Seattle Fire

The leak was reported just before 5:30 PM and multiple people from inside the center’s Banfield Pet Hospital were being evaluated for exposure to the gas, according to emergency radio updates.

Seattle Fire crews were establishing a quarantine area around the clinic and a portion of the shopping center’s parking lot above Harvard Ave and Pike as they evaluated the leak and any further risks the gas might pose.

None of the people evaluated at the scene required transport to the hospital.

There were no reports of injuries to animals related to the incident.

Other Harvard Market businesses including the street level QFC were not immediately evacuated.

CHS reported last week on the sale of the shopping center to San Diego-based developer Tourmaline Capital for $14.2 million.

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(Image: Sutabaka via Google Maps)

Starbucks is shuttering four more union cafes in Seattle including one of the few remaining stand-alone stores in the central city on First Hill.

The coffee giant announced its latest round of closures this week including the 1101 Madison shop. The planned early April shutdown of the cafe typically busy with area medical workers and people in the area for checkups, exams, and health care appointments will mark the company’s near full exit from Capitol Hill, First Hill, and the Central District. Three other Seattle cafes included in the closures are also union organized. A fifth is not.

The company says the closures are due to factors including customer experience and financial performance.

Starbucks Workers United, which represents the company’s unionized workers, has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board over the closures.

The long, dragged out exit of Starbucks from its past cafe strategies to its current focus on smaller, cheaper placements inside grocery stores in cities and car-focused drive-thru locations in the nation’s more suburban environments has left areas around Capitol Hill pocked with the detritus of the pullback.

Capitol Hill’s most stark example is the massive shuttered Starbucks Roastery on Melrose that the company suddenly pulled the plug on in September. Melrose roastery workers at the massive store, roasting plant, restaurant, and cafe voted to unionize in 2022.

Other wounds have healed including on E Olive Way where All the Best now fills the old “Capitol Hill Gaybucks” building with pet supplies and services.

Starbucks has continued to cut ties to its birth city. selecting Tennessee for the location of some of its new corporate offices.

Meanwhile, our area’s most famous Starbucks neighbor is leaving the neighborhood. Madison Park’s Reed Estate resident Howard Schultz who led the coffee giant to becoming a worldwide brand and dabbled with political power as he toyed with a possible independent run for president, announced via social media that he and his wife are leaving Seattle for Florida as they have reached “the retirement phase” of life. Schultz says the Schultz Family Foundation will continue its philanthropic work in the city.

The Madison Park Starbucks is now one of the coffee giant’s few remaining cafes not inside a grocery or a medical facility in the area. Somehow, the Starbucks at 12th Ave and Columbia across from Seattle University also has survived the cuts.

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The 911 logs for Tuesday night’s incident at the Capitol Hill Library

Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Katie Wilson announced her proposal for the city’s next levy to fund the Seattle Public Library system.

Tuesday night brought a sad reminder on Capitol Hill of the challenging place the city’s libraries fill in their communities.

Just hours after Wilson’s announcement, Seattle Fire and Seattle Police were called to Harvard Ave’s Capitol Hill Library after a man was found unconscious and not breathing in the upstairs bathroom.

In the just after 5 PM call, 911 operators began trying to assist with telephone CPR before emergency responders could arrive. Seattle Fire crews made their way to the upper floor and took over but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Seattle Fire reported the incident as an overdose response.

The death was the second inside a city library branch reported in weeks in the system. A 41-year-old man died inside the Rainier Beach library in February in an incident that the medical examiner investigation ruled was due to “chronic alcohol use.”

Tuesday following the death, the Harvard Ave branch was cleared of patrons and closed for the night.

UPDATE: A library spokesperson tells CHS that the Capitol Hill branch will remain closed Wednesday:

We are very sorry to share that a patron passed away at the Capitol Hill Branch yesterday evening shortly before the branch was scheduled to close.

Branch staff found an unresponsive patron, called 911, and worked to administer life-saving procedures. Medics arrived and declared the patron deceased shortly after. We are grateful for the care shown by Capitol Hill Branch staff, and we are so sorry for this loss in our community.

Due to the impactful nature of this incident, we have kept the branch closed today.

The death comes as Seattle must shape a new levy to grow and maintain its system of 27 libraries in the city while also improving safety and security at the facilities.

