Non-fatal shooting at 12th and King Street
A man was hospitalized after being shot at 12th Ave S and S King Street on August 28. Police responded around 6:42 p.m. and found a man in his 30s with a gunshot wound in his lower back. The man was taken to Harborview Medical Center. Police said his injuries were not life-threatening.
Police are searching for an adult male suspect who they said fled the scene. Police said the shooting happened after a fight escalated. The incident is still being investigated.
Large fiberglass relief artwork proposed on Gee How Oak Tin Building
The International Special Review District (ISRD) approved a plan to install a fiberglass relief sculpture on the north wall of the Gee How Oak Tin Building on 410 8th Ave S during the August 27 meeting. The art work consists of a huge image of a flowering branch constructed of fiberglass and bolted to the wall.
Paul Jackson, Director of Graffiti Programs & Initiatives with the Mayor’s Office, said the building owner requested help with preventing graffiti on the wall. “The property owner was ecstatic on the proposal,” Jackson said.
The building dates back to 1910 and is a secondary contributing building within the National Register District – meaning it has undergone modifications over time.
Within the last two years, the wall in question was painted without approval from the ISRD board, which reviews new constructions and exterior changes in the Chinatown International District. This is concerning because it can cause damage to the brick, threatening its structural integrity, noted ISRD coordinator Rebecca Frestedt during the meeting.
ISRD board members lamented that the proposal presented did not convey the story of the art work or its connection with Asian cultures. They also raised concerns about the art being tagged, citing the columns under I-5, which are frequently tagged. While graffiti artists and taggers may avoid covering each other’s work, art works that look abstract or lacking in “authorship” might be tagged more often, board member Kyle Jacobson suggested.
Jackson noted that the columns under I-5 are now covered in tags, and he is working on addressing the situation.
Board members also worried that bolting the art work to the wall could further weaken its structural integrity. After discussion, board members approved the proposal, noting that other regulations and approvals would address this structural issue.
City installing two outdoor seating structures by Gan Bei and Onibaba restaurants
As part of a pilot program intended to activate the CID neighborhood and improve business, the City is buying and installing two prefabricated outdoor seating structures outside Gan Bei restaurant and bar on S Weller Street, and Onibaba restaurant on S Main Street.
The Seattle Department of Transportation and the Office of Economic Development (OED) are collaborating on the project. They presented it to the International Special Review District (ISRD), which approved it during the August 27 meeting.
During business hours, the outdoor seating will only be available to customers. Outside business hours, they will be accessible to the public.
Philip Sitt, who works with OED, noted that the CID lacks outdoor seating options compared with neighborhoods like Ballard and Capitol Hill. The goal of the pilot is to test whether the outdoor seating generates revenue for the businesses. They will stay up through the FIFA World Cup 26, although the City can easily remove them any time if they cause problems.
The businesses were chosen because of their interest in the project, broad business hours, and location in the neighborhood. Gan Bei had already installed similar outdoor seating during the pandemic.
Seattle City Council considering ban on people charged with drug crimes from part of Chinatown International District
The Seattle City Council is considering legislation that would create two exclusion zones, called Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) zones, in downtown Seattle and the Chinatown International District. If made into law, Seattle Municipal judges could then issue orders banning people charged with or convicted of a drug-related crime in a SODA zone, including assault, harassment, theft, criminal trespass, property destruction, or unlawful use or possession of weapons “occurring in a designated SODA zone in which the court finds a nexus between the offense and illegal drug activity.”
The legislation was proposed by City Attorney Ann Davison, who cited public safety concerns, drug activity, and overdose deaths.
The proposed SODA zone in the CID stretches from the I-5 and I-90 interchange into Little Saigon and ends at Rainier Ave S to the east. It is bound to the north by S Main Street and on the south by S Dearborn Street. The downtown SODA zone covers 1st Avenue to 6th Avenue between University and Stewart streets.
If the legislation is approved, a person under a SODA order caught in one of these area could be charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and/or a $5,000 dollar fine.
People under a SODA order would still be able to ride public transport through these areas, attend court hearings, and other exceptions. Although Davison said the zones were designed not to bar people from accessing social services, PubliCola reported that service providers exist within the SODA zone, including the Seattle Indian Health Board.
The public safety committee plans to discuss this legislation at their next meeting on September 10.
Massage Parlor Outreach Project opposes City Council’s proposed prostitution exclusion law in north Seattle
The Seattle City Council is also considering legislation that would create a similar zone called Stay Out of Area of Prostitution (SOAP). This zone is not in the CID, but instead covers from N 85th Street to N 145th Street in north Seattle. It would create a gross misdemeanor crime for entering the SOAP zone while under a SOAP order or “promoting loitering for the purpose of prostitution.”
In August, the Massage Parlor Outreach Project (MPOP), which works to support migrant Asian massage parlor workers, sex workers, and care workers in the greater Seattle area, including the CID, encouraged supporters to speak out against the SOAP legislation during the Council’s public comment period. In an Instagram post, MPOP argued that the law could target anyone accompanying a sex worker, and promote “racial discrimination and profiling around who is a sex worker and patron.” MPOP also said the bill would prevent sex workers from accessing services in the SOAP area, and falsely promotes the idea that all sex workers are trafficking victims and “are without agency and must be ‘saved.’ Massage workers and sex workers have shared experiences of police harassment and criminalization done in the name of ‘rescue.’”
In proposing these laws, the Council is reviving drug and prostitution loitering laws that the City Council repealed in 2020. That year, council members repealed the laws during the George Floyd protests, under the recommendations of the Seattle Reentry Work Group.
