Tortas, fun drinks, and women’s sports — Pitch the Baby and Condesa teaming up on Capitol Hill’s 19th Ave E

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The former Rocket Taco bar will become Pitch the Baby

(Image: Condesa)

A Seattle all-star team of food, drink, and culture is ready to bring a new game to a storied space in Capitol Hill food and drink.

Pitch the Baby is being jacked up as a new-era sports bar in the long ago home of the Kingfish Cafe along Capitol Hill’s 19th Ave E. Monica Dimas, Anais Custer, and Kim “Kimfer” Flanery-Rye are teaming up on the project.

“What do you get when you mix fun drinks, women’s sports, and an excellent bar menu?,” the bar’s social media tease asks.

The project will bring together ownership with experience ranging from Dimas’s dearly departed Little Neon Taco to Custer’s involvement with Capitol Hill hangouts La Dive and Montana. Flanery-Rye founded the social enterprise Inclusion Equals.

Dimas, meanwhile, is also putting out early word on a rebirth of her Tortas Condesa concept that will share the space. Condesa is being lined up for the restaurant’s north section on the other side of the wall from the sports bar end of the action.

The opportunity in sports bars that stretch beyond the NFL and MLB to include the WNBA, NWSL, and LPGA has grown with Seattle venues like Ballard’s Rough & Tumble Pub. Continue reading →

Murder charge: Marshals track down suspect in deadly December 31st shooting at Broadway and Pike

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From the SPD report on the investigation

Police say Hickman was identified with the help of security video and witness accounts at the scene

A 23-year-old Bellevue man has been arrested by U.S. Marshals and charged with the December 31st murder of Jonny Adamow at Broadway and Pike.

The office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney says Charles Hickman has been charged with first degree murder in the deadly late night ambush in which police say Hickman was targeting another person at the busy intersection.

Hickman was arrested by federal authorities Monday and booked into King County Jail that afternoon. He is held on $2 million bail.

Police have been searching for the suspect since the night of the murder. Prosecutors say detectives were able to identify the man through “video capturing unique identifying details and information from the witnesses present at the scene.” Continue reading →

Seattle City Council preparing proposal for larger $4.5M a year Democracy Voucher levy to go to voters this summer

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(Image: CHS)

The Seattle City Council’s Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee is set to take up legislation Thursday afternoon that will put the decision on a proposed new $4.5 million a year levy to fund the city’s Democracy Voucher program on the ballot.

CHS reported here on the Harrell administration proposal to renew the program first approved by voters in 2015 in hopes of helping to dampen the power of large campaign donors in the city’s politics.

The proposal from Harrell’s office would expand the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission program with a $45 million property tax over 10 years, “costing the median assessed value Seattle homeowner about $12.20 a year,” according to Harrell’s announcement.

The original $3 million a year program was estimated to cost the typical homeowner around $8 a year. Continue reading →

Suspects in water pellet drive-by and harassment outside Capitol Hill’s Pony gay bar charged with hate crime

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The three people identified by police as the suspects in a water pellet drive-by and harassment incident outside Capitol Hill’s Pony gay bar have been charged with a hate crime.

The King County Prosecutor’s office says 19-year-old Justin Mayor, 24-year-old Jessica Clark, and a 17-year-old who police say the two adults admitted also joined Mayor in shouting slurs and firing off the water pellets have been charged under the state’s hate crime statute. Continue reading →

Crew targets luxury wristwatch in armed robbery outside Madison Park home

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Screenshot

Seattle Police are looking for a trio of bandits who targeted a man for his $45,000 Rolex wristwatch as he pulled into the driveway of a Madison Park home in a Tuesday afternoon gunpoint robbery.

SPD reports the victim told officers the armed suspects were waiting in a vehicle as he arrived around 3:22 PM and rushed toward him, grabbing the expensive watch, and then fleeing the scene.

According to East Precinct radio updates, a male and female armed suspect wearing hoodies and ski masks perpetrated the crime while a third suspect waited in the getaway vehicle. Continue reading →

Toxic politics? ‘Supportive housing’ project targeted by Capitol Hill mayoral candidate in line for state cleanup

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The Capitol Hill business owner turned candidate for mayor fighting a Belmont Ave supportive housing project from the Downtown Emergency Service Center has already cast herself as a Republican.

Now we’ll see if Rachael Savage is also an environmentalist.

Washington’s Department of Ecology may be wandering into a neighborhood hornet’s nest as it begins the public process on the Stewart House Cleanup Site under its affordable housing grant program.

The DESC and the department are entering into an agreement on a state funded cleanup of the site where decades of waste from oil furnaces has accumulated. Continue reading →

Cascade Public Media is starting its second year on Broadway with security upgrade after ‘trespassing, vandalism, and break-ins’

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(Image: Cascade Public Media)

Last year, Cascade Public Media brought KCTS and Crosscut to their new home on Broadway.

The new headquarters for the Pacific Northwest PBS media group has faced problems familiar to other buildings in the neighborhood.

Plans filed with the city show Cascade’s security team is planning a $60,000 project to make the building safer after its first year on Broadway between Capitol Hill and First Hill.

The project will “install additional fencing and security grilles” to “mitigate trespassing, vandalism, and break-ins occurring at the facility.” Continue reading →

Kaiser Capitol Hill’s empty 15th Ave retail spaces falling short on agreement with neighborhood

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Kaiser’s 15th Ave streetfront is not completely empty — Moli Bento and Overcast Coffee continue to hold down the fort (Image: CHS)

By Matt Dowell

On 15th and Denny, across from Aviv Hummus Bar and the neighborhood 7-Eleven is a stretch of darkened windows — unoccupied retail space on Kaiser Permanente’s Capitol Hill campus. Up past Thomas in Kaiser’s North Building across from Safeway, more storefronts have gone vacant.

A longstanding agreement with the neighborhood holds Kaiser accountable to renting the space out and keeping the streetfront an active space. But the integrated managed care consortium may not holding up its end of the 15th Ave bargain.

“Kaiser appears uninterested in filling these spaces,” said David Dahl in an email to CHS. Dahl has been part of the Implementation Advisory Committee for Kaiser’s Major Institution Master Plan since its formation in 2018. Seattle requires universities, colleges, and hospitals to have MIMPs, which try to balance the institutions’ needs for special zoning rules with the needs of adjacent communities. The IAC represents the neighborhood in this arrangement.

Kaiser’s MIMP dates back to 1988, when Group Health owned the property. As part of the agreement Kaiser inherited, they’re on the hook for a few promises to the neighborhood. Continue reading →

SDOT’s new leader Emery sets priorities including pedestrian head-start signals, No Turn on Red restrictions, and ‘future-ready streets’

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Emery on a recent visit to the Central District’s Avole (Image: SDOT)

A Harrell administration deputy mayor is leading the city’s transportation department. Adiam Emery stepped into the role leading the Seattle Department of Transportation last month after serving as deputy under Mayor Bruce Harrell working on transportation initiatives.

Emery is serving in the role as Greg Spotts left Seattle City Hall after two years that included completion of the $144 million RapidRide G line on Madison and shepherding a $1.45 billion transportation levy to approval with voters last fall. The “15-minute city advocate” Spotts made the move from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest with a “Vision Zero” agenda and a philosophy around “self-enforcing” roads.

“I’m honored to return to SDOT and continue the City’s important work to help everyone in Seattle get where they need to go safely and easily,” Emery said in the announcement of her appointment. “As we move forward, my focus is on delivering the voter-approved Seattle Transportation Levy, strengthening partnerships, and ensuring our transportation system works for all.” Continue reading →