The view from St. Joe’s, 6:17a (Image: CHS)

Here’s how Beth put it when we posted this picture to Facebook this morning:

It was fun to see everyone in Capitol Hill waiting for their buses with their heads tilted back and people in crosswalks pausing to get photos. Definitely made going to work a little easier.

CHS agrees. Benjamin saw it, too:

So did @rare_medium:

We’re also certain that @alexjon is correct — Friday morning’s early sky was prophecy:

While we’re talking R74 and rainbows, here’s a list of upcoming marriage equality events we ran with the pictures from last weekend’s Party to Raise $20,000 for Marriage Equality. You also might consider stopping by the Washington United for Marriage “action center” on E Pike to pick up some yard signs or volunteering — especially if you are straight.

Upcoming Capitol Hill R74 Events

• SOSea March for Marriage — Oct. 6th:

Cal Anderson — Calling ALL LGBTQ and allied communities in WA state: Social Outreach Seattle and defend the freedom to marry Saturday, October 6, 12 – 2 p.m. for the Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea) MARCH FOR MARRIAGE!

• Capitol Hill Supports Marriage Equality! MME Fundraiser — October 7th

Saint John’s, Solo Bar and Ghost Gallery have teamed up to raise money in support of marriage equality.

Join us on Sunday, Oct. 7th from 5-10pm for a celebratory fundraising event! 

DJ’s Nitty Gritty (Sophisticated Mama), Mike Steve and Gin & Tonic!

Silent Art, Jewelry and Gift Auction including fabulous pieces by Ellen Forney, Derek Erdman, Jody Joldersma, Jennifer Zwick, &c. Jewelry, Joan Hiller, Marc Tweed, Joey Veltkamp & TONS More!

Raffle for local Gift Certificates and other prizes!

Silent Auction will run from 5-9pm (plenty of time to outbid one another), with the winners announced at 9:30pm

***100% of proceeds from the raffle, silent auction and drink specials will go to MUSIC FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY!***

• A Night at Q for Marriage Equality — Oct. 10th:

Join Q Nightclub and Music for Marriage Equality in support of Referendum 74: Featuring Q resident DJs Riz Rollins (also of KEXP), Nark (Q creative director), and Almond Brown… with guest Terry Hecker (aka DJ TROUBLE), Emmy Award recipient for the “It Gets Better” Project. Bar hosted by Q & food provided by Cupcake Royale, Poquitos, Marination, Skillet, and Madison Park Conservatory. Ticket purchase covers entry, food, and drinks. Contact Mea with questions at [email protected].

A man crossing at 12th and Cherry in his wheelchair was struck by a semi-truck early Friday morning and sent to the hospital with significant injuries, according to the SPD brief on the incident. Police say they stopped the truck driving away from the 1a collision and found the man’s wheelchair wedged beneath the truck. Police say the investigation into the incident continues but the driver showed no signs of impairment at the scene and was not arrested.

Semi truck strikes man in wheel chair
Just shortly after 1:00 a.m. this morning an unmarked SPD detective unit onviewed an adult male double amputee lying in the intersection of 12 Av/E Cherry St. (previous condition, not a result of this collision) At the same time, they noticed a semi truck travelling west on E. Cherry St away from the male.

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The detectives stopped the semi truck at Broadway Av/E Cherry St and located a wheelchair underneath the front portion of the semi truck. It is believed the male in the wheelchair was crossing north to south in the marked crosswalk at 12 Av/E Cherry St and was struck by the semi truck.

The 50-year-old male pedestrian was treated on scene by Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center via Medics with substantial injuries.

The 33-year-old male truck driver was evaluated on scene by a Drug Recognition Expert unit, no signs of impairment were detected.

Traffic Collision Investigators responded and processed the scene. The investigation continues.

Say what you will about density and the future of Capitol Hill — apodments are pissing a lot of people off.

“When we put the signs up, neighbors wanted more,” a representative for Reasonable Density Seattle told CHS about their effort this summer to scare off would-be microhousing developers from the neighborhood on the backside of 15th Ave E. City Hall, watch for a letter from the community council, soon.

City Council president Sally Clark has said that the next step in looking at microhousing in Seattle might be for the city to simply catalog and quantify just how much is being built — both via the infamous zoning loophole and within the city’s review process.

With help from a roster provided by the Reasonable Density group and some of our own elbow grease, we’ve mapped the projects that we know about on the Hill. Let us know in comments what we’ve missed and we’ll add more as we find them.

