Oct. Capitol Hill Community Council meeting: Pumpkin Guns and More

I'll start with my favorite piece of information I learned last meeting: there is a pumpkin gunner loose around Cal Anderson Park. Not shooting at pumpkins, shooting out pumpkins. Apparently they're small pumpkins, but still, the gun must the size of a small rocket launcher. We got the report from a concerned citizen who found pumpkin smeared all over his deck.

Not so funny public safety note from the Michael Yatsutake, East Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator: now that school is in session, teenagers are taking to home robbery in the afternoons. They'll knock on doors to see if anyone is home, and if they aren't, they'll come in and take their stuff. Delightful.

Michael Yatsutake also does home security surveys as part of his duties as EPCPC, along with personal safety presentations and business or block watch info/organization. You can get ahold of him at michael (dot) yatsutake (at) seattle (dot) gov, or you can find him at the East Precinct Station over on Pine and 12th.

Most of the meeting was a conversation about why SDOT is removing so many street trees from the area around the future Broadway Light Rail Station. The grand total is about a dozen from Denny, six outside of Chang's on Broadway, and three from inside Cal Anderson Park. The answer is that those trees are literally inside the excavation boundary, therefore they have to go when all the dirt goes.

The CHCC VP Charlette LeFevre along with a few community members want to see if those trees can be moved to another site - more about that soon. To everyone's relief, the landmark Chinese Scholar Tree in Cal Anderson is safe, even though a few of its arboreal neighbors aren't.

Speaking of the Light Rail Station - artist Denise Henrikson is creating a set of travelling art pieces to memorialize the buildings being removed to make room for the station. The pieces will be lanterns shaped as interpretations of each of the buildings being removed. Their first appearance will be on Oct. 24th at the Artist Trust (12th and Denny) from 6-8pm. Afterwards there will be a tour of the doomed buildings themselves.

Speaking of art - the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is still looking for help in coming up with a new "brand" for Capitol Hill. I thought they hired Kite for that, but I guess they want the neighbors to pitch in too. They meet every third Thursday, and the next meeting is on Thursday, November 20th at 6pm. The new Chamber office is in a little house on Thomas and 10th (or Federal?) right across the street from the Thomas St. P-Patch.

Also, the Community Council IS STILL LOOKING FOR A LOGO! Seriously, if you or someone you know is a graphic designer or a graphic design student, help us out.