The meeting was called to order at 6:10pm.

Mike Kent, Vice President, ran the meeting in the absence of President Norma Jean Straw. Other officers in attendance were Eric Sanders, Secretary/Treasurer, and Rachael Brister, Officer At-Large. On average, about 17 community members and representatives were in attendance. The meeting began with introductions.

Community Announcements

- A representative from the Miller Community Center at 19th and Thomas invited those interested to join the community center’s board and advisory council. If interested, please contact the community center at 206-684-4753.

- Steven Miller, who recently became editor of the Capitol Hill Times, introduced himself to the community. Contact him at editor@capitolhilltimes.com with any suggestions, tips, leads, etc.

- Rhonda Dixon, the Sound Transit rep for Capitol Hill light rail station construction, and her colleague for UW light rail construction, gave a construction update. Follow this link for detailed construction updates: http://projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/University-Link.xml.

- Community member Cathy Hillenbrand had heard that the Capitol Hill post office at Broadway and Denny (whose lease expires at the end of the year), as well as the International District station and the station at 23rd and Union, will be closing and consolidating operations. Another community member in attendance said he had heard that the post offices will not be merging/consolidating.

- On Saturday, March 24, at 11:00am, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Sound Transit will be unveiling a temporary portrait of Cal Anderson on the park wall nearest to the Cal Anderson park water feature. Dow Constantine, King County Executive, State Senator Ed Murray, and Councilmember Richard Conlin will be speaking.

- Stephen Hall and Audrey Van Horne from the Friends of Volunteer Park Conservatory (the Friends) gave a restoration update. Architectural drawings have been completed for restoration of the eastern two houses and the greenhouse and all necessary permits have been obtained, but the city lacks funds to complete the restoration projects. The Friends are in the early stages of a capital campaign to raise the $3.5 million needed. If you are interested in contributing and/or volunteering your time, please contact the Friends at www.volunteerparkconservatory.org. In addition, the city is contemplating whether they will continue to run the conservatory and/or whether it will even remain open. Michael Wells from the Capitol Hill Chamber strongly encouraged everyone to contact Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who chairs the Council’s Parks and Neighborhoods Committee, and Christopher Williams, the superintendent of the parks department.

- Tim Durkan from the City’s Department of Neighborhoods and the East District Coordinator, talked about the department’s PACE (People’s Academy for Community Engagement) leadership program. The program starts the fourth Thursday of April and has seven weekly sessions. Tim mentioned that this program is perfect for current and future civic leaders. However, although Tim thinks the deadline may be extended, the deadline to apply is this Friday, March 16. Contact Tim at tim.durkan@seattle.gov for further details and to determine if the deadline was pushed out.

Committee Reports

- Cathy Hillenbrand, Capitol Hill Champion lead, gave a brief background on the Champion initiative and the Urban Design Framework (UDF). A development agreement (DA) is being developed between Seattle and Sound Transit, using the UDF suggestions, to guide the transit-oriented development above the future Capitol Hill light rail station. The City and Sound Transit would like to increase the site density further than that laid out in the UDF. The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for developers is scheduled to go out September 2012 and the Request for Proposals (RFP) is scheduled to go out the first part of 2013, but Cathy thinks this is an optimistic timeline. As the community’s watchdog in this process, the Champion has been invited to co-host the RFQ process with Sound Transit. The Champion will continue to closely monitor (1) whether the increased density desired by the city and Sound Transit is compatible with the UDF, and (2) whether a LGBTQ community center will be a part of the development. Discussion ensued about types/amounts of office space, whether office tenants should include a significant amount of non-profits, etc.

- Mike Kent, the 12th Avenue Safety project lead, gave an update. The committee’s third public meeting held last night focused on the committee’s final draft report of their 12th Avenue intersection-by-intersection safety recommendations. The final report will be issued in about a month. A new crosswalk is to be installed at the intersection of 12th and Harrison, a direct result of the project. The committee and city are also considering installing a full curb bulb at the intersection. Mike mentioned that this is just the first of hopefully many remaining improvements. The committee will next discuss installation of a crosswalk at Howell and 12th.