The loophole
Seattle’s zoning restrictions in residential areas are based on the number of dwelling units — unit occupancy and building size aren’t considered. The loophole has allowed developers to bypass the Design Review Board and environmental review as these buildings technically come under the dwelling unit threshold for many residential zones on Capitol Hill.

For instance, in lowrise, multifamily areas, design and environmental reviews are triggered for building proposals larger than 8 units (the residential swath from 10th to 15th between Denny and Roy is almost entirely zoned LR3). In areas zoned mid-rise, review boards are triggered at 20-unit proposals (Most of Capitol Hill west of Harvard, aside from Olive and Denny corridors, is MR or LR3). Environmental review is also triggered in LR3 and MR zones for 30-unit proposals within urban centers or station areas.

We’ll also have more about microhousing’s issues and the Reasonable Density group as well as a growing wave of neighborhood activism suddenly stirred awake around the Hill. We’ve already showed you the signs and were the first to explain to many on the Hill exactly what was happening around them as developers take advantage of loopholes allowing the creation of 40-unit apartment buildings on parcels that previously were home to single family homes. There are examples on the Hill showing how high-density development can be done in smaller, less intrusive ways. But the trend rolls on. And, unlike the emergency moratorium enacted to stop the construction of the “tall & skinny” homes some say are plaguing other parts of Seattle, the is nothing in the works, yet, to help solidify Capitol Hill’s lowrise-3 zoning to prevent developers from continuing to add aPodment-style microapartments to the area’s housing pool. There will probably be more to add to the map soon. And, like we said before, dense, denser or densest, they’ll still be pissing people off.

A view of Capitol Hill’s land use zones. See the City’s full map here (pdf) (Image: Nicholson Kovalchick)

Na zdrowie! Capitol Hill’s Dom Polski is throwing a big party this weekend. But it’s not happening on Capitol Hill! What gives?!?

Hey Justin,

I just got word that you posted this twitter:  “The Polish Festival has moved off Hill and won’t even call me back. Sad break-up. :(“

FYI, we don’t want to break up with you!

The Polish Festival is the first ever of it’s kind for the Polish community and is part of the Seattle Center’s Next 50 celebration going on all year long.

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You can find details here:   http://www.polishfestivalseattle.org/schedule.html

Now, the 20th Annual Seattle Polish Film Festival is coming up October 12-21 at SIFF Cinemas on Queen Anne

You’ll find the details here:  http://www.polishfilms.org/

There is plenty going on at the Polish Home at 18th & Madison!

THe Fall Bazaar will be Sat/Sun November 3rd & 4th from Noon to 7pm at the Polish Home

Perhaps you missed the Spring Bazaar which was really great this year with live music and a beer garden in the parking lot… we rocked the neighborhood.

And of course the Restaurant is open on Fridays serving up wonderful Polish dinners starting at 6pm.

If I ‘twittered’ I would have responded but alas,  I haven’t picked up that habit yet :)

Hopefully, we can keep in touch.  Thanks!

Gail Wodzin
President, Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association

Thanks, Gail, OK. Given the whole Seattle Center 50th celebration thing, we’ll forgive you.

You can learn more about 18th Ave’s Dom Polski at polishhome.org.

Seattle Fire shut down the area around the Bella Vista building at E Mercer and Bellevue Thursday afternoon for a hazardous materials response. Police in the area say there is no immediate danger to nearby residents.

Seattle Fire tells us the incident began as a response following the discovery of a suicide inside the building. The hazmat response was initiated due to concerns about possible chemicals in the apartment. We don’t have details about the nature of the chemicals at this time.

Bellevue remains closed to traffic in both directions during the response.

The brown paper is back in the windows at 11th and Pike. Chino’s — a Taiwanese-Mexican mash-up by way of Los Angeles — is gone after a summer of giving it one last go in Pike/Pine.

Owner Walter Lee confirmed the sale to CHS this morning but said he could not comment on the new buyers.

People familiar with the deal tell CHS the new concept will require a full remodeling of the space and will be an upscale restaurant.

Bidding for the rights to the Chino’s space on what is otherwise a booming stretch of E Pike was reportedly hot and heavy. One familiar Pike/Pine name in on the space is particularly unhappy about the way things played out.

“I thought we were getting to know each other, and making good progress,” Jason Lajeunesse tells CHS about his talks with the Lees and hopes of a possible partnership in a new restaurant and bar that also was to include Dave Meinert. “I was looking at this is a potential 20-year relationship.”

