A 2013 Capitol Hill Community Council meeting (Image: CHS)
In a starting point to revive the Capitol Hill Community Council, resident Chris Paulus met with neighborhood councils across Seattle and contacted over 50 organizations, with the goal of understanding a community council’s work and importance. Since these year-long research efforts began, Paulus is building an effort for Capitol Hill residents to engage in restart efforts and overcome challenges that evaporated the council in 2021.
A revival of the Capitol Hill Community Council will meet for the first time in September.
“Community in and of itself is important,” Paulus told CHS. “This is signifying the importance of connection and community with each other. Sometimes these different types of neighbors getting together get focused around a single problem that needs to be addressed. This can be a good thing, but this causes long-term problems in what that issue is until resolved.”
Paulus said religious groups are more likely to be engaged in civic activities, so he reached out to every spiritual group he could find on Capitol Hill, amounting to over 25.
One thing that struck him during his research phase was that CHCC lobbied for the Rt 8 bus line to be created in the 90s.
“That caused a switch in my mind, removing the slow building of the community council to the ‘we need to build this as quickly as possible’ because myself and all of my neighbors are worse off everyday this sense of community doesn’t exist,” Paulus said. Continue reading →
Friends of Madison Park, the area’s nascent community council, has been hard at work since its founding in April. In their first months, the group has focused on filling the community’s event calendar and their fledgling committees have proven a great alliance between local businesses and Seattle Police.
Vice-chair Mary Beth McAteer says Friends of Madison Park has revived community events such as the children’s bike parade and weekly live music in the park. Other events include a wine fundraiser and weekly TED talks; their website has events scheduled as far out as next spring.
“We think of ourselves as a start-up,” says McAteer, describing the fervor the board brings to event planning and neighborhood organization. McAteer works as a Virginia Mason medical librarian when not working on the board. Her husband owns the Hillside bar on E Olive Way.
The success of this group in one of the wealthiest areas of the city and an area mostly dominated by single family-style homes is a contrast with E Olive Way and Capitol Hill where community councils have faded away and neighborhood chambers of commerce, disintegrated. It also is taking shape after Seattle’s big push away from neighborhood councils over concerns about representation and equity at City Hall.
The Madison Park group was founded after the pandemic decimated the area’s existing community groups. Erik Wicklund, the group’s communications director, describes them as a merger of two pre-existing Madison Park institutions: the business association, which organized events, and the community council, which handled administrative matters. Wicklund owns a real estate firm headquartered in Madison Park’s central retail strip. Continue reading →
Thursday night, you can learn more about the process — and help shape the plan for your area of Seattle — as the Capitol Hill Community Council hosts a Capitol Hill Crime & Safety Focus Group:
A Seattle Seed Company workshop (Image: Seattle Seed Company)
One of the ongoing missions of the Capitol Hill Community Council is helping the area foster and manage its growth in the best possible way for the people who live and love the neighborhood.
In March, the council’s monthly gathering will be dedicated to another type of growth — flowers, plants, and gardens for your space “whether your home on 22nd or your studio apartment on Pine.”
Green Your Space will be held at the Capitol Hill Tool Library on Crawford Place the morning of Saturday, March 18th. You can RSVP here.
The event will bloom forth with help from the Seattle Seed Company. CHS wrote here about Sander Kallshian’s shop dedicated to gardening at a smaller, more micro level that moved onto 12th Ave below, yes, microapartments earlier this year.
Next week, the Capitol Hill Community Council is expanding its neighborhood borders to help theIslamic Center of the Eastside in Bellevue, which is raising money to rebuild after a January arson attack.
“We wanted to really dedicate our time and basically give our space to other folks in our community that are hurting or being targeted,” said CHCC president Zachary DeWolf.
While the ICOE may not be located on Capitol Hill or in Seattle, DeWolf said a benefit hosted by CHCC on February 23 is a way to stand in solidarity with not only the ICOE but also the Muslim community in the neighborhood.
