Went to Olive on Friday night this time, just after interviewing the artist at the Sound Transit installation.

This is the fourth of a weekly series of ambient shots around Capitol Hill. Every week I'll pick a different spot and stay for about 10 minutes to create a 'snapshot' of that location at that moment.

PAST EPISODES

Episode #1 - Cal Anderson Park

Episode #2 - Thomas St P-Patch

Episode #3 - Broadway across from Dicks

Central District News is reporting on a shooting incident tonight at 29th and Yesler that has left a female Seattle Police Department officer down and in unknown condition. UPDATE: A officer has died but it is not clear at this time if it was the female officer heard on the police radio during the incident. The hunt for the shooting suspect is underway. Follow CDN for updates.

Meanwhile, in other 911 activity from Halloween night, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle while crossing Broadway near Pike around 10:45 PM. There was no further information regarding the victim's injuries.

Just after midnight, a car fire on E. Olive Way brought out the Seattle Fire Department. Neighbor Kevin reports:

A car just exploded on Olive St just south of Harvard in front of Online Coffee and Cafe Metropolitain. No ambulances but the flames were high.

Update 8:50 a.m. 11/1/09

From the SPD Blotter regarding police offer shooting:

On October 31st, shortly after 10:00 p.m., a Field Training Officer (FTO) and his female student officer were parked in their patrol car in the 100 Block of 29th Avenue South.  The student officer was seated in the driver’s seat and the FTO was in the passenger seat.  A vehicle that has been described as a light-colored sedan pulled up next to the parked patrol car and the suspect(s) fired multiple shots into the patrol car.  The Field Training Officer was struck multiple times, killing him.  The student officer received minor injuries.  She was able to get out of the patrol car, return fire several times to the fleeing suspect vehicle, and call for additional units.  Officers from all precincts responded, as well as Homicide and CSI.  This investigation is very much active and ongoing, and is a priority for the Department. Information is limited at this time, as it is still early in the investigation.  There is a press conference tenatively scheduled for later this afternoon, where we hope to provide additional information.

Several indicators continue to show rising influenza activity in King County. Emergency department visits for influenza-like illness continue to increase. Hospital admissions for 2009 H1N1 flu are approaching levels seen at the height of the spring outbreak. The number of hospitalizations where flu subtyping has not been performed is increasing as well, and many of these are likely to be 2009 H1N1 flu cases. Clinics that are part of Public Health's influenza surveillance system are showing more activity recently, with both the number of specimens and the percentage of positive tests for influenza unusually high for this time of year.

Between 10/4/09- 10/29/09 the following hospitalizations and deaths have been reported to Public Health

Confirmed 2009 H1N1 hospitalizations: 77

2009 H1N1 deaths: 1

Non-H1N1 or not tested influenza hospitalizations: 47

Non-H1N1 or not tested influenza deaths: 1...

As Justin reported, the art at the Sound Transit site was up and running tonight for a "dress rehearsal" for Saturday night's opening.   I went down and interviewed Dan Corson and got some footage of the installation. 

In the video Dan describes the current installation as an "improvisation" to get something up for the planned Halloween opening.  Dan also talks about his personal connection with Capitol Hill, and the ST light rail site in particular.

It looks pretty cool already so I'm looking forward to seeing it in it's final form. 

There's a Friday night dress rehearsal for the Sound-Transit sponsored art installation in the empty lot cleared for light rail construction at the corner of Broadway and Denny. Word from the artist Dan Corson and Sound Transit art program manager Barbara Luecke is the 'rehearsal' will start at 7 PM and run 'until the generator gas tank is empty' around midnight. Same plan Halloween night. There's been some scrambling to complete the installation as weather and some mis-sized fiberglass rods have slowed progress. The installation isn't yet in final form but most of it is in place and there are lasers. What else could you ask for?

Joining the election night celebration on Capitol Hill, the Approve R-71 campaign announced they will be holding their party at Pravda Studios on 10th Ave in Pike/Pine. Mike McGinn's campaign, meanwhile, will be watching the results come in down the street at the War Room.

