The report released to CHS by the Seattle Police Department this week reflects only the preliminary investigation including details from three people who witnessed the Monday, June 1st crash that took the life of Christian Salyer.

A larger SPD Traffic Collision Investigation Squad investigation was being conducted to determine any fault in the incident.

The Recology recycling truck driver was evaluated for impairment at the scene. No citations were issued.

According to the just released report, the driver told police he was turning the large truck right onto Yesler from 12th Ave when he “heard people shouting.”

SPD says both the truck driver and the bicyclist were headed southbound on 12th Ave before the 4:30 PM crash. From the driver and witness accounts, SPD says the light was green “changing to yellow.”

According to the police report, Salyer was attempting to ride through the intersection when the collision occurred.

The arriving officer reported the rider had suffered “grave injuries” including crush injuries.

Salyer, 30, died at the scene.

Last Saturday, riders, walkers, loved ones, and community members gathered at the intersection to place a memorial “ghost bike” and remember Salyer as a Thurgood Marshall Elementary teacher and cyclist.

The rally also was a reminder of ongoing community efforts led by Central Seattle Streets For All that have pushed for better designs and safety features in the area where the two busy arterials meet including a 2019 plan that scrapped a protected bike lane along 12th Ave and more Seattle Department of Transportation promises made as part of the 2024 levy.

The push for the protected lane has continued.

SDOT made its latest update on the sprawling “12th Ave Vision Zero Safety Corridor” plan that stretches all the way from E Aloha to S Weller in January saying the project was being focused on the stretch between E Yesler Way and S Weller.

“This area has a high number of crashes, including serious ones,” the five-month-old update reads.

SDOT says it has been “analyzing traffic data and modeling preliminary design alternatives” and plans community discussions about any changes through the end of this year and into next. Construction on the resulting designs in the Yesler to Weller “Phase 2” of the project isn’t slated to take place until “late 2027.”

SPD says the TSCI investigation is ongoing. “Investigations like these take an extended period due to warrants, reconstruction, and various other items that are very time intensive,” a department spokesperson tells CHS.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support

(Image: Seattle Social Housing Developer)

More than 10,000 people have applied to live in Elara at the Market, the first building to be acquired and converted to affordable housing by the city’s new Seattle Social Housing program.

For now, only 15 will be selected.

The Elara, just steps from Pike Place Market, has 150 units but most of those apartments in the acquired building already have tenants. The lottery process underway begins with the first 15 vacancies, officials said.

Real Change reports the first 15 units will be available to households making 30% or less of the area median income.

Rents are expected to range from $660 for a studio to just under $1,500 for two bedrooms,

CHS reported here on the major milestone for the Seattle Social Housing Developer as it acquired its first building in a $60 million deal. At $400,000 a unit, SSHD officials say the purchase of the 2017-built Western Ave apartment building falls below recent downtown sales for comparable buildings.

CHS reported in February as a stronger than expected tax boost powered SSHD to a $115 million start on its mission to acquire and develop affordable housing in the city thanks to the first payments from the voter-approved February 2025 Prop 1A 5% tax on employers that pay any employee more than $1 million in compensation.

Tenants of SSHD properties must fall in strict income categories. Under the social housing model, units are tied to income tiers. SSHD plans to fill 60 units of deeply affordable housing this year, dedicating the first 15 upcoming vacancies to households at or below 30% of the median income and another 45 units to those between 30% and 50% AMI.

Other changes for Elara residents include SSHD’s elimination of bike storage and pest control fees, transitioning from the Ratio Utility Billing System, and freezing current lease rents through June 2028. Additionally, tenants will receive free, one-year ORCA passes subsidized by King County Metro.

Application processes for new buildings can be illustrative of the massive demand for more affordable housing in the city. But they also can show the challenges of finding qualified tenants.

In 2020 as the affordable Station House development above Capitol Hill Station prepared to open, more than 1,300 people applied for the project’s 110 affordable apartments. Station House’s mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units are available to those earning at or below 30%, 50%, and 60% of area median income.

