Autumn Cupcake,
originally uploaded by sea turtle.

There are enough loose ends and followups to warrant a news round-up. And a picture of a cupcake. Happy Friday the 13th.

• Sound Transit says light rail airport service to start December 19th
• Ben Hills memorial party tonight at Vermillion, 6-10 PM
• Approve 71 victory rally Saturday at Westlake
• Also Saturday: Out for Sustainability conference
• Person of interest in Greenwood arsons arrested
• Accused cop killer Christopher Monfort: paralyzed

Artwork at Capitol Hill Library,
originally uploaded by javacolleen.

The Friends of Seattle Libraries group is documenting the impact of today's City Council vote approving a plan that will allow the city's library system to maintain service levels despite a citywide budget crunch:

Central:

    •    Hours remain at the current seven day, 62 hour weekly schedule

Ballard, Beacon Hill, Broadview, Capitol Hill, Douglass-Truth, Greenwood, Lake City, Northeast, Rainier Beach, Southwest and West Seattle:

    •    Open 7 Days per week (60 hours per week):

    •    Monday – Thursday, 10 am – 8 pm;

    •    Friday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm;

    •    Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm

Columbia, Delridge, Fremont, Green Lake, High Point, International District/Chinatown, Madrona-Sally Goldmark, Magnolia, Montlake, NewHolly, Northgate, Queen Anne, South Park, University and Wallingford:

    •    Open 5 Days per week (35 hours per week, closed Friday and Sunday):

    •    Monday – Tuesday, 1 pm – 8 pm;

    •    Wednesday – Thursday, 11 am – 6 pm;

    •    Friday:  CLOSED;

    •    Saturday 10 am – 6 pm;

    •    Sunday:  CLOSED

You'll note that the plan actually calls for the hours at the Capitol Hill branch to be increased -- the Harvard Ave facility currently doesn't open until 1 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays. Other areas of the city -- West Seattle, for example -- saw service at some branches reduced to 5 days per week.

The City Council earlier today approved a 13.8% increase in electricity rates to help offset the city's budget issues.

Over the past few months it has become somewhat of a ritual for my girlfriend and I to take a late afternoon stroll down Broadway; gazing upon the familiar, and the not-so-familiar faces that make the street one of the most lively in Seattle. The destination of our walks is always Bailey/Coy where we stop out front and my girlfriend records Bailey/Coy's quote of the day in her journal. When we learned here on CHS that Bailey/Coy would be no more, it was devastating.

As a way to honor Bailey/Coy's presence in our lives, my girlfriend decided to assemble 40 of her favorite quotes into a short story. Remember, every single sentence below is the beginning of a different book, and graced Bailey/Coy's sandwich board at some time in the last 6 months. So Bailey/Coy, this one is for you; you will truly be missed.

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.  My legal name is Alexander Perchov.  When I was six I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called true stories.  We tell ourselves stories in order to live.  Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.  Dr. Weiss, at the age of forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.  There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

My name was salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.  I was born with water on the brain. 

Air-conditioned, odorless, illuminated by buzzing florescent tubes, the American supermarket doesn’t present itself as having very much to do with nature.  Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.  All children, except one, grow up.  There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself-not just sometimes, but always. 

Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play town.  In a city called Stonetown, near a port called Stonetown Harbor, a boy named Reynie Muldoon was preparing to take an important test.

1801-I have just returned from a visit to my landlord-the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.  Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.  “Marx has completely changed the way I view the world,” declared the Pallieres boy this morning, although ordinarily he says nary a word to me.  Claire: it’s hard being left behind.  Horselover Fat’s nervous breakdown began the day he got a phone call from Gloria asking if he had any Nembutals.  Mr. Jones, of the manor farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes.  “It’s a pretty good 200,” said young Gerald McGrew, “and the fellow who runs it seems pretty proud of it, too.”  

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.  When he was nearly 13, my brother Jim got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

In fairy tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black coats, and they ride on broomsticks, but this is not a fairy tale, this is about real witches.  True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?  Don’t get me wrong: I love the restaurant business.  The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roasted chicken.  I’d been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar.  The “red death” had long devastated the country.  In Paris we eat brains every night. 

