Tag Archives: harvard ave

‘Construction Notice’ — City set to finally add markings and pedestrian lights where it wiped away guerilla Capitol Hill crosswalk three years ago

Posted on by
15

Construction notices have been posted. The Seattle Department of Transportation says it is finally adding a crosswalk and flashing pedestrian signal at Harvard and E Olive Way, an intersection so dangerous, a rogue effort added guerilla-style street markings at the crossing three years ago.

The city quickly wiped away the Harvard-Olive Way rogue crosswalk. This summer, it is finally making good on promises to do the crossing right.

CHS reported over a year ago on the continued delay in improving the intersection just west of Broadway. Matt Baume, a neighborhood writer, has been documenting the crashes at E Olive Way and Harvard Ave E for a decade and wrote to D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth last year to share his concerns after yet another crash, that time involving three cars and several passengers including a family with a small child.

Baume posted news of this summer’s construction notice to the CHS Facebook Groupย — “Thrilling news about the high-crash intersection where neighbors painted their own crosswalk, only to have the city remove it…” Continue reading →

Three arrested in Harvard Ave ‘narcotics/anti-crime operation’

Posted on by
38

The Seattle Police Department says it arrested three people and seized fentanyl, meth, and cash in a narcotics operation on Harvard Ave E.

SPDS says the Thursday afternoon “narcotics/anti-crime operation” went down in the 200 block of Harvard just north of E Olive Way as East Precinct officers and SPD’s Community Response Group “made six proactive arrests, seized 65.5 grams of fentanyl, 3.5 grams of methamphetamine and seized 228 dollars in U.S. currency.”

SPD reports a 34-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested and booked in the operation. Police did not have information on the third person arrested. Officers also took three more people into custody who were “identified and released.”

There were no reported injuries.

The busts follow similar operations around Cal Anderson Park and Broadway and Pike. The alleys along Broadway including the stretch near Harvard and E Olive Way where Thursday’s operation took place have been a target for officials facing ongoing complaints about crime and drug use in the area.

ย 

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿฃ๐ŸŒผ๐ŸŒท๐ŸŒฑ๐ŸŒณ๐ŸŒพ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿฆ”๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŒž๐ŸŒปย 
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.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support ๐Ÿ‘ย 

ย 
ย 

Capitol Hill’s Korn Dog is now Chiqpa Small Chicken Patio where you can get giant chicken tenders… and Korn Dogs

Posted on by
14

Capitol Hillโ€™s Korn Dog era has ended — kind of.

New chicken tenders joint Chiqpa is ready to rule the roost — and maybe start its path to sharing its normal, mild, or hot tenders far and wide.

“Chiqpa is actually my first restaurant, and it represents a passion project for me. The inspiration behind it comes from my deep appreciation for Street Roasted and Fried Chicken Fast Food,” owner Babamyrat Davranov enthusiastically tells CHS. “I wanted to create a place where food is not just about the meal, but about the experience โ€” a place where our guests can feel like part of the family.”

It has been a speedy turnaround for the Harvard and Pine space. Former tenant Korn Dog was serving customers as recently as last week. And, then, poof… Chiqpa emerged to take over the corner across from Seattle Central. The official complete name, by the way, is Chiqpa Small Chicken Patio. Continue reading →

Police say man shot self in genitals in reported Capitol Hill street robbery

Posted on by
10

From SPD’s report on the incident

Seattle Police say that injuries to a man shot in the groin in what he said was an overnight street robbery on Capitol Hill appear to have been self-inflicted.

CHS reported here on the last early Thursday morning incident in which the victim said he was robbed and shot at Harvard and Denny by a black male with chin-length dreadlocks, wearing a beanie and a blue rain jacket.

The East Precinct’s report on the incident casts doubt on the victim’s story, reporting that the man first told officers he was held up but later admitted to police at the hospital that he shot himself. SPD says the man was hit with one shot with the bullet traveling “through his genitals and into his thigh.” Continue reading →

In midst of public safety worries, Capitol Hill EcoDistrict hopes to help change the way neighborhood spaces are used — including activating the top of the massive Seattle Central parking garage

Posted on by

Seattle Central used the top of its massive Harvard Ave parking garage as the setting for its pandemic-era graduation ceremonies — a new plan hopes to activate the garage’s top level space

Catenary lights above Nagle (Image: @blitzurbanism)

As community representatives and city officials hope to make strides in addressing public safety worries around Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine and Broadway core and its popular Cal Anderson Park, an organization with deep neighborhood roots is helping to reshape streets and design in the area.

The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict has been working to increase sustainability and equity in the neighborhood for over a decade but its latest projects come as part of a large puzzle with some dire stakes.

โ€œWe have a bond to this neighborhood. Weโ€™re very deliberate in our work and specific to Capitol Hill,โ€ said Donna Moodie, executive director of the EcoDistrict.

CHS reported here on the challenges facing Capitol Hill around Broadway between Union and Pine where the city says street crime and deadly drug use overlap at some of its highest levels. City officials are weighing initiatives for these areas that will include increased policing and prosecution as well as possible creation of a neighborhood ambassador program.

There are deadly consequences. The most recent example? 23-year-old Kenji Spurgeon, gunned down in an E Pine parking lot amid Pride weekend nightlife crowds.