Despite the influx of interest, developer Community Roots Housing was still seeking qualified applicants by the time the building opened to resident months later.

Community Roots has been hosting “drop-in” sessions to help connect more potential tenants with vacancies at its affordable buildings.

Proving eligibility can be onerous. You’ll need to bring, ID for all adults 18+, birth certificates for minors, income verification “such as your last 6 paystubs, a Social Security award letter, pension information, self-employment verification, rental history for the last 2 years, and bank account information, the developer says.

You can learn more about SSHD’s housing opportunities and lottery process here.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support

Mayor Katie Wilson

Wilson named Shannon Smith as the city’s new CTO. Smith steps into the role to lead the Seattle Information Technology Department, managing an organization of over 600 employees and an annual budget of roughly $300 million.

Smith is a public-sector tech veteran with over 18 years of regional experience, including past leadership roles with King County, the City of Bellevue, and the City of Seattle. Most recently, Smith served as the director of public sector at CAI, a global IT consulting firm.

Smith is replacing Rob Lloyd, who stepped down earlier this year. Lloyd is now executive director of the Center for Digital Government.

As CTO, Smith will join an administration wrestling with key technology issues including a moratorium on new data centers and the expansion of the Seattle Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center camera system.

“We are eager to collaborate with Shannon Smith to find new ways of using technology to continuously improve how the Seattle Police Department serves and protects our community at a time when technology is rapidly changing. Shannon will be an invaluable partner to our department,” Chief Shon Barnes said in the mayor’s announcement. “Not only does she have extensive experience in this field, but she is also committed to harnessing technology to make local government more effective and transparent.”

In her new position, Wilson’s office said Smith will focus on advancing the city’s commitment to transparent, efficient, and equitable digital services, adding that her expertise in artificial intelligence governance, cybersecurity, and data strategy will guide Seattle as it modernizes municipal services.

Smith’s appointment must be confirmed by the Seattle City Council.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support

(Image: Aviv Hummus Bar)

Owners Jodi and David Nussbaum are turning to the community to help Capitol HIll’s Aviv Hummus Bar become kosher certified.

Aviv has launched a community fundraiser to support the changes required to achieve certification.

“One of the most common questions we have gotten from customers is ‘Would you ever become kosher?,'” they write. “Well, we are excited to announce that that day has finally come! By pursuing kosher certification with the Vaad of Seattle we hope to expand our Aviv community, while continuing to serve our years-long loyal customer base.”

CHS last visited with Aviv in 2022 as the 15th Ave E restaurant marked its five year anniversary. David Nussbaum talked with CHS about his passion for Israeli food and, especially, his love for smooth, nutty hummus.

“It’s a lifestyle. It’s simple, it’s sexy, it’s delicious. It can be eaten any time of the day; breakfast, lunch, dinner,” Nussbaum said. “ I’m really a purist when it comes to it. Keep it simple and clean and the nuttiness of the chickpea and the tahini come forward. It’s life changing.”

As the war in Gaza has generated international alarm and concerns spanning human suffering and instability in the region, there has been criticism of Aviv for its Israel connections.

CHS first talked with Nussbaum in 2017 as he was preparing to debut the restaurant. The Aviv menu was inspired by his travels and visits with family in Israel, Nussbaum said.

Aviv is also Nussbaum’s middle name and means spring in Hebrew, invoking thoughts of fresh and new that he hoped to bring to the restaurant.

“We are two Seattle-area natives, descendants of proud Israelis who fell in love and opened this restaurant with the hopes of creating a little piece of our other home, here,” the Nussbaums wrote this week as they thanked supporters for backing their effort to become kosher cerified.

The process of transforming Aviv’s 15th Ave E kitchen will cost around $20,000, the owners estimate, including labor costs, new equipment, a hand-washing sink for customers, the certification fee, and mashgiach services for the first year, plus the costs of switching over including a week-long closure to complete the koshering.