Are you there God? It’s me; Margaret.  I wish Giovanni would kiss me. 

There were ninety-seven New York advertising men in the hotel, and, the way they were monopolizing the lines, the girl in 507 had to wait from noon till almost two-thirty to get her call through.  Two boys stood in the Prince Consort Gallery and looked down on a third.  124 was spiteful.  No one is staring at you.  It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.  Then there was the bad weather.  It was a pleasure to burn.   

County councilmember Larry Phillips (Photo: Jeff Romeo special to CHS)

With an agreement in place between the city and Sound Transit to move forward with the project and a change about to take place in the mayor's office, the political maneuvering and public process to define the route for the new streetcar line that will run from Union Station through First Hill to Capitol Hill is taking shape.

Central District News reports that King County councilmember Larry Phillips, whose district includes Capitol Hill & First Hill, is one of the first politicos to take a stance on the route.

According to CDN, Phillips sent a letter to mayor Greg Nickels and city councilmembers back in October advocating for the 12th Ave option -- specifically for a loop route that would run on 12th Avenue in one direction and Broadway in the other -- to be included in the city's study of viable routes:

The proposed 12th Avenue and Broadway loop is a promising concept for serving a greater number of residents, creating a north-south public transit option on currently unserved 12th Avenue, and catalyzing economic development on vacant and underutilized properties in the area. Further, as you know, King County government owns and operates the Youth Services Center - King County's Juvenile Court and Detention facility - a significant regional facility located along the 12th Avenue corridor. Currently the site is highly automobile-oriented, featuring a large parking lot which the community is interested in seeing re-devleoped into a denser, more pedestrian and transit oriented facility.

The recommendation should have impact. Phillips is also a member of the Sound Transit board of directors and chair of the Central Link Oversight Committee. While the city will be in charge of planning and building the line, Sound Transit is paying the construction bill.

First Hill advocates have already voiced their opposition to a 12th Ave loop alignment saying it would decrease the utility of the line for First Hill residents and workers. Some in First Hill say a Boren alignment would best serve their community. Here's a look at some other possible alignments for the new line.

A final decision on the streetcar route will be made by the city council in early 2010 with a goal for the line to be operational by 2013.

Well, that was quick. Walking through Bailey/Coy Books today, about ten days since the bombshell news came out that the store would close at the end of November, was much sadder than expected. While braced for something far removed from a usual bookstore visit I was surprised at the knot in my stomach at the sight of the store standing on its very last legs.

Roughly half the floor space has been cordoned off by bookshelves, leaving visible empty floor space behind. Shelves are stocked with a far smaller number of titles than you might presume and a fractional amount compared to what constituted business as usual. There’s been a mad rush to take advantage of bargains before the store closes for good. Another telling sign: The shelves themselves are for sale.

No surprise that there’s pretty much universal agreement that Bailey/Coy’s closure is a terrible thing. On Broadway for 26 years, the store has been (and still is, for the next three weeks at least) one of Capitol Hill’s signature businesses.

But sadly, perhaps not surprisingly, it’s hardly the first time a well-established independent bookstore on the Hill has closed its doors. For one example, in March of this year Horizon Books shut down on 15th Avenue East, not long after closing its University District location. In so doing, a used bookstore that had been around for more than 30 years ceased to be.

Remember also Beyond the Closet at 518 E. Pike Street. The LGBT bookstore closed in 2005; I believe it opened in the late ‘80s. Capitol Hill was obviously a natural fit for the store before vast changes to the bookselling industry led to its financial downturn. Another factor in this case was greater acceptance of LGBT titles in mass-market bookstores like Barnes and Noble. By the middle of this decade selling gay and lesbian titles was not the mark of distinction it once had been.

Going back a little further, Pistil Books held court on East Pike Street where Bimbo’s Bitchin’ Burritos now draws crowds. But in the Spring of 2001, owners Amy Candiotti and Sean Carlson closed the physical store and became an Internet-only operation. During a gathering at the store to discuss changes in the book industry, the owners bemoaned closing the shop but had to face economic realities. Carlson said he’d been making $5 per hour for years, an amount that simply wasn’t sustainable. The bright side in this case is that the online business remains; check them out at www.pistilbooks.net.

