Once again, CHS Capitol Hill Seattle, LLC has filed FOIA requests for certain reports generated by my office’s paranormal investigative unit. I am complying with the request to produce the contents of these reports with some details redacted.

Case 2012-9821w — XXXX 14th Ave. Subject, 45, suspects demonic forces to be at work at the site recorded. Noted smell of strange herb, presence of smoke with possible supernatural narcotic properties. Investigation revealed bakery operating at site. Case closed.

Case 2012-31213a — XXXXX Boylston Ave E —  Subject, 35, reported that his ex-girlfriend, XXX, was practicing witchcraft and using “some kind of weird voodoo shit to make sure that he would be unable to date other women after their five-year relationship, which ended after he was found to be having an affair with a coworker. “XXX broke up with me. Then, a week later, the other girl broke it off, too. She said it was because I never told her I had a girlfriend. But I never said I didn’t, so that doesn’t even make sense. Nah, I know it’s XXX’s fault. All the girls I’ve asked out since we broke up? They all say I’m ‘a creep.’ Believe me, it’s NOT just because they’re in high school. It’s because they’re under a spell.”   When asked for evidence of XXX’s sorcery, subject noted that “For one thing, she has a black cat.” He further noted, “If she’s not a witch, why the hell does she have so many scented candles?” Case open.

Case 2012-7363 — XXXX 19th Ave E. Subject, 18, reports level 3 contact near construction site. Interviews with staff on site produced evidence files #7363.2, #7363.6 and #7363.2. Each provided testimony supporting level 2 contact. Requesting a Rule 312.12 sealant cap be placed at site to prevent future contact cases.

Case #2012-2341 — XXXX 15th Ave E. Subject, 22, reported yet another ghost sighting at the site — a tavern. Here is a transcript of her call to the hotline: “I was at the bar with my friends on Tuesday night…it was, like, one in the morning, and there was this weird guy, like, sitting at the bar? I didn’t see his face—I’m guessing he didn’t have one.  Anyway, I look away, and when I look back, like, ten minutes later? He’s GONE! Just…vanished.  And then—get this— I put my drink down, and went to the bathroom? And when I came back, it was, like, six inches from where I left it. It HAD to have been the ghost. It really freaked me out.” Case closed pending further complaints.

Case #21012-4320s — XXX Broadway. Subject, 45, reports strange thumping noises at night, rhythmic in nature and increasing during the weekend. Subject reports not being able to sleep and having to turn television up several notches to enjoy programming. Case open.

If you have been trying to access CHS this week and run into a blank page — or worse! — sorry for the disruption. We’ve experienced several outages in the past 48 hours due to repercussions from superstorm Sandy.

For several reasons ranging from technical to support to our original technology relationships here in Seattle, we serve our site through a New York City-based datacenter. When the water rose in Manhattan, electricity was shut off, back-up generators failed when fuel pumps were inundated and sites across the country went blank. It’s a small part of the toll of the storm and, of course, pales in comparison to the lives lost and homes destroyed by the disaster.

Given the improvements in conditions in New York, we believe we’re through the worst of it and aren’t expecting further outages. Of course, we also only partly expected the first round of trouble.

When this kind of thing happens — and it will again, assuredly at some future date — we’ll continue to bring you news and information through as many effective channels as we can access. Keep these sources in mind:

• The CHS Facebook page was utilized as our temporary home base during the outages https://www.facebook.com/capitolhillseattleblog
• The CHS jseattle Twitter account is always active https://twitter.com/jseattle
• The CHS RSS feed will retain an archive of recent coverage http://feeds.feedburner.com/capitolhillseattle
• And, heck, if it comes to it, you can always call or txt us at (206) 399-5959 and we’ll read you the news! Can’t stop CHS :)

Thanks for sticking with us and helping us make the best of it. Happy Halloween.

Want to help clean up?

• Donate to the Red Cross here or txt Red Cross to 90999 to donate $10
• Give blood: Search mobile drives here

Bernard is a new CHS contributor.

I got a jolt earlier this month when I encountered dozens of people with extremely conservative and religious views at 15th and E. Pike. I had never experienced that in my 7 years living in the liberal bubble that is Capitol Hill.

