesh-eating bacterial infection after the lacerations and stitches to her head. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth holds first community public safety meeting: a letter to the liquor board over ‘lewd conduct’ inspections, a check on East Precinct response times, and addressing gun violence with jobs and counseling

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A community public safety meeting organized by the office of newly elected District 3 Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth after a shooting earlier this month at 23rd and Union took on issues far beyond the Central District neighborhood Tuesday night.

Hollingsworth said Tuesday inside an unfinished restaurant space in the Midtown Square development where the meeting was held that she is starting her term at the council asking questions and digging into D3 concerns like the liquor control board’s “lewd conduct” inspections at a handful of Capitol Hill gay bars and clubs.

A question at Tuesday’s meeting is why this kind of enforcement is a priority — especially given other public safety needs and the history of violent police raids targeting queer venues.

“There were ten bars, and four happened to be LGBTQ,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said Tuesday she has written a letter to the liquor and cannabis board and is asking for an explanation.

“I’m trying to get public safety to be a nonpartisan issue,” Hollingsworth said Tuesday.

The meeting touched on safety issues across D3 but focused especially on ongoing gun violence and recent shootings, including an instance when blew out Midtown Square apartment windows earlier this month. Some community members emphasized the need for a stronger police officer presence, while others wanted to address violence in a proactive way rather than reactive.

“We have seen a significant amount of gun violence,” Hollingsworth said. “This is a reaction to the stuff that’s been going on in our district.”

CHS reported on this Cherry Hill shooting Sunday night, and the January 23rd shooting that left one person hospitalized. Hollingsworth ran her campaign with a focus on public safety, and is making it a priority in office after a record number of homicides in 2023.

“Most of the emails we get in from our email box is [about] public safety,” Hollingsworth said. Continue reading →

Bring your food truck — or yoga class or kid camp or ice cream trailer — to Cal Anderson and Volunteer Park this summer

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

The Seattle Parks department is looking for vendors who want to do business in Capitol Hill’s largest parks.

Seattle Parks and Recreation has opened the annual process for proposals for both food concessions and non-food concessions in its city park system including Cal Anderson Park and Volunteer Park.

“Seattle Parks is looking for innovative proposals to provide services in our beloved city parks,” the announcement reads. “From food to non-food services, we want to hear from you.” Continue reading →

After Black Lives Memorial Garden removal, UW studio taking academic approach to sorting out community uses in Cal Anderson

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(Image: Juan Jocom)

By Juan Jocom

The Black Lives Memorial Garden has been cleared from Cal Anderson Park but efforts to mark the events of the 2020 protests and create a lasting connection to the movements and communities that centered around this Capitol Hill public space that summer are continuing.

A University of Washington professor who successfully helped lead the transformation of the International District’s Hing Hay Park with community elements and expanded features is continuing a process to harness student ideas and design concepts that could someday do the same in Cal Anderson.

Jeff Hou, Landscape Architecture Professor at University of Washington and the director of the Urban Commons Lab, is moving forward on a studio project this winter to take action on creating inclusive solutions for Cal Anderson.

“We need to be respectful of multiple interests and identity and we want to bring as many people to the table and making sure that the design can serve a wider audience,” says Hou.

Others aren’t waiting for a design studio.

Late last Thursday night, Seattle Police stood by as Seattle Parks rangers cleared the park in a rare enforcement of Cal Anderson’s posted 11:30 PM closure time. A “mutual aid” group that had put up canopies and a fire pit near the area of the cleared garden refused to budge.

Continue reading →