(Image: City of Seattle)

After five years in the making, the legislative stage has finally arrived for plans to develop the prime — and now empty — Broadway real estate around the Capitol Hill light rail station.

A few Seattle city council members will get their first official look today at the project’s Development Agreement and 2011 Urban Design Framework hammered out between Sound Transit, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, and the neighborhood group Capitol Hill Champion.

Representatives from the three organizations will present the transit oriented development plans to the council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee. A public comment period kicks off the session at 9:30 AM.

The TOD plans outline design and use goals for five sites stretching along Broadway from John to Denny, currently owned by Sound Transit. The 100,000-square-foot development will include housing, commercial, and a community center spaces.

Topics likely to generate discussion may include how to implement plans for a privately developed, publicly open plaza to serve as the permanent home of the Broadway Farmers Market. The development agreement also proposes more affordable housing and less parking than typical developments, as well as stretching the building height limit to 85 feet.

Council member Richard Conlin told CHS he expects the meeting to be largely informational for the committee members.

Update: Public comments on the development agreement were mostly positive during today’s PLUS meeting. Chris Curtis, director of the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, said the city should require developers to host the Broadway Farmers Market on the TOD site ahead of construction. She said farmers want assurances that the market will be open long-term. During the briefing Sound Transit’s Rick Ilgenfritz said the Sound Transit board is very supportive of the agreement, despite an occasionally rocky process. “I think its fair to say that our relationship with Capitol Hill has run hot and cold at times,” he said.

The council’s PLUS committee will hold a public hearing on the development agreement July 15, at 5:30 PM in the Miller Community Center. The committee is expected to vote July 24th on whether to send the development agreement to full council for approval.

Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce executive director Michael Wells, who presents today, said he’s hopeful that contract bidding for the project will start before the year’s end. That would put Site A on track for completion before 2016 when the light rail station is expected to open. You can review the Friday morning presentation on the development plans here (PDF).

Microhousing update
Also on Friday’s PLUS committee agenda: microhousing. Following the TOD briefing, the committee will hear DPD’s preliminary recommendations on aPodments, which it calls “viable and innovative” even as the department works to increase review and regulation of the housing type. CHS wrote about the Council’s three areas of concern in regulating Seattle microhousing here in May. DPD’s roster of current aPodment-type projects in the city — or Micro Dwelling Units as the planners call them — is below the jump.
Continue reading →

Here’s a puzzle. As King County Metro ridership continues to soar, the agency is having a harder and harder time paying to keep its buses and trolleys on the road.

“King County Metro is experiencing its second highest ridership year and is closing in on a new record as demand for transit continues to strengthen along with the local economy and job market,” Metro announced this week.

Delivering more than 400,000 daily weekday passengers since the year started, Metro officials say it is on pace to break ridership records not seen since before the economic slowdown.

King County Metro — Monthly Performance

King County Metro’s annual budget forecast

KCM ridership hit a weekday average of 408,000 passengers in May making this the 2nd highest average ever recorded by Metro, the release states.

“This preliminary ridership data shows we’re poised to achieve a third straight year of ridership growth as our economy continues to strengthen,” Metro general manager Kevin Desmond said in a statement. Metro said the data suggest more people are relying on Metro as they re-enter the local job market and comes amid “a 5 percent drop in gas prices and elimination of the downtown Seattle Ride Free Area.” Down the road, Metro is preparing for a $60 million shortfall coming in 2015.

“Instead of gearing up to meet this growing demand as it should be, Metro is preparing to dramatically cut service if a transportation funding package is not approved by the state legislature,” Desmond said in the release.

A NWFF audience (Image: Elisa Huerta-Enochian)

When Kevin Spitzer started 21st and Union’s Central Cinema in 2005, there wasn’t a lot to do in the Central District.

“If we wanted to go out, we had to go somewhere else,” he said. “Our mission of opening a theater over here, besides the fact that we live down the street, is all about making more fun happen in the CD.”

