The city has released a report of feedback gathered at the Safe Communities meeting held in November at Miller Community Center (see the document below). During the meeting, facilitators and SPD officers sat down with small groups of residents and took notes on what their concerns are and how they feel the department can improve.

The meeting was part of the department’s 20/20 Plan, which is a response to a recent federal investigation.

Meanwhile, the East Precinct Advisory Council is holding a holiday gathering and potluck Thursday at Garfield Community Center. The event is in response to suggestions that neighbors need more opportunities to get to know each other.

From East PAC: Continue reading →

Yesler Way’s Good Hair Salon wants everyone to have access to natural hair products, so they are hosting a donation drive for new or slightly used African American hair products that will be donated to The Angeline’s Shelter for Homeless Women.

You can get a deal on Good Hair’s 2013 calendar if you donate products at their 20th and Yesler salon. Or, if you are going to Black Nativity at the Moore Theater (December 6–23), use Promo Code GOODHAIR when purchasing your tickets and 15 percent of the cost will be donated to the project.

More details on the drive from Good Hair Salon: Continue reading →

Reader Alan sent us this message earlier today asking about a big police presence and arrest near 29th and Washington early this morning:

There was some kind of manhunt on between 3:00am-5:00am in the vicinity of 29th/yesler overnight – significant response and cruisers roaming the area for a while. After a period of quiet, we overheard an arrest at gunpoint (“come out, hands up, get out now if you don’t want to get shot”) on Washington St. between 29th and 30th. At least one officer was seen slinging a military-looking assault rifle at the arrest scene, and there may have been K-9 units involved (the barking dogs were not our usual neighborhood pack). Definitely not your typical nighttime arrest – at least 5 cars roaming the area for quite some time.

According to SPD, two armed carjackers robbed a woman at gunpoint in Pioneer Square, then sped away from police and crashed near 30th and Yesler. The men fled on foot, but were caught and arrested.

More details from SPD: Continue reading →

The Post Office will stay at 23rd and Union, at least for the near future. What does this mean for the corner, which has eluded financing for redevelopment projects for years?

We reported in July that the Post Office told Tom Bangasser—owner of many parcels of property on the corner, including the space housing the Post Office—they were going to move their distribution operations to 4th and Lander. The Post Office is not only a major tenant on the property, but it is also one of the largest employers in the neighborhood.

The threat of the Post Office leaving shifted redevelopment talks into high gear, since it is unlikely another tenant would be able to utilize all the space that currently houses both a retail and distribution hub for the Postal Service.

Now, the Post Office says it will stay at 23rd and Union, and has renewed a lease that gives them the ability to leave any time with a year’s notice. However, talks about redevelopment on the corner are moving forward, and a new, state-of-the-art Post Office retail location will be part of that vision if Bangasser has his way. Continue reading →

Welcome to the new Central District News!

As you may have noticed, the site has been limping for a few weeks. Comments have been lost, community posts disappeared and sometimes the site just didn’t load at all. We very much appreciate your patience, and we hope the new site will address these issues and open the door for more innovative features for community news and discussion.

In the transfer to the new platform, some features and archives didn’t make the journey. Namely, the forums, business reviews and classifieds were left behind, at least for now. Nearly all post and comment archives were preserved (though comment nesting was lost).

We have a new community events calendar that does all sorts of cool things (you can now subscribe to events with your personal calendar reading app, like iCal or Google Calendar). However, previously submitted events were lost, so please repost them to let your neighbors know what’s going on.

And yes, anyone can post to CDNews, just like always. Simply log-in and click “Post” on the navigation bar. Posts appear immediately on “Page Two,” and editors bump some posts to the front page at our discretion.

Like always, CDNews depends on you to keep us and your neighbors updated on what’s happening on your street. So please post or email us at [email protected].

We will be working out bugs over the next few days as we get settled into the new digs. If you notice anything strange or need help, feel free to email us or comment below.

The Seattle blog Five Questions for You recently interviewed Jason Miller, the program manager at 21st and Union’s Central Cinema (a CDN sponsor). He talks about how he ended up at Central Cinema, his philosophy on choosing films and events, and a “jaw dropping” 80s Sing Along crowd earlier this year.