New Business

- Ruth Harper, Associate Transportation Planner from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), spoke primarily about four upcoming summer 2012 changes to on-street metered parking in Capitol Hill. Stemming directly from the department’s performance-based parking price program that sets paid parking rates by neighborhood to achieve the policy objective of providing an average of one to two open spaces per blockface throughout the day, the following changes will be implemented during summer 2012:

o Allow three hour parking in the evening after 5pm.
o Reduce the parking rate in the southern area south of East Olive/John Streets to $2.50/hour rate.
o Create north and south areas similar to other neighborhood’s core and edge conditions. (The highest average occupancy is clustered in the northern sections of Broadway, as well as the intersection of Broadway and Pine Street.)
o Pay-by-phone parking fees will be coming to all of Seattle soon.

A brief lively discussion ensued about the pros and cons of Seattle’s parking policies. For more information, contact Ruth directly at ruth.harper@seattle.gov.

- Community member Rebecca Herzfeld spoke about the Mayor’s proposed package of regulatory changes which include allowing commercial businesses in certain Capitol Hill low-rise residential districts. Rebecca does not support this change and has three primary concerns:

o Allowing commercial uses in nearby multifamily zones could draw customers away from existing districts, which would harm current businesses and make it even more difficult to fill vacancies.
o The proposal does not address the potential impacts of commercial uses on residential areas, such as noise, odors, commercial deliveries, and increased traffic.
o In the past two years, the City Council has adopted sweeping changes to the low-rise zoning regulations that increased height and density, provided flexible regulations, and removed parking requirements. The Council should wait to make further major changes to low-rise zoning until the results of these major amendments can be evaluated.

It was noted that the focus of this change is beyond the small, in-home businesses that are common; the focus is more on larger commercial projects such as restaurants, bars, retail, etc. The Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability (PLUS) Committee, chaired by Councilmember Richard Conlin, will be holding a public hearing on the proposal Wednesday, March 28, at 9:30am. All interested community members are encouraged to attend.

Old Business

- Bruce Bowden and a colleague from Citizens Rethink Yesler (CRY), a grassroots group opposed to the Yesler Terrace redevelopment, gave a video presentation delineating the group’s opposition:

o Primarily, they feel the development is way too big and out-of-scale for the neighborhood.
o The Seattle Housing Authority plans to sell half the publicly owned Yesler Terrace land to developers.
o Only 11% percent of the proposed residential units are for extremely low income people.
o Already bad traffic on First Hill will become worse. For example, without mitigation, the time for a vehicle to clear the intersection of 9th Street and Cherry Avenue during rush hour is predicted to take more than eight minutes.
o Once approved by the city council, there will be no appeals permitted, which is a restriction that could be in effect for up to 20 years.

The Seattle Housing Authority was unable to be at the meeting to discuss the project, but CHCC is hopeful they will be able to attend a future general meeting to discuss the project. It was noted by a community member that the same number of low income residences available now at Yesler Terrace will be available after the redevelopment. For more information about CRY, please contact Bruce at CRYcrier@comcast.net.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.

Community Announcements and Updates from Neighbors

Angela Wallis from Capitol Hill Prepares – Angela Wallis, the founder of Capitol Hill Prepares, ventured out into the blustery weather to introduce her group to CHCC. The group’s mission is centered on emergency and disaster preparedness and response within the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. To meet this mission, the group sponsors free preparedness training for community members. Using City of Seattle grant funds, the group has established emergency communication centers that can quickly be set-up around the community in the event of an emergency and purchased essential disaster preparedness items including hand radios and tents. The group is seeking volunteers to staff emergency communication centers. In the event of an emergency/disaster, the volunteer would be responsible for setting up his/her designated emergency communication center and acting as the location’s primary communications contact. The commitment is small and consists of two disaster drills per year and a small amount of training on the use of hand radios. Note that this is a grassroots group separate from the city and county. If you would like more information or are interested in volunteering, please contact Angela Wallis at caphillprepares@gmail.com.

Community arts center/blog project – Community members Babylonia and Norton discussed their idea of creating an arts space and blog dedicated to community arts and culture. Their vision stems from a desire to create space that can demonstrate the unique nature of Capitol Hill. The development of a robust local blog also figures into the picture. Containing audio and video story collections, the blog’s focus would be on the means of getting the info rather than the info itself. Rather than a daily news-oriented blog, this blog would focus on the people of Capitol Hill and their individual stories and unique projects. Babylonia and Norton emphasized that community collaboration and the telling of neighborhood stories are their principal project themes. The project is in its infancy, with the two currently putting their ideas to paper by developing a project plan and seeking financial support. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact Babylonia at BabyloniaAivaz@gmail.com.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:10pm.

