Author Archives: Jillblocker

About Jillblocker

Jill is a CHS contributor.

Free bike maintenance class for teens at Capitol Hill library

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Red Bike Girl, uploaded by glueslabs.

Biking to school is a great transportation method for teens, until their chain comes off and they don’t know how to fix it.

To help teens learn how to handle such a scenario, the Seattle Public Library is hosting a free class on bicycle maintenance, as part of its Sound Cycling series.

Teens will get an overview of basic bicycle parts and learn about bicycle maintenance from Morgan Sherer of FamilyBike Seattle.

The free session is from NOON to 2PM on May 11 at the Capitol Hill Branch Library, located at 425 Harvard Avenue East.

Additional Sound Cycling series will be held at Seattle library locations throughout the summer, teaching the public how to use a bike as a healthy and economical means of transportation and perform basic bike maintenance.

For extra fun, participants can record the number of miles biked to work or school during the month of May for a chance to win prizes at the series finale. The Mileage Celebration will be held June 13 at the Northeast Branch, 6801 35th Ave. N.E.

Learn more on the SPL website.

 

Play Bar Nun Bingo game to support Planned Parenthood program

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Planned Parenthood Young Professionals is inviting the community for an evening of bingo to support its Someone You Know Fund, which helps provide preventative reproductive health care to those who can’t afford it.

The Bar Nun Bingo event takes place April 17 at Capitol Hill’s 95 Slide and costs $15.

“Get your game-face and glitter shoes on,” here’s more information about the event, from PPYP:

For a $15 admission ticket, guests will receive four bingo cards and a dauber, happy hour food prices, and the chance to win sensational prizes from local businesses. A signature drink will also be featured.

 

The event will feature special guests from The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence® The Abbey of St. Joan, a Capitol Hill organization that educates the public on safer sex, queer rights, and other critical community issues.  Sisters Coochie Von Beaverhausen and Beyonce Veen will delight all who attend.

 

“What other event allows me to play some rounds of stimulating bingo and chip-in towards a great cause?  Specifically, in Western Washington there are people that come to Planned Parenthood as their main provider of medical care. That means thatsomeone you know may have come to Planned Parenthood for preventative, non-judgmental, and medically accurate care and been helped by this amazing fund,” says Planned Parenthood Young Professionals President, Devin Owens.

 

Bar Nun Bingo will start at 6:30 p.m., and the first bingo game will be called at 7 p.m. Additional bingo cards can be purchased for $5 at the event. Three to four rounds of bingo will be played per hour. Guests who arrive after 7 p.m. are welcome to join as new games start.

 

Tickets are available for purchase at Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/357458, and at the door. Event is open to 21+. Tickets purchased online will come with an additional bingo card.

Make even less than a neighborhood news blog per year? Free tax prep help

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free-tax-2012-lgLow and middle-income people who need help filing their tax returns are invited to attend a preparation program through April 13.

The Free Tax Preparation Program, provided by United Way of King County, is available to individuals and families reporting less than $50,000 annual income.

The Tax Preparation Program is designed to help low and middle-income families prepare their tax returns, avoid fees associated with commercial preparers and take advantage of tax credits like the EITC to keep more of their hard earned money.

In addition to tax preparation, United Way is also offering other services such as applications for public benefits like food stamps, utility assistance and assistance with FAFSA (Federal Student Financial Aid) form completion and free credit reports.

The service is offered at 17 locations throughout the city and provided in more than 10 languages. The closest location for Capitol Hill residents is at the United Way Free Tax Site is located at Yesler Community Center, at 917 E Yesler Way.

For more information visit www.uwkc.org/taxhelp

Design sketches give glimpse of new park at 19th and Madison

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19TH_and Madison_Eddy Concept_PLANThe sketches have been drawn, and now it’s up to the community to decide how the new park at 19th and Madison should look.

Landscape artist J.A. Brennan & Associates and public artist Carolyn Law designed the three sketches, which were unveiled at the design meeting March 27.