“My wish for 2017 is nation-wide legalization of marijuana for all adults and all patients, regardless of age, with doctor prescription. I would like to see affordable housing for everybody, and all our money shifted from the freeways to rail, and all the freeways to become toll roads.” — Boe Oddisey, local scarf dancer
Vermillion hosted the annual get togeher
Stars were used for voting on top issues for Capitol Hill
Vermillion’s vintage video games reflecting the holiday splendor
“I have three wishes for 2017. The first one is to have the city finally pass an ordinance to establish a renters’ commission. The second would be a safe injection site in our neighborhood. And third would just be that we could improve our membership, and bring in more folks that are often left out of these conversations around how we’re shaping neighborhood and our city.” — Zachary DeWolf, CHCC President, addressing attendees
By Lisa Hagen Glynn
We stopped through Thursday night’s Capitol Hill Community Council Winter Open House to ask the neighborhood’s most involved people about their holiday wishes. Here is what we heard. You can click to read all the wishes. Happy almost 2017.
“For this neighborhood, for this city, I would really like to see us continue to move toward more affordable housing especially. I can afford to live here because I have a good job, but just walking to work every day, you see so many people…I definitely want to support all of the avenues and options for affordable housing.” — Mark Nakagawa, Capitol Hill resident
“I would like a more organized community, a stronger voice for renters, as we are 80% of Capitol Hill. I think it’s very important that we push those initiatives, and racial and social justice are near and dear to my heart as well.” — Natalie Curtis, Vice President of CHCC
“A successful hip replacement surgery.” — Carmelita Logerwell, with companion Libby
“That intersex people have the Stonewall that we finally deserve, and that we intersex people finally be included in the LGBTQ community, which we currently are not.” —- Laura Ingalls-Wilder, local resident
“For the Capitol Hill neighborhood, for District 3, for Seattle, for our state, for our nation, for the entire world, I wish that 2017 will be a mind-blowing year of mass peaceful radical protests that put a left agenda on the political map of the world, as opposed to a right-wing and corporate agenda. I wish that we were able to take this energy in America and build towards a new progressive united independent party for the 99%, so that we can finally deliver a blow to the strangle-hold between corporate Democrats and right-wing Republicans—who, although have differences between them, serve the same corporate masters—which is why we are in this situation. So let’s fight together.” — Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council member
The annual elections for the Capitol Hill Community Council were held last night. All positions were filled, and the council now has seven members.
Zachary Pullin, Natalie Curtis, and Mike Archambault are all returning members of the council; Lauren Berguson, Marley Blonsky, Tristan Gardner, and Katie Kurfurst were all elected to the council for the first time Thursday night in the organization’s June meeting at 12th Ave Arts. All positions ran unopposed.
And our council has approved our slate of 7 officers! Congrats to our new officers Marley Blonsky, Tristen Gardner, & Katie Kurfurst
— CH Community Council (@CHCCouncilSea) June 17, 2016
Pullin has been on the council since 2014 and was elected as council president. He said he was excited to keep serving in whatever capacity he could, and his goal for the council was to “make sure that we are a part of,” rather than “impede,” the change happening on the Hill.
i'm starting a fan page for the senate stenographer! can u believe how long she's been carrying that thing/typing up everything? #empowered
Zachary Pullin DeWolf is the President of the Capitol Hill Community Council
There is no Capitol Hill Community Council this month but please consider attending Thursday night’s Capitol Hill Housing community forum — Gearshift Thu, May 26 at 5pm The Summit — 420 E Pike The evening will feature five projects with the potential to increase the resilience of the neighborhood. The five projects: + Building leadership and power for renters on Capitol Hill + Expansion of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement Area + Lidding of a stretch of Interstate-5 at Pike/Pine to create developable land and open space +Local sharing of meter revenue with the creation of a new Parking Benefit District (also recommended by HALA) +The creation of a new city program to incentivize developers to build or maintain work or performance space for local artists On May 26th, five professional urban planners and passionate community organizers will introduce these ambitious projects in a series of rapid-fire presentations followed by an opportunity for each guest to participate in a facilitated discussion about one of the five projects. Presenters include Sierra Hansen of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Scott Bonjukian of the Pike Pine Urban Neighborhood Council, Alex Brennan from Capitol Hill Housing, Zachary DeWolf of the Capitol Hill Community Council and Tonya Lockyer of Velocity Dance Center. Civic leaders (City Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Mike O’Brien are confirmed) will be there to listen and respond to your comments. Free online tickets are no longer available but you can sign up to enter at the door Thursday night.
