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I've always believed that what my neighbors do with their yards is primarily their own business. However, my friend's story about his capitol hill neighbors leaving a dead pig in their backyard and letting their dogs eat it (?!) may prompt me to reconsider. I'm also confused - are there really a ton of wild pigs roaming the hill? My first reaction to finding one in my yard would be closer to shock and awe than "yay, free dog food this week!" Seattle's school district has released what it is calling its "final recommendation" for school closures and program moves in the city. The announcement comes after weeks of public discussion regarding the district's budget crisis. The only Hill-area school slated for closure is T.T. Minor -- closing down the Central District school has been part of the district's proposals from the earliest stages. This post to CDNews captures some of the opposition to the move. There are sure to be more attempts to stop these closures and changes including this online petition to stop the process.
Due to needing crutches for 3 1/2 more weeks, I bought a UW parking pass for the month of January and now commute to the UW 5 days a week. I leave at 7:50am and it seems silly to me to drive to school alone. I'm wondering if anyone living between 15th/Pine and say, 23rd and Aloha would like a ride to the UW (or the 520/Montlake connection) in the mornings? I see a ton of folks waiting at the bus stops along E. John and 23rd and thought that I might see if anyone needed/wanted a ride. I'm not looking for gas money. To me, it's a waste to drive alone every day and I cannot wait to get back on my bicycle/bus to school starting in February. I was also thinking that if anyone else was looking to share a vehicle (maybe if you commute to Bellevue or Northgate), this might be a good place to advertise that. Maybe this won't work...there are programs out there (Rideshare for one) that people would have looked up already if they had the idea already but it never hurts to ask. Don't forget to tune into this morning's city council sessions -- here's the council's live video page. Tuesday, January 6 at 9:30 a.m. - Joint Meeting of the Transportation and Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committees: Briefing and Discussion with Seattle Department of Transportation, Human Services Department, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Office of Emergency Management and King County Metro Transit. Time will be available for public comment. Let's see how today's session plays out -- still might be more useful to pull together some kind of Capitol Hill-focused opportunity for people to talk about what happened. In the meantime, have your feelings about the city's -- and the Hill's -- preparedness for winter storms changed? I still don't own a snow shovel. At the risk of looking outside our little Hill bubble, Fox News notes:
Regular Seattle Yard Waste Service Resumes Monday Yard waste service -- including Christmas tree pickup -- will resume Monday on a normal schedule for Seattle residential customers. Check your schedule for your next yard waste pickup date. Extra yard waste will be collected at no additional charge, through Friday, Jan. 16 (The linked press release mentions " today (Sunday, Jan. 4) " and "tomorrow (Monday, Jan. 5)." so "Monday" is indeed today, Jan 5th. The press release was "For immediate release: 1/5/09") A massive pile of snow-laden branches knocked down both the north and south extensions of Metro bus cables last night near the 1200 block of 15th Ave E. As a result, Metro is currently not running the #10 bus east of Broadway. Keep track of status on the Metro adverse weather page.
Photo: MvB
Your evil plan to shut the Hill down with more snow has failed.
Sorry, kid
"All Seattle Public Schools will open on time today, Monday, January 5, and buses will operate on regular routes." 
(mobile post)
7:29PM
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back to school snow 09
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15th messy but passable. Just don't go up or downhill
(mobile post)
7:41PM
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back to school snow 09
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8 bus stuck on john at 14th
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8:06PM
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back to school snow 09
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Buses collecting at 19th
(mobile post)
Clearly, this is just nature reminding you of Tuesday's city council session where they'll be discussing December's snow and ice craziness. If you're like many of the people living on Hill and can't make Tuesday morning's session, send an e-mail (click the council's little heads here to get their page with e-mail details and more) and tune in to watch online. Update: 8:22p A few pictures from my neck of the woods.
And a video of Broadway from cheesecake
Update 11:11p o Report of tree down on bus wires along 15th Ave E at Volunteer Park. MvB on the scene says wires down for both north and south routes and that 15th Ave is CLOSED. Map
Photo: MvB
o Power out in stretches across city so bring a few extra blankets and a flashlight to bed with you tonight. Sleep tight.
As I was becoming more involved with the message board of my current diverse, vibrant community, I thought about linking community message boards ... and looked back to another diverse, vibrant, and familiar community ... Capitol Hill, Seattle ... and to anything being done on the internet ... and found neighborlogs. Let's keep n touch ... OK? Notes:I lived in Seattle from early 70's to September, 1995. I have lived in Maplewood, NJ since September, 2002. In between I lived in Interior Alaska.
