Author Archives: jseattle

About jseattle

Justin is publisher of CHS. You can reach him at [email protected] or call/txt (206) 399-5959. Follow @jseattle on Twitter or be best pals on Facebook.

Family calls on Congress to probe unsolved killing of teen at CHOP camp

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Mays Jr.

A CHS reader shared this image from the night Mays Jr. was shot and killed on 12th Ave (Image: CHS)

The father of a 16-year-old shot and killed in a slaying inside the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest is calling on Congress to probe the city’s actions five years ago and the Seattle Police Department’s investigation into the shooting that left his son mortally wounded in a bullet-riddled jeep on 12th Ave in the midst of a chaotic, dangerous night in the protest camp.

Lawyers for Antonio Mays Sr. have called on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to hold a hearing on the deadly shooting that remains unsolved by Seattle Police. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Final nights at the Century Ballroom

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DJ Kuperman saying goodbye to the Century

With the end of March, the Century Ballroom is closing but the dancing above E Pine and 10th Ave is still going strong.

The Reverie Ballroom is preparing for the next dance and keeping the Capitol Hill venue in motion.

This week, CHS swung into the Century as owner Hallie Kuperman marked another in what has been a year of final nights.

“I am djing the last Wednesday Swing dance that Century Ballroom will host,” Kuperman wrote about the evening. “It’s where we started (and I started) and where we’ll end this night.”

Continue reading →

The FBI is reportedly looking for duo who set a Tesla on fire on Capitol Hill

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You can buy anti-Elon bumper stickers like this from Jeff Bezos

The FBI has issued an alert to owners and a joint task force involving the bureau’s counterterrorism division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles including an arson fire that damaged a 2022 Model S parked near the busy restaurants and bars of Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E earlier this month.

“These incidents have involved arson, gunfire, and vandalism, including graffiti expressing grievances against those the perpetrators perceive to be racists, fascists, or political opponents,” the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center alert reads. “These criminal actions appear to have been conducted by lone offenders, and all known incidents occurred at night.” Continue reading →

Suspected serial rock tosser busted on Capitol Hill after damage to Seattle Fire engine windshield

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Seattle Police took a suspected serial rock tosser into custody Thursday after the man reportedly damaged the windshield of a Seattle Fire Department engine on Capitol Hill.

Police were called to the area of 15th and Valley around 10:30 AM to the reported vandalism.

According to East Precinct radio updates, the suspect was reported to have been involved with a similar attack earlier this week that also damaged a SFD truck and was also attempting to damage two more department vehicles along 15th Ave E in the area for non-emergency work.

Arriving officers located the suspect nearby and took him into custody without incident.

There were no reported injuries.

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Five years after pandemic suspension, Metro restarting fare enforcement

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Five years later, King County Metro is ready to enforce payment by its riders again.

Beginning March 31st, drivers and Fare Enforcement Officers will again require riders to pay for their trips.

It is a soft re-start. “Friendly, verbal reminders will be given to riders who did not pay,” Metro says.

The change comes five years to the month of the start of the pandemic when Metro put fare enforcement on hold in the first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis. A week later, Metro suspended fares completely as it cut routes and watched ridership plummet. By that October, fares were reinstated but fare enforcement remained on hold.

The mothballing of enforcement coincided with ongoing efforts to address inequity in fare enforcement as Metro and theΒ King County Sheriff’s Office were directed to develop alternative approaches.

The restarted enforcement will be fully in place beginning May 31st: Continue reading →

$42M surplus one year, $47M shortfall the next — Seattle’s jumpy JumpStart payroll tax causing budget headaches

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Facing inflation and rising wages as they sorted out 2025 spending plans in the face of a possible $260 million budget deficit, Seattle leaders avoided more serious cutbacks by leaning heavily on a tax that was originally put in place to help the city pay for services and affordable housing at it recovered from the pandemic — the JumpStart payroll tax on its largest employers.

Now the city’s Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts says its latest tallies show the JumpStart source of revenue, after years of growth and better than expected totals, is not as stable as Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle City Council hoped and has fallen tens of millions of dollars short.

According to the city, JumpStart revenues fell 11.5% below forecast, coming in at $360 million in 2024 — $46.8 million less than anticipated.

Here is how the OERF reports (PDF) the JumpStart math for 2024 worked out: Continue reading →

With sibling Agua Verde, the food and drink family that saved HoneyHole making plans for Cantina Del Sol on E Pine

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The bar at Agua Verde (Image: Pike Street Restaurant Group)

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$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
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Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

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(Image: Mercado Luna)

The food and drink business family behind E Pike rum barΒ Rumba,Β its post-Tiki siblingΒ Inside Passage and the revival of Capitol Hill sandwich bar favorite HoneyHoleΒ is working on plans to make a new investment in the neighborhood.

Early paperwork reveals plans for a new Cantina Del Sol to open in the sprawling multi-level E Pine complex where Mezcaleria Oaxaca shuttered last September.

The project would be the latest on Capitol Hill and in the city for the Pike Street Hospitality Group, the family of food and drink businesses shaped by Travis Rosenthal whose 2006 purchase of classic Capitol Hill date spot Tango with his wife Carrie Rosenthal was the start of building a small empire in Seattle food and drink. Continue reading →

With Sound Transit CEO vote Thursday, Constantine to deliver final ‘State of the County’ address

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Constantine after cutting the ribbon to open Capitol Hill Station in 2016

King County Executive Dow Constantine will deliver his final State of the County address Wednesday as he prepares to take a new job — leading Sound Transit.

Constantine has led the county since 2009 through years of unprecedented economic and population growth. Constantine also led King County as it struggled with the pandemic and the unrest of the Black Lives Matter movement. He announced late last year he would not seek reelection but pledged to continue “critical work of transit and transportation, climate action, behavioral health, affordable housing, arts and culture.”

King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, with a growing roster of key endorsements, has been seen as the favorite in the race to replace him.

Constantine, who serves as chair of the Sound Transit board, has been tabbed as the next CEO to lead the $3.1 billion public transit agency. Continue reading →

SPD locks down schools during search for teens who made MLK Grocery Outlet gun threat

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Police locked down the area searching for a group of teens after a hold-up at the MLK Grocery Outlet Tuesday afternoon.

Police say they were called to the MLK at Union grocery around 12:30 PM to a report of three teens who attempted to steal around $50 worth of items but were stopped by employees. Police say store security engaged in a “brief struggle” and recovered the stolen items before the teens threatened that they had a firearm and were able to flee the store.

SPD says a K-9 team conducted a track of the suspects, “leading back to the entrance of Garfield High School where the track ended.” Continue reading →

Rare ‘severe thunderstorm’ warning part of unusual Seattle spring forecast — UPDATE

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(Image: National Weather Service)

The weird weather in Seattle this week is about to get even weirder. National Weather Service forecasters say be ready for possible severe thunderstorms with wind and hail by Wednesday night around the Puget Sound.

“We have an unusual risk of severe thunderstorms Wednesday, primarily in the late afternoon through the evening,” the NWS alert reads. “The primary hazards we are concerned about are: β›ˆοΈ Hail in excess of 1″ diameter πŸƒ Wind gusts in excess of 58mph πŸŒͺ️ Possible isolated tornado.” Continue reading →