Growing up, my family taught me that service is a first priority, and I’ve worked hard to practice that value. Before I was born, my grandfather was the chairman of the tribal council – it’s long been instilled in me that serving the community is one of the truest, most authentic ways to interact with my community. But that doesn’t make sense or work for a lot of people.
It reminds me of when I was ten years old: I coordinated a mock trial day for my class with the help of my mom. What I remember being hardest to grasp at the time was “making a case” because it’s a different way of thinking. Sadly, I believe I’ve done a poor job at making the case for our Capitol Hill Community Council and the “why” because new people are still discovering us as though we’ve been serving quietly.
So, why should you care? Why should you get involved?
First, it’s important to reflect on our history.
The Capitol Hill Community Council – as a neighborhood group – has existed since as early as the 1940s. Back then, it was called the Capitol Hill Community Club and their main motivation for working together was to fight against integrating “their “neighborhood. In concert with redlining and housing covenants, this dedicated group of neighbors used fear, racial prejudice, and an aversion to change to keep black people out of the neighborhood.
In 1972, when queer folks had only recently began moving into the neighborhood, tension was high between long-time residents and queer people because we were seen as “faggots,” instead of as neighbors. Thankfully, a few friends established a gay community center to provide services to queer folks. Continue reading →
Capitol Hill Community Council Neighborhood Social: Happy Hour at Witness Thursday, March 17th 4:30 to 6:30 PM Witness, 410 Broadway E Every other month, the Capitol Hill Community Council has committed to hosting neighborhood social events – similar to our Meet Your Neighbor event last year – where we can create a space for neighbors to meet each other (in real life!), connect and engage with folks about topics that important to you and our neighborhood, hear from unique programs and initiatives, and spend a relaxing couple of hours just being in the community. This month, we’re inviting King County Metro to share about “In Motion,” which is an effort aimed at reducing drive-alone trips and promoting other travel options like biking, walking, or taking transit. Plus, we have a drawing for a gift certificate to another local, neighborhood restaurant! Sign in and you’re entered into the drawing.
Questioning in the pursuit of understanding and progress must be valued. Otherwise, we lose the accountability of ideas and the innovation that moves our communities forward.
I was reminded of this just recently when I met with a friend and mentor from our community. She’s a neighborhood activist who has worked on various issues that have shaped Capitol Hill for the last few decades.
There came a moment when I recognized that we both had questions of the others’ ideas and intentions. Unchecked, our conversation may have unfolded in a direction neither one of us would ever have wanted.
So, I waited for the chance to interject and suggested that, in fact, questioning the way things are, in and of itself, is not detrimental to progress. I believe, it is what actually makes our work of creating shared community, stronger. Continue reading →
Capitol Hill Community Council February: Know Your Rights, Grow Your Rights Thursday, February 18th, 6:00 PM 12th Avenue Arts — 1620 12th Ave
The Capitol Hill Community Council continues elevating the issues most meaningful to our neighborhood. This month’s meeting, on Thursday, February 18 (6:00pm at 12th Ave Arts) focuses on empowering renters.
Advocates for tenants will provide helpful information about the rights of renters and the importance of being an informed renter. And guests from the City of Seattle will share opportunities to expand renters’ rights through HALA and the Housing Levy.
This focus speaks to a larger commitment that we’ve made to our community and ourselves: community development that affirms we are all neighbors who deserve the ability to thrive.
Lately, we’ve followed along with the discourse from nearby neighborhoods that continue to fiercely oppose change, that continue to reject the most vulnerable. We’re hoping that this new commitment and a diversity of meeting format helps us to be in community with our neighbors, more wholly. Continue reading →
