911 | Hate crime assault and armed robbery reported at Capitol Hill Station

Images from a witness of the reported white painter’s suit crew

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Capitol Hill Station bias assault and armed robbery: A man said he was hit in the head with a skateboard and robbed of his phone at gunpoint in an altercation early Tuesday morning at Capitol Hill Station. According to the SPD report and East Precinct radio, police were called to the station just before 12:30 AM and found the victim with an injury to his head. The victim said he was assaulted by a group of five suspects as he exited the light rail station. The group assaulted the victim and one suspect brandished a firearm and robbed the man of his phone after he had called 911. Police say the assault and ripoff may be a bias crime. “The victim reported the group used racist and homophobic slurs and he believed he was targeted due to his race and sexual orientation,” the SPD report reads. The suspects were last reported northbound on Broadway but could not be located. Seattle Fire was called to the scene to treat the victim.
  • White painter’s suit car prowls? A group of car prowlers in white painter’s suits has reportedly been making the rounds. This account recorded two days in September when the same crew was actively prowling the area. If you see the group, give 911 a call.

Continue reading

Why the buildings above Capitol Hill Station aren’t taller

By Cormac Wolf — CHS Reporting Intern

Ten years ago this month, the Seattle City Council and Sound Transit signed off on the agreement that shaped the combination of housing and new commercial space above the coming Capitol Hill light rail station. Capitol Hill Station opened for light rail service in 2016. The first new apartment dwellers moved in three years ago. New businesses like Glo’s are still moving in today.

The story of the 428 residential units, thousands of square feet of new commercial space including a new grocery, 216 parking stalls for cars, 254 parking stalls for bikes, and the AIDS Memorial Pathway plaza is still taking shape but it is tempting to define the Capitol Hill Station development by what it is not. The buildings aren’t tall enough. Community requirements like a daycare tenant have gone unmet. The bustling market plaza hasn’t really taken shape.

But what Capitol Hill Station is becoming and how it happened is a better story.

The project kicked off negotiations around 2007, when the properties overlying the station were acquired by Sound Transit, and continued through 2009, when community meetings began to be held. Right away, there was concern from the community.

Cathy Hillenbrand had just joined the Capitol Hill stakeholder committee in 2009, and quickly became one of the most prominent voices in the conversation.

“We went to the council and said, ‘We want this neighborhood to have a seat at the table with the city and Sound Transit,’” says Hillenbrand. Continue reading

The Capitol Hill Station vacuum was a sign — It is time to clean up Broadway’s light rail station

@typewriteralley recently posted about the now infamous Capitol Hill Station vacuum — “The detritus at Capitol Hill Station has gotten to the level of small appliances”

After seven years accumulation of grime and grit, a discarded vacuum cleaner didn’t push things over the edge but its recent removal along with the rest of the trash that had piled up below the escalator down to the subway platform was a sign of things to come.

It is time to clean up Capitol Hill Station.

John Gallagher, a spokesperson for Sound Transit, tells CHS that the station is generally cleaned on a daily basis, as the custodial staff operates on three shifts throughout the week while also being tasked to respond to urgent cleaning requests from all stations.

But something changed below Broadway in recent months. And the junk — and complaints — have piled up at the seven-year-old facility.

According to Gallagher, Sound Transit has seen an increase in hygiene complaints at the station the possible factors including bold graffiti drawings on the escalators and walls. In addition, riders noticed piles of garbage thrown around the entrances and accumulating in the station’s nooks and crannies.

“We have attempted to make efforts to fix the situation,” Gallagher said. “Last week, we sent a specialized graffiti removal crew to work on the escalators, and cleared out most debris from the elevated areas as well.”

But riders have expressed frustration with the lack of effort taken by Sound Transit to ensure the upkeep of the station, complaining of trash on the overhead lights and the lack of dustbins near the platforms. There was also concern raised about dirt on the floors, and foul smell in most elevators. Continue reading

Capitol Hill Farmers Market will add Tuesday nights to schedule through summer

(Image courtesy @typewriteralley)

It takes time and effort to organize the rich soils, the birds, the bees, the seasons, and the farmers. Two years after its move into a larger, more flexible new home, the Capitol Hill Farmers Market is ready for an important change.

Starting next week, the market will expand to add Tuesday nights to its schedule along E Barbara Bailey Way.

The new midweek market will run 3 PM to 7 PM and continue through September 26th, the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance announced this week.

The market will continue its year-round weekend schedule on Capitol Hill, Sundays from 11 AM to 3 PM. Continue reading

After years of plans, new ‘protected left’ signals and transit-only turn lane coming to busy intersection of Broadway, John, and E Olive Way

(Image: CHS)

The Seattle Department of Transportation is finally ready to complete the long-awaited “Broadway and John Street Signal” project. Construction will begin later in June on a two-month project to create new protected left-turns and a “transit only left-turn lane” at the heavily used intersection fronting Capitol Hill Station and the concentration of Metro bus stops serving the area.

Boiled down by time and shifting funding sources, the proposal born years ago from community feedback will finally take shape this month to make the busy mix of pedestrians, bikers, and drivers at the intersection of Broadway, John, and E Olive Way a safer space.

Starting the week of June 19th, crews will begin work to rebuild the traffic signals to have protected left turns “where left turning drivers have the red while people walking and biking as well as oncoming traffic have the green,” SDOT says.

The project will include rebuilding the traffic signals at the intersection of Broadway and E Olive Way/E John, adding new “left turn pockets” and a “separated signal phase” for eastbound traffic on E Olive Way, installing a new transit-only left turn lane for westbound E John, and removing an area of in-street bike parking “to accommodate transit turning movements.”