The next general CHCC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 15, 2012 from 6 to 8pm at the Cal Anderson Shelter House.

Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/12thavenuearts

Community Announcements and Updates from Neighbors
Joe Kendo, Washington Federation of State Employees (Council 28) – In response to the dismal funding climate in Olympia, the WFSE is preparing a robust agenda to present an aggressive pro-revenue case to the 2012 special session of the state legislature and are looking for community support and volunteers to participate in the campaign. If interested, please contact Joe directly at joek@wfse.org or (206) 525-5363.

Brian Rundberg, Architect, Rundberg Architecture – Discussed a privately funded low-income 46-48 unit residential housing project proposed for the 7,200 square foot site at 418 Bellevue. The LEED Silver modular-built design is meant to promote growth, sustainability, and affordable rental housing and will have roof gardens and water recycling/detention on-site. The majority of units will be studios and one-bedrooms available to those making 80% of the median income. The developers hope to break ground late summer 2012. The community is invited to a design review meeting to be held on November 30 at the Seattle University Admissions Building.

Student representatives from the Seattle Central Community College chapter of Phi Theta Kappa – Paralleling some of the safety work being done by CHCC on 12th Avenue, the group is looking at safety improvements that can be made to Harvard Avenue behind SCCC, with a goal of installing new crosswalks at a couple busy intersections on the heavily trafficked corridor.

Rhonda Dixon, Sound Transit community representative – The U-Link tunnel boring machine heading towards downtown has almost completed the first of two tunnels and is currently boring under I-5. Once finished, the tunnel boring machine will be disassembled, trucked back up to the dig site on Capitol Hill, reassembled, and begin boring the second tunnel.

Tim Durkan, City of Seattle neighborhood district coordinator for Capitol Hill – His primary job is to work as the community connector between city government and neighborhoods, making sure citizens have an opportunity to talk with their elected officials and city departments. Tim also works with the city’s various district councils (which serve as an information sharing network and assist in granting Department of Neighborhood funds), of which Capitol Hill is a member of the East District Council. Tim is currently recruiting new members for the East District Council and all interested citizens are encouraged to contact Tim (see contact info below). In addition, Tim indicated that the application period for a $100K neighborhood fund project grant will begin December 1 and close February 1, 2012. In addition, $20K ‘Small and Simple Fund’ matching grants are available. For more information, please contact Tim directly at tim.durkan@seattle.gov or (206) 684-4054.

Michael Wells from the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Broadway Business Improvement Association – Over 300 Capitol Hill kids participated in the Chamber sponsored Halloween Parade, with trick-or-treating at Broadway businesses and a pizza party at Pagliacci Pizza afterwards. The Chamber wants Capitol Hill to ‘own’ Halloween and hopes to grow the event next year. On a separate topic, at the request of many Broadway businesses, Michael, on behalf of the Broadway Business Improvement Association, sent a letter to the Occupy Seattle movement expressing concern about the health, safety, and sanitation of the encampment at Seattle Central Community College and encouraging the movement adhere to the good neighbor agreement they signed. The response from the movement has generally been positive. The letter was also sent to SCCC administrators and the Mayor’s office, as well as the CHS Capitol Hill blog: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2011/11/18/occupy-capitol-hill-broadway-businesses-demand-immediate-results-in-camp-clean-up.

Bruce Bowden from Citizens Rethink Yesler (CRY) group – The group has expressed concerns regarding the Yesler Terrace redevelopment. For more information, please contact CRY at CRYcrier@gmail.com. CRY has been invited to participate in a CHCC general meeting dedicated to the Yesler Terrace redevelopment project scheduled for early 2012.

Committee Reports
Capitol Hill Champion – The Urban Design Framework was recently completed and adopted by the city. Subsequently an agreement was signed between Sound Transit and the City of Seattle enabling the UDF to be an integral part of Sound Transit’s site development proposals.

12th Avenue Transportation Safety Project – A public meeting was held three weeks ago and 30 community members attended. Participants reviewed a complete map of the 12th Avenue project and offered input on what they deemed as necessary safety improvements for the corridor.