There will be a hearing on January 20th from 6:30 - 8:30 to discuss the possible closure of Lowell Elementary School. The hearing will be held at Lowell (the school is located at 1058 E. Mercer St) and is open to the public. I encourage people to attend and voice their concerns, as closing the school would likely have a negative impact on the North Capitol Hill community; an abandoned school would almost certainly become a magnet for graffiti and general delinquency and offset the other great neighborhood developments in progress. Please see http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/389462_schools26.html for more information
I had a conversation with Justin a few weeks ago about contributing to the Capitol Hill blog and what would be helpful to readers. I'm a Seattle native and have worked in real estate for years, as a consultant, sales agent and property manager, so I have some background knowledge that may be helpful to other readers of CHS. I've always lived on Capitol Hill, went to school here and have worked here on the Hill for years, so I would like to think I have a pretty good handle on what's going on, with an ongoing stake in the neighborhood. My kids go to neighborhood schools and I try to stay on the Hill for shopping and entertainment. I have many concerns about our neighborhood, mostly involving affordability, gentrification and development. I'm concerned that the cool unconventionality that first attracted many of us to the neighborhood is dissipating as developers tear down these beautiful old buildings to build boring, sterile and expensive condo's and townhomes. And I'm sad that single-family...
I get obsessed with albums. Not singles. One reason why iTunes bums me out. p.s. will give my second old copy of 41 to the first commenter who wants it...
Now, I know it's somewhat silly to get riled up by Capitol Hill's low rankings on Walk Score, but I know we're a more walkable hood than we're being given credit for. Also, because Walk Score put these rankings together in order to "help people find more walkable places to live," I'd hate to think that people who appreciate density are being steered away from the hill thanks to a poorly drawn map. I'd like to send a note to Walk Score asking them to redraw the bounding box. What should the boundaries for Capitol Hill be? A group of educators, students, and parents have posted an online petition to the Seattle school board to stop Seattle school closures now. Please read and sign the petition if you agree. And make sure to pass the link around to as many of our concerned City of Seattle community members as possible.
Welcome to 2009 Hillites! Lots of development action going down on the hill this year and hopefully we can make sure it fits nicely into our quirky neighorhood. January 21st brings a back-to-back Design Review meeting for two projects on the I-5 Shores. The first is 1623 Bellevue:
An interesting little infill project, Roger Newell Architects is planning a 6-story 23 resident complex with a bit of retail at the bottom. What strikes me here is that there will only be 12 underground parking stalls. Its unusual to see even a 1:1 ratio of parking spots to residential units but this almost 1:2 ratio is absolutely unheard of (But much appreciated!). Check out the Design Proposal [9.1 MB] for more info. The other project up for review is 1650 Olive Way, the infamous B&O replacement project. In fact, the whole block, as well as the apartment building behind it will all be razed to make room for a 75-unit apartment complex with some retail at ground level (78 parking stalls... The new year brings a few new regulations: 1. Electronics recycling is now free. But please don't dump everything off this week. Give them time to ramp up. 2. Chain restaurants must post nutritional info, and all restaurants cannot use trans fats. 3. Minimum wage bumps to $8.55 4. Grocery bags are now 20 cents and styrofoam is banned for takeout food. Remember to bring your own bags. And take video of other people having temper tantrums about it. (The ban is on hold until the referendum is voted on.) Looks like mostly a peaceful night on Capitol Hill. Only two incidents we're checking out -- unsure of the severity of either. First, there was a 911 callout to 321 Broadway E with report of a fire in the building around 2:30a. That's the location of Vivace's walk-up stand (oh, no, not the Vivace walk-up stand!) and a biz called The Hair Connection. No info from SFD yet and haven't been by so don't know if anybody was hurt or if there is damage. UPDATE 12:12p Second, is even lighter on details. Twitter report of a large police response on the Hill around 3a. So, yes, it's one person but we are seeing an assault with weapons incident in the 911 logs around Seattle University at that time so we'll continue to look into it. UPDATE 12:12p You'll definitely be able to score your fix on New Year's Day. You earlybirds just need to hover while the baristas sleep in a tad. Somebody tell Vita to answer their damn phone already. People wanna know. (Update: Seattlest's MvB hooked us up with the Vita intel) As for everything else, you'll have to just head out on a personal voyage of discovery and find out for yourself. Good way to start a new year, that. NYD 2009 Coffee Who's Open When List
Are you sick of 2008 yet? Here, let me help you. 2008's Most Viewed CHS Posts
2008's Most Commented CHS Posts
2008's Most Pondered CHS Posts
Great news. The trucks are in the neighborhood. I gave our recycling gal her late Christmas gift; she is really working hard today. I am hoping that the garbage gets pick today too. It really feels like the city is back on track. Thank you so much to the City workers for all their hard work.
Now that we're done documenting the year that was on CHS, it's time to pick the Hill's story of the year.
Capitol Hill's 2008 began with ugly crime -- a young woman heading home on the Hill on New Year's eve stabbed to death just outside her condo's door. The sad event sparked a lot of fear -- people were afraid to walk the streets alone in the weeks that followed until an arrest was made. Turns out, there was not a serial killer in our midst -- only a sick and angry man. While not to the degree of the fear it created, the sad event set in motion an increased awareness of the community issues on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill got on with the things in life that also matter -- the weather, new restaurants, kittens and community councils.
Part 1: CHS 08 December to October Part 4: CHS 08 March to January
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