Tag Archives: harvard

SPD: Texas murder suspect arrested on Capitol Hill

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Handy (Image: Houston Police Department)

Seattle Police say a man wanted for a 2020 Houston, Texas murder was arrested last week at a Capitol Hill apartment building.

SPD reports James Handy, 36, was arrested by Seattle Gun Violence Reduction Unit detectives working with the U.S. Marshals Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force after being tracked to a Harvard Ave E address.

Handy had a warrant out of Texas where he has been charged in a 2020 murder.

Police found a loaded handgun on the suspect when he was arrested and found another firearm when searching his residence at another location in the city.

Handy was being held on $1 million bail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.

 
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Now open at Harvard and Denny: 90+ new affordable homes for Capitol Hill residents at risk of homelessness

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(Image: CHS)

By Soumya Gupta, CHS Intern

When the governor and the mayor show up to cut the ribbon in front of a new affordable apartment building in the heart of Capitol Hill, it’s a big deal.

This week, YWCA Seattle King Snohomish celebrated the opening of the new permanent affordable housing at 800 E Denny Way, where Governor Jay Inslee, Mayor Bruce Harrell, and officials cut the ribbon symbolizing the opening of the 91 new affordable homes for residents at risk of homelessness.

“The future entails an absolute right to housing in Washington State, and YWCA believes [in helping] that”, Governor Inslee said. “We need to thank the citizens for putting their trust in this investment.”

The new building is one of the latest examples of community organizations acquiring planned market-rate apartment projects across Capitol Hill for affordable housing. Continue reading →

SPD investigating deadly Harvard and Pike shooting — UPDATE: Community builder and entrepreneur Elijah Lewis killed

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Family has identified the man shot and killed as Elijah Lewis

(Image: SPD)

Seattle Police say there was a deadly shooting on Capitol Hill at Harvard and Pike just after 5 PM Saturday. Police say the suspect was arrested at the scene.

Seattle Fire was called to the area for a shooting involving two reported victims. Witnesses report ambulances carrying victims from the scene and nearby buildings in lockdown. SPD says a man in his 20s died at the hospital and a child was injured in the incident.

An update from the ownership at Life on Mars

According to East Precinct and Seattle Fire radio updates, the two victims were in a car found with its back window blasted out at the scene near E Pike in an apparent road rage shooting.

Police were looking for a shooter reportedly seen on foot near Broadway and Pine. Police say he was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered at the scene.

Seattle Fire tells CHS the 9-year-old boy in stable condition was taken to the hospital. SPD says the child is a nephew of the man who was killed and was in the front passenger seat of his uncle’s vehicle when the shooting occurred.

John Richards, co-owner of the nearby bar Life on Mars, posted an update on the situation and says a customer from the establishment rushed to the vehicle after the shooting and rendered aid.

UPDATE: Converge Media has identified the man who was killed as Elijah Lewis, a community builder and entrepreneur. Converge said friend and family were gathering for a vigil to remember Lewis Sunday afternoon at 3 PM at Broadway and Pine. Continue reading →

Hours restored at Capitol Hill library after summer workforce crunch

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The Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library is getting some of its hours back. SPL announced that Thursday morning hours are being restored at the Harvard Ave library starting October 20th.

The upgrade is part of restoring hours at the Ballard, Capitol Hill, Douglass-Truth, Madrona-Sally Goldmark, Montlake and Rainier Beach branches after SPL made cutbacks over the summer due to staffing issues as COVID-19 and changing lifestyles has continued to squeeze workforces. Continue reading →

‘A quiet, contemplative place’ — Plan for turning Kay Bullitt property into new Capitol Hill park moves forward

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For most respondents, a new Capitol Hill park at 1125 Harvard Ave E would be a 10 to 20 minute walk and have strolling paths, an open lawn, and would be a special place to picnic or wander through speciality gardens.

There probably would not be pickleball courts.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation process to shape the Kay Bullitt property in the northwest of Capitol Hill as a new public park is moving forward after a community survey and early August meeting at the site of the 1.6 acres left to the city by the philanthropist at her 2021 death.

CHS stopped through the August 3rd meeting and tour on the property as the city works to transform a private Capitol Hill yard already promised and in use as a community garden space into a public park serving communities far beyond Capitol Hill’s northern mansions and the overgrown greenbelt surrounding St. Mark’s Cathedral.