Those who’ve logged more than a decade of residence on the Hill may remember Red and Black Books on 15th Avenue East, where Shoprite currently plies its trade. The store featured a huge variety of publications simply not found in other stores. Leftist political treatises, obscure poetry, multicultural children’s books – the store’s mission was to sell non-mainstream titles. Logically located on the Hill and run as a collective of devoted members, its model worked for years. And then did not: the store closed in early 1999. Another bookstore, Pages, opened in the space briefly, focusing more on being an Internet café when such things were somewhat novel and closing shortly thereafter.

Just about everyone knows that what’s lost when independent bookstores close is more than places where one can buy books. Bailey/Coy Books helps define Broadway and Capitol Hill. No doubt the Elliot Bay Book Company, should it move to the Hill, could fill a void Bailey/Coy will leave behind. But this would come at the expense of the void its departure would create in Pioneer Square. While such a relocation would be good for the Hill, it’s probably not a great move for the city as a whole. Call it NIMBYism in reverse.

If Bailey/Coy couldn’t make it, nor the others that have gone under before it, who can? Because it’s hard to imagine a neighborhood where a niche bookstore like Red and Black or Beyond the Closet, or a well-titled independent like Bailey/Coy would fare better. And that is truly a scary thought.

Via the Seattle Times, we learned this morning that the War Room will close, unless it finds a buyer by 11/30.  This could have been the $800k nightclub for sale we noted a couple of months ago.  Marcus Lalario, the co-owner's statement, is puzzling - in light of the fact that a couple of War Room backed politicians (Michael McGinn and Pete Holmes) will soon be in power - and presumably be friendlier to nightlife on the Hill:

The Capitol Hill nightclub The War Room, on the corner of Harvard Avenue and East Pike Street, will close Nov. 30 unless a buyer is found.

In a written statement, co-owner Marcus Lalario said, "With so many issues still facing nightlife, we're ready to move on. The liquor tax increase, mounting pressures from the City and State helped us make the decision."

Among the bands to have played The War Room in the five years since it opened are Band of Horses, Cave Singers and Wolf Parade. The War Room is also known for its weekly hip-hop night, Yo, Son!

"We feel like we've had a good run of it,...

While the design process gets started for one Pike/Pine mixed-use redevelopment at 11th and Pine, another development at 12th and Pine is about to open its doors to those uses, mixed. Word from last night's 12th Ave community meeting is that the Packard Building Apartments will be open on January 1, 2010 after just over a year of construction. The 56 apartment units are listed from between $1,200 and $2,300 according to the info we received from the meeting.

The development also includes about 5,000 square feet of retail space on ground level and more office space above. Now word yet on businesses opening up in the Packard but we'll see what we can find out.

4 gorgeous retail spaces
Large storefronts, HVAC, great signage, 17’ ceilings, garage rollup doors, and heavy pedestrian traffic both day and night. 714 - 3,877 RSF.

5 mezzanine office spaces
Creative, flexible spaces, large windows, HVAC, and patios. 718 - 1,234 square feet; suites can be combined for a total of 4,704 square feet.

Rates | Retail $26-$28/SF/NNN | Office $22/SF/NNN

MSNBC has the details on the 261 stimulus projects totalling $1.1 billion for King County. Kind of gives you an idea of just how big $1 billion is, if you can get that many projects out of it.

As the Seattle Times (via the Associated Press) reported this morning, there was an early morning fire on 11th Avenue between Republican and Mercer.  We have a call in to the Seattle Fire Department for additional information:

Smoking in bed started a fire that injured two men early today in an older house that had been converted to apartments, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen says firefighters responding about 2:30 a.m. found one man in a room. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

She says another man who was able to get out of the house on his own also was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Damage is estimated at [$]20,000 to the three-story house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Update (11/11) 2:19 pm: CHS has learned that the man who started the fire has died

Update (11/11) 2:51 pm: Line Out identifies Comet Bouncer Ben Hills as the man killed in the fire

Update (11/11) 5:08 pm: Line...