Wilson’s newly announced levy proposal would replace the expiring 2019 voter approved version with a new package of more robust funding totaling around $59 million a year from 2027 to 2033. The previous levy weighed in at $31.3 million a year.

Included in the jump would be millions for security and social services including a planned $11 million to fund security personnel and $1.2 million to support social service referrals.

The bulk of the funding — $218.4 — would support maintaining current operating hours at the branches while increasing spending on all-ages programs and the new security.

“Seattle is a city of readers. From toddlers discovering their first stories to seniors finding connection and lifelong learning, our libraries belong to everyone,” Wilson said in her announcement of the proposal. “Investing in our libraries means investing in every community member, and in the shared public spaces that help our city learn, grow, imagine, and thrive together.”

Wilson’s proposal comes as Seattle is nearing a legal limit on property taxes. CHS reported here on a city hall analysis showing Seattle’s property tax structure is currently operating only about $780 million below legal limits, necessitating a “capacity reserve” to manage potential fluctuations in property values.

According to the analysis, if property values don’t rise, the first challenge will come with the needed renewal of the current Library Levy at the end of the year which must draw on this $780 million over 7 years capacity. Families & Education (2031) and Transportation (2032) levies will also require renewal in the coming years.

The new library levy proposal now moves to the Seattle City Council to shape the package for the August ballot. The first council library committee meeting on the proposal with chair Maritza Rivera is taking place Wednesday morning.

Learn more at spl.org.

2026 Library Levy Proposal Components

Hours & Access: $218.4 million

Includes continued funding for:

• Open hours: Continued 5-, 6- or 7-day service at all Library locations
• Early literacy: Multilingual Play & Learns for children ages 0-5 at 7 locations
• Social service referrals: Provides one community resource specialist
• Security: Funds nine of the Library’s 24 security personnel

Adds more funding for:

• More all-ages programs: $12.6 million
  • More story times and other literacy programs at more locations
  • More classes and workshops to help people achieve life goals
  • More events that help bring joy and connection to people’s lives
• Increased security and emergency preparedness: $7.7 million
  • Adds three security officers; upgrades security systems
• Establish Office of Inclusion and Belonging: $2.4 million
  • Focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility

Collections: $58.5 million

Includes continued funding for:

• Books and materials
• Fine-free borrowing
• Collections and shelving staff

Adds more funding for:

• More physical books: $2.2 million
• More e-books and e-audiobooks: $2.4 million

Building Maintenance: $85.9 million

Includes continued funding for:

• Routine and major maintenance
• Facility support (deep cleanings, power washing, window washing, etc.)
• Library furniture
• Capital improvement staffing and administration
• Custodial and building maintenance staffing

Adds more funding for:

• Priority and deferred maintenance: $10 million
  • Address potential life/safety concerns
  • Replace end-of-life systems and infrastructure
  • Improve ADA accessibility across the system
• Seismic retrofit of historic Columbia Branch: $13 million
  • Improve seismic safety and sustainability
  • Improve public space
• Increase facility and custodial support: $5.9 million
  • Address window, plumbing, and HVAC repairs
  • Maintain elevators and escalators at 10 locations

Technology & Online Services: $38.2 million

Includes continued funding for:

• Public and staff computers
• Printing and copying services
• Wi-Fi HotSpots
• IT and Online Services staffing

Adds more funding for:

• Upgrading IT infrastructure: $5 million
  • Improve infrastructure for a continued fast, stable, secure Library network
• Strengthening IT systems and cybersecurity: $7.4 million
  • Increase oversight and management of critical data and systems, improve management of mobile devices, modernize end-of-life legacy systems

Administration: $9 million

Includes continued funding for:

• Levy administration
• Rate-based allocation of costs for centralized services provided by the City of Seattle

Adds more funding for:

• Human Resources staffing: $2.3 million

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CORRECTION: Our original report contained an error regarding revenue allocation. The bulk of revenue will go to the state’s general fund

Washington’s push for an income tax is nearing its next phase — surviving legal challenges.

The Millionaires Tax proposal is at the center of a brewing political fight in the state’s 43rd District including Capitol Hill as Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen will face a reelection battle this summer with labor organizer Hannah Sabio-Howell over complaints of compromises and corporate carveouts under his leadership in Olympia.