Changing the way these streets look and feel is part of a longer –and hopefully more complete — path to making Capitol Hill safer. Continue reading →

New HVAC installation to close Capitol Hill Library next week

Posted on by

The Capitol Hill branch is located at 425 Harvard Ave E (Image: SPL)

Construction projects will close two area branches for periods this month including Harvard Ave’s Capitol Hill Library. The Seattle Public Library says it will add service hours at other nearby branches to try to help but the closures will be significant for regular patrons.

The Capitol Hill Branch will be closed Tuesday, September 19th through Monday the 25th while an electric HVAC system is installed on the branch roof. “The new HVAC system will be more reliable and efficient while reducing the Libraryโ€™s carbon footprint,” SPL says. Continue reading →

CHOP on stage? 11th & Pine ‘documentary theatre performance’ sees first light with readings at Capitol Hill’s Erickson Theatre

Posted on by

Have the wounds from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and CHOP’s time on Capitol Hill healed?

This weekend, playwright and University of Washington professor Nikkiย Yeboah’s work examining the aftermath of the protests will take the stage with Sound Theatre Company’sย reading of 11th & Pine at the neighborhood’s Erickson Theatre:

Several years after the 2020 protests against police violence that ushered in a racial awakening across the nation, a deposed protest leader sends out a call to fellow activists. Her goal? To reconstruct the occupation she led in her city. As they relive moments both utopian and excruciating, the activists find the task of explaining what happened is not so simple. Did they succeed? Did they fail? How will they be remembered? Meanwhile, old tensions resurface and the group contends with powerful opponents who want to tell the story in their own way. Based on interviews with Seattleโ€™s Capitol Hill Occupied Protestors, 11TH & PINE explores the impact of organized protest, asking โ€œcan we make a difference, and if so, at what cost?โ€

Continue reading →

‘Rapid Acquisition’ — Another market-rate development on Capitol Hill will shift to affordable housing with LIHI’s $21M deal for Harvard Ave E building

Posted on by

The design rendering for the Harvard Lofts building

(Image: LIHI)

It’s a seller’s market for medium-sized, newly constructed Capitol Hill apartment buildings. Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute announced this week it has acquired another building on Capitol Hill with its $21 million purchase of the Harvard Lofts development with plans to offer housing to people at risk of homelessness.

“Thank you to City of Seattle Office of Housing and the State Department of Commerce Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition program for funding,” LIHI said in its announcement. “These public investments enable people living temporarily in tiny houses, shelters and those on the street to secure permanent housing.”

The deal for the newly constructed building just a block or so west from Capitol Hill Station comes amid a flurry of affordable housing activity in the area powered by the Rapid Acquisition program part of the federal American Rescue Plan that allows Seattle and the Washington State Department of Commerce to leverage local, state, and federal funding in grants to organizations like LIHI. Continue reading →

City says new Capitol Hill park will need ‘private-public partnerships’ to pay for it

Posted on by

A new sketch for the planned park (Image: Seattle Parks)

A new Harvard Ave E park is currently in the planning phase and a new, early design concept has been presented to the public.

Susanne Rockwell, senior planner with Seattle Parks and Recreation is working on figuring out how to best create a space where people can gather and stroll in nature while incorporating historical elements into the current park design.

Since the park space is located in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Seattle, it is not considered a community of need. The park is eight to 16 years away from having park district funding directly allocated for this site so Seattle Parks is hoping to create private-public partnerships to raise the money needed to create the new public space.

This land has been donated to the city for public use. Rockwell hopes that with the new park, it is open for everyone to enjoy.

โ€œOur parks are open to everyone regardless of sexual orientation or home ownership or where you come from, you are welcome and they are open to everybody.โ€ Rockwell said.

Some neighbors in the area are worried about an increase of crime or encampments that could occur with having a park near them. Continue reading →

City to unveil design concept for Kay Bullitt property, ready to start talking cost for a new Capitol Hill park

Posted on by

The property from above in the summer of 2022

ย 

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿฃ๐ŸŒผ๐ŸŒท๐ŸŒฑ๐ŸŒณ๐ŸŒพ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿฆ”๐Ÿ‡๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŒž๐ŸŒปย 
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.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support ๐Ÿ‘ย 

ย 
ย 

City planners are ready to show off the first design concept and proposed elements for a new park on Capitol Hill. Talk of a price tag for developing the donated parkland will soon be on the table, too.

The 1125 Harvard Ave E project will meet its next major milestone Saturday with a community meeting to unveil the proposal held at Volunteer Park’s Asian Art Museum:

125 Harvard Ave E Park Public Design Meeting
Sat, Oct 15, 2022 , 10:00am-11:30am
Seattle Asian Art Museum, Alvord Boardroom 1400 E Prospect

The 1.6 acres of land and 1955-built home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District.

CHS reported here on the early planning for the project including a survey that planners said showed preferences for developing the new park land “as a quiet, contemplative place” while making space for theย Cass Turnbull Gardenย as part of the site, a project from Seattle nonprofitย Plant Amnesty honoring its late founder.

A plan must also be shaped for the 1955-built Bullitt residence โ€” โ€œa unique A-frame houseโ€ designed by Pacific Northwest architectย Fred Bassettiย that stands on the property. The one and a half story, 3,400-square-foot open design home must be structurally assessed and could be worthy of historical protections while remaining a centerpiece of the new park.

The full Seattle Parks document including survey responses and answers submitted by community members about the planned park is below: Continue reading →