The Stranger's Lineout blog -- where they still write about things Seattle -- reports that Sonic Boom's new location down on Melrose isn't going to be ready in time for its planned mid-November opening. SB says in its latest e-mail newsletter that it is now targeting a December 7th opening. Sonic Boom recently closed shop on 15th Ave after six years. We reported back in June that the move would both make way for Olympia Pizza to expand into the Sonic Boom space and allow SB owner Jason Hughes to be neighbors with his girlfriend Tes de Luna's also-soon-to--open shop on Melrose, Velouria.

View Larger Map

capitol hill fixie, originally uploaded by banter.

Like my dad used to follow me from room to room turning the lights out behind me, the city's parks department is pinching pennies this winter by turning out the lights on Seattle's tennis courts. Luckily for Capitol Hill, Cal Anderson's courts will be one of five in the city that remain lighted through winter. Earn it, fixie bike stunt guy. Earn it.

MOST PARKS TENNIS COURT LIGHTS GO OFF FOR THE WINTER TO SAVE ENERGY

As an energy-saving measure, for the winter months Seattle Parks and Recreation lights the tennis courts only at five major locations:

• Lower Woodland Park, Aurora Avenue N and N 59th Street, 10 courts

• Bobby Morris Playfield at Cal Anderson Park, corner of 11th Avenue E and E Pine Street, two courts

• Rainier Playfield, 3700 S Alaska, four courts

• Solstice Park (formerly Lincoln Park Annex, 7400 Fauntleroy Way SW, six courts

• Meadowbrook Playfield, 10533 35th Avenue NE, six courts

Lights will return to all lighted courts when Daylight Savings Time returns on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

Parks offers indoor courts at the Amy Yee Tennis Center, 2000 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way S, from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Please call 206-684-4764 to make reservations, or visit the web at http://www.seattle.gov/parks/Athletics/Tennisct.htm for information about the Tennis Center.

Capitol Hill, this might be our happiest holiday travel season... ever. By way of fellow community news site B-Town Blog covering lovely Burien, CHS has learned that we'll all get a great present from Uncle Google this year -- free wireless Internet at Sea-Tac:

When you’re traveling this holiday season, you can enjoy free WiFi at 47 participating airports and on every Virgin America flight. Just bring a WiFi-enabled laptop or mobile device and stay connected to family and friends for free while you travel now through January 15, 2010.

We also talked to Bruce Gray of Sound Transit about the start of light rail airport service which is scheduled to happen 'late in 2009' according to the airport link project page. Gray says the announcement on the start of service will come later this week and said the trains will be continuing through to the Sea-Tac stop "in time for the holidays." "Which holidays?" CHS asked. Just wanted to be sure. Gray said we'll find out this week.

The Literary Death Match comes back to Seattle on Wednesday, November 11 at Re-bar. If you have ever thought to yourself "Why can't literary readings be thrilling, hilarious, and carry a tiny but real danger of death to all involved," then this is the reading for you. The lineup this time around is outstanding. Stacey Levine, recent winner of a Stranger Genius Award, will face off against Aaron Dietz of KNOCK Magazine, playwright Kelleen Conway Blanchard, whose play Small Town received rave reviews at Annex Theater, and Danbert Nobacon, lead singer of Chumbawumba, anarchist, and all-around lunatic. Judges Paul Constant (of The Stranger), Jonathan Evison (writer and radio personality), and Maria Semple (novelist and former writer for Arrested Development) will decide the winner. 

The price is $10 at the door, or $8 pre-sale. Proceeds benefit Opium Magazine. 

Re-bar is located at 1114 Howell Street, at Boren. 

http://www.literarydeathmatch.com

McGinn celebrates at campaign headquarters (Photo: Jeff Romeo special to CHS)

It's over. Mike McGinn is Seattle's new mayor. In the latest batch of nearly 20,000 ballots released today, McGinn took 56.5% of the count giving the candidate an insurmountable lead over Joe Mallahan. City Council president Richard Conlin this afternoon sent out an e-mail congratulating McGinn. The Mallahan camp has called a press conference this evening. Update: The Mallahan camp concedes.