With its dinner-and-a-movie set up and cult-film revival programming, Central Cinema’s mission is to be a part of the community, to deliver an experience beyond just a projector screen and felt seats, Spitzer said.

With the Landmark-owned Egyptian Theatre closing its doors Thursday night after the 9:40 PM screening — rumors of a last minute deal for a renewed lease are just rumors, building landlord Seattle Central tells us — area cinema owners are evaluating their business models and trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t for an arthouse.

Northwest Film Forum executive director Lyall Bush echoed Spitzer’s statements. For NWFF, he said, the business is about more than just sharing the experience of film, it’s about cultivating a creative space for the community.

“Aside from the 200 films that we screen every year that we hold quarterly filmmaking classes,” he said. “We give away money to filmmakers. We’re a real 360 film arts center.”

Last month, CHS reported that NWFF had launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an installation of digital projection equipment. Central Cinema is now in the midst of its own drive.

“The entire world, starting two-three years ago, started to turn towards… digital cinema,” Bush says. “We kind of resisted it until we realized that in order to stay in the biz we had to convert.”

The campaign reached its goal, raising $51,685 dollars. Bush said this is proof that passion for local cinema is still alive.

“Independent cinema just in this region is strong,” he said. “The audience for it is strong.”

Why then, is Landmark leaving the Egyptian?

The Egyptian Theatre is the third Landmark venue to close in as many years — The University District’s Neptune Theatre has been re-opened as a music performance space, and the Metro is now operating under Sundance Cinemas.

Spitzer said he’s often been disappointed with the level of upkeep at Landmark venues, a few of which have not received major renovations in several years.

“I think Landmark is not trying as hard as they did for a lot of their places,” Spitzer said.

Though he insists he doesn’t have any inside scoop on the historic theater’s closure, Spitzer said he’s felt as a patron of cinema that the chain’s film selection has been rote in recent memory.

“(Their film selection is) not indicative of any excitement for anything coming out,” he said. “Not ‘we managed to score this one’ or ‘we saw this one at the festival, you have to come see it because it’s awesome’ — you haven’t been getting the sense of those things.”

Central Cinema’s fans get social (Image: Central Cinema)

Spitzer said the process behind choosing what films to show is an important opportunity for a theater to assert itself as a member of the community.

“You can’t just sit at a little room with a desk and think about it by yourself, you have to think about different things, feeling out other events at other places, getting a sense of the pulse,” he said. “(You have) to stay current, to have a feel for what people find interesting.”

With Netflix and HDTVs making home viewing increasingly accessible, Bush said that NWFF is grappling with the strategy involved with bringing a new generation into the theater.

“It seems that for us to bring out audiences in their 20s is a slightly different invitation… they want to see activity associated with the experience,” he said.

Whether that involves DJ nights, happy hours, or something NWFF hasn’t thought up yet, Bush said the goal is to host events that are “a little bit more socially based.”

“The question is: if a lot of people, including me, watch so much cinema on Netflix, what is the value of a theatre?” Bush said. “It’s the popcorn and that smell but also the sense of belonging to the larger world.”

“The purpose of having that image so large is that it is there for hundreds of people,” he added. “The human animal still wants that experience.”

Seattle Central Community College did not unlawfully end the contract of a 73-year-old administrator due to her age, according to a jury decision last week in King County Superior Court.

The jury ruled against Joan Ray, who sued the college and SCCC president Paul Killpatrick in 2011 for age discrimination. Ray had worked for the college for 39 years when she was forced out of her position as Vice President of Student Services.

In the trial, Ray claimed the school ended her contract because of her age then hired a younger administrator for the job. The college argued that state budget cuts announced earlier in the year forced restructuring at the school, and that Ray was no longer qualified for a new consolidated position.

According to state statue, age cannot be a “substantial factor” in firing an employee.

According to court documents, the tensions between Ray and Killpatrick began with a nasty look during a summer retreat.