While Sabio-Howell says the Pedersen-led compromise doesn’t go far enough by delaying funding until 2029, rolling back needed sales taxes, and not pursuing a broader wealth tax, even the compromise version brought a full 24 hours of debate in Olympia and loud complaints about what opponents say will only be the first step in extending an income tax to everyone.

Washington state lawmakers are advancing Senate Bill 6346, the new “millionaires tax” imposing a 9.9% state income tax on personal annual earnings exceeding $1 million.

The measure passed the State House yesterday and will return to the Senate before heading to Governor Bob Ferguson, who has pledged to sign it before the legislative session ends Thursday — but not before demanding the bill include rollbacks on recent sales tax changes. CORRECTION: We’ve updated the remaining steps to include a concurrence from the Senate before the bill goes to the governor. Thanks for the help, readers!

Slated to take effect in 2029, the state’s first income tax would apply to only to the portion of earnings above $1 million for both single and joint filers. Affecting under 1% of residents, it is estimated to generate up to $3.5 billion annually.

Liability starts with federal adjusted gross income, minus a $1 million standard deduction and specific exclusions for real estate sales, family-owned businesses, and certain pensions.

Supporters say the tax balances Washington’s regressive system, funding free K-12 school meals, expanded tax credits, and eliminating sales tax on essentials. Opponents warn it will drive wealth and businesses out of state and claim the tax is the start of efforts to institute a full income tax in the state.

Given Washington’s history of striking down income taxes, the legislation faces likely constitutional challenges at the State Supreme Court and potential ballot initiatives.

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(Image: Mt. Joy)

Whatever is going on with the chicken sandwich shop experiment in food and drink capitalism that is Mt. Joy, its original Capitol Hill location has been shuttered and has been listed as “temporarily closed” in online searches.

Messages to the three-year-old sustainable chicken sandwich venture have gone unanswered — though it isn’t clear which entrepreneur CHS should be dogging.

The food start-up’s social media hasn’t been updated since June. That’s when the state’s business licensing paperwork also shifted control of the 11th Ave restaurant to a new corporate entity under Daniel Brawer, founder of the Conscious Hospitality Group.

The quiet changes and silent shutdown are a major shift from the much-hyped launch of Mt. Joy.

CHS broke the news in December of 2022 on tech investor Robbie Cape’s plans to team up with prolific Capitol Hill and Seattle-wide restaurateur Ethan Stowell to launch Mt. Joy at 11th and Pine in a portion of the space formerly home to the massive Stout Pub with the first of what they said they said would hatch into a 1,000 or more location chain.

The first Mt. Joy finally opened at 11th and Pine in late 2023. A second followed in South Lake Union. There hasn’t been a third.

11th and Pine had also been lined up to be home to a new location of the national Sweetgreen salad chain — a project delayed for years coming out of the 2020 protests and the pandemic. CHS headlined its story about the plans for Sweetgreen, “CHOP salad.” The combination of Mt. Joy and Sweetgreen — including its “Infinite Kitchen technology” and automated salad chutes — made this stretch of 11th a little pocket of new era fast food.

Just over three years after its opening, it is not clear what the ownership mix is at Mt. Joy but licenses and permits point back to the Conscious Hospitality Group, an investment group based, apparently, on Mercer Island and currently with its thumbs in a surprisingly robust roster of restaurants and cafe concepts including Just Poké, Sugo Handroll Bar, Matcha Magic, KODE Pizza, Club Seltzer, EatDirt , Sano, and Hap’s Burgers & Taps. You can find a Just Poke on Broadway and a Matcha Magic outlet opened on 11th Ave next to Mt. Joy.

“We are committed to incubating and scaling purpose-driven concepts through strategic capital, connections, and infrastructure support,” the Conscious pitch goes. “Our new brand, symbolized by a cloud logo, embodies our dedication to health, sustainability, integrity, and mindfulness.”

As for those Mt. Joy chicken sandwiches — and the mushroom sandwiches that reportedly were one of the great late night vegetarian eats on Capitol Hill — it looks like Conscious Hospitality Group has had a change in plans about 11th Ave and the future of the chain. The Mt. Joy in South Lake Union is also shuttered.

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