Seattle, WA

Tell your Seattle stories about a meaningful place

Published

1 year ago

October 27, 2023

Tell your Seattle stories about a meaningful place

Do you have a favorite place in Seattle that’s meaningful to you in some way?

If so, the city’s Department of Neighborhoods wants to hear from you about what they call “local places, past or present, that hold special meaning” as part of the Stories in Place project.

The Department of Neighborhoods is an eclectic part of city government. Staff manage Seattle’s P-Patch community gardens, the city’s historic landmark program and a community matching grant program to fund neighborhood improvement projects.

They also have been focusing lately on storytelling as a way of connecting the human experience of Seattle with physical places and locations. With this goal in mind, they have been collecting stories about Seattle from people for many years, and they routinely publish those stories on their “Front Porch” blog. They published about 90 such stories in 2022, and held a public event last November to celebrate the storytellers.

Stories in Place is a new initiative launched in September, and the deadline to submit stories is Friday, November 10, 2023.

Susie Philipsen from the Department of Neighborhoods told KIRO Newsradio that a “story” for this project can be thought of as something very simple and short. She says you don’t have to be an experienced writer, and you don’t have to worry about creating some kind of complex narrative.

“Folks sometimes get intimidated about writing it down,” Philipsen said earlier this week. “But our experience has been that when we commissioned people, or when we invite folks who don’t see themselves as writers or creators to make something, they make something beautiful that people in the public identify with.”

“And often they tell stories that help other people in the community feel less alone,” Philipsen continued. “So [people] feel more connected when they read things that are in everyday speech.”

You don’t even have to live in Seattle to participate, but the story or the feeling or the thought should relate to some specific place in the city. Philipsen says that could be a park, it could be a neon sign, it could be a particular business or some one-time concert or other special event.

Philipsen shared a few examples of Stories in Place entries that been received so far:

The meaning of a street corner where neighbors have gathered for years to share an annual block party.
A park where parents were invited by their 7-year old son to go birding, and where they’ve since been birding together as family for 20 years.
The Highland Park Improvement Club, because it is represents the past and the present as a way to socialize, provide mutual aid and have fun for the whole neighborhood.

Stories in Place submissions also don’t have to be happy stories – they can be sad or painful memories – because those can be some of the most meaningful stories of all. Stories can also be submitted in any language.

Susie Philipsen describes this an effort “to collect stories that have to do with places, but without a lot of boundaries around what that means” and so organizers have intentionally emphasized how easy it is to take part.

If the person submitting the story gives permission, some stories may eventually be shared on the Front Porch blog. Philipsen says that the submissions themselves will help drive what comes next as far as other uses for the stories, such as informing community gatherings or other special events.

Storytelling has been shown to be a powerful means of sharing human connections and transmitting history and values across communities and between generations, but this timeless human activity isn’t something one typically associates with government. Amongst other city agencies that deal with things like wastewater and law enforcement and building codes, does Stories in Place make the Department of Neighborhoods the most “hipster” of the public agencies in Seattle?

“The Department of Neighborhoods is really interested in talking to and having relationships with the community, so whatever that makes us, we welcome that,” Philipsen said. “And we just want to be in relationship, and we want folks to share with us because then we can share that with the city.”

The deadline to submit Stories in Place is Friday, November 10, 2023. The submission form is simple and easy to use, and it could be a great project for a classroom, senior center, scout group or other community organization anywhere around Puget Sound.

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien, read more from him here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/feliksbanel

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Seattle, WA

State ferries: A better idea from Nordic countries

Published

5 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

State ferries: A better idea from Nordic countries

Re: “Diesel or hybrid ferries? How about simply reliable” (Jan. 7, Opinion): Gov. Jay Inslee, Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson and The Seattle Times editorial board are asking the wrong question: diesel or hybrid ferries? Inslee and the majority of Democrats support…

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Seattle, WA

Manhunt underway for Mason County shooting suspect

Published

13 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Manhunt underway for Mason County shooting suspect

Manuhunt underway for Mason County assault suspect

Mason County deputies are looking for a man wanted in a shooting in Belfair on Monday.

MASON COUNTY, Wash. – The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is currently searching for a convicted felon wanted in a recent shooting.

The sheriff’s office says Michael Allen Beyer is wanted for first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Deputies believe Beyer was involved in a shooting that happened in Belfair on January 6.

Beyer is considered armed and dangerous. If you see him, do not approach him and call 911 immediately.

