25 Jan Pioneer Square in the News

NEWS

Police Investigating Gang Connection In Pioneer Square Shooting (SeattleCrime.com)
SPD’s gang unit has taken over the investigation of a Monday morning shooting in Pioneer Square.

Downtown Seattle office market slumping: Reports (Puget Sound Business Journal)
The combined vacancy rate for the Pioneer Square, Financial District, Denny Regrade, Lake Union and Queen Anne office submarkets soared to 18.9 percent, marking seven straight quarters of increasing vacancy since early 2008.

Volunteers brighten lives with paint at Union Hotel (Seattle Times)
The Union Hotel is only one part of a project called “Live in Colors,” where volunteers plan to paint all eight DESC supportive housing sites this year. If you’re interested in getting involved, call Isa D’Arleans at 206-297-7164 or e-mail isa@isadarleans.com.

Seattle’s Pike/Pine corridor does density right (Seattle Times)
An article praising Capitol Hill as a “case study in how to bring the urban village concept to life.” It references the loss of EBBC from our neighborhood to theirs, and how there are residents, business owners and developers working behind the scenes to keep the neighborhood vital. Not really about P2, but as mentioned, a good case study for how a neighborhood can work together to revitalize a neighborhood (hint, hint, Revitalization Committee).

Crimson C closes, but J&M opens (The Stranger)

Artist cooperatives easier to start than live/work spaces (The News Tribune)
The difference between an “artist cooperative” and an “artist live/work space.” Tashiro Kaplan Lofts highlighted as a great live/work space that offers “cheap rent, on-site studios and a communal environment for artists to live.”

BLOGS

United Way King County Hunger Challenge (MetBlog)
“Can you feed yourself for only $7 a day for five days? This is the maximum food stamp benefit for an individual.” This week is “Hunger Action Week,” which means various public officials, local media personalities and bloggers will “try to live on the value of food stamps given to either an individual or family in the state of Washington.” This is a really worthwhile cause to bring awareness to this problem. To see the list of bloggers and other notable participants, click here.

Seattle Native to start “First Thursdays” in Auckland, New Zealand (Thread)

EVENTS/OTHER

Check out the Events Calendar for upcoming events, including a brown bag lunch presentation and panel discussion on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement’s south portal project and its potential impacts on Pioneer Square.

There is a new Volunteer page on the blog to list upcoming volunteer opportunities in the neighborhood. If you’re interested in getting more involved, check it out and send in an email with how you’d like to help. When we first moved to P2, we wanted to help in some way, but didn’t know how (and now look where we are). To avoid a similar fate, just donate a small amount of time to a good cause. (And if you have any volunteer opportunities, send those my way as well and I’ll post them)

Delicatus – A Seattle Delicatessen set to open in Pioneer Square January 2010. It describes itself as “an authentic, cross-cultural delicatessen built on the traditional principles of European immigrants while incorporating the vast diversity of resources unique to the Pacific Northwest.” Whew, that was a mouthful. Welcome to the neighborhood!