Today's update:

• Mike McGinn          96,514 (+11,098), 50.88%
• Joe Mallahan         91,575, (+8,543), 48.28%

 95% of votes based on King County's expected turnout are now tallied.

McGinn's campaign was grassroots and 'open' format -- and very Capitol Hill. This news site spoke with him many times and received near-daily updates from his all-volunteer campaign team from the very first moments of the race.

Here is CHS coverage of McGinn's announcement of his candidacy at Piecora's from back in March. McGinn also celebrated his victory in the primary and last week's election night on the Hill. The candidate also received the CHS endorsement voted on by members of this site.

The McGinn Campaign from David Albright on Vimeo.

The Mallahan camp, meanwhile, ran a more traditional campaign and used tools like Twitter to lob taunts and criticism at their opponent.

McGinn will inherit a city facing budget cuts as departments scramble to cover a $70 million budget gap due to falling tax revenues caused by the economic slowdown.

Stranded Buses on Broadway - Originally uploaded by mvbseattle

One thing is certain -- Seattle's next mayor (next results drop: 4:30 PM!) won't have the same old King County Metro snow plan to drag him down. Metro officials have unveiled two more components of an Emergency Service Route Network designed to show people that they did something keep buses moving this winter if our snowy, icy weather trends continue.

• The first is Metro's new emergency routes.

  Route 90 - Download PDF

  
  
  Here's what Seattle Transit Blog had to say about the plan:
  
  

  The 70 routes are basically a core set of Metro’s most important routes, minus some that are obviously impassable in severe weather.  However, there are interesting tidbits for armchair planners, like a new Route 90 that serves as Capitol Hill/First Hill/Downtown Circulator, and a modified Route 39 that is truncated to run between Seward Park and the two nearest light rail stations.

• The second component is a new alerts system that will post route updates on the Metro homepage and send updates on your bus routes to your e-mail or phone. You can sign up for the service here.

These initiatives plus the city's revamped snow plowing strategy -- check out which streets get cleared, which don't -- address a lot of the issues and ideas raised here when we went through a CHS groupthink on Metro's snow problems while the failures were still fresh in mind.

And, if all of this doesn't work, there's always checking in with your friends and sharing information.

Update: Added a few pictures from the visit. Not every day the Speaker of the House is in the house. The dignitaries toured Swedish's intensive care unit facility and learned about the hospitals success at reducing 'ventilator associated pneumonia.' According to medical studies, this type of pneumonia occurs in about 25% of patients who require ventilation. Swedish says because of their practices and technology they have not had an incident at their facility in 21 months.

Original Post: Fresh off Saturday night's vote to pass a bill overhauling the nation's health care industry, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be on Broadway this afternoon to tour Swedish Medical Center and continue to drum up support for the legislation as it moves on to the Senate. It's more First Hill than Capitol Hill but in the neighborhood for any of you wonk types who want to come out and get Pelosi to sign your copy of HR 3962.

WHO:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Congressman Jim McDermott

Congressman Jay Inslee

Congressman Norm Dicks

Cal Knight, President, Swedish Medical Center

Dr. Martin Siegel, Chair of the Swedish Board of Trustees

Hospital Administrators

WHAT:

·       Speaker Pelosi and Members of Congress will be talking with hospital officials about how the groundbreaking health insurance reform legislation passed on Saturday by the US House of Representatives helps Seattle.

·       The Speaker and other Members of Congress will briefly tour Swedish Medical Center’s facilities, including their Intensive Care Unit. Swedish Staff will be on the floor to describe the program to reduce ventilator associated pneumonia, a significant cause of mortality nationally.  Photo/  B- roll opportunity at start of tour.

·       Press Conference will immediately follow the tour.