Anyone with information regarding Beyer’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective Helser at 360-427-9670 x657, or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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Seattle, WA

Two more Seattle restaurants close due to minimum wage hike

Published

22 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Two more Seattle restaurants close due to minimum wage hike

Two more Seattle restaurants are calling it quits thanks to the untenable minimum wage hike.

At the same time that the Seattle minimum wage rose from $19.97 an hour to $20.76 an hour, the city ended the tip credit of $2.72. Under the previous rules, restaurants were able to pay $17.25 hourly wage if their staff earned at least $2.72 in tips per hour. But as cost of business continues to skyrocket in Seattle, a minimum wage hike without a tip credit is simply untenable for many small businesses.

Jackson’s Catfish Corner in Seattle’s Central District closed its doors in this new year. In an interview with Converge Media, owner Terrell Jackson argued Seattle is too expensive to operate in.

“I know that the minimum wages went up to 20 bucks an hour … I know that’s hard for my business as a small Black business,” Jackson said. “I’m not Amazon or Walgreens or Walmart who can pay their employees that much.”

Jackson isn’t alone in his complaints.

More from Jason Rantz: Panic as Seattle restaurants may not survive massive minimum wage shift

A second West Seattle eatery closes, citing the minimum wage hike

Bel Gatto, a bakery and café, became the second West Seattle eatery to close its doors over the Seattle minimum wage hike. The owner posted a sign to the front door to thank supporters but said she can’t afford to stay open anymore.

“Our revenues, unfortunately, are not able to cover the close to 20% increase in mandated wages, salaries and payroll taxes put into effect by the Seattle City Council effective 1/1/25. This ruling has made the continuation of our bakery operations untenable,” the sign read.

The owner, Peter Levy, explained to the West Seattle Blog that, “we were approaching close to a break even status in the last quarter of 2024, but the requirement to absorb another $4,000 per month in payroll expenses with the new mandate by the city put a break even further from our grasp which is what led to the closure.”

Last week, a video by Corina Luckenbach, owner of Bebop Waffle Shop in West Seattle, went viral as she said the minimum wage hike was forcing her to close after 11 years. She said she didn’t have an extra $32,000 a year to pay her staff what the city mandates.

More from Jason Rantz: Democrats blame Los Angeles fires on climate change to deflect from their own complicity

Will more restaurants close?

Ahead of the minimum wage hike, restauranteurs offered many warnings over what’s to come.

Ethan Stowell operates a number of Seattle’s top restaurants, including How to Cook a Wolf, Staple and Fancy, and Tavolata. He warned this change would be exceptionally costly for businesses in an industry notorious for razor-thin margins. And restaurants can’t merely raise menu prices again.

“I know everybody wants to say, ‘Just raise things (on the menu) a dollar or two,’ and that’s what it’ll be. That’s very simplified math. I wish it was that easy, but it’s not. This is a large increase that’s probably large enough to be equal to or close to what most restaurants in Seattle profit,” Stowell told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Portage Bay Cafe co-owner Amy Fair Gunnar noted the minimum wage change will cost her about $45,000 more a month. She said restaurants will have to “seriously change what they’re doing or they’re going to close their doors.”

More from Jason Rantz: Here’s why Seattle residents vow to stop tipping in new year

Ignoring the warnings, mocking the business people

The warnings from restaurant owners were mostly ignored or mocked.

Efforts by the Seattle City Council to address the forthcoming crisis fell apart after activists said they didn’t want restaurants to get an exception. Council president Sara Nelson told “The Jason Rantz Show” they will take up the issue again this year but there’s no specific idea yet to forward for legislation. The Mayor of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, has been almost completely absent from the issue.

Left-wing voices, meanwhile, claim to not care. That if businesses “can’t afford to pay a living wage,” then they shouldn’t be in business.

One reporter with The Stranger mocked one of the closures, quipping on X, “Has anyone ever eaten at bebop waffle lol.” Left-wing Seattleites condemned the business for “creating a right wing media darling to complain about paying people a living wage.”

KING 5 reporter Maddie White helped elevate this talking point by citing the National Low Income Housing Coalition, claiming “the average renter needs to make upwards of $40 an hour to afford rent.” But she’s quoting a stat for two-bedrooms. Minimum wage jobs aren’t meant to cover the cost of a single person renting a two-bedroom home or apartment.

Ironically, as activists dismiss the concerns of small business owners, they fail to acknowledge the inevitable consequence: when those businesses shut down, people lose jobs. A $20.76 hourly minimum wage — even with a $2.72 tip credit — means nothing if you’re unemployed.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz

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