Sustainable Capitol Hill – This new CHCC committee is seeking new leadership. Any community members interested in participating in this important committee please contact Clayton Smith at claytn8@gmail.com.

New Business
- CHCC is seeking ideas for a 2012 matching grant from the city and those in attendance brainstormed potential new projects including:
• increasing the amount of public art in Cal Anderson Park,
• naming Capitol Hill alleys in honor of local personalities and installing the related street signs,
• becoming involved with the SCCC Phi Theta Kappa Harvard Avenue corridor safety project (discussed above in community announcements),
• developing an umbrella organization for the numerous and varied Capitol Hill community groups to foster friend-making among the groups enabling them to work better together and coordinate their activities, share best practices, increase capacity, share resources, help each other with fundraising, etc.,
• working with owners and tenants of residential buildings on Capitol Hill side streets to improve safety (e.g., improved lighting, working with CPTED, the International Dark Sky Association, and/or the Seattle Neighborhood Group to conduct assessments of the physical area and identify safety concerns and suggestions for improvement).

CHCC seeks further community input on the above. Please email CHCC at chcc.officers@gmail.com with any 2012 project ideas. We want your input!

- Interest was expressed in dedicating a future CHCC general meeting to waterfront redevelopment issues, as well as other city-wide projects that may not necessarily be on Capitol Hill, but will have a direct impact on Capitol Hill citizens. As noted above, a general meeting in early 2012 will be dedicated to the Yesler Terrace redevelopment.

Old Business
None.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.

The next general CHCC meeting is scheduled for the third Thursday of January 2012: 1/19/2012 from 6 to 8pm at the Cal Anderson Shelter House.

The next general meeting of the Capitol Hill Community Council has been scheduled for Thursday, November 17, 2011, from 6pm to 8pm at the Cal Anderson Shelter House. We look forward to seeing you there!

Announcements and Updates from Neighbors
Capitol Hill Housing 12th Avenue arts project – This will be a new development near the corner of 12th and Pine at the current location of the East Precinct police parking lot. The vision is to create a building with a civic feel; a unique venue; a building that is a destination. The first floor will offer a public space extending directly from the sidewalk with vibrant retail, quality accessible public meeting space, and two performance arts spaces in the back. The second floor will have office space for both Capitol Hill Housing and other organizations and groups. The third floor and up will offer 88 affordable apartments. Capitol Hill Housing plans to break ground late summer 2012 with completion January 2014.

Capitol Hill Housing “Run for Homes”- On Sunday, November 27th, 2011, hit the pavement in support of Capitol Hill Housing! Join the CHH team to walk or run the Seattle Half or Whole Marathon this November. Each member of the team will raise funds individually through pledges towards their participation. Follow this link for more info: http://www.crowdrise.com/runforhomes

Queer Youth Space project update – Representatives from Queer Youth Space were unable to make the meeting, so please follow this link for a video update from them: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JZXLBO4N

Sustainable Capitol Hill – They were formed about five years ago and started with a bang with the “Imagine Capitol Hill” festival and a grant from the city. The group has been focused on short-term, easily realizable, highly engaging projects such as adopting a traffic circle, doing a tree survey, making reusable tote bags, sponsoring tree planting parties, building composting bins, and being a clearinghouse for the distribution of information. Those in attendance felt the group could be a good fit with CHCC and could provide community members with tangible, engaging projects. In the past, CHCC has been challenged to provide volunteers with short-term projects they could really sink their teeth into. In addition, CHCC will be seeking another matching grant from the city (or elsewhere) next year and is exploring potential projects. Mike Kent moved to subsume Sustainable Capitol Hill as a CHCC committee with specific initiatives and projects. George Bakan seconded the motion. All in attendance voted in favor and the motion passed.

Three Dollar Bill Cinema – The 16th annual Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival is going on from October 14 -23. Please follow this link for more info: http://www.seattlequeerfilm.com/

Lambert House – Come to this year’s All-Ages Halloween benefit dance and drag show, Nightmare on Capitol Hill, for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, adults, friends, family, and allies. Costumes encouraged. The event will be at All Pilgrims’ Christian Church (500 Broadway East) on Capitol Hill October 28th at 7 pm. The dance will include contests and a raffle. This is an alcohol and drug-free event.