Becoming kosher will also be joined by plans to make it easier to serve families. The Nussbaums say they are planning expanded hours for Aviv “to accommodate after-school dinner dining and pick-up” plus the addition of a few larger tables.

Aviv Hummus Bar is located at 107 15th Ave E. You can learn more at avivhummusbar.com.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support

Broadway Hill Park is turning 10.

CHS introduced the new, just over a quarter acre public space in late June, 2016 as the last of its kind — a complete park with 12,000 square feet of grass, benches, community gardening space, and a BBQ grill in the middle of Capitol Hill.

We thought the BBQ would be more popular but like many features of Seattle’s parks as the city’s addiction and homelessness crises continue, the amenity also became another symbol of the challenges faced by the city’s public spaces.

2026, its decade anniversary, began with Broadway Hill Park part of a Seattle Parks and Recreation Department restart for the parks of “South Capitol Hill” over issues of public disorder and camping in the spaces. The fences finally came down after a long closure at Broadway Hill’s cousin Seven Hills Park this winter. The new plan includes efforts to do more to maintain and clean the parks while the city has also tried to connect neighbors and community groups to the parks for events and gatherings.

Broadway Hill Park also does mostly fine on its own with community garden spaces and regular visits on neighborhood dog walks. The city has doubled down on the natural canine connection to open, grassy spaces with a Capitol Hill Healthy Hike and “dog agility equipment” plan hoped to also keep the spaces busy.

Its anniversary arrives as Seattle is grappling with more than concerns about disorder and encampments in its public spaces. How its parks are managed and policed has also been, literally, on trial. One example is the fallout from the Seattle Police Department’s May 2025 crackdown on counter-protesters against an anti-trans rally in Cal Anderson Park. Another is the trial underway in the lawsuit brought by neighbors against the city over Denny Blaine Park’s place as a gathering space for nudity and alternative communities. Closing arguments in that case are expected to begin Thursday.

Broadway Hill’s origin story begins more than 10 years ago.

In 2010, Seattle Parks acquired the land at the corner for Federal and Republican in 2010 for $2 million after a townhome project slated for the property fell through. In the time since the project started.

Broadway Hill was the last in a small wave of small parks investments around Capitol Hill by the city. Parks and rec opened small greenspaces just off E Olive Way at the garden-filled, (and, for a time, skateboard-popular) Summit Slope Park and near 15th Ave at the then- sleepy Seven Hills Park. It opened 12th Ave Square Park across from Seattle U with woonerf-y paved square featuring sculptures and seating. CHS marked 12th Ave Square’s 10-year birthday here, by the way.

Broadway Hill Park was conceived as a grassy neighborhood “front porch” with a design by SiteWorkshop. The costs a decade later seem practically quaint. A $750,000 construction budget from the parks levy was augmented by $37,500 in grants matched in volunteer time and effort by neighbors dedicated to creating the new park.

The park’s name is a nod to early Capitol Hill. People really did call the Capitol Hill area Broadway Hill at one point. As the new park took shape, officials settled on Broadway Hill Park to acknowledge the history.

The neighborhood has slowly grown up around the park through its ten years with a few new apartment and townhome projects rising nearby. A 58-unit apartment building now rises to the north. A development of six townhomes overlooks the park on the east. The Sharyn Grayson House — A King County Health Through Housing Capitol Hill apartment building — opened nearby last year. Officials seemed to expect more growth in the area. The park was chosen as the site in 2017 for then-Mayor Tim Burgess to launch the rollout of City Hall’s Mandatory Housing Affordability proposal. Three years later, the pandemic’s economic impacts would fully reset Seattle’s development path.

As for our predictions that Broadway Hill Park might be the last of its kind, we’ll let you decide. Cayton Corner Park opened along E Madison in 2025 but is half Broadway Hill’s size. A park of another style is also in the works. There might not be funding to begin work on it until 2029, but plans are being shaped for the 1.6-acre Bullitt property in the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District.

Broadway Hill Park is located at 500 Federal AVE E.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support