Now, these people weren’t actually on the hill. I talked to them on the phone as I joined about 30 volunteers at Temple de Hirsch Sinai, turning two basement conference rooms and a hallway into a makeshift call center for marriage equality. We talked to residents across Washington state, from Colfax to Kennewick, Spokane to Vancouver, Bonney Lake to Bellingham.

Washington United for Marriage, the group supporting the approval of Referendum 74, organized the phonebanking event as part of its final push before the November election. My good friend Robert is one of the organizers and he asked if I would help. I said yes.

Most of the volunteers had a vested interest in spending their weekend calling up strangers. There was the gay couple who got married in Canada and wants their union recognized in Washington. And there was Shelly Cohen, who along with her female partner of 10 years, raise two young daughters. Two decades ago, Cohen helped write Seattle’s first domestic partnership ordinance. She can hardly believe the community is at the cusp of gaining marriage equality.

“When we were working on the city ordinance, one guy suggested we should go for marriage. We thought he was nuts,” said the 54-year old Cohen. “Back then, I couldn’t have fathom this. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.”

There were also volunteers who technically wouldn’t be affected by the referendum’s outcome, yet felt strongly enough to offer their time. Lacaia Sauer, a 20-year old Seattle Central Community College student, said she hates “pushing my views on people”, but wanted to do this for her aunt.

“My aunt and her partner have been together since I was born,” Sauer said. “I think they and everyone should have the right to marry.” 

Seated next to me was a really cool blonde named Katie Chapman who looks just like Kate Hudson. Chapman is outgoing and loves talking to people but, more than anything, she was there for her sister.

“It’s so sad she can’t do the things I can. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a second class citizen,” said Chapman.

Some volunteers brought their laptop, others were assigned one. We all fired up a special program that teleconferences in our cellphone, while automatically dialing the numbers of registered voters. 

We held on the line until we heard a beep, which signaled someone had answered on the other end and we should start talking. We learned to dive right into our introduction because more often than not, we got just a few seconds before the person hung up. 

Prior to this effort, I had never phonebanked. It took a few dozen calls to get used to being hung up on in mid sentence. Chapman, who worked for years as a telemarketer, assured with a smile that it’s just a normal part of the business.

What was more jarring was when some of the people actually started talking. I got a, “That’s an abomination.” Sauer, the Seattle Central student, got a, “Go to hell.”

To be sure, there were also people who supported marriage equality and said they intend to vote to approve Referendum 74. On the whole, though, the takeaway for me was how polarized the state is.

If you live and socialize on Capitol Hill, you may think Referendum 74 will pass based on the comments you hear around the neighborhood. But talking with, and sometimes being lectured by, folks in other parts of the state, you really appreciate there are people whose core convictions simply point them in a different direction. And their vote counts just as much.

After three hours on the phone, I notched perhaps a half of a “persuasion” – the group’s term for a voter who changed their mind during a phone call – when a man said he may consider marriage equality after initially saying he was opposed to the law. Cohen recorded two persuasions, which I was told is rare since most sessions end without even one.

With days to go before the election, Washington United Marriage has planned many more of these phonebanking events. You can see the schedule at their website.

Was a market. Now a boutique. Soon, microhousing (Image: CHS)

CHS has learned of a planned 12th Ave project that might throw some of the anti-microhousing opponents for a loop. Turns out, the developer behind one of the most highly regarded projects on Capitol Hill is also busy pulling together the pieces to create new microapartments on Capitol Hill.

“We’re creating a safe, affordable place for working people to live in our community with easy access to transportation,” Scott Shapiro tells CHS.

Earlier this month, King County records show that Shapiro paid $675,000 for the land where the old Capitol Hill Market stands near 12th and Howell for “CONSTRUCTION OF MIXED USE BUILDING CONTAINING Boarding Houses commercial,” according to the preliminary filing with the city for the project.

Last week, the Capitol Hill Community Council voted in a landslide of approval to pass a resolution calling on the City Council to enact an emergency moratorium on microhousing development. Community members object to loopholes that allow the projects to skip past the city’s design and environmental review thresholds.

Some, when it comes down to it, also object to the crawl of lowrise zoning that allows the spread of multistory buildings across Capitol Hill and the potential draw for developers looking to make a buck with low-quality construction and a transient tenant base. CHS has reported on the group Reasonable Density Seattle’s efforts to bring attention — and they hope action — to the loopholes.