A slide, amphitheater, climbing sculpture, interactive wall, sensory garden and picnic area are just some of the suggested design features that would transform the 4,500 square foot lot at the corner of 19th and Madison into a tranquil green, urban oasis. Continue reading →

Real Change: Newspaper doubles to $2 to boost vendors as costs rise

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The Seattle Times isn’t the only major Seattle media outlet making changes to the way you pay (or don’t pay) for news:

“On April 3, your $1 newspaper will go the way of the $4 movie ticket, the 95-cent gallon of gas and the 85-cent Metro bus fare.”

Real Change papers have been marked up 100% starting this month. It will cost you another $1 — or you can look at it as having 2x the opportunity to support a worthy organization.

"Real Change here!"

“Real Change here!”

“Most of us understand that selling Real Change isn’t begging, and it isn’t asking for charity,” says Real Change’s Tim Harris in a free, online article. “It’s a job. Our vendors sell a quality newspaper that people want, and they are out in all kinds of weather, connecting to their customers.”

Change happens slowly for media outlets trying to thrive, but it’s the vendors who could notice a real change in their lives. The new $2 price tag will allow the 300 low-income and homeless vendors working for Real Change to earn a wage of $9 to $10 an hour, Harris says.

“(Currently) vendors buy this paper for 35 cents and sell it for a dollar,” according to Harris. “On a straight, no-tip transaction, they’ll make 65 cents. The new price of $2, with vendors paying 60 cents for each paper, means each paper sold nets the vendor a solid $1.40.”

Real Change will continue to offer its news online for free.

Capitol Hill Crowdfund: St Joe’s… the movie, Greek myth webseries, a book about bikes, and micro-brewed beer soap

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Behind every business plan, book idea, documentary or artistic endeavor conceptualized on Capitol Hill is a passionate person who could probably could use a boost.

In our “Capitol Hill Crowdfund” series we try to provide exposure to those entrepreneurs using online crowdsourcing platforms, but while the internet is a great base for exposure, sometimes we’ll slip in an offline gem like My Last Year with the Nuns.

CONCEPT: My Last Year with the Nuns (Film)
Performance Fundraiser: Richard Hugo House, 7 PM, April 13
Raised: $100 ticket price goes toward $50,000 film production shooting budget

mylastyearnunsMatt Smith, an actor (he was the mailman in “Sleepless in Seattle”) and monologist, is turning his autobiographical play about his 8th grade year as a 1960’s schoolboy on Capitol Hill into a coming-of-age film.

To fund “My Last Year with the Nuns,” which will be filmed in the neighborhood, Smith is hosting a performance of his monologue April 13 at the Richard Hugo House.

In Smith’s autobiographical monologue “My Last Year with the Nuns,” the universe of his younger self is about ten blocks long. He and his friends roamed the heavily Catholic Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, wandering from St. Joseph’s Church to the Seattle Times newspaper shack, from school playgrounds to a murky and tangled ravine that cuts through 
the city. The paper shack lies right on the edge of the racial “red line” drawn to enforce the era’s prejudice, providing a rare forum where white and black kids come together for a few minutes each day before returning to their segregated streets. Continue reading →

Dining Out for Life returns, Capitol Hill volunteers needed

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ambassador_Capitol Hill (1)

Why can’t you be more like Patti Plemons who volunteered at Ristorante Machiavelli in 2012? You can! (Image: DOFL)

25 Capitol Hill restaurants are participating in this year’s Dining Out for Life event on April 25, donating 30% of proceeds to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance and the fight against illness and hunger in the community.

The list of the do-gooder participating restaurants that you’ll want to eat at that day is below.

But before diners can dig in for a good cause, volunteers are needed to welcome guests, answer questions about Dining Out For Life, and collect donations at participating restaurants. Continue reading →

Zoning proposal could restrict Seattle marijuana sales in tourist areas, historical districts

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Crushed: Your dream of a Harvard-Belmont marijuana cafe

Crushed: Your dream of a Harvard-Belmont marijuana cafe

Some city councilmembers want to shield the city’s tourist areas, historical districts and family zones from the effects of legalized marijuana.