For people on foot and bikes outside the busy transit station, the changes are hoped to bring more time and safer crossings while the new transit-only lane will help ease the way for buses. Continue reading

OK, OK… one last thing about the new Glo’s: Yes, there will be outside seating and yes, Capitol Hill Station is finally getting bike lockers

How about one last CHS post about the new Glo’s? Its arrival seems to be the final bump needed to get more daily use of the plaza above Capitol Hill Station.

The new diner’s perch on the edge of the AIDS Memorial Pathway and plaza affords some new opportunities starting with the deck area at Glo’s where the diner’s Julie Reisman tells CHS seating will be going in soon just across from E Barbara Bailey Way and Cal Anderson Park. Continue reading

Bigger and better, Glo’s Diner reopens Monday in its new Capitol Hill Station home

Three and a half times bigger and 10,000 times better to work in, the new Glo’s Diner has finally arrived at Capitol Hill Station — only one year behind schedule. It opens for regular business Monday after a weekend serving customers who helped the Capitol Hill classic raise enough cash to build out the new diner with comfy booths and the mid-century style of Denny’s, diners, and roadside motels.

Much can be made of “chef owners” in the Capitol Hill food and drink scene and at Glo’s there are two of them — both Julie Reisman and Steve Frias also proudly work the line. Reisman says the A/C in the new joint is so good that in the kitchen, “It’s almost too cold.”

“We made this a better place to work,” Reisman tells CHS.

CHS reported here way back in August 2021 on the plans for Glo’s to pull up stakes on the much-loved but increasingly challenging E Olive Way original and join the new housing and commercial development above Capitol Hill Station along Broadway. Last year, the neighborhood finally got its H Mart in the form of the company’s M2M grocery. In 2023, Glo’s has arrived.

In between, pandemic delays including eight months waiting for permits from the city, Reisman says, and more have kept the people waiting. They didn’t even have the old Glo’s to tide them over — the original had to close down after  a damaging fire last summer.

But along the way, the people also helped out Glo’s.

Reisman at work

Continue reading

Sound Transit gets downtown light rail service back to normal 72 hours early after clock removal mishap

Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm with a chunk of concrete that could have made the downtown transit tunnel unsafe for riders during the repairs (Image: @JulieETimm)

Sound Transit is coming in three days early on the predicted two-week emergency service disruption caused by ill-timed problems with street-level clock maintenance that snarled Seattle’s downtown transit tunnel.

With agency CEO Julie Timm providing detailed and near-live updates over the weekend, crews were able to finally fully assess the damage and come up with a plan for repair that had service nearly fully restored Monday. Continue reading

Bad timing — Sound Transit says downtown clock removal mishap could mean 336 hours of light rail service disruption

(Image: Sound Transit)

Damage from work to remove a clock above Westlake Station will mean delays for light rail service through Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel.

Sound Transit said it expects two weeks of delays starting Thursday night as repairs take place:

During this period, passengers traveling southbound will need to transfer at Capitol Hill station to another train to continue their trips, while passengers traveling northbound will need to transfer at Stadium station. Trains through the tunnel will run in each direction every 30 minutes. Trains between Northgate and Capitol Hill stations and between Stadium and Angle Lake stations will run every 10 minutes. Because trains will be single tracking through the tunnel, the northbound platforms at Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and International District stations are closed. Only the southbound platforms at those stations will be open for trains traveling in either direction.

“During this time, passengers should pay extra attention while they travel so they don’t get on the train going in the wrong direction and don’t stay on the train when they need to transfer,” the Sound Transit bulletin reads.

Sound Transit says the the downtown closure is necessary to allow time to investigate the damage caused last Tuesday “when a construction crew attempting to remove a clock at street level broke through the roof of the tunnel.”

While no one was injured at the time, subsequent examination of the damage showed that it was more significant than originally thought, necessitating the emergency service disruption for the safety of passengers. The closure of the northbound platform will allow Sound Transit personnel to more closely examine the damage and determine what repairs will be necessary.

Passengers traveling through the area should allow for additional time for their trip. Sound Transit says, and possibly should consider alternative modes of getting through the city until the repairs are completed.

UPDATE 5/1/2023: In a bulletin, King County Metro says the delays remain significant but are down to trains operating “every 15-20 minutes in the DSTT.”

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 

Glo’s Diner — now with organized workers in its new home above Capitol Hill Station — ready to open in May

The Glo’s crew and what we presume is a “negotiating table” — now organized (Image: Restaurant Workers United)

Opening… soon

When it opens in May in its spacious new home above Capitol Hill Station on the edge of the AIDS Memorial Pathway plaza, Glo’s will be a new place. There will be loads more room for customers and espresso and breakfast cocktail service.

And its workers will be unionized, organized together to improve pay, benefits, and working conditions.

“There are ideas about how our workplace can improve,” cook and organizer Sean Case tells CHS. “We believed we were the people to decide that.”

Restaurant Workers United, a worker-led union for restaurant, bar, and cafe workers, announced this week that Glo’s ownership voluntarily recognized the unionization effort, “forming the first independent restaurant union in Seattle in several decades.”

Case said employees at the now 37-year-old diner value and respect Glo’s and that the conventional wisdom pitting ownership vs. workers needs to wither away.

“We all love Glo’s — but anyone knows the industry has serious problems. People are underpaid, the work is on hard on the body, tons of exploitation.” Continue reading