One look at the city’s database of active “boarding house” style projects will show you why there is so much attention on the situation on Capitol Hill. CHS recently mapped 15 different projects around the neighborhood. We’ve added three since. With an explosion of transportation investment and a central city location, Capitol Hill is clearly the center of Seattle’s microhousing boom.

On 12th Ave, Shapiro’s project is part of at least three aPodment-style projects underway. Zoned for multistory residential buildings, the street is also active with standard-style apartment development, a cohousing project and Capitol Hill Housing’s 12th Ave Arts mixed-use project that will replace the East Precinct’s parking lot.

We reported last week that the old Capitol Hill Market space is providing a home for new fashion boutique Style Syndicate.

Retail is also part of the plan in the new development, Shapiro says. Quality is also part of the plan.

“We build things for the long term,” the developer said. “We think like a longterm owner. We want them to last.”

Shapiro said that the fact that the projects are small apartment buildings means that most of the development activity in the space is small scale and local.

Another microapartment project near Shapiro’s newly acquired property (Image: CHS)

“These are small projects, and they’re done by small, local developers,” he said.

Shapiro’s presence in the microhousing mix might confound some arguments about the projects. He teamed up with Capitol Hill architect and developer Liz Dunn to create the Melrose Market project which celebrated its third anniversary this summer. His involvement in a project utilizing DPD director’s rule 6-2012 for boarding houses could add legitimacy to a development space that has created distrust for some in the community as projects move forward with little public notice.

Little discussed outside of the development community, DPD director’s rule 6-2012 might also provide an added level of comfort for those worried about the impacts of a microapartment building in their neighborhood. Drafted this summer, the six-page document lays out rules for construction, environmental and fire safety standards required for boarding house-style developments. While it doesn’t add the structure of design review and environmental review that many are calling for, the document does guarantee a framework for creating aPodments that meet important safety standards.

DR2012-6

As for a moratorium, the Seattle City Council seems unlikely, at this time, to take such a drastic step. 

“We are continuing to monitor it and will be meeting with DPD to review their analysis of the situation,” planning and land use committee head Richard Conlin tells CHS. “Generally, the experience has been that these projects do not seem to have much of an impact on the community, but they are clearly in a gray area of the code and we are trying to think about how to be proactive in allowing them but putting any needed parameters around them that might be helpful in ensuring consistency with our land use planning.”

Conlin says there isn’t a specific plan yet on how to proceed but DPD is putting together some alternatives for moving the issue forward.

“There are no plans to do a moratorium at this point,” Conlin writes, “there would have to be more clear evidence of problems on the ground to justify that.”

Shapiro doesn’t think that evidence will outweigh the benefits. 

“When I lived in NYC, I lived for four years in a small 300-square-foot studio. It worked great for where I was in my life in my twenties,” he said.”

“It perfectly suited what I needed at the time. There are not as many as those opportunities here.”

It’s going to be a wet one. But that doesn’t mean Capitol Hill’s trick-or-treat hot zone won’t be fully activated Wednesday night. We’ve been running this map out for a few years now with tweaks provided by our Halloween candy analysts. This year’s map includes a few additional hot spots to be aware of involving Little Shop of Horrors, a twisted circus and Thriller.

Neighborhood rankings provided by Zillow are bunk. Don’t rely on them. Loyal Heights doesn’t even exist. Phinney Ridge is dangerous — note the ridge part. And how are kids supposed to get through the big gate surrounding Madison Park?

CHS analysis, on the other hand, includes on-the-ground intelligence gathering about preparation activity and decoration measurement. In both metrics, the Capitol Hill hot zone mapped here is off the charts. We’re hearing talk of supply depots overflowing with more than 1,200 Tootsie pops.

View CHS Trick or Treat Hot Zone in a larger map

You’ll also find both 16th Ave E and 17th Ave E south of Aloha blocked to car traffic — another important factor in our deep analysis. Just make sure to be careful when you cross Aloha. Oh, and also brush up on your Thriller moves.

As for getting there, please consider parking around the Miller Community Center and hopping on the 12 or take the 10 up 15th Ave E.