Councilmembers Nick Licata and Sally Clark are proposing an amendment to the city’s Land Use Code, to restrict production, processing, selling and delivery of marijuana in Capitol Hill’s Harvard-Belmont area, the downtown core, and other historical districts and family zones throughout the city.

The changes could further restrict the already tight squeeze predicted for marijuana retailing locations — like 23rd and Union — that might not run afoul of federal guidelines.

The proposals come in response to recently enacted I-502 and the necessity to develop a process for regulating marijuana and marijuana products, according to the city.

The proposal would not alter federal or State criminal law related to marijuana, and it would not place any City employee in the position of permitting or sanctioning any marijuana-related activity.

 

Rather, it would be an exercise of the City’s authority to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by preventing incompatible uses—in this instance, larger-scale marijuana-related activity and businesses and residences in areas where such activity could cause inappropriate off-site impacts.

The amendments would establish restrictions in:

1. Any Single-family zone

2. Any Multifamily zone

3. Any Neighborhood Commercial 1 (NC1) zone

4. Any of the following Downtown zones:

a. Pioneer Square Mixed

b. International District Mixed

c. International District Residential

d. Downtown Harborfront 1

e. Downtown Harborfront 2

f. Pike Market Mixed

 

5. Any of the following districts:

a. Ballard Avenue Landmark District

b. Columbia City Landmark District

c. Fort Lawton Landmark District

d. Harvard-Belmont Landmark District

e. International Special Review District

f. Pike Place Market Historical District

g. Pioneer Square Preservation District

h. Sand Point Overlay District

 

Additionally, the proposed legislation would add definitions related to marijuana.  It would also modify provisions for community gardens and urban farms on industrially zoned property in the Duwamish and Ballard/Interbay Manufacturing and Industrial Centers to clarify existing standards and limit indoor agricultural operations to a maximum size of 10,000 square feet, excluding associated office or food processing areas.

A public hearing on the proposals is scheduled at 2 p.m. April 24 at Seattle City Hall’s City Council Chambers, Second floor, 600 Fourth Ave.

Broadway Hill Park named finalist for $750,000 Opportunity Fund

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The Seattle Parks and Recreation Opportunity Fund is on track to finally help finish the transformation of a Capitol Hill lot into a park and community garden space. Meanwhile, Wednesday night, neighbors near 19th and Madison can attend a community work session to help design a planned green space.

broadwayhillparkThe  Broadway Hill Park project, which will create a park in the empty lot at Federal Avenue E and E Republican Street, is the only Capitol Hill-based project still in the running for funding.

View the list of recommended projects.

Project organizers are requesting $750,000 to create the urban oasis in the space acquired by Parks in 2010. Continue reading →

Marriage equality rally at downtown courthouse today

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hrcThe red sign of marriage equality will move beyond social media in Seattle Wednesday with a rally at the downtown federal courthouse.

The event will take place from noon to 1 PM at the US Federal Courthouse, located at 700 Stewart Street, as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in this week on California’s Proposition 8 and the national Defense of Mar­riage Act. CHS reported on Capitol Hill businesses that signed on to lobby against the act.

“Broadly, the problem is that DOMA forces employers to put its lawfully-married employees in two categories,” Paul Villa, co-owner of The Lobby Bar, told CHS. “That creates regulatory, tax, benefits and morale problems, which the brief explains in detail.”

Hundreds are expected attend the rally, according to the Facebook event page:

The Supreme Court is hearing a case on DOMA and Prop 8. Let’s show our support for marriage equality for all people across the entire country by rallying at the federal courthouse at 700 Stewart Street in Seattle on March 27th, the day the court is hearing the case. Bring signs in support of equality and keep the rally positive!

We are proud to announce that our rally is being officially sponsored by Social Outreach Seattle, Seattle Gay News, The Seattle Lesbian, and Pride at Work. Urban Press is generously donating the printing of all posters!

The rally has also been formally endorsed by Martin Luther King County Labor Council.

According to Time.com, the equal sign meme was developed by the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.