Category: Seattle

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Thursday/ a beautiful day

It was a beautiful day here in the city of Seattle — sunny, 75°F /24°C.

Late afternoon, with sunlight still striking the peak of Mt Rainier in the distance. [Source: Space Needle @space_needle on Twitter]
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Sunday/ Denny Way construction

Here are pictures of the construction projects that line Denny Way just west of Interstate 5, that I had taken on Friday at dusk.
Presumably, work on these projects have started up again (while meeting the Covid-19 guidelines published by Washington State).

These are the two towers of the massive 1120 Denny Way apartment building (1,179 apartments), seen from Melrose Ave looking west.
The 40-story, 440-ft Nexus Tower on the left, with its 389 condominiums, is now complete. A handful of units are still available, including 8 penthouses (1,400 sq ft), says the website. My guess is that the asking price for each is around $2.5 million. The big expensive penthouses of 3,000 sq ft were rumored to have sold for some $5 million. On the right is the Kinects Tower apartment complex with its wedge profile (constructed in 2017).
Panning a little to the left with Denny Way crossing I-5, shows the construction of mixed-use buildings on the south of Denny Way, across from the Seattle City Light Denny Substation. I’ll make my way down there soon for a closer look. When it’s all done, there will be a pair of 44-story apartment buildings, and yet another, a 41-story apartment building.
Here is a picture similar to the one I had taken in December, from higher up on Denny Way, showing that the Space Needle is getting obscured. A few more floors on the 1120 Denny Way apartment have gotten their glass skins, but progress has been slow.
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Tuesday/ 15th Avenue

The light rain that we had on and off today, stopped for a bit, and I went for a walk on 15th Avenue at around 8 pm.
The restaurants lining the street are not yet open for any sit-down customers, nor is Rudy’s Barbershop.
The No 10 bus rolled by: completely empty, with its electronic sign saying ESSENTIAL TRIPS ONLY.

The little lights on The Red Balloon toy & gift card shop bring a little cheer to 15th Avenue. Across the street the QFC grocery store has boarded up windows (to protect against marauding rioters); but I see they are open longer hours again, 7 am to 11 pm. The food pick-up sign is for the Coastal Kitchen restaurant. Pick-up at most restaurants close at 8 pm. One wonders if ANY of them make enough money, to cover even half of all their expenses.
The T-junction by Uncle Ike (purveyor of marijuana products) is getting a makeover. Those orange & white barriers are also a feature streets where police try to keep protestors away from some areas (they don’t always succeed!).
The Space Needle in the distance, seen from 14th Avenue. Time is 8.22 pm, says the timestamp from my phone. Pacific Northwest daytime is almost at its longest, with sunset now at 9.06 pm.
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Sunday/ another rough night on Capitol Hill

It was beautiful outside, this afternoon as I walked down to Madison Park .. but tonight there was trouble again in Capitol Hill, Seattle, with the protests.
A madman drove towards the crowds and shot a 27-year old guy. He then got out of his car and brandished his gun. He is now in custody and the wounded man is in stable condition.

As I write here it’s after midnight (into Monday morning), and I can hear the popping sounds of the flash-bangs as police are trying to disperse the crowds, telling them to go home.

Scenes shortly after midnight in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Lots of smoke.
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Wednesday/ still protesting

Long past midnight last night, I could still hear the police helicopter hover over the protesters here in Seattle’s Capitol Hill. It is less than a mile from my house, as the crow flies.

The protesters are out there again tonight. A curfew that had been in place, was lifted, though. I really hope the ugly scenes of Saturday night are behind us.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has upgraded the charge against former police officer Chauvin to second-degree murder. The other three officers that had been with him, have now been charged as well — of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

The protesters in the crowd that are protesting police brutality against George Floyd for a 6th night, seen from the 3rd floor of a nearby building. The umbrellas are there to help deflect tear gas canisters, a Hong Kong tactic. Probably too few umbrellas, though! .. but hopefully things will stay peaceful. Also: not a good thing that so many people are gathered in one place with the corona virus still very much in circulation. What are people to do, though, that are protesting generations of marginalization and economic inequality? A 2011 National Institutes of Health study found that some 2.3% of deaths – 50,000 people – in the United States yearly, are due to poverty/ lack of access to affordable healthcare.  
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Monday/ stay home (some more) & eat ice cream

Washington State’s Stay Home order officially expired on Sunday night.
Some counties have moved to Phase 2, but not so for King County and Seattle. (Phase 1 is strictest, then Phase 2, 3 and 4. Phase 4 is the one which allows big sporting events and concerts, but still urges at-risk populations to practice social distancing and good hand hygiene).

It seems it will be really hard for King County to get its new Covid cases under 25 per 100,000 population soon (required for Phase 2). Even so, the County will immediately apply for a modified Phase 1 transition, to get some stores, businesses and restaurants to open a limited fashion.

These pictures are from the Molly Moon ice cream store on Pine St, today.

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Saturday/ ugly scenes in downtown

You know it has to be bad when multiple emergency alert messages pop up on your phone.

In downtown Seattle today, a peaceful protest march was turned into a destructive riot, with evil-doers throwing Molotov cocktails and other objects at police, breaking storefront windows, looting them, and setting three or four vehicles on fire.

Seasoned reporters say this one was the worst since the 1999 World Trade Organization protests here in the city.

A curfew is now in place for tonight & tomorrow night, and the National Guard has been called in by the governor.