Approve 71 campaign releases Election Night Party details

When: 7 pm Tuesday, Nov. 3

Where: Pravda Studios, 1406 10th Ave., Suite 200, Seattle

www.pravdastudios.com

For information on other local election night parties visit http://approvereferendum71.org/election-night-party/

Who:  Approve 71 Campaign Chair Anne Levinson, Approve 71 Campaign Manager Josh Friedes, the Approve 71 campaign team, volunteers, friends and allies

A Broadway small business has become entangled in business deal involving a wide-ranging Web of businesses and charities that has cost the independent retailer more than $20,000 in losses, according to its owner.

Bliss Soaps' owner Phil Wright tells CHS that he and his co-owner Chuck Sapronetti lost more than $20,000 on a wholesale order arranged with a business called Emperor's Essentials, a health and supplement product provider headquartered in Florida but active here in Washington state. Wright said everything with the deal -- one of the largest they've ever had -- seemed on the up and up until the last few weeks. Nearly three months after Bliss delivered the goods and got paid, Wright says Robert Friend, head of Emperor's Essentials, reversed the charges.

"He paid us. We made the products. Then he reversed the charges three months later. We didn't know which way to turn with it," Wright said.

Friend, it turns out, is not a stranger to financial controversy. He and his wife are involved with a group of charities that has been investigated for its questionable practices. Here is a Seattle PI article about the couple from 2007. Most recently, the activities of the American Veterans Coalition, which lists Friend as its 'registered agent,' were under scrutiny as the Gig Harbor-based charity settled claims in Arkansas and Kentucky. The office of the Washington State Attorney General would not comment on whether it is -- or is not -- investigating any of the charities Friend is involved with. Those include the AVC, the Cancer Assistance Network, the Disabled Firefighters Foundation, and the National Association for Disabled Police Officers. We have also requested information from the AG on any complaints against Friend, his organizations and his company, Emperor's Essentials. None of the organizations were included in the state's recent busts of so-called 'badge charities.

CHS also talked to Rebecca Sherrell, charities program manager for the Washington Secretary of State's office. Sherrell said her office had no documentation of any state actions against the Friend charities.

Back at Bliss, Wright said he didn't know what to do. So he gave Friend -- somebody he says he's known from the business world for seven years -- a call.

"He tries to intimidate," Wright said of Friend." "'I'm so right,' 'you don't have a chance.' I think a lot of people back down from the intimidation."

CHS got a small taste of this when we contacted Friend at his Gig Harbor home through a number provided on one of his organizations' Web sites. Friend answered the phone with a cheery "Emperor's Essentials!" Then he learned he was talking to a reporter. "Do not call me," Friend said. "This is a private residence and I do not want this to happen again."

Later that night, Friend forwarded us this e-mail without additional comment:

Phil and Chuck,

 I am going to press criminal charges, a restraining order, and harassment charges, and take this to court very quickly if you do not stop your threats and harassment. Brian and I have been gentlemen to this point. Enough is enough. All your text's are documented and ready to be supplied to the legal authorities as needed. They are in black and white. There is no wiggle room in what  you are doing. Some of what you are committing is criminal, and a lot is blat en civil wrongs.

 We feel you have miss led us, duped us, and not provided us with what we have paid you for. We also feel you still owe us a sizable sum of money and have caused us large financial losses. Let's let the courts hand down a decision.

 I suggest you allow the courts to deal with this and they will decide whom owes whom what. We have everything documented and we will provide it accordingly at the prescribed time. I am sure you are aware that Chase called last night and are leaving the charge backs right where they are, with Emperor's Essentials. They have your documents and they have ours, and they have made their decision accordingly.

 We have been trying to be patient with you, but one more action, or phone call like today and we are filing charges.

 Be under no allusion, you have been put on notice. Govern yourselves accordingly.

 Robert Friend

Wright said Bliss won't back down.

"Yesterday, the intimidation almost worked until we saw the support of people coming out to support us," Wright said. Bliss sent out an e-mail to customers telling them about the situation and announcing a sale to help the shop recoup some of their losses.

