CHS Year in Review 2020 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories

In past editions as CHS has attempted to tally the most important stories from the year, many of our biggest came and went with the relentless flow of news and other stories to tell. But in 2020, those stories never ended and will continue into 2021.

To break through the fog of COVID-19 and a year of unrest and protest on Capitol Hill, we need to consider the Year in Review through the prism of some of the individual stories that formed the larger narratives around the pandemic and the protests. This year, it might be more accurate to call them Capitol Hill’s most important news moments — pieces of the larger issues that dominated the year in Central Seattle.

Viewed at that level, there is also some room to see a few smaller but still important chapters in the year that was including closures of some loved small businesses and bits of the fabric that made up life here in 2020 like, yes, a tofu shortage.

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In 2019, by the way, readers said the race for the District 3 seat on the City Council was the story of the year. This year, we are also again asking you about your optimism for the year ahead. We get the feeling those measurements may have changed over the past year.

Given all that, here is a look at some of the most important news moments around Capitol Hill in 2020. Thanks for reading and being part of CHS. Continue reading

CHS Year in Review 2019 | The year in pictures

Dreamboyz Espresso

Happy New Year. Here is a look at the year that was through the lens of CHS and longtime contributor Alex Garland. Each image links to its CHS post so take a minute to explore the stories from the year. We thank you for being part of CHS and look forward to bringing you more images and stories from around Capitol Hill in 2020.

Lindas 25th Anniversary

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CHS Year in Review 2019 | Capitol Hill’s five most important stories

There we go. This Year in Review — the CHS Year in Review 2019 — makes 10. And 10 makes a decade. Within each, you’ll find a mix of stories that seemed important at the time — and others that were truly important. Looking back a decade from now, this rundown of the most important CHS stories of 2019 will, of course, shake out the same way.

CHS YIR: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

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Below, you will find our best take on the biggest stories that mattered most around Capitol Hill through the year. They range from seemingly likely to be legendary political victories to terrible crimes to bits and pieces of the wonderful and weird world around us. If you think we forgot something important, let us know in comments. Continue reading

Last year’s most important Capitol Hill story? 8,600 homeless in Seattle

To end 2018, CHS pored through its year of Capitol Hill news coverage to look at the stories that made the biggest impact in and around the neighborhood. CHS Year in Review 2018 | Capitol Hill’s 23 most important stories is here. As part of the tally, we asked readers to vote on which stories they felt were the most important. As we jump fully into a new year of reporting — CHS’s 13th year of coverage — here are the results.

  1. May 31, 20182018 count shows 8,600 people homeless in Seattle
  2. June 12, 2018Good news, Amazon, Seattle won’t be taxing you after all
  3. June 20, 2018: With a snip of a ribbon, two years of construction starts on Capitol Hill Station development
  4. August 2, 2018Sexual misconduct and rape accusations force Meinert to sell stake in Lost Lake and the Comet
  5. June 30, 2018Eyewitnesses: Capitol Hill’s mystery soda machine has disappeared

You can check out the full 2018 review here and see the most read and most commented stories here.

 

CHS Year in Review 2018 | The year in Capitol Hill pictures

Remember 2018. Here is what happened on Capitol Hill. Here is what it tasted like. Here is what it looked like. We’ve selected 50 of the best images from CHS coverage over the past year. Below, you will find the faces and places at the center of CHS stories about the neighborhood and beyond, Most of the shots come courtesy of CHS photo pro for hire Alex Garland. We — and the neighborhood — are lucky to have his eye. Thanks to Alex and all of the CHS contributors for another great year. Click the photos for the news behind the images.

2018 CHS Year in Review: Capitol Hill’s 23 most important storiesMergers and acquisitions — the year in Capitol Hill food+drink

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CHS Year in Review 2018 | Most read and most commented stories

The numbers do not lie. Or something. Here’s a look at CHS’s 2018 stories from an analytical point of view.

CHS 2018 Most Read

  1. 5/30/2018 SWAT standoff blocks off area around E Howell — UPDATE: Suspect taken into custody
  2. 6/30/2018 Eyewitnesses: Capitol Hill’s mystery soda machine has disappeared
  3. 6/22/2018 The Pike/Pine fallout from Meinert rape accusations
  4. 12/18/2018 ‘Please refrain from donating to panhandlers’ — Capitol Hill Uncle Ike’s sign targets handouts
  5. 4/14/2018 Broadway apartment tower home to Whole Foods to open this summer — but no shopping ’til fall
  6. 1/29/2018 Here’s why QFC is closing off its Harvard Ave entrances 
  7. 9/14/2018 Victim dropped outside Harborview after 24th and Yesler shooting 
  8. 5/24/2018 Union cocktail lounge will bring together Capitol Hill gay bar legends
  9. 1/9/2018 A Jewish deli on Capitol Hill: Pastrami, kosher hot dogs, and knishes the plan at Dingfelder’s Delicatessen
  10. 8/1/2018 Lumbersexual axe-tossing bar Blade and Timber coming to Broadway 

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CHS Year in Review 2018 | Capitol Hill’s 23 most important stories

In 2018, the Seattle Consulate of Mexico came to Capitol Hill

Last year, two Capitol Hill tragedies — the city’s ongoing homelessness emergency and the Ed Murray sex abuse accusations and resignation — ranked as the most important CHS stories of 2017.