In August 2010, newly appointed SCCC president Killpatrick gathered his administrators for a summer retreat. A couple months earlier, Ray had had led the selection committee that chose Killpatrick for the position after Dr. Mildred Ollee left the post that year.

According to Ray, Killpatrick commented at the retreat that older people in the college administration were “so old they were starting to crack.” Ray says she told Killpatrick to be careful, to which Killpatrick responded with a “glare.”

Ray says Killpatrick made repeated visits to her office throughout the summer to discuss her retirement, even though she had no stated plans to retire. In December, she got the notice the school would not renew her contract.

Killpatrick sent Ray a letter soon after notifying her that because she was a tenured faculty member, she could return to teaching. Ray turned down the offer.

Ray started working for the college as a faculty member in 1972. She taught courses in guidance and counseling for seven years and became a tenured faculty member. In 1979, she moved into administration.

After Ray was let go, Killpatrick consolidated Ray’s position with the President of Instruction. Warren Brown, 39 at the time, took over Ray’s duties. The move saved the school nearly $100,000, according to court documents.

The college administration successfully argued that Brown was a better candidate than Ray for the consolidated position. Brown had a doctorate degree (Ray did not) and had more experience with online instruction. However, Brown had no previous experience as a vice president.

The move was part of a larger consolidation of “four dean level or higher” positions, which saved the school a total of $380,000. Ray’s salary at the time of her termination was $93,045.

Attention Capitol Hill drinking establishments. You have a new choice for hyperlocally appropriate, hyper nostalgic, “last call” hip hop jams.

Raised on Pike and Pine where anything is possible

And everything is probable

NSFW. Rotates well with Cowboy Boots.

(Image: CHS)

At its peak, SCOTUSBlog’s coverage of this morning’s Supreme Court decisions regarding the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 had almost 200,000 viewers — about 10 of them were sitting inside Lost Lake Café, frantically refreshing and jumping from site to site.

Members of the Greater Seattle Business Association gathered early today at the Capitol Hill 24-hour diner to await the Court’s decisions, which were released at 7 AM Pacific Time.

As the minutes counted down to the release, the feeling in the diner was optimistic but tense.

“It’s hard to guess with these guys,” said GSBA board member Jay Petterson. “After 2000 with Bush v. Gore, it’s hard to get optimistic with anything they do.”

The Court first released their decision in the case of United States v. Windsor, which regarded the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The SCOTUSBlog livefeed flashed with a banner: “WE HAVE DOMA,” meaning that the reporters had obtained a copy of the Court’s decision.

“’We have DOMA?’ who’s we?” someone in Lost Lake asked as the message appeared.

“We the People?”

Finally it came: “DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.” A vote of 5-4.

The group broke into applause.

“I’ll take 5-4,” someone said.

The Court’s other major decision of the morning was received positively, if less enthusiastically. In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Court sent the case defending California Proposition 8 back to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, instructing them to dismiss it on procedural grounds. Same-sex marriage would likely be in California’s future, but it was the national importance of DOMA’s defeat that the group celebrated most. Check out the Stranger’s coverage for more on the Prop 8 decision.

“It’s been exciting to jump in on it and be a part of this,” said Matt Landers of the GSBA.

Landers said that GSBA was one of the first chambers of commerce approached to help out in the case against DOMA. GSBA helped organize and submit an amicus briefto the Court that included testimony from 287 private business owners who oppose DOMA — 55 of whom were from Seattle.

“Seattle businesses really proclaimed the need for equality,” he said. “Equality is good for business.”

Under DOMA, same-sex marriages were not recognized for federal purposes, even if state law recognized them. Now, same-sex spouses will be allowed to file joint tax returns and hold joint property.

“It’s incredibly boring stuff,” said Lobby Bar co-owner Curtis Bigelow. “But the repercussions are important, even if they’re completely mundane.”

Bigelow and Lobby Bar’s other owner Paul Villa said they will be buying a round of champagne tonight for everyone who shows up to celebrate the DOMA ruling.

A view of Lost Lake from the CHS tour of 2013 Pride flags across the Hill