Here’s one of the questions:

In what ways does your passion for film and personal taste figure into the responsibilities of your job?

I tend to treat Central Cinema like an expanded version of my living room. I  look at it with those eyes. What movies would a group of my friends gather  to watch? And I just went from there. I definitely lean more toward mid ’80s to late ’90s movies, but it is has been great to showcase some of my favorite films like Grey Gardens and Do The Right Thing. I try to see as many films as possible with the audience, and I love meeting people who love the movies we are showing. It is great to hear what they enjoy about it and their experiences with the film back in the day and how it still means so much to them. The Central Cinema crowd is very diverse and very smart, but like to have good time! My kind of people.

Read the other four here.

Speaking of Central Cinema’s programming, so many Joss Whedon fans have been lulled by the siren song of their upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer trivia night that the first night (December 4) has already sold out. This prompted the theater to schedule a second night (December 11). Here’s their upcoming showtimes.

The CDNews events calendar is temporarily out of service, but there’s a show tonight (Thursday) at Washington Hall you may not want to miss.

Local and touring acts will combine to showcase “the strength in marginalized identities” during the Outerspaces Tour. 7:30 p.m. at Washington Hall (14th and Fir). All-ages (youth get a discount, even).

More details and tickets for sale from Brown Paper Tickets:

OUTERSPACES TOUR 2012: POWER IN THE MARGINSSEATTLE SHOW

Featuring

LAS KRUDAS (Havana, Cuba/Austin, TX)

CLIMBING POETREE (Brooklyn, NY)

&

INVINCIBLE (Detroit, MI) Continue reading →

Yes, the world is finally figuring out that E Union Street’s 20/20 Cycle is an awesome corner of the world, whether you are looking for affordable bikes and repairs or want to see a local band in an intimate setting.

Seattle Weekly recently featured 20/20 and its owner, CD resident Alex Kostelnik, focusing on the space’s impact on the music scene:

20/20 Cycle’s cozy decorating scheme draws equal inspiration from the average college guy’s dorm and a 1970s living room. Pinned to the wall of the Central District bike shop is the cardboard album cover of Heart‘s Dreamboat Annie, and the taxidermied head of a pronghorn antelope looks down over a computer. A table holds a coffee cup filled with fresh flowers and a pile of books (among them, Twilight: Breaking Dawn and All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora) advertised as free for the taking. Atop an olive-green wooden platform sit a few bikes for sale and a lot of toys—Battleship, Hot Wheels, and a metal Tonka truck that the shop’s owner, Alex Kostelnik, was given as a child, in 1972.

“There’s a couple neighborhood kids that choose me over the library,” he says, “which is a real source of pride.” Bands are also known to choose Kostelnik’s space over traditional clubs—that green platform isn’t just a place to store toys, it’s a stage for live music, which Kostelnik books sparingly yet deliberately, making this increasingly a favorite venue of local musicians.

Sitting in a chair in front of his stage, Kostelnik, 45, has salt-and-pepper hair and a matching beard and exudes a loud and smiley persona that fits the space’s homey vibe. His left thumbnail is painted sky blue with a tiny, sparkly silver microphone—a souvenir from a trip to a nail salon with his wife of four months, Sasha Morgan, who works at Sub Pop Records. His ensemble—flannel T-shirt and a wide gold wedding band, imprinted with images of dolphins, starfish, and sand bubbles, made of recycled gold from circuit boards—is a Northwest uniform for a most Northwest guy.

Read more… Continue reading →

In its third year of inviting residents and businesses in the neighborhood to be part of the fun, Seattle U’s Christmas tree lighting is shiny bright and enjoyable in a small-town way — even if the weather outside ends up a little frightful.

Seattle University Hosts Holiday Tree Lighting Event

Community invited to join in neighborhood tradition and festivities

WHAT: Seattle University will host its 3rd annual tree lighting event this Thursday night.  The SU staff/faculty and students invite the community to campus for food, refreshments, live carol music and lighting of the campus holiday tree.

WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 6:30-7:30 p.m. (outdoor festivities kick off at 7 p.m.)

WHERE:  McGoldrick Learning Commons, Seattle University