How long to lid I-5 between Capitol Hill and downtown? Years and years and years — but the plan is being shaped now

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(Image: Lid I-5)

A view from the new lid over 520 in Montlake (Image: Lid I-5)

Last month, the new SR-520 bike and pedestrian bridge opened to counterbalance the flow of motor vehicles traveling across the new Montlake Lid. Longstanding hopes to cover freeways in other parts of the city are also taking shape. Between Capitol Hill and downtown, the Lid I-5 group has been working on its initiative long enough that its years-old utility pole flyers have become part of the area’s gritty urban landscape. The effort has a $2.2 million boost to work with in 2025.

John Feit has been part of the group pursuing the lidding of I-5 through downtown to cap noise and pollution, and to reconnect neighborhoods while filing gaping holes in the city—like the affordable housing supply. Now, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the city $2 million and the state legislature added another $200,000 in planning grants. Lid I-5 and other proponents of Seattle lids are pushing forward.

“We’re going to use that recent money to come up with an urban design vision, which means understanding what the people of Seattle would like to see with the lid accomplished,” Feit told CHS.

A rendering of a Lid I-5 concept that includes park space and new buildings (Image: Lid I-5)

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Trial begins in murder of Elijah Lewis as scooter rider claims self defense in Capitol Hill road rage shooting

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Family and loved ones of Elijah Lewis are worried that court proceedings are stacked against justice as the trial of the man who shot and killed the 23-year-old community leader and activist and injured Lewis’s young nephew in a road rage confrontation on Capitol Hill begins.

Defendant Patrick Cooney pleaded not guilty in the April 1, 2023 killing and has remained jailed on $2 million bail since. Lawyers for the 37-year-old are set to argue Cooney shot Lewis in fear he would be run over as he rode a rental Lime scooter up E Pine. Lewis was in the neighborhood to pick up his nephew from his nearby apartment home and take him to a monster truck rally at Lumen Field to celebrate the child’s birthday. Much of the confrontation was captured on security video.

Cooney’s defense team has successfully argued to limit some evidence from being presented to the jury when proceedings begin including that police reported the shooter was also armed with a knife and his firearm lacked a serial number.

Judge Sean P. O’Donnell also ruled to limit the presentation of police records showing Cooney has been investigated for firearm incidents multiple times while riding Lime scooters around Capitol Hill prior to the shooting. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth abstains as new SPD crowd control rules move forward

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(Image: Noah Lubin with permission to CHS)

District 3’s Joy Hollingsworth, representing the Central District and Capitol Hill where memories of the 2020 multi-week conflict between protesters and police are still fresh in the minds of residents and area businesses, sat out on several votes Tuesday as the Seattle City Council public safety committee she is part of finalized legislation creating new rules for Seattle Police Department crowd control.

Hollingsworth abstentions came as the committee rejected amendments that would have toughened restrictions and made it easier for people injured by police to sue. The second-year city legislator also decided to abstain on the committee vote approving chair Bob Kettle’s bill that now goes onto the full council for final approval. Continue reading →

Opening in 2027, work begins on eight stories of affordable housing and homeless youth Constellation Center ‘education and employment academy’ at Broadway and Pine

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(Image: Community Roots Housing)

A rendering of YouthCare’s planned Constellation Center

By Matt Dowell

Construction is beginning on the Constellation Center, an affordable housing and homeless youth education and employment academy project planned for Broadway and Pine.

The development will bring months of heavy demolition and construction work to the core of Capitol Hill — and add what officials say will be a vital resource for addressing the city’s homelessness crisis while also creating new affordable homes above this busy intersection.

Meanwhile, Community Roots Housing, the Public Development Authority and local affordable housing provider behind the project, has also announced its plans to sell one of its most celebrated new projects — the mass-timber Heartwood building at 14th and Union — as it continues a multiyear process of paring down its holdings.

