Tag Archives: chop

Dodgeball DJ — How music and community helped Dan Gregory heal

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Five years ago, Dan Gregory’s life changed forever when he was shot by the brother of an SPD officer during the 2020 protests on Capitol Hill. The trauma left deep scars, both physically and mentally, but through music, DJing, and an unexpected Capitol Hill community on the dodgeball court, he found a lifeline.

“Music Saved My Life”
For Gregory, DJing is survival.

“If it wasn’t for music and having an outlet, I probably would have offed myself,” he admits. “That was a lot to go through, and I’d still do it all over again if I had to, but music is how I process my emotions.”

Under the moniker DJ Danny G (formerly DJ oohchillem), Gregory has turned his pain into a magnetic force, curating sets that bring people together at everything from bus stop pop-up jams, homeless camps, or local taco stands.

Today, he brings music to the busy courts of Cal Anderson just blocks away from 11th and Pine and the center of where CHOP formed five years ago this month.

“I love how music can change an environment,” he says. “People come in stressed, and then the right song comes on, and suddenly everyone’s singing along. That energy is everything.” Continue reading →

Seattle Parks working on plan for new memorial in Cal Anderson marking CHOP and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests — UPDATE

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The CHOP “raised fist” remained for a short time following the camp’s clearance

This May will bring the five year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota cop. June will mark five years from the Black Lives Matter protests that followed across the country and in Seattle centered around the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone and Cal Anderson.

This spring, the Seattle Parks department says it is working on a plan to create a new art installation in the popular Capitol Hill park “to commemorate the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, honor Seattle’s Black and BIPOC communities, and memorialize those lost to gun violence.”

The new project will join the nearby E Pine Black Lives Matter mural in marking the area’s place in 2020’s unrest. It follows the late 2023 removal of the Black Lives Memorial Garden from the park.

This year’s project will create a new memorial. Continue reading →

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 →

‘A big percentage’ — Marking CHOP’s real borders as Capitol Hill tuned in to Trump-Harris debate

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When are the people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted or in Seattle? They went into Seattle, they took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle. When are those people going to be prosecuted?

CHS was going to stay out of this but even the Seattle Times can’t quite get it right. 15.7 acres is not a “big percentage” of Seattle.

During Tuesday night’s presidential debate while trying to deflect on his role in the January 6th United States Capitol attack, Donald Trump put the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest back in the news.

Fact check: Of course he was full of shit. But the responses and maps from Seattle media don’t really get it right either. Continue reading →

With a story stuffed with Korean food, Hugo House, and CHOP, Oma Bap ends its 10-year run on Capitol Hill

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(Image: Oma Bap)

Korean food has become ubiquitous here in the time since food and drink entrepreneur Peter Pak first brought Oma Bap to Capitol Hill. Thursday marks the final day of service at the last location of the local “fast casual” chain. The neighborhood’s bibimbap and bulgogi scene lives on.

The shadows of the CHOP protests of 2020 are also part of Oma Bap’s story.

“While this chapter may be coming to a close, please know that this isn’t goodbye forever! We have made the difficult decision to take a step back in order to prioritize our families, our health, and exciting new opportunities at Microsoft,” the restaurant’s message to customers announcing the closure reads. Continue reading →

Veteran journalist who covered Capitol Hill Occupied Protest new owner at Seattle Gay News

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(Image: Renee Raketty)

Raketty, center, appeared on a Trans Journalists Association panel at the Society of Professional Journalists regional conference in Seattle earlier this year (Image: Renee Raketty)

Seattle Gay News, one of the oldest queer news publications in the nation, is celebrating its 50th year of bringing LGBTQ+-news to the Pacific Northwest.

While the passing of longtime editor George Bakan in 2020 led to years of change, writer, leader in the trans journalism community, and current editor of SGN Renee Raketty has officially taken ownership.

“There is no doubt that this paper has been a lifeline to the LGBTQIA+ community in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been told we are the nation’s third-oldest LGBTQIA+ newspaper. I’ve dedicated nearly a decade of my life to SGN, but I’m just one of many people who have contributed to the paper over the last 50 years,” Raketty told CHS. “It is truly an honor that Mike has chosen me to lead the paper into the next 50 years.”

Prior to his death, publishers and Capitol Hill character Bakan created arrangements for his family to take over as owner and publisher but SGN was sold last fall to Stratus Group to add to its LGBTQ+ newsmagazine business with publications including Coastal Pride of Ocean Shores, Washington and outlets in Bellingham and Spokane.

But changes in life plans has put the SGN on the move again. Stratus owner Mike Schultz and his husband are moving to California to be closer to family. After being associated with the paper on and off for a decade and a tour of duty as managing editor under the Stratus ownership, Raketty has the opportunity to lead the Seattle queer newspaper into a new era under her ownership.

It comes after Raketty has built a distinguished career in journalism that included work covering the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the police clashes around CHOP that took place on her home Seattle turf. Continue reading →

CHOP Salad: Yes, a Sweetgreen really is opening at 11th and Pine

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(Image: Sweetgreen)

(Image: CHS)

11th and Pine was the battleground for some of the most intense clashes between police and demonstrators during the CHOP occupied protest. Four years later, it will be the turf of two warriors of the fast-casual restaurant start-up struggle.

Salad chain Sweetgreen has made a splashy start of its preparations to finally open on Capitol Hill with signage and posters plastered across the corner’s windows some three years after CHS first reported its plans for 11th and Pine. Continue reading →

Seattle reaches $10M settlement with 50 plaintiffs harmed by police response to 2020 Black Lives Matter and CHOP protests

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The city will pay $10 million to protesters harmed during the Seattle Police Department’s response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the city and the CHOP Capitol Hill protest camps, settling a sprawling lawsuit and bringing to a close one of the last major legal battles from the period of unrest and heavy response from law enforcement.

“A historic legal battle of epic proportions brought by 50 George Floyd/BLM Peaceful Protesters against Seattle and its Police Department has ended,” the Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore announced Wednesday.

“This decision was the best financial decision for the city considering risk, cost, and insurance,” Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison said in a statement on the deal. “The case has been a significant drain on the time and resources of the city and would have continued to be so through an estimated three-month trial that was scheduled to begin in May.”

Davison said the city “admits no wrongdoing in the case, which was significant in scope, with plaintiffs alleging injuries sustained during the protests.”

Included in the plaintiffs is the estate of Summer Taylor, the Capitol Hill resident and protester who died in a July 2020 crash on I-5 as a driver attempted to speed through a demonstration on the freeway. In September, CHS reported on the plea deal that brought a 6 1/2 year sentence for the driver in that case.

That sentence and the newly announced settlement mark some of the last major legal maneuverings as the City of Seattle has been tied up in court for years in battles over civil rights and wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and the flawed Seattle Police response. Continue reading →

Cops and clearance crew move Black Lives Memorial Garden campers from Cal Anderson — UPDATE

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(Image: Matt Mitgang/CHS)

Seattle Police and members of the city encampment clearance workers were at Cal Anderson Park’s south end Wednesday morning to move tents and tell campers around the Black LIves Memorial Garden to move along. A notice provided a phone number for campers to call to find out more about shelter options.

Wednesday’s efforts appeared focused on the tents and campers and did not involve the arrival of any heavy equipment like the type that was delivered by Seattle Parks to the area in late October. Continue reading →