WHEN:

Monday, November  9, 2pm

Pre-set at 1:30 pm

WHERE:

Glaser Foyer, Swedish Medical Center, 747 Broadway, Seattle

Atlas Clothing celebrates the one year anniversary of the new location for its Capitol Hill store on November 11 at  Sole Repair.  It will be a Free "Mad Men"-themed party and fashion show between 8 and 11 pm.  "We invite the Capitol Hill community to join us" says Holly Ricciardi, an Atlas Sales Representative.  

photo by Julie Harmsen

Many of the flowers from Tim Brenton's Friday memorial were moved over the weekend to his East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine. It's an odd little memorial, crowded and haphazardly stuffed into the lobby of the precinct HQ but it's also a very human display. The memorial that had grown on the sidewalk near where Brenton was gunned down Halloween night has been removed. Meanwhile the drama from the capture of Chris Monfort -- the alleged 'domestic terrorist' and a 'person of interest,' not a 'suspect' -- has settled somewhat. Latest reports have Monfort in serious but stable condition at Harborview on First Hill.

(Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Through rain and shine -- and even more rain -- volunteers for Saturday's Green Seattle Day fought through the elements maintaining and restoring Seattle's parklands.

While this job is a year-round commitment, Green Seattle Day is a day out of that year for hordes of community members to join in and aid in the conservation. Over at the St. Mark's Greenbelt, City Trail Specialist Jacobo Jimenez and Parishioner Robert Hayden were organizing the nearly 20 volunteers not scared off by the rain.

Jacobo stands next to one of the covered slopes. The covers are made from hemp, bamboo and birch, and will biodegrade once the plant life takes over. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

The goal for that day, Jimenez said, was to stabilize the slopes above the trails running through St. Mark's, laying ground cover and planting native trees to hold the soil in place. "It's on the hurtin' end," Jimenez said with smile. He has been working on the trails here long before Green Seattle was involved. 

Hayden, who has been helping maintain the space for about 4 years, was directing volunteers at the bottom of greenbelt. "We really have changed this place," he said. According to Hayden, the first trails through the area were laid in the late 90s when it was owned entirely by St. Mark's Cathedral. Now jointly owned with Seattle Parks, the area has played part in the Green Seattle Event for the last 4 years. Hayden took great pride in all the work they had done, pointing out all the trees volunteers had planted over the years. "I hope to come out here in 30 years and see them all - a forest."

A small sapling Hayden said was planted the year before. The area is littered with trees given to them through the city. (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

 Green Seattle is a partnership between the City of Seattle and the Cascade Land Conservancy that is "Creating a sustainable network of healthy forested parklands throughout Seattle, supported by an aware, engaged community."

I told jseattle I was going to do this week's Snapshot at Volunteer Park, but I walked past this corner one morning and had to grab my camera and go back. Between the view of the space needle, the beautiful houses, and all the fall colors, it was a perfect fall Capitol Hill scene.

The exact cross streets for this one are actually Bellevue Pl E & Belmont Pl E. Here's the street view of the location.

View Larger Map

This is the fifth of a weekly series of ambient shots around Capitol Hill. Every week I'll pick a different spot and stay for about 10 minutes to create a 'snapshot' of that location at that moment.

PAST EPISODES

#1 - Cal Anderson Park

#2 - Thomas St P-Patch

#3 - Broadway across from Dicks

#4 - Olive between John and Summit

• The Aurora-based rental store, Aurora Rents,  has replaced its iconic elephant after six months of restoration.
• Over in Queen Anne, a mystery of brown street signs reveals the city's new markings for the historic Olmstead Boulevards.
• Financial troubles at Moda Condos in Belltown has left some residents in a hilarious, yet hazardous, predicament.
• The city moves forward with plans for a pedestrian square at the southern end of the South Lake Union Trolley.
• McKinstry plans to open a 24,000 sqft  "Innovation Center" near its HQ in Georgetown in order to advance green technologies. Watch out Redmond!
• "Outraged Swedes" complain about their flag being removed from Ballard's Bergen Place. I blame the Danes.

Capitol Hill parents -- and parents to be -- might want to plan a drugstore road trip this week. The county health department has announced a plan to distribute a new batch of H1N1 vaccine through area pharmacies.

According to the announcement, people eligible to receive vaccine through pharmacies include:

•     Pregnant women
•     People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age
•     People between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old
•     People between 25 through 64 years of age with chronic health conditions or weakened immune systems
•     Healthcare and emergency workers with direct patient contact

The list of participating stores and appointment availability can be found here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness
A county health spokesperson told the West Seattle Blog this list will be updated over the weekend 'as availability changes.'