The weather has some forecasting smaller numbers of trick-or-treaters on the streets of Seattle this year. Do not be lulled into complacency. Our analysis shows that what the 2012 kids lack in numbers, they will make up in appetite. Yes. We’re thinking you should buy the full-size bars.

Candy buy-back
The candy hot zone is also the location of a candy buy-back program. Beginning November 2nd, you can trade in your hard won booty for $1 per pound at the 19th/Aloha Tully’s. Candy collected in the Keith B. Wong, DDS sponsored buy-back will be packed up and shipped out to service men and women overseas.

More Hilloween 2012

• Unruly mob of masked children march from Cal Anderson, loot Broadway
• Volunteer Park Conservatory to be festooned with jack-o-‘lanterns
• Costumes from Capitol Hill’s Halloween weekend — Plus, 10/31 parties
• Capitol Hill Seattle collectible Halloween masks: Hilloween 2012 edition

The City of Seattle announced Tuesday that it has secured some $3 million in funding to plan and design — but not build — the extension of the First Hill streetcar beyond the planned Denny Way terminus.

The extension will require $25 million to complete. At this date, the source for that funding has not been identified. Because of the funding schedule, the earliest work can begin on the extension is 2015. The planned and paid-for First Hill route will be completed through Denny by 2014.

Earlier this month, CHS reported that $800,000 had been secured to study the extension. Today, Mayor Mike McGinn announced an additional federal grant and $1.25 million in City of Seattle matching to assembled the $3 million necessary to plan and design the route.

At the Tuesday morning press event announcing the planning funding held near Broadway and Roy, SDOT director Peter Hahn confirmed interest in the route reaching far enough north to drop off visitors on the edge of Volunteer Park, a plan backed by the Seattle Art Museum. The final plan for the extension will hinge on studies of the residential population in the area, employment patterns and visitors who might be drawn to resources in the area like Volunteer Park.

“Stopping half way up street just didn’t make sense,” Mayor Mike McGinn said Tuesday of the community push for the extension. Poppy owner Jerry Traunfeld and Josh Mahar, who helped spearhead the community council push for the extension, were on hand and applauded by McGinn for their efforts to bring the plan to fruition. “Community involvement could have been obstructionist,” Mahar said. “We put together a set of solutions.” Mahar called progress on the extension an example of how community groups can work with the city to get things done.

McGinn said, given the amount of time it will require to arrange $25million in funding, it’s unlikely there will be wiggle room to move up the schedule for the extension so that it could be completed along with the main First Hill route.

We endorsed Mahar’s Complete Streetcar Campaign in 2010 (Image: CHS)

One thing just might come early, however. Director Hahn said the mayor wouldn’t like him saying it, but the separated Broadway bikeway will likely be ready for use before the start of streetcar service.

The announcement was a victory for the CHS-endorsed Capitol Hill Complete Streetcar campaign that has advocated for the extension since the initial routing was decided in 2010.

People involved with the planning process around a possible First Hill route extension to north Broadway say there has been growing energy to push the rail system even farther north along 10th Ave to reach E Prospect and open up the possibility of a better connection to Volunteer Park.

The First Hill streetcar is expected to eventually serve around 3,500 riders per day, according to transit planners. A previous study concluded that extending the route to Aloha would add about 500 riders per day. That study also said that extending the line to Aloha would add 3 minutes to the trip in each direction. Trolleys will leave every 15 minutes and vehicle traffic and streetcars will share a lane as a separated bikeway is added along Broadway. The streetcar will also provide an additional connection to Capitol Hill Station and light rail when that facility begins operations in late 2016.

The route for the streetcar was finalized following an extensive SDOT planning and community feedback process that considered a variety of routes — including a loop around Cal Anderson Park. The First Hill line is being paid for by Sound Transit — on the line for the project as mitigation for its decision to not build a light rail station on First Hill.

timeline, originally uploaded by jseattle.

(Images: Suzi Pratt for CHS)

We’re back (as long as Sandy promises to behave.) Here’s an abbreviated food and drink notes. You’ll get a full serving later today. UPDATE: Full serving below!

• Cafe Pettirosso returns to Capitol Hill Tuesday morning. It has some long days ahead of it.