"We've made most of it back," Wright said of the response. "We were getting an order an average of every two minutes online."

But Bliss isn't finished. Wright said he expects to report the deal gone bad to the State Attorney General's office and will pursue the matter in court.

"I don't know anything about the process," Wright said. "When you run a super honest business you usually don't care about these kinds of things."

Details here: http://www.seattleymca.org/page.cfm?ID=fall07

Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn is including a Capitol Hill stop in his last weekend of city barnstorming, according to this announcement from his campaign team. We already gave him the CHS endorsement but you can check in with McGinn on Halloween afternoon at 19th Ave's Miller Community Center. The McGinn campaign announced today it is holding its election night celebration at the War Room.

Mike McGinn to host four town halls this weekend.

"We know a lot of Seattle voters are undecided and want more information before making their choice," said McGinn.  "Seattleites take voting seriously.  We want to give everyone the ability to directly ask questions and this is an opportunity to do just that."

WHEN: 2pm, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE: Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave. E

WHEN: 10:15am, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE:  West Seattle Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 2306 42nd Ave. SW

WHEN: 12pm, Saturday, October 31st
WHERE: Northgate Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 10548 5th Ave. NE

WHEN:  3:30pm, Sunday, November 1st
WHERE:  Columbia Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 4721 Rainier Ave. S

If you try to bring up the Metro trip planner, you are greeted with this table of new domains.

Also, the trip planner now has it's own sub-domain. Here is the link:

http://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/cgi-bin/itin_page.pl?resptype=U

The fifth-graders from Stevens Elementary have assumed near-total control of the fifth floor of Seattle Central Community College by the time I arrive. There are 42 of them, but it seems like more.

They really are in charge--they're visiting the Creative Academy at SCCC to play the role of creative directors on a team including a graphic designer and photographer. Each of the fifth-graders is in the catbird seat, directing the creation of a poster or ad or whatever. All feature a different Pez dispenser. They had one hour to brainstorm, and have three more to produce.

It's the idea of Marc Salverda, who runs SCCC's graphic design department. He has an in with Stevens Elementary--his wife teaches there. They have been collaborating the last few years on smaller projects; Salverda has visited Stevens a few times with PowerPoint shows.

Last year they were talking about careers. Each of the students got a letter of the alphabet corresponding to a profession, and Salverda got the idea to show them what a graphic designer and photographer actually do. Only a few had even heard of the terms, he explains, but even they didn't know what design involves.

Salverda proudly surveys the creative chaos. "We're supposed to print out the finished work," he says. "But it's 12:30 now...." He trails off. Creative work never arrives before the deadline, so this is par for the course. Besides sending prints to Stevens Elementary for display at parent/teacher conferences, he has plans to hang the works in a local cafe.

Down the hall, the college students and fifth-graders are taking snack breaks, painting ideas in the air before they return to the computer lab.

The design proposal for the 11th and Pine development was posted to the Design Review website today, in anticipation of the second Early Design Guidance Meeting scheduled for next Wednesday, Nov 4th (details below). You can download the entire proposal here[3.5mb]. But for those too busy (or lazy) to go through it, here is a brief overview of what's new (see our earlier coverage here and a recap of the first EDG meeting here):

Courtyard View

First, according to DPD and the Design Review Board, this meeting is scheduled as a second Early Design Guidance meeting, but the proposal seems to suggest otherwise. While EDG's are required to have three alternatives for height and bulk within the allowable zoning, the current 11th and Pine porposal looks at only a single option and has many more details than the EDG is suppose to consider. I spoke with Bob O'Malley of Kohler Architects, and he did not seem to think that three alternatives were necessary at a second EDG. The project planner, Lisa Rutzick could not be reached at this time.

Unlike any of the options in the first EDG, the new design calls for a fully enclosed residential courtyard that would start on the second level. The unit breakdown has gone from 54 studio, 30 1-bdrm, and 12 2-bdrm (total 96), to 6 studio, 76 1-bdrm, and 10 2-bdrm (total 92). Similar to the first proposal the original facade will be maintained on 11th and Pine and will wrap around a bit into the alley.