Most attendees had never been on the property before. Continue reading →

As COVID-19 continues to squeeze workforce, Seattle libraries reduce hours for summer

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The children’s space in the Capitol Hill Library (Image: Seattle Public Library)

The branches of the Seattle Public Library system including Capitol Hill’s Harvard Ave location will operate under reduced hours due to ongoing staffing shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new schedules began last week. SPL says the temporary changes were necessary as it responds “to ongoing staffing shortages related to COVID-19” and were planned “based on staffing availability and geographic spread to ensure Library access throughout the city of Seattle.”

Chief librarian Tom Fay hopes to return to full hours if staffing is available “in the fall when schools are back in session.”

The continued spread of COVID-19 has shifted many habits of society including how we work and how we deal with health and wellness in the workplace. SPL says it plans to add “additional staff to support open hours” and that “low staffing levels are primarily due to increased use of employee leave, including sick leave, COVID-19 leave, and Family Medical Leave.” Continue reading →

Gardens and mutual aid? Process begins to shape Capitol Hill’s last* new park

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The Cass Turnbull Garden already calls the property home. How it fits into the plans for the future park will be part of the process (Image: Cass Turnbull Garden)

There was a time when we thought Broadway Hill Park would be the last of its kind — 12,000 square feet of grass, benches, community gardening space, and a BBQ grill in the middle of Capitol Hill.

There is another.

The Seattle Parks department has started the public planning process to reshape the 1.6 acre property left to the city by philanthropist Kay Bullitt at her 2021 death as a new city park. A survey has been launched and public meetings are coming.

The path to create the park will not be straight. The city must now navigate the “unique opportunity” to transform a private Capitol Hill yard already promised and in use as a community garden space into a public park serving communities far beyond Capitol Hill’s northern mansions and the overgrown greenbelt surrounding St. Mark’s Cathedral. Landmarks considerations and the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis and recent park sweeps will also shape the conversation.

Given the importance of the land at Harvard Ave E at E Prospect on the northeast slopes of Capitol Hill above I-5, it might not be surprising there is already a vision for its place in the community. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Korn Dog era has begun — Korean corn dog joint now open at Harvard and Pine

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Signs of normalcy on Capitol Hill can include the return of something beloved — like the planned reopening of Little Oddfellows inside Elliott Bay Book Company. They can also come in the form of something new and kind of wonderful like the teeny little newest addition to Capitol Hill food and drink — Korn Dog.

Starting with limited Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 AM to 2 PM hours, the Korn Dog era has begun just off Broadway.

With surprisingly enormous dogs and fantastic flavors including spicy ramen dogs and 50/50 cheese and potato dogs, the new little Korean corn dog provider is already satisfying on its simple street food mission. Continue reading →

Sound and Fog to add coffee and cocktails at E Denny and Harvard

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(Image: Sound and Fog)

Sound and Fog is coming to E Denny Way from West Seattle bringing along hard to find coffee roasts to Capitol Hill but swapping out its wine club for craft cocktails.

“This one is a little bit different,” owner Justin Krebs says of the planned expansion. “We’re not carrying the wine component.” Instead, the second location will be a coffee and cocktails “mash-up” in the spirit of Sound and Fog’s quest for unique cafe experiences.

“If you can get it down the street, I probably don’t want to serve it,” Krebs said of Sound and Fog’s focus on European roasts.

Krebs, a former Starbucks employee who opened the first Sound and Fog in West Seattle six years ago, will also have an interesting window on the coffee giant’s tangle with unionization efforts. Continue reading →

‘Show me the person, I’ll show you the right book for them’ — Twice Sold Tales begins 35th year on Capitol Hill

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Jamie Lutton started selling used books out of a cart on Broadway. Thirty five years later, she’s in a brick and mortar building on Capitol Hill. Resident at 1833 Harvard Ave since 2008, Twice Sold Tales has survived every kind of change in the book.

“I used to be able to charge more because Amazon didn’t have penny and postage books…they took about 3/4 of my income. People like to sit quietly at home and get a box rather than venture out,” Lutton says, though she does sell on Amazon. “I joined the enemy.”

Lutton at work

Her bookseller origin story starts in February 1988 when Lutton said she was scolded by a city official because she didn’t have a vendor’s license for her burgeoning book cart business. The rest is her story. Now, Twice Sold Tales is starting its 35 year on Capitol Hill.

Lutton remembers days when there were there many more used bookstores on the Hill. “There was one down Olive that just sold science fiction, besides Horizon, there was one down the street on 15th, there was me, and there was Colin’s Rare Books, that’s what I remember from the early ’90s.”

“Now they’re all gone”, Lutton said, “rents and internet, that’s my memory of the Hill, more bookstores, lower rents, happier people.”

Continue reading →