Financial Update
Eric Sanders, Treasurer of CHCC, gave the financial update. CHCC currently has $161 in the checking account, $1,118 in the savings account, and the City of Seattle owes CHCC $737 as reimbursement via the 12th Avenue Transportation Safety Project matching grant. CHCC will be switching banks to BECU from Bank of America. It was noted that there was a clause in the CHCC bylaws that encourages donations from community members. After discussion, it was felt that when CHCC has specific projects, fundraisers would be appropriate as people are more apt to donate when there is a tangible project. It was noted that fundraisers don’t need to be large, logistically challenging events; CHCC could sponsor small, fun fundraisers.

Campaign Updates
12th Avenue Transportation Safety Project – SvR Design (http://www.svrdesign.com/) was recently engaged to provide project consulting. An important public meeting will be held next Wednesday, October 26, at 6pm at the Capitol Hill library at 425 Harvard Avenue East/corner of Republican. At the meeting, the community will be encouraged to give feedback and talk about what safety improvements they would like to see on the 12th Avenue project corridor. Thanks were given to George Bakan and Seattle Gay News for printing the public meeting flyers.

Complete Streetcar Campaign – See Proposition 1 discussion below.

Capitol Hill Champion – We are happy to announce that the City of Seattle just released the Urban Design Framework which will guide the redevelopment of the Capitol Hill light rail station site. Next steps – during late 2012, the city will release nationally a Request for Qualifications to developers for five discrete sections of the light rail site. Subsequently, the city will release a Request for Proposals, seeking much more in-depth proposals from potential developers. Follow this link for detailed information regarding the Urban Design Framework: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/CapHillStationArea/Overview/default.asp

Next Meeting
It was agreed to generally skip August and December meetings as many people are out-of-town on vacation/holiday. It was also agreed to permanently move meeting times to 6pm – 8pm. In addition, the goal will be to post signs at the Cal Anderson Shelter House and two other designated spots on Capitol Hill to keep those community members without internet/online access informed of the next meeting date.

THE NEXT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011 FROM 6PM – 8PM AT THE CAL ANDERSON SHELTER HOUSE.

Review Goals and Projects for next 8-12 Months
The CHCC officers recently met and developed a roster of general goals for the next year.
General goals for next year:
-Successfully implement the 12th Avenue Transportation Safety Project
-Obtain another neighborhood matching grant
-Continue to build relationships with other neighborhood groups
-Develop an enhanced communication strategy (social media, etc.)
-Get new banners and cards to place around the neighborhood, at council meetings, and at events (include QR code and ask Sound Transit to sponsor)
-Become the “go to” neighborhood group
-Create an annual budget; report on the budget at each meeting
-Throw a fundraiser for ourselves (pie in the face, holiday party)
-Get a 501(c)(3) sponsor for larger grants/donations
Long term goals:
-get a staff person (maybe part-time) to assist with admin, promotion, and coordination
-get a permanent home (possibly in new light rail station or 12th Avenue arts building)

Discussion of Proposition 1
Eric Sanders gave a brief background and summary of the City of Seattle Proposition 1. He mentioned that CHCC became involved via the Complete Streetcar Campaign because a portion of the funds raised if the proposition passes will be used to fund an engineering study to extend the First Hill streetcar line all the way down Broadway to Aloha. Via discussion, it was noted that the proposition is far from being perfect, including the fact that it is a regressive tax. However, many noted that the City of Seattle is constrained in the types of revenue they can raise without conducting a public vote. Most in attendance seemed to agree that although the proposition wasn’t perfect, the benefits it could provide the city and Capitol Hill were numerous. George Bakan made a motion that the Capitol Hill Community Council formally endorse Proposition 1. Mike Kent seconded the motion. There were 19 in favor, 0 not in favor, and 1 abstention, therefore the motion carries.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35pm.

Announcements and Updates from Neighbors:
-Capitol Hill Housing on 12th Avenue arts project
-Queer Youth Space project update
-Sustainable Capitol Hill
-Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce
-Capitol Hill Champion
-Sound Transit
-Others

Financial Update

Committee Updates

Meeting Schedule Through July 2012

Review Goals and Projects for the next 8-12 months

Neighborhood Summit Discussion

Discussion of Proposition 1

Time for Project Work and Small Group Discussions