One of the main concerns at the last EDG meeting was the splitting of the original two-story ceiling of the interior by bringing the residential units down into that space. The new proposal is a bit of a compromise in that about half of the street level retail, the side facing Pine St, will have two-story ceilings, while the rest will not.

11th Ave Facade

The upper floors are designed to "pay respect" to the existing building by using similar window patterns, column spandrels, and glazing divisions. While most of the upper floors will have very little setbacks, half of the 11th Ave facade will be recessed above, to accentuate the original entrance and garage door, which is being restored for commercial use (not parking). The original masonry is intended to be restored while the upper levels will have metal panels with minimal treatment and trim. They have also opted to name the building the "Sunset Electric" building, apparently ignoring Dennis Saxman's request that they maintain the character of the "Winton Motor Co." a company that, according to Saxman's research, owned the property prior to Sunset Electric.

The new proposal has also increased the parking stalls from 4 to 36, therefore removing the 14,000sqft of basement commercial space that was designed for arts and cultural uses. This is interesting because, according to the first EDG report, neither the community nor the Design Review Board suggested additional parking.

Street Level Floorplan

A few personal opinions:

• I think the additional parking in lieu of arts and culture space would be a travesty and must be stopped.
• If they are only going to have double high ceilings in part of the building, it should really be facing 11th, a much better pedestrian street and the front of the original building.
• I like the upper story design elements but I think I would rather see concrete instead of metal siding.
• They should put "Winton Motor Co." on one side and "Sunset Electric" on the other at the top
• There are P-patches and worm bins on the roof top deck. Thats pretty cool.

Come voice your thoughts on this development at the next EDG meeting Wednesday:

Project: 1530 11th Ave  map

Design Proposal available (3.65 MB)

Review Meeting:	November 4, 6:30 pm
	S U Alumni Relations & Admissions Buildings
	824 12th Ave  map
	Meeting Room
Review Phase:	EDG--Early Design Guidance past reviews
Project Number:	3010451 permit status | notice
Planner:	Lisa Rutzick

A brief post here on the Lincoln Park reservoir work we reported on yesterday that will require a portion of Cal Anderson park to be closed for more than a month beginning on Monday. Seattle Public Utilities spokesperson Andy Ryan said the work is not related to the leaks that occurred in other similar city reservoirs this summer. He's looking into how much of the park will be shut down for the work which is scheduled to last through December 11.

Northwest Film Forum (CHS partner) invites you to a party tonight:

Seattle writers Mark Rahner and Robert Horton host a Halloween party celebrating Rotten, their zombie-Western comic series (from Moonstone Books). The authors promise a highly animated—you might say "re-animated"—time including a film screening (title will be a surprise), selected shorts and various unhealthy high jinks.

 Rotten follows the bloody exploits of government agents as they roam the West, fighting to explain and contain a mysterious outbreak of the undead in 1877. Along with head-splattering action, Rotten offers distinct parallels with recent political events—a world in which fear threatens to trump reason.

 Costumes encouraged!  Thursday (10/29) at 8 pm

He won our endorsement. On election night, he'll be partying in our 'hood. Mike McGinn's campaign is holding its election night party at the War Room with chow from Skillet Food, no cover and, sweet for the 'hood bloggers in the crowd, all the wi-fi you can eat. You might recall McGinn held his primary election night party at Havana. Whether this Tuesday ends as happily for the candidate will be up to you.

The other 15 might want to come and gloat??

The lovely BLISS Soaps up on Broadway says it has recently fallen victim to a con artist. Here's the scoop from the latest BLISS e-mail newsletter sent out today:

BLISS Soaps has unfortunately fallen victim to a fraudulent business deal. Many local customers may recall a large soap, lotion, facemask and eye cream order that we were working on as they came to visit the store. The order was made, delivered and distributed to the Cruise-line executives ahead of schedule. Emperors Essentials, the company that commissioned BLISS Soaps to fulfill this contract fraudulently reversed ALL of the payments that were made to us. . . The devastating to BLISS Soaps came at such a time that we may not recover the funds in time to maintain operations.

