Flames burned below St. Mark’s Cathedral Wednesday night as Seattle Fire battled a stubborn brush fire in the nearby greenbelt on the western edge of Capitol Hill above I-5.
Seattle Fire units were called to the scene along the 1300 block of Lakeview Ave E just after 8:30 PM as the fire spread and explosions were reported at an encampment in the brushy area. Continue reading →
The St. Nicholas building (Image: The Bright Water School)
There could someday be more than housing for more than the Maker at St. Mark’s Cathedral but any possible changes are still years off as the congregation of Saint Mark’s is beginning considerations of what to do with a signature part of its 10th Ave E campus, the St. Nicholas building. A consultant has recommended changing the building into a multi-family residential development.
The building at 1501 10th Ave E, just north of the cathedral proper, is home to the Gage Academy of Art and the Bright Water Waldorf School. Both of these schools have leases that run through 2023, and the church is in the early phases of deciding what to do with the building when those leases run out.
Even though the consultants have made a recommendation, the Very Rev. Steven Thomason, dean and rector of St. Mark’s stressed that the church is still weighing its options, and that nothing is happening in the immediate future.
“We are not making any decision, any time soon, about what to do with the building,” he said.
The church’s involvement in the property stretches back to 2003. At the time, St. Mark’s and a group called the Willow Trust purchased the building from then-owner Cornish with an eye toward converting it into a parish life center. The church wasn’t ready to move forward with the life center at the time, and so they began renting it out (technically subleasing it, since the building is officially owned by an LLC made up of the church and the trust and then leased to the church) to Gage and Bright Water.
Now the members of the Willow Trust, who have thus far remained anonymous, are granting full ownership of the building to the church. So, the church is beginning consideration of what it will do with the property. Continue reading →
A Capitol Hill faith community is responding to a bout of vandalism targeting its social beliefs with contemplation, a chuckle, and, of course, clean-up.
“I find myself grateful that their message did not target a group of individuals based on race, orientation, or identity, using derogatory terms for injurious purposes,” The Very Reverend Steven L. Thomason, Dean and Rector at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral writes about the MLK Day graffiti vandalism. Continue reading →
Hundreds of marchers traveled across Capitol Hill Thursday night from St. Mark’s to St. James in a show of solidarity against the separation of immigrant children from their families.
The “Stop Separating Families” march filled blocks of Broadway “in protest of the Trump administration’s policy that separates immigrant families at the southern border.”
Thursday’s event was quickly organized just days after details about the detention and separation of family has become more widely reported and understood.
“There is power in love, Don’t underestimate it. Don’t even oversentimentalize it,” the Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry said as he made international headlines with his 13-minute long sermon at last month’s royal wedding of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle. “There is power, power in love.”
The Episcopal rock star is now on tour and will be visiting Washington this month with a planned Evensong service at Capitol Hill’s Saint Mark’s Cathedral on Thursday, June 14th at 7 PM: Continue reading →
A two-car collision on E Highland at 10th Ave E left a truck flipped on its roof and a sports car’s front-end mangled but miraculously nobody was hurt in the Friday night crash.
Preliminary reports indicate one driver was taken into custody for investigation of DUI but CHS has not yet confirmed the arrest with police.
Seattle Fire units rushed to the scene just after 6 PM for a serious “heavy rescue” incident but found occupants of the truck had been able to climb out on their own. “Amazingly, there don’t seem to be any injuries,” said one officer reporting on the scene via East Precinct radio. The crash also knocked down street signs at the corner.
The investigation and emergency response temporarily blocked traffic and buses on 10th Ave E but the street was reopened after about 30 minutes as the collision scene on the corner continued to block E Highland and police processed the scene.
UPDATE 4/2/2018: Police say the driver of the flipped truck had been traveling eastbound on E Highland at the time of the collision. The 34-year-old woman was evaluated for DUI and booked into King County Jail. Court records show she has not yet been charged.
Thanks to the Great Depression, Capitol Hill’s Saint Mark’s was never truly completed. This spring, construction will begin to clad the amazing old church in proper limestone and replace the depression era glass windows that have somehow held up for 88 years:
Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, the iconic building situated on a prominent bluff high above I-5, is Seattle’s most visible symbol of faith. Construction of this “beacon on the hill” began in 1928, but was halted after the stock market crash of 1929, and never fully completed. The enormous concrete walls were never meant to be exposed to the elements, and the cheap depression-era glass windows were not meant to be permanent. In 2012, chunks of concrete began to break away from the exterior walls, posing a safety risk, and it became urgent for Saint Mark’s Cathedral to address the deteriorating state of the walls and windows. Continue reading →
Born into the painful years following the Great Depression, Capitol Hill’s St. Mark’s Cathedral has helped provide a space for shelter and contemplation during hard times before. Sanctuary, a new artwork woven through with pop culture and politics was installed earlier this Inauguration Week and now hangs the length of the Cathedral Nave’s southeast pillar:
Through woven texts, sheet music, DVDs, and archival documents affixed to the textile’s face, the work integrates popular and sacred music, a supernatural soap opera, and records of gay politics, sexuality, and culture in Seattle. Sanctuary brings together craft, sociopolitical, and personal histories.
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10th Ave E hold-up: A group of possibly three suspects reportedly held up a female victim at gunpoint as she walked along 10th Ave E waiting for a bus early Monday morning. According to East Precinct radio dispatches on the incident, the victim was robbed by a suspect armed with a silver pistol just after 2 AM along 10th Ave E near Galer where the victim was walking when she was approached by the group. The victim then walked to a nearby residence to call police but by then nearly 20 minutes had passed and the suspects were nowhere to be found. SPD is investigating the hold-up as an armed robbery.
Thanks to neighbor Alex Crick for the picture from the police response Friday night
23rd/Union gunfire: A scary scene unfolded around the busy corner of 23rd and Union Saturday night around 5 PM as multiple witnesses reported seeing a gunfight break out between a male shooter on foot and at least one other vehicle speeding away from the area around the Midtown Center parking lot. A large contingent of police arrived in the area and teamed up before approaching the scene where some witnesses reported more than 20 shots were fired. Nobody was reported hit by the gunfire and no suspects could be located when police arrived. Shell casings from at least two guns were found at the scene and multiple businesses in the are sustained damage from flying bullets, a SPD spokesperson tells CHS. The spokesperson said the department’s gang unit is investigating.
A 22-foot totem pole made one of its first stops on a 5,000-mile journey Thursday night at Capitol Hill’s St. Mark’s.
The Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers brought the pole to St. Mark’s Cathedral to celebrate the nation’s victory against coal export at “Xwe’chi’eXen” — Cherry Point.
Seattle City Council member and former chair of the Washington chapter of the Sierra Club Mike O’Brien spoke at the event that brought together Lummi Nation members, environmentalists, representatives of Earth Ministry and the Sierra Club, and interested members of the public for a ceremony and celebration.
“The work that’s happening here today gives me hope,” O’Brien said. Continue reading →
