Tag Archives: tashkent park

City hears feedback on ‘activation’ for Capitol Hill’s problem parks — and reopening Seven Hills

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Dialogue circles and sticky notes about Seven Hills Park at Wednesday’s meeting (Image: CHS)

Questions from the parks department survey

Seattle Parks officials say they hope to hand off a report to the mayor’s office by the first week of December on plans to reopen Seven Hills Park and bring changes and activities to parks across Capitol Hill to address complaints about homeless encampments and crime.

Wednesday’s meeting to gather feedback about possible activation efforts and safety changes to the parks drew a strong turnout to the Garfield Community Center as officials organized the crowd into three circles — one for Seven Hills, one for Broadway Hill Park, and the smallest circle for the tiny but still loved Tashkent Park along Boylston Ave. The process reached an acceptable volume level when the large Seven Hills group was moved to the adjacent “teen room.”

There were consistent themes from those who raised their hands to speak in the circles including stories from a parent afraid to take their child to the park following encampment violence and witnessing an overdose and assisting in a resuscitation, and a general feeling that safety and maintenance work decayed during the pandemic and never recovered.

Ideas included increased maintenance, forming volunteer and “friends of” groups, and, one attendee suggested, “replacing all the dirt” in Seven Hills after years of camping and drug use.

“I think our park is representative of the city,” one neighbor said about Seven Hills.

Most speakers agreed on one thing above all else — please, no permanent fences. Continue reading →

With Seattle ‘intensifying’ clearances, Capitol Hill’s Tashkent Park swept of campers

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture

Tashkent Park is the latest public space around Capitol Hill to cleared of encampments as city officials say they are ramping up clearance efforts as COVID-19 restrictions lift.

Notice of the planned July 1st sweep of the Boylston Ave E location was posted by Seattle Parks last week. We have not received details from the city about how many individuals were camping in the park and if any accepted referral to shelter or services.

In recent sweeps like early June’s clearance of Williams Place Park, the parks department has said public safety concerns and maintenance needs have required the encampments to be cleared.

As with previous clearances, Tashkent Park was closed to the public for maintenance and clean-up following the effort. According to the notice, belongings were not slated to be stored as in past camp clearances. We’ve asked the city for more details. UPDATE: A parks representative said outreach staff “reported that those who were residing onsite opted to take their belongings that they wanted as they moved into shelter.” The rep said the HOPE team visited the park and “indicated that those who were residing at this park said that the remaining belongings were no longer wanted.”

During the months of pandemic, Seattle officials said they were operating under federal CDC guidelines in allowing the camps to form. Continue reading →

Police investigate overnight gunfire near Tashkent Park

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Multiple 911 callers reported gunfire near Capitol Hill’s Tashkent Park early Friday morning. There were no injuries or property damage reported.

Police were called to the area just before 12:30 AM to a report of multiple shots. One caller reported finding shell casings outside their window. According to East Precinct radio updates, police recovered eight shell casings at the scene and were looking through a grassy area for more.

According to radio updates, a check of the area around Belmont and Republican turned up no suspects.

 

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How a Capitol Hill swastika was painted over: ‘LOVE WINS’

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In the wake of terribleness following the election victory of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, a swastika appeared on a utility pole at Mercer and Belmont. One may have appeared there before but, before Election Night 2016, we had never seen that symbol, that bold.

“This is a historic LGBTQ neighborhood in Seattle,” a Capitol Hill resident who recorded the scene said, according to the Stranger. “Overnight, a swastika has appeared on a light pole… the after effects of Trump are real.” The Stranger reports a local business owner quickly painted over the hate symbol “so people in the neighborhood didn’t have to see it.”

Instead, they saw something else. Neighbor Roy sent CHS the pictures at the top of this post showing “the quick and awesome response by the community.” Continue reading →

What happened to Capitol Hill ‘conspirators’ in the FBI’s 2010 Russian spy case

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The story is something out of a Cold War thriller, with a Capitol Hill twist. Buried cash, “deep cover” spying, “brush passes” at train stations to exchange bags of money, all ending with a U.S.-Russia spy swap on a Vienna airport runway.

Russian intelligence called it the “Illegals program” — an ambitious multiyear spy operation carried out by at least 11 deep cover Russian agents in the U.S. that all came crashing down five years ago this summer. Two of those spies, a married couple with children, lived in Seattle as early as 2004 and left in 2009.

They lived on Capitol Hill.

Known in the U.S. as Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills, the couple lived relatively quiet lives. He purported to be from Yonkers, New York while she claimed to be Canadian. Their spycraft never drew any suspicion from neighbors or their landlord at 424 Belmont Ave E.

In 2010, after the couple had moved to Virginia, they were arrested as part of a major FBI surveillance investigation into the Russian spy ring. It wasn’t until then that the true identities of Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva were revealed. FBI agents called them the “Seattle conspirators.” Continue reading →