However, there is good news:

In an effort to make this a win-win situation for both of us, we are offering this 4 day only Internet, call-in and walk-in special in an attempt to earn pre holiday revenue.

All orders over $50.00 will be doubled and the next 5 future orders over $50.0...

Having heard of a few H1N1 cases on the hill, we contacted the Seattle-King County Health Department for statistics on Capitol Hill. James Apa, a Public Information Officer from the Health Department, responded:

We're not recommending  virus testing for most people, so we wouldn't be able to provide meaningful statistics for any specific neighborhoods.

We do have other ways of monitoring  influenza activity across King County, including by reviewing hospitalizations for influenza, flu symptom reports at emergency rooms and absenteeism at local schools.  I'd encourage you to take a look at our flu surveillance pages.

In terms of vaccine availability, all health care providers are facing shortages because of the national delay in vaccine production. We're working to get the limited amounts of vaccine we do have to providers to vaccinate their patients most in need. All local health care providers are experiencing shortages, but many people most in need of vaccine...

Your ballot's around the house somewhere.  Remember that it has to be postmarked by next TUESDAY (good luck finding a pickup after 6 PM). A stamp (remember stamps?) is 44 cents. Safeway has 'em.

Voters' pamphlets, locations of 24 hour drop boxes, etc is all right here.

Nearest drop box: Central Area Neighborhood Service Center, 2301 S. Jackson

For the November 3 general, ballot drop boxes will open on Friday, October 16 and close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3.

You all did so well last November. Please get out those ballots and make us all proud.

Thank you.

Sunrise from iLike, originally uploaded by firewallender.

Back in August, CHS reported on Capitol Hill startup iLike getting gobbled up by social media giant MySpace for $13.5 million plus $6 million in 'talent retention.' We wondered at the time how long iLike would remain in their Boylston Ave office space after the deal.

The answer? Not long.

We heard that iLike was on the move and we have been asking their PR person for information but never got confirmation. No bother. We saw an iLike employee's tweet about the in-progress move Wednesday morning. The iLike folks are heading downtown to join other MySpace development teams on Western Ave.

Adios, iLike. We'll see if we can get some more info from the iLike folks about the move but given MySpace's investment in their downtown offices, probably not much Capitol Hill could have done to keep them.

Part of the north end of Cal Anderson Park will be closed for more than a month starting Monday while city employees work on the underground Lincoln Reservoir, according to Seattle Public Utilities. We'll try to find out exactly how much of the park will be shut down while crews run what is being called a regular inspection and cleaning of the 109-year-old reservoir.

Still hunting down a map that shows the exact dimensions of Lincoln but Google Maps graphics indicate a very large pool and this image from Wikipedia's entry on Cal Anderson also gives a glimpse of the size of the reservoir.

In July, CHS reported that reservoirs in West Seattle and Beacon Hill were leaking and the same manufacturer and contractor had been involved in the construction of Lincoln. At the time, Seattle Public Utilities told CHS that there were no plans to remove the surface layer of Cal Anderson to inspect Lincoln.

The work could also coincide with the start of construction activity on the nearby Capitol Hill light Rail station site....

img_8777, originally uploaded by pmocek.

Neighbor Phil sends us a link to his flickr stream of a chemical clean-up process underway on E. Pike. It appears to be a planned work effort -- not some kind of emergency contamination -- judging by the signs and the workman-like effort from the hazmat-suited employees.

We've tried getting in touch with the company working at the site but Pacific Crest Environmental hasn't returned our three calls left over the past two days. We'll update as soon as we hear back from them about what's up.

The site is located between Old School Frozen Yogurt and the new home of Doghouse Leathers. You can see in the old images captures by Google Streetview the old unpaved lot and a bunch of barrels lined up next to an old motor repair shop that used to be at the location.