This Google Map provided by the county shows the pharmacy locations....

Common Nighthawk, originally uploaded by kingernorth.

It has been a busy week at CHS with lots of big news -- some of it quite heavy. Thanks goodness for this lovely little essay which fluttered in from CHS history contributor Dotty DeCoster. Even if the nighthawks were still living in Seattle, they'd have already migrated away from this wet and dreary Pacific Northwest weather until spring -- when they used to return and, now, you can miss them like Dotty does. We're glad the swallows still come back to keep us company.

I’ve been reading Edward B. Dunn’s memoir called 1121 Union recently, and he asks a question:  “We always had nighthawks in summer on First Hill and in the country, too.  Where can they have gone? . . . Anyway  I miss them.  They can outdive any airplane, and I used to love watching them swooping over the housetops and abruptly coming out of the dive with a thrilling roar." (p. 53) 

Dunn was born in 1904 at 1121 Union and lived there for several decades. (southwest corner of Union and Minor.)  My old friend, who lived as a child near Lake Union and most of her adult life near 17th and Denny, taught me to go looking for nighthawks at dusk above the rooftops near the top of Capitol Hill during the 1960s. They are gone now, gone completely from King County and only found rarely in Western Washington.

The Seattle Audubon bird web describes the common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) as “a cryptic bird most often seen in flight, when it can be easily identified by the white bar across each long, pointed wing.  This mottled gray and black bird has large eyes.  It also has a tiny beak with a large gape. .  .”  They forage in flight on flying insects.  They have a loud, distinctive call.  At about 9 inches, common nighthawks are bigger than swallows and spectacular flyers.  They also have an odd habit while perching.  Rather than sitting on tree limbs or wires or rooftops facing you (with the perch on the horizontal) they sit sideways, aligned along the perch.  Called “goatsuckers” some places, they used to be a delightful addition to the August falling star show viewed from the Capitol Hill ridge crest.

They are odd birds that like open country (with lots of flying bugs) and don’t nest – they lay their eggs on gravel.  Both male and female birds help feed the young and care for them.  In the cities, they tended to like gravel or pebble roofs for reproducing, or infrequently disturbed gravel piles or alleys.  They seem to have been birds of a certain city development period.  They appeared here when the forest cover was opened up and disappeared once the gravel was smoothly paved over, the swampland drained, and the flying insects greatly reduced.  Peterson’s Western Birds says they winter in Argentina.  Apparently, nighthawks still are fairly common in eastern Washington, if you have an opportunity to go for a walk at dusk on the other side of the mountains you might see some.

In the meantime, swallows remain. They swoop over the large lawn in Volunteer Park between the art museum and the conservatory and you can see them during the day diving nearly to grass height as they catch insects mid-air.  At dusk they appear out of the ravine when one is standing at the overlook across from the cemetery entrance on 15th Avenue East.

The first of two Friday updates from King County Elections shows Mike McGinn has widened his lead over Joe Mallahan in the Seattle mayor's race. McGinn now leads his competitor by 1,209 votes.

Mike McGinn: 75,657 49.99%

Joe Mallahan: 74,448 49.19%

The next drop comes after 9 PM tonight. Seattle Post Globe reports that election workers decided to put in some extra work today instead of having to work over the weekend to produce a new count on Monday.

Not many details here, but it sounds significant. The Seattle PI reports that police have shot a person of interest in the Halloween killing of Office Timothy Brenton.

"Officers shot a man in Tukwila after being fired upon Friday afternoon while they served a search warrant, police said.

Seattle Police responded to Tukwila after receiving a tip that the man was connected to the fatal shooting Halloween Night of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, according to a police source familiar with the investigation. SWAT members were among those responding.

The warrant was being served in the 14300 block of 56th Avenue South, but it was not immediately clear what the warrant was for. Seattle police are taking over the scene investigation.

Some police belived the man shot had died at the scene, but that was not immediately confirmed.

The shooting occurred minutes after the memorial for Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton ended at KeyArena."