A spokesperson for Community Roots reported that construction of theConstellation Center began Monday, January 6 at Broadway and Pine. Continue reading →

Sound Transit collecting feedback on plan to improve safety at dangerous at-grade crossings

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(Image: Sound Transit)

Sound Transit is collecting public feedback on improving safety along its at-grade crossings including areas along its light rail route in South Seattle that have killed and injured multiple people while also leaving the system vulnerable to delays and disruptions.

The effort comes as the agency is shaping a new At-grade Crossing Program with new rules and enhancements hoped to be approved by May.

On Capitol Hill, the light rail trains rumble far underground but elsewhere along Sound Transit’s systems, the line is vulnerable to dangerous collisions with vehicles at intersections crossing the tracks. The crashes are sometimes a nuisance — frequently tragic.

It is taking years for Sound Transit to fully act on the at-grade problem. Continue reading →

A memorial to Jonny Adamow at Broadway and Pike as SPD says deadly shooting investigation continues

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A memorial to Jonny Adamow has taken shape at Broadway and Pike. Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Department says it continues to work to arrest the suspect caught on video in the deadly shooting.

A collection of Adamow photos, flowers and Pride flags have been placed on a neighborhood utility pole at the corner — the same location where the gunman was hiding the night of the shooting.

The Alphabet Alliance of Color gathered a group in Cal Anderson Park Friday night to remember the 29-year-old Adamow. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Polish Home to host international Sister City celebration of…. soup

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Saturday morning will bring crowds to Capitol Hill for the People’s March, a rally and march organized by the Women’s March Seattle folks to stand up for civil rights as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

Saturday afternoon will bring a crowd, too — for soup.

Capitol Hill’s Polish Home will host a first-ever event Saturday celebrating Seattle’s sister cities with a free soup tasting featuring flavors from our ten sibling municipalities around the world. Continue reading →

With Missouri connections and masala, Mint and Martini lined up to fill empty Barrio space on 12th Ave

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(Image: Mint and Martini)

A big hole in the Capitol Hill restaurant scene is set to be filled by a new venture with far flung connections.

The arrival of Mint and Martini will illustrate both the resiliency of the neighborhood’s food and drink industry — and some of changing recipes for success here as a new wave of investors, entrepreneurs, and chefs move in.

Permits and business licensing records show the new Mint and Martini restaurant is being lined up to open in the shuttered 12th Ave space left empty by Barrio’s late summer closure there after 16 years of business.

It won’t be the first Mint and Martini on the planet. Records show ownership of the new Seattle project includes the family who opened a Mint and Martini boasting “fusion dishes like the maharani curry and a Tikka Vikka pizza” and cocktails — along with a chicken nugget-friendly kids menu — last year in lovely Grover, Missouri. Continue reading →

Blast balls and ‘private right of action’ — City Council committee to debate new rules for Seattle Police Department crowd control

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The Seattle City Council’s public safety committee is set to vote Tuesday morning on legislation dictating how police in Seattle can use crowd control weapons including specifics on who can authorize use of the weapons — and, exactly, how a “blast ball” grenade can be thrown. The new rules would replace restrictions put in place after the Seattle Police Department’s flawed response to the 2020 protests after years of the department calling its own shots when it comes to crowd control. Continue reading →

No victim found in Pine and Minor nightlife shooting — UPDATE

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Another nightlife burst of gunfire brought a swarm of Seattle Police to the area outside nightclubs and the new Voodoo Doughnuts just off Pine at the base of Capitol Hill early Sunday. No victim was found at the scene.

A fight and then gunfire were reported fired just after 2 AM as East Precinct police units streamed to the area near Still Liquor and the Vice Seattle nightclubs in front of the new doughnut shop. Arriving officers reported no victims at the scene but found multiple shell casings on the ground along the west side of Minor just south of Pine, according to East Precinct radio updates.

As Seattle Fire staged nearby to respond, police also checked nearby hospitals and Harborview for any reports of gunshot wound victims being dropped off. No victims were immediately located. Continue reading →