In 2018, the stories that most moved the neighborhood also included ongoing challenges and the downfall of a powerful man. The twists and turns of time brought new businesses to the neighborhood, new leaders, and, yes, even new critters. Here are the most important Capitol Hill stories of 2018. You can let us know what 2018 stories you felt were most important — and remind us of anything we missed — here.
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  • Reporting by KUOW’s Sydney Brownstone of sexual misconduct and rape accusations against Pike/Pine business owner — and business community leader — Dave Meinert threw new light on the entrepreneur and his many connections across the neighborhood to Seattle City Hall… and beyond. By late summer, his Pike/Pine business partnerships were mostly dissolving as Meinert was forced to sell his stakes in neighborhood holdings including the Comet and Lost Lake.
  • In February, CHS reported on a silver screen worthy twist in the overhaul of the old Harvard Exit theater. The Seattle Consulate of Mexico was moving to Capitol Hill. The diplomatic facility opened during the summer and by August, the Mexican flag was flying proudly above Capitol Hill.
  • Off the Hill in Madison Park, diplomacy played out in a different way as souring international relations forced the closure of Russian Consular Residence on an April morning as diplomats, workers, and their families packed belongings, gear, and equipment into a small convoy of trucks outside the neighborhood’s Hyde mansion.
  • An alliance of residents, neighbors, and historical preservationists came together to first stop a plan to turn the Royvue into microhousing and then win landmark protections for the 1924-built garden apartments. Continue reading

CHS Year in Review 2018 | Mergers and acquisitions — the year in Capitol Hill food+drink

Proud new owner Andre Sayre was all smiles in 2018 after buying his neighborhood hangout Sun Liquor and changing only one thing — the name. Stop by Sol Liquor and say goodbye to 2018.

There was a symmetry to 2018 in food and drink on Capitol Hill. The year began with the chilly January morning opening of Westman’s Bagels and Coffee taking over a puny E Madison counter space home to a string of walk-up ventures along E Madison over the years. 2018 comes to a close with another chilly morning opening after a deal to take over a decade old E Olive Way tequila bar resulted in the Eastern European and Jewish daytime fare of Dacha Diner. The two projects share a bit of cultural heritage. And both were representative of many of the CHS stories in food and drink around Capitol Hill with sales and acquisitions, small spaces and counter walk-ups — not new mixed-use construction, and first-time buildouts.

The year was also highlighted by a new generation of first-time restaurant and bar owners. For Andre Sayre, above, the Capitol Hill neighbor bought his favorite neighborhood bar.

Maybe this is what the maturation of the area’s food and drink economy looks like as new development is pushed to areas like the Central District. Maybe it is just a lull before the next storm of activity. Below, here is CHS’s look at the year in Capitol Hill food+drink. Continue reading

CHS Year in Review 2017 | Capitol Hill’s 50 most important stories

For two years running, CHS readers have voted Capitol Hill Station as the most important story of the year. In 2015, it was the light rail station’s unveiling after years of construction. 2016 brought CHS’s (the other CHS!) start of service. Now, 2017 brought the fruition of more than a decade of community planning as the designs for “transit oriented development” around the station were finalized. But 2017 on Capitol Hill also included stories of great sadness and stories of triumph and change. The “S-path” opened. It snowed on Christmas. The mayor fell from grace. Some of the most important we remembered are below.

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YIR 2017
+ Steps toward affordability in the year in Capitol Hill development
+ Smaller, ambitious-er, gay-er — the year in Capitol Hill food+drink
CHS YIR: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017

These 50 things happened in 2017…

  1. Work halted since the Great Depression began on St. Mark’s.
  2. Capitol Hill got a Pac-Man park.
  3. Seattle elected Jenny Durkan, our first woman mayor since Bertha Knight Landes. She got a rude first greeting on Capitol Hill.
  4. The Seattle Women’s March stretched from the Central District to Seattle Center.
  5. Nikkita Oliver ran for mayor.
  6. Kshama Sawant organized an anti-Trump town hall.
  7. Ed Murray, Capitol Hill’s man in City Hall, was accused of sexual abuse, dropped his reelection bid, and, after a painful summer, resigned.
  8. It snowed on Christmas.
  9. The Seattle homelessness state of emergency continued.
  10. Anti-semitic graffii targeted Temple De Hirsch Sinai. Continue reading