Tag Archives: gentrification

Amazon Fresh grocery store making plans for 2020 opening in the Central District

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(Image: Vulcan Real Estate)

With its city and its Central District neighborhood grappling with issues of equity and gentrification in a summer of Black Lives Matter protest, the new Amazon Fresh grocery coming to 23rd and Jackson will mark an interesting milestone when it opens later this year.

Typically secretive, the Seattle retail and tech giant has yet to confirm the Central District plans CHS unearthed in February describing a new 25,000-square-foot grocery store under construction in the massive Vulcan development underway at the corner where the neighborhood Red Apple and a collection of shopping center businesses used to stand.

But its latest permitting efforts confirm what the company’s PR department won’t — Amazon is opening a new grocery store at 23rd and Jackson. Continue reading →

On 19th Ave, church plans seven stories of affordable housing for seniors ‘displaced due to gentrification’

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Mount Zion Housing Development, the real estate and housing arm of the 19th and Madison baptist church, has unveiled details of its planned seven story, 62-unit affordable senior housing project planned for its property just north of the church.

The 1700-block 19th Ave development is being planned for “seniors who have been displaced or who are at risk of being displaced due to gentrification in the Seattle Central District area” and would be a coordinated facility with the nearby E Madison Samuel B. McKinney Manor. Continue reading →

Forum to discuss ‘truth about changes in the Central District’

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An event Saturday morning seeks to give people an opportunity to “share your truth about changes in the Central District” —

City of Seattle department directors want to hear directly from you. Share your stories on how the African-American community has been impacted by the drastic changes in the Central District and how the loss of community and culture has affected your life.

The Impact 2020: Central District Community Conversation takes place Saturday at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute on 17th Ave S in an event hosted by the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas, Northwest African American Museum, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/event/impact-2020-central-district-community-conversation/

The event comes amid continued redevelopment of Central District and with the Black population falling below 20% in the neighborhood. 50 years ago, more than 70% of the area’s population was Black.

Developer behind 23rd Ave church land buy and mixed-use project says ‘contending gentrification in Seattle’s Central District’

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Jaebadiah Gardner

Gardner Global and its Onpoint real estate firm have announced more details of the 23rd Ave church property purchase and development plans CHS reported on earlier this month.

“We have an unbelievable opportunity to be creative in a way that gives back,” Jaebadiah Gardner, CEO of Gardner Global said in the company’s announcement of the project. “Our company slogan is #letsbuildwealth and this project is an example of how we are doing exactly that. Through this project. we’re providing non- traditional real estate investors an opportunity to be directly involved in the ownership.” Continue reading →

Forum discusses connections between gentrification and violence on Capitol Hill

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The “What’s Gentrification Got To Do With It?: Hate and Violence in Capitol Hill” forum covered “hate, violence, policing and gentrification occurring in Capitol Hill.”

At 12th Avenue Arts Thursday night, the Northwest Network Pink Shield Project hosted a panel discussion on hate violence, policing, and gentrification in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Much of the conversation revolved around the connection between these three topics, including how greater inequality in recent years in Seattle has created a situation that breeds hate violence, whether it be against people of color or the LGBTQIA+ population.

“You have wealth to a certain community increasing, inequality expanding, poverty worsening, homelessness skyrocketing,” Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, a panelist, said. “At the same time, you will see correlated with that, increase in violence, crimes, car break-ins, and house break-ins.” Continue reading →

Film festival explores Capitol Hill’s ‘rapid development and change’ in two minutes or less

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https://vimeo.com/177191782

A quick search through Craigslist will tell you how artists are getting priced out of Capitol Hill. Not so easily quantifiable is what effect that is having on artists and the neighborhood as a whole. A series of 2-minute dance films is seeking to shed some light on the subject.

Dance Film Challenge is a film festival on Capitol Hill about Capitol Hill sponsored by Capitol Hill arts institutions. The challenge: Teams submit two-minute dance films “reflecting the Capitol Hill neighborhood and the crossroads that Capitol Hill artists, communities and residents are facing in this period of rapid development and change.” Winners selected by the audience will be given a one month residency at the V2 temporary art space on 11th Ave. Ten submissions will be screened Thursday at Northwest Film Forum. Continue reading →

Artists paste portraits of older, queer women across Capitol Hill for gentrification art project

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At Seven Star Women’s Kung Fu and around Pike and Pine streets, women peer out of black and white photographs at passersby.

The nine older, queer women are the subjects of In This Place 206, an art project about the gentrification and loss of queer space on Capitol Hill.