Slated to be open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9a to 2a, the 11th Ave cafe space has been overhauled and expanded in a $100,000+ buildout that has seen Pettirosso shuttered since it closed at the end of 2011.

Sisters Miki and Yuki Sodos will bring their experience creating Belltown’s Bang Bang Cafe to reshape Pettirosso’s offerings along with the new space.

“Pettirosso is staying Pettirosso,” Miki tells CHS. “The only part of Bang Bang that will be in Pettirosso is Shawn’s Vegan Mac, and Yuki and I.”

Miki tells CHS that even former owner Robin Wright will be part of the new Pettirosso. The name does translate to “Robin” after all.

But there are some significant new elements for the little red-breasted bird. You’ll find a lengthy cocktail list with $7 and $10 offerings. You’ll also find the back areas of the old cafe have been transformed into a new dining area. The front counter has also been completely redone, shifted and expanded. The new space was designed by Drome Design Studios. It will likely be a bustling place.

Yuki Sodos managed the old Pettirosso prior to starting Bang Bang. Miki has also been part of the food and drink scene on the Hill with tours of duty at Cha Cha and the dearly departed Satellite. They’re also rock stars. When she’s not being harassed by the friendly neighborhood blogger for details about her cafe, Miki rocks on guitar with the Absolute Monarchs.

Vegan eaters will be especially excited by the new Pettirosso.

“… it is very important to us to offer a selection of vegan items in our establishments,” Miki writes. “While we are not vegan, it is a lifestyle that we support. We are in the business of making our customers happy.” 

“I have been working in the restaurant industry for 20 years and I still love serving,” she says. “It gives me such satisfaction to see someones face when they taste that delicious something. The more people I can accommodate the more people I can make happy. It’s as simple as that.”

You can check out more about the new cafe — and see all the menu action — at pettirossoseattle.com 

• With funds raised in the Murray Aid effort now approaching $60,000, Tuesday night brings a benefit in the neighborhood at Murray Stenson’s 12th Ave tend Canon:

From Jamie Boudreau: We are going to do business as usual (allowing a few more people in than we normally do) but every penny spent will be going to MurrayAid this evening. I have also agreed to personally match any tips that the bartenders donate that evening (up to $2000).

• Speaking of cocktails, looks like 19th Ave E’s Monsoon will soon be offering spirits. Meanwhile its brother joint Ba Bar has geared up with American-style breakfast Wednesdays through Sundays. “Breakfast is about convenience and subconscious,” Eric Bahn tells us. “It doesn’t matter how creative you are. I want to do something that I eat in the morning.”
• Also getting into the cocktail end of things soon? E Olive Way’s Online Cafe.
• Congratulations to Altura, Seattle Met’s restaurant of the year for 2012. From a business standpoint, CHS predicts a few more joints might adopt this recipe:

Because of Altura’s novel menu concept—you order in three, four, or five courses, mixing and matching starters and pastas and mains however you please—any flexibility you lose in not easily being able to drop in for a plate of pasta you make up for in the joy of being able to order, say, a four-course meal consisting of two pastas and two desserts. 

• How come nobody told us T Doug is calling his new Melrose Market-inspired SLU project The Grange Hall?
• With all the changes on 15th Ave E, don’t forget the new home of Ada’s Books will also include a cafe.
• Via Sprudge, The History Channel does Seattle coffee:
• The future of restaurant funding might look like public radio. Skelly and the Bean is talking pledge drive.
• Time is getting tight for another crowdfunding project in the neighborhood. Plum’s hopes to create a vegan food truck might hit the skids if pledges don’t pick up soon. Makini Howell’s project has raised a little more than $8,000 of its all-or-nothing $28,000 goal. You can learn more and decide if you want to help kick things into gear here.
• We wrote last week about the final pieces coming together for a November opening for Mamnoon. There’s a piece of the story we didn’t have quite right. Mamnoon’s Wassef Haroun set us straight:

Garrett Melkonian worked as an advisor/consultant to Langley Inn and Juanita Café, but more importantly he worked for 8 years at various Tom Douglas restaurants including the Dahlia Lounge, Lola and others before going to work in SF for Daniel Patterson.  He and owes a lot of his amazing professional experience to Tom’s organization and we want to make sure that this is reflected in all communications.  I should have corrected this last time but it fell through the cracks and the repeat of the erroneous info on this weeks post is a reminder to fix…

• Frommer’s on Capitol Hill in 2004 via @chidorio:

With an ongoing wave of new development reshaping its streets, Capitol Hill is undergoing a redesign. Every now and then, a building pops up that makes people wonder, “Who the hell approved that?” You can help make sure we don’t have to ask that question — ever again. Because we’ll know. You approved that! And of course, we’ll celebrate your leadership as a member of the East Design Review Board. All you need is an “interest” in architecture or design, Seattle residency and some rocking Capitol Hill sensibilities. Do it.