View Larger Map

However, progress was made. ST announced that after an initial assessment, it supports long term use of the Nagle Extension for the Farmer's Market. The planned continuation of Nagle Pl. will bisect the station property, creating a "green", pedestrian focused street with ideally minimal car usage. A rough mock-up of the design created room for 45 vendor spaces, despite a 50-vendor request from the market, and a growing amount of sellers and buyers. However, ST representative Ron Endlich submitted the possibility of it spreading out onto Denny Way, closing the section of the street for a few hours every Sunday. "It's great news,...

We've got good news and bad news for your media consumption future. The good news? You can continue to, um, leverage your neighbors' wi-fi. Bad news? Comcast is about to hose your enjoyment of Project Runway via the cable service that just magically 'works' in your place (even though you never got around to calling the cable company.)

The $42 billion cable giant is hatching a nefarious plan. Starting today, subscribers and, well, anybody else with a cable connection on Capitol Hill who doesn't have a cable box will need to get one of these magic little things to receive any channels above 30.

You can read more about Comcast's 'World of More!' program here. If you are a subscriber, the magic adapter thingy is free. If you already have a set top box, you should also be fine.

We found out today's the day for Comcast's big change thanks to fellow 'hood news site West Seattle Blog's post about the switch. West Seattle and the rest of the city also served by Comcast are also part of this change.

Speaking of other neighborhoods, most of the Central District -- and some of the Hill -- is served by Broadstripe. From the sound of things, broadband service in those areas leaves a lot to be desired. But, hey CD, at least some of you get to keep your, um, free channels 2-99.

A group representing several restaurants and bars in Pike/Pine are threatening City Attorney Tom Car with an ethics complaint just days before the end of the fall election. The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association sent out this release this morning detailing their plan to bring a complaint against Carr to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

The story that the release refers to as 'widely reported' is the Stranger cover piece on a reportedly confrontational meeting between city staff and Pike/Pine club owners early in October. CHS wrote about the crime trends for Pike/Pine here and asked the East Precinct commander if there was a 'crackdown' in Pike/Pine, here.

The SNMA does not include a membership list on it site but does include a mission statement: The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) is a coalition of music, night club, and bar interests formed to educate elected officials, civic and community leaders, and the media on the serious issues facing the music and nightlife industry in Seattle.

Ethics Complaint Levied at Tom Carr
Seattle, WA, October 27, 2009 -- The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) has hired attorney, John Muenster, to look into possible reta liat ion by the current City Attorney Tom Carr against SNMA members who exercised their First Amendment rights to support his opponent during the hotly contested elect ion campaign for the City Attorney's position.

The SNMA has received inform ation dat ing back to at least 2007 indicatin g th at Tom Carr has used the City Attorney's Office and th e Joint Enforcement Team to aggressively pursue legit imate Restaurant and Bar Operatorswho have made every effort to comply wi th applicable regulat ions.

As has been widely reported, on October 6th of th is year, Assistant City Attorn ey Tienney Milnor held a meet ing of Restaurant and Bar Operators where she reportedly said th at she wou ld pull liquor licenses if

things did not change. The meet ing was supposedly brought on by alleged increases in vio lent crime in t he Pike / Pine entertainment area, but review of SPDcrime data actua lly show a decrease in crime during t he months leading up to th e meet ing in that area.

The meeting on Oct 6th occurred just after a large fundraising effort by local Restaura nt and Bar Operators for the City Attorney's opponent , and right before anot her fundraiser was scheduled to occur that same week in the Pike / Pine entertainment area.

"The Members of the SNMA work with the SPD, the Fire Department and The Washington State Liquor Control Board on a daily basis. They run clean operations and don't have violations. We don't understand how, aft er years of weekly enforcement checks and a decrease in crime, the City Attorn ey's office, in the middl e of a contested elect ion, can say change or I'll pull your liqu or license and have it not be int erpreted as a polit ical message" says John Muenster, attorney for th e SNMA.

The SNMA will be seeking additional information through the Public Disclosure Request Process. The SNMA will also formally ask the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission to look into the retaliation issue.