Lajeunesse said he and Meinert were far enough along in the process to have spent thousands of dollars on legal fees and architectural plans. The partners are also hard at work pulling together plans for the new 24-hour diner they are opening on 10th Ave in spring 2013. Lajeunesse said he’ll remain on the hunt for a nearby location to open the restaurant/bar venture bumped from the Chino’s space.

At this point, we can offer no clues to who is moving in at 11th and Pike. City records appear to be currently devoid of activity for the address and there haven’t been any actions on the liquor permit end of things as of yet.

It’s been a tough run for the first-time restauranteurs behind Chino’s, Walter and Mari Tiscareño Lee. The husband and wife team opened Chino’s late last fall with a Taiwanese and Mexican menu inspired by Los Angeles and street food. The project quickly revealed some of the challenges the rookies would face competing in Pike/Pine:

“We’re feeling a little lost in the sauce right now,” Mari, 29, said. “We’ve had to start in square one with everything … In all ways, we are out of our league. Look around us. You have Café Vita, Quinn’s, the Unicorn, Poquitos. They’re all very established, with tried and true business models. It can be a little demoralizing being next to them sometimes, especially when you see they’re always packed.”

What followed was a social media-fueled blow-up involving a chatty (soon to be ex-) bartender that put the Lees in the awkward position of publicly admitting they weren’t cutting it and were looking to leave Pike/Pine.

After telling employees that they hoped to find a new location with lower rent to re-start their efforts and that a buyer had made an offer that could lead to a buyout, the Lees were left to try to make the best of it on E Pike. This new deal puts an end to that. Walter Lee tells CHS there are now no plans to re-open Chino’s and that the restaurant is closed for good.

Recent times have been tough for the corner. Before Chino’s, Oasis Cafe closed at the location when it failed to find a buyer.

Meanwhile, there are signs of even more food+drink investment along E Pike. The former Tully’s at Broadway and Pike is already being cleaned out to make way for a new pub. Capitol Cider’s buildout is underway. And we found activity inside another shuttered, central Pike/Pine space. We’ll have more on that soon. Just as soon as we figure out who’s moving in at 11th and Pike.

Not just for electronic music nerds, Decibel Festival continues through Sunday and offers something for pop music fans, for outsiders, and for beginners and experts. Also, like any good music fest, unofficial events pop up on the periphery (at Arabica Coffee, Electric Tea Garden and more). Not your cuppa? There’s more going on besides the wubwub this weekend–the Local Sightings Film Festival, for example. 

Thursday 9/27

• Queer Social Club gathers at High 5 Pie to meet, have convos, and all that jazz.  For all ages, genders and sexualities. 5 – 8p.
• The Bloom! Seattle series features innovative speakers working in sustainability. Sole Repair 7 – 9p. 
• Algerian-French novelist Anouar Benmalek visits Seattle University to discuss his seventh novel, Abduction. Piggott Auditorium at Seattle University 7p.
• Local Sightings Film Festival kicks off with the screening of International Sign for Choking at 7p, followed by the festival’s opening party at 9p. Festival continues through Thurs Oct 4th at Northwest Film Forum. Full schedule here. 
• Seattle Men who Knit meet and click their needles together at 7p at Elliott Bay Cafe.
• The Fresh Ground Stories: Seattle Storytelling group meets and, um, tells stories starting at 7p (Roy Street Coffee & Tea)

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Friday 9/28

• Omnivorous is the big annual fundraiser for Capitol Hill Housing. Let’s go feast! 6 – 10p.  (The Summit, 420 E Pike St)
• Dead Rockstars: a Tribute to the Mortal Gods of Sound opens at Ltd Gallery, 7p. Compete with your friends: how many can you identify without looking at the art labels? 
• Punchline Fridays comedy showcase starts at 9p at Jai Thai on Broadway.
• Lushy “starts you off on a lazy paradise ride and whips you into a 1960s cocktail party frenzy.”This is the band you liked from the 4th of July picnic at Cal Anderson Park this year. Wear plaid for a chance to win the fashion award. 9 – 11:30p. (Vito’s 927 9th Ave)