“It’s really about taking up the space saying, ‘As you walk by this place, as you stand on this street corner, I stood here, I had a life here, I hung out here, I got my heart broken here,’” Nilda Brooklyn, one of the project artists told CHS. “It’s really just a reminder that there’s always somebody who came before us.” Continue reading →

16 things CHS heard at the Capitol Hill ‘Gentrification Conversation’

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Thursday night, Capitol Hill residents and community members gathered at First Baptist Church for a “Gentrification Conversation” to formally discuss the radical and rapidly occurring changes in the neighborhood.

Organized by the Capitol Hill Community Council, the forum’s panel featured Tricia Romano — a Seattle Times lifestyle writer and author of the recent front page story on the Hill’s gentrification — and a slew of various community members, many of whom were interviewed for her story, including performer Ade Connere, Michael Wells from the Chamber of Commerce, co-owner of the Wildrose bar Shelley Brothers, Diana Adams (owner of the Vermillion bar and gallery), and Branden Born, an associate professor of urban design and planning at the University of Washington and Capitol Hill resident.

With Romano’s nerve-touching article as a springboard, panelists discussed their own experiences with the influx of capital and “bros” on the Hill, neighborhood identity, and public safety amongst increasing incidents of violence and LGBTQ hate crimes in Pike/Pine.

Here are 16 things CHS heard Thursday night:

  1. “People are coming here specifically to party. I’ve actually heard people call it ‘party mountain’,” said Romano.
  2. “The idea that you hear all the time is ‘that’s just the way the market works.’ Don’t believe that,” said Born. “Your economics professor was lying to you.”
  3. Born said that the city has an organizational flaw in having the DPD and the Department of Neighborhoods separate from one another, adding that DPD is funded via developer fees which incentivises them to approve frenzied development projects. Continue reading →

Community Council plans gentrification discussion with Seattle Times ‘culture clash’ reporter

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IMG_9663-1Last month, gentrification on Capitol Hill got the spotlight treatment with a front page feature from the Seattle Times. While the Capitol Hill Community Council frequently deals with the more granular issues of public safety and development, the group is seizing the opportunity on Thursday to address the neighborhood’s big picture transformation.

The council is hosting a panel discussion with Seattle Times reporter Tricia Romano on her story Culture clash as gentrification engulfs Capitol Hill for the council’s Thursday evening meeting. The panel will include a slate of familiar Capitol Hill faces that were included in Romano’s story:

Michael Wells: Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce

Adé Cônnére: Capitol Hill resident

Shelley Brothers: Wildrose owner

Diana Adams: Vermillion owner

Branden Born: Assoc. UW Professor, Urban Design & Planning

Perhaps expecting a larger turnout than usual, the Community Council meeting will be held at 6 PM in the First Baptist Church at Harvard Ave and Seneca St, instead of its usual venue in Cal Anderson Park.

Join the Capitol Hill Community Council for our April General Monthly meeting for a Gentrification Conversation with Tricia Romano – Seattle Times writer – to explore the focus of her recent article, “Cultures Clash as Gentrification Engulfs Capitol Hill.” Tricia’s article sparked many conversations in and around Capitol Hill since published in the Seattle Times and we are excited to welcome her at our April meeting to start this critical conversation.

Community Engagement activities for attendees start at 6:00pm, the main program begins at 6:30pm. Additionally, notecards will be given at the door for attendees to write their questions for a brief Q&A at the end of the meeting.

For more details, visit the event’s Facebook page.

Project will give maligned Pike/Pine gentrifiers, bros, and Woo! girls their Due Process through art

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Greg Lundgren and Jed Dunkerley talk Due Process strategy. Jason Puccinelli, the P in PDL, will also be part of the project (Image: The Factory)

Greg Lundgren and Jed Dunkerley talk Due Process strategy. Jason Puccinelli, the P in PDL, will also be part of the project (Image: The Factory)

The recent burst of artwork reacting to the gentrification and gay-washing of Capitol Hill has so far excluded one group crucial to the equation: the people actually inspiring the work. The art trio PDL want to change that.

Here’s the setup: Put a large easel and 45 canvases in the heart of Pike/Pine during peak weekend madness and see what the Woo! girls and dude bros come up with. Along the way, PDL will gather some basic artist info like age, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, and favorite bar. Call it an unscientific anthropological survey of Pike/Pine nightlife explored through drunken art.

“We have a premise, but we have no idea what the response will be or what the reaction will be,” said Greg Lundgren, the “L” of PDL. “It could be that people rise to the occasion … it could be they’re all paintings of dicks.” Continue reading →