Seattle – Mayor Mike McGinn is looking for qualified candidates to fill nine upcoming openings on the city of Seattle’s Design Review Board. The volunteer positions will be available April 4, 2013 when retiring board members’ terms expire. 

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Applications will be accepted for the following nine board positions:  

Northeast Design Review Board   – community representative	Downtown Review Board  – development representative
Southwest Design Review Board – residential representative – design professional representative	West Design Review Board – design professional representative – residential representative – development representative
East Design Review Board – development representative – community representative

Application forms are available from www.seattle.gov/designreview or from [email protected]. The deadline for submitting an application is December 10, 2012.

 Board members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council and serve two-year terms.  Members serve on one of seven boards that reviewprojects in the city’s major geographic districts. Each board is composed of five members who represent:

— design professions

— development interests

— general community interests

— local business interests

— local residential interests

 Applicants should have:

knowledge of, or interest in, architecture, urban design and the development process;

the ability to evaluate projects based on the city’s design guidelines;

the ability to listen and communicate effectively at public meetings;

a passion for design and community development; and

the ability to work well with others under pressure. Prior experience with community or neighborhood groups is a plus. 

Board members must live in the city. Following appointment, the local residential interests representative must act as an ambassador to at least one community group or association (e.g. community council) that operates within the board district. Similarly, following appointment the local business interests representative must act as an ambassador to at least one business group or association (e.g. chamber of commerce) that operates within the board district. Acting as an ambassador is often facilitated if the board member lives or works within the district he or she is serving, but residency in a district is not a requirement to serve as a local representative.

Board members should expect to work 12-14 hours a month attending and preparing for board meetings, which are held twice a month, in the evenings. Board members are expected to attend at least 90 percent of the meetings.

 Applications will be accepted for positions other than those listed above and kept on file for consideration for future openings.

The Design Review Program was established in 1994 to provide an alternative to prescriptive zoning requirements and foster new development that better responds to the character of its surroundings. Boards evaluate the design of development projects based on citywide and neighborhood-specific design guidelines.  The boards review mixed-use developments, multifamily housing, and commercial projects above a certain size threshold. For more information on the Design Review Board and the city’s Design Review Program, visitwww.seattle.gov/designreview.

To be considered for appointment to one of the design review boards, please send an application, a cover letter and resume by December 10, 2012 by email to:

Lisa Rutzick

[email protected]

 Email applications are preferred, as electronic documents facilitate file sharing among the selection committee. If emailing is not an option, applicants can send their applications via U.S. mail to:

Lisa Rutzick

Design Review Board

Department of Planning and Development

City of Seattle

700 – 5^th Ave,  Suite 1800

P.O. Box 34019

Seattle, Washington  98124-4019

 You may download an application at www.seattle.gov/designreview or email [email protected] to receive a copy. 

For other information, please contact Lisa Rutzick, Design Review Program Manager, at 206-386-9049 or via e-mail at [email protected], or Alan Justad, 233-3891, or via email at [email protected]

More Capitol Hill-related board opportunities

• Capitol Hill Housing needs you:

The Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program (CHH) seeks nominations of qualified board member candidates from the Capitol Hill community. Capitol Hill Housing will maintain an active list of candidates for ongoing consideration.

• So does Cal Anderson Park Alliance:

Cal Anderson Park Alliance (CAPA) is currently seeking to add new board members!   We are especially interested in those with skills in fundraising, outreach/PR, web design, social media and event production. We also welcome inquiries from people who would like to work on projects specific to the park, especially those which might exemplify the issues Cal Anderson championed. If you’re interested in getting involved, submit an application to [email protected] by November 2, 2012.   We’re looking forward to hearing from you!