Saturday 9/29

• FIT FLOW, a boot camp x yoga mashup, meets at 10a at Volunteer Park near the Asian Art Museum.
• Weekly pickup soccer game 10:30a at Cal Anderson Park. Play nice! “Don’t come with a negative or agro attitude or you will be ignored.”
• Childrens’ Storytime at the castle in Elliott Bay Book Company, 11a.
• National Take Your Drugs to the Cops Day. The East Precinct location on 12th is a drop off point, 10a – 2p. 
• Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. Oola Bourbon Bread Pudding will be served at Oola Distillery by the bow-tied Southern gentlemen of Seattle Biscuit Company. The wearing of a bowtie is optional–you’ll still get your cake and eat it too, with or without. Look for the “Biscuits” food truck, 2 – 6p.  (Oola Distillery 1314 E Union)
• 100 Thousand Poets for Change, an afternoon of poetry reading calling for environmental, social and political change, 2 – 7p.  (Richard Hugo House, followed by an afterparty at Vermillion)
• Karaoke BBQ for Marriage Equality Ref 74. Here’s your chance to sing that Gotye song. 3:30 – 7p. (Crescent Lounge)
• Wavery Curtis reads from Dial C for Chihuahua, a new comedic crime series set in Seattle and starring a talking, crime-solving dog. Pepe the dog will be there too, 6p.(Elliott Bay Book Company)
• Academy of Burlesque 10th Anniversary Extravaganza with sparkles, shimmies and teases from the academy faculty, 8p. (West Hall, Oddfellows Building)

Sunday 9/30

• Volunteer Park Trust Work Party. The new group rallies neighbors and hands out Top Pot doughnuts at a work party to clean up the area around the park’s koi ponds. 10a-2p  (Volunteer Park)
• Broadway Farmers Market. Sundays, 11a-3p, April 22 through December 23, at Broadway and Pine. (SCCC)
• Nia Dance Jam. Learn about this style of barefoot dancing which combines soul stirring music, martial arts, and healing arts, 1 – 2:30p. (Century Ballroom)
• Carol Guess and Suzanne Paola, reading from The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction. It’s “a lot more than flashy.” We’re not sure what that means either. 4p at Elliott Bay Book Company.
• Coming Out Local: an intimate dinner for LGBTQ community and its straight allies with guest speakers Senator Ed Murray and local living expert Jill Bamburg, 5p. (Melrose Market Studios)
• Battle for the Dance Belt! Dancers duke it out for the platinum belt bragging rights. It’s also a food drive: trade a can of food for a can of beer. 6 – 7p. (Velocity Dance Center)
• Skirt Steak dinner and book release party as mentioned in our Hill eats roundup earlier this week. Reservations required, 6p. (Volunteer Park Cafe)  
• A Sweet and Saucy Soiree of sultry jazz singing starts at 7:30p. (Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave)

We’re not endorsing the movement — but here’s what we’ve said about district-based city leadership in the past:

Me, I envy the city’s district-based board of supervisors (For one, I believe it’s a better way to represent a city. For two, man would it create more content for neighborhood blogs!)

In that case, we were looking at our sister-city to the south, San Francisco. Soon, we might be looking at Seattle:

Push is on for Seattle City Council election by district
A new group has formed to push for electing Seattle City Council members by district.

Currently, all nine council members are elected citywide, or at-large. Seattle Districts Now is proposing to elect seven members by geographic district and two members citywide.

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The group, which is holding a news conference Thursday, has a map showing how it would carve Seattle into seven districts. West Seattle, for instance, would become one district; Southeast Seattle would be another. It was drawn by Richard Morrill, a demographer and University of Washington professor emeritus, and each district includes about 87,000 people.

The proposal would go to voters, potentially in 2013, if the group collects enough signatures to put it on the ballot.

The full announcement on the proposal from the group calling itself Seattle Districts Now is below. It could be a costly and disruptive change for the city and some of the main players like activist John Fox seem as eager to settle some old scores as to truly change the way the city gets things done. But it also could end up quite popular given renewed NIMBY enthusiasm sparked by efforts like the city’s ill-positioned regulatory reform attempt. We like it for the opportunity to take energy currently contained in informal community council and group efforts and giving it a structured shape in city policy. It’s a system that could see more individuals rise from community activist to influential Seattle politicians. Maybe. It could also be simply another way to deal the cards in the same old game.

You can learn more at seattledistrictsnow.org.

Seattle Districts Now, a group Seattle of residential and business leaders who feel Seattle needs a change in how it elects its City Councilmembers, will register Thursday as a political campaign with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. Seattle Districts Now is proposing a City Charter Amendment to change Seattle from a nine member at-large City Council system to a mixed system with seven Councilmembers elected in geographic districts and two Councilmembers elected at-large. 

Our press conference is being held to formally announce our campaign, to provide maps showing each districtand to introduce to the press many of the 90 community leaders who are already supporting the campaign.  Endorsers include 2 state senators and business and community leaders from across the city.   Key leaders of the campaign and our attorneys who helped draft the proposal will be present to answer your questions.