 

A police van burning in downtown Seattle today. It’s 4.12 pm, says the clock on the left. The peaceful march started at 3 pm. [Picture from King5.com]
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Friday/ stay away from downtown

The streets were all quiet around Capitol Hill tonight as I walked down to Broadway at around 7.

Later on tonight, protesters squared off with police in downtown Seattle, though .. same as in many cities in the US tonight: Atlanta*, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St Paul (of course), New York City, Washington DC.

*Where CNN’s headquarters is being attacked by the very protesters (turned rioters) that they had supported as noble & just.

‘Hello Sir! Are you from the Seattle Times?’ inquired the young people on the rooftop of the Broadway Market building. I was taking pictures below with my journalist-grade camera. Oh, no, nooo, I said, shaking my head. Do you want me to take a picture of you? Yes, yes, they said. (I don’t have any of their names).
Artwork on the outside of the Urban Outfitters store in the Broadway Market building. I guess time will tell if this clothing store will survive the pandemic.
The side of the Broadway Market building. It was built in 1928 as a 25,000 sq ft complex of food markets. Condominiums were added at the back in the 1990s, and today there are several businesses housed in the building besides the QFC grocery store.

 

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Tuesday/ King Neptune

Here is the artwork from the boarded-up Coastal Kitchen restaurant on 15th Avenue.

The art features King Neptune, the ancient Roman god of the sea. I think it’s King Neptune. There is also Poseidon*, the Greek god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.

*In the Oscar-winning movie The Poseidon Adventure (1972), the SS Poseidon was making her way to Athens, Greece.

Coastal Kitchen on an almost-deserted 15th Ave. ‘Essential Trips Only’, says the No 10 bus approaching in the distance. ‘Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise’, says the lettering on the main window of the restaurant.
Let’s see: a banjo-playing narwhal, a tambourine-playing mermaid, and a concertina-playing walrus. King Neptune (middle panel, a little squished) is reading from a scroll.
The walrus and the mermaid, with a harmonica-playing seagull.
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Sunday

There was sun this afternoon, after a few days of on and off rain (64 °F/ 17 °C).
It was good to escape from the house for a bit, and take a few pictures of birds and bees and blooms.

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Wednesday/ Pike & Pine street art

Many more works of art have appeared in the last month or so, on the boarded-up storefronts that line Pike and Pine St here in Capitol Hill, Seattle.
Here are a few.

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Tuesday/ a little bike ride

My friends and I celebrated the nice spring weather (70 °F/ 21 °C) with a little bike ride today.
Some restrictions on outdoor activities here in Washington State have also been lifted, as of today. Golf courses are now open, and some State parks for day use.

My get-up for the ride: shades & old camouflage-hat. There’s a black skull & crossbones printed on the side of the hat, signaling ‘Stay Away From Me, 6 feet!’. (And no, that’s not a wheelbarrow, it’s my Jump electric-assisted bicycle from Uber).
Arrived at the Seattle Waterfront, at Ivar’s ‘Acres of Clams’ seafood restaurant. The restaurant is still closed, of course, but we had fish & chips take-out for lunch.
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Friday/ here’s May, as the pandemic churns

Welp. Washington State stays home for now, until May 31. Some restrictions are expected to be lifted by mid-May, though (go to Phase 2 of 4 phases).

Phase 2 allows –
• All outdoor recreation involving fewer than 5 people outside one’s household (camping, beaches, hiking trails and so on);
• Gather with no more than 5 people outside one’s household per week;
• Limited non-essential travel within proximity of one’s home;
• Non-essential businesses can open, such as manufacturing, construction, domestic services, in-store purchases allowed with restrictions, professional services (but teleworking is encouraged), hair and nail salons, restaurants < 50% capacity & table sizes < 5.

What should happen as States open up, is to go back to Square One.
Do lots of testing, especially of symptomatic people, and do contact tracing for persons testing positive.
It looks like testing remains an insurmountable challenge in America, though. The Senate will resume business in Washington DC this coming week .. but the Capitol Hill physician says there are not enough kits to test each Senator. How in the living daylights, in the month of May, is this possible?

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Wednesday/ Earth Day turns 50

Happy Earth Day!  

Denis Hayes, who coordinated the first Earth Day 50 years ago, April 22, 1970, was a graduate student at Harvard at the time. These days he is president and C.E.O. of the Bullitt Foundation, wdenbis hayes hich funds environmental causes in Seattle. He is chairman emeritus of Earth Day 2020.

Hayes wrote in an essay in the Seattle Times, saying that ‘Covid-19 robbed us of Earth Day this year. So let’s make Election Day Earth Day.’ He wants his readers to participate in the ‘The Most Important Election of Your Lifetime’. ‘This November 3,’ he wrote, ‘vote for the Earth.’

More robin pictures. I took these on Sunday, and the tree is the Douglas fir in my backyard.

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Tuesday/ two rabbits

I spotted two little rabbits here on 17th Ave tonight. Below is a picture of one of them.
Can rabbit populations grow exponentially, as well? Yes, sure can. A female rabbit can give birth to several litters in one year, with up to 12 baby rabbits per litter. Yikes.

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Saturday/ a little rain

There was a little rain this morning — just a sprinkle.
This afternoon Mr Robin came by (American robin, Turdus migratorius). He sat still on the fence for just long enough so that I could snap him.