Faye Garneau, a Seattle business leader and Co-Chair of Seattle Districts Now, states: “A mixed District/At-Large system would give every Seattle resident a specific point of contact at City Hall. It would ensure that an elected official would speak as your neighborhood’s voice on major issues.”

Seattle Districts Now hopes to qualify a city charter amendment for the November, 2013 Ballot.  If the charter amendment is approved by voters, all nine Council positions will be on the ballot in 2015, with the seven districtcouncilmembers elected to four-year terms and the two at large councilmembers elected to two-year terms. In 2017, the two at large councilmembers will run for regular four-year terms.

Seattle Districts Now want to ensure city councilmembers are closer to the people they represent and that voters better know their city councilmembers. The seven district representatives would provide for geographic distribution of Councilmembers, while giving individual neighborhoods a distinct voice on major issues, while the two at-large representatives ensure that the citywide perspective is maintained on our Council. 

Suzie Burke of Seattle Districts Now cites another reason for the proposal, “Over the years, Seattle City Councilmembers have been often clustered in certain neighborhoods, while other areas of the city haven’t had a council member who knew and understood their area’s needs and concerns. A mixed District/At-Large system would ensure that no part of our city goes unrepresented.”

The boundaries of each district will be described in the City Charter Amendment, which is currently in draft form.  The district boundaries were drawn by Dr. Richard Morrill, demographer and University of Washington Professor Emeritus.  He created the boundaries based on 2010 census information with input from SeattleDistricts Now.  Seattle Districts Now is confident that it will obtain the estimated 30, 943 signatures needed to place the Charter Amendment on the 2013 Ballot.

John Fox, Seattle Districts Now’s other co-chair, says that: “The cost of a winning City Council campaign has soared from $210,000 in 2005 to more than $270,000 in 2011. “With a mixed District/At-Large system, most campaigns would see their voter contact expenses cut to 1/7^th of the current cost and candidates could win by doorbelling precincts, rather than relying on expensive mailers and TV ads.”

SPD introduced a service Wednesday that could come in handy the next time you hear sirens.

Tweets by Beat is a new system that broadcasts SPD dispatch data via Twitter. Each precinct’s beat has a Twitter feed of its own. For the Capitol Hill area, here are the accounts you might want to consider following — or at least checking out from time to time.

Capitol Hill Area Tweets by Beat

• @SeattlePDe1
• @SeattlePDe2
• @SeattlePDc1
• @SeattlePDc2
• @SeattlePDc3

You can look up your beat by address here.

The dispatches are on a one-hour delay:

There are a few caveats: in order to protect crime victims, officers, and the integrity of crime scenes, calls will appear on the Twitter feeds one hour after a dispatcher sends the call to an officer. The feeds also do not include information about domestic violence calls, sexual assaults, and other certain types of crimes.

The city says the new service helps SPD meet elements of the DOJ consent decree.

CHS last posted the overall crime statistics for the beats covering Capitol Hill in this July update.

CHS has been watching the feeds in test mode for a few weeks. For a news gatherer, it’s nice to have an additional element of always-on information for the neighborhood. But the feeds are pretty high traffic for a more relaxed, less stressed out, better rested member of the community like yourself. You might want to just keep the links handy for the next time you hear sirens. Anybody can view the links above — you don’t need to have a Twitter account to access the feed pages.

SPD is also continuing to map the past 48 hours of dispatch information on the city’s My Neighborhood map system. The department tweets important updates via @seattlepd and posts a selection of higher-profile crime reports to the SPD Blotter site. A wider selection of burglary, assault and robbery reports continue to be available for download here after they are redacted and private information is removed.

The new feeds likely render unnecessary some of the information sources we experimented with like @CHScrime. For an archive of SPD dispatches, our 911seattle.com site remains useful — for now.

CHS also broadcasts live crime and 911 information via the @jseattle account as part of the general coverage of Capitol Hill. Please share items of interest you find in the new SPD information sources and feel free to ask questions about what you see. We haven’t seen every type of dispatch that comes SPD’s way — ANIMALS – INJURED, DEAD, DANGEROUS, anyone? — but we’ve seen a lot of them. You can also call or txt (206) 399-5959 or send us mail at [email protected]. We expect the new information to come with some growing pains and maybe a bump in inquiries and reports coming our way. That’s fine with CHS. Just like we told SPD when they were in the planning stages for the Tweets by Beat, we’ll always take more information.