Yesterday hit 72 and the city behaved itself. Mother's Day brunches got their patios, the Storm split their opening weekend, the Mariners dropped two of three to the White Sox, and the Sounders gave up a 90th-minute equalizer to a 4-month-old expansion club.

Tuesday's the high point of the week ahead at 78 and sun. Wednesday holds, maybe. Then a system slides in and we're back to mid-60s and showers by Thursday/Friday. If you have a thing you've been putting off doing outside, do it tomorrow.

The week itself is stacked.

The Council's Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan picks the upzoning fight back up Thursday. The Seahawks drop their 2026 schedule at 4:30 PM the same day, the first since the Super Bowl, the first under whoever ends up buying the team. Bike Everywhere Day is Wednesday. Denny Blaine officially has the green light to remove its tops. And on a parallel track, an elected King County official is currently wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor to work because he could not stop posting from a hot tub. Welcome back to Seattle.

Leschi's small businesses got blindsided, then got rescued
A week before Mother's Day, Seattle Parks and Rec showed up at the Leschi South Marina with chain-link fence, flatbed trucks, and zero warning, and barricaded 140 parking spots for a $7.9M wave attenuator project. Bluwater Bistro lost 80% of its Monday lunch sales. An elderly woman trying to navigate the new layout slipped, fell, and broke her arm in two places. Leschi Market, in the neighborhood since 1948, watched its biggest revenue week of the year start dying in real time. Then the city got 900 emails. Council President Joy Hollingsworth convened a community meeting Wednesday night at Grace United Methodist. By Friday, Mayor Wilson's office had the equipment hauled out and the parking lot reopened. The work is paused until mid-August. The required 10-day pre-notification to adjacent businesses never happened, and the city is still figuring out which contractor is responsible. The marina genuinely does need a new breakwater. The way the city went about getting it was a master class in how not to.

Different Wilson, hot tub problem
Important distinction... the King County Assessor is John Arthur Wilson. Different person from the mayor. Same week, very different headline. Wilson, who is charged with two gross misdemeanor counts for violating a no-contact order with his ex-fiancée and has been the subject of unanimous calls to resign from the King County Council, the executive, the Seattle Women's Commission, and the Seattle Times editorial board, was granted a small concession last month... he wouldn't have to wear a GPS ankle monitor because of a lymphedema condition that required him to soak his legs daily. He celebrated that ruling by posting two selfies, three days apart, of himself grinning in a hot tub. PubliCola reported the posts. A different judge saw them. The hot tub privilege was revoked. He is now, as of Tuesday, walking into a county government office every morning wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor. His attorney's defense in court included calling PubliCola a "personal blog" by "someone named Erica Barnett." That worked about as well as you'd expect. The Council can't remove him. His term ends in December. Trial is set for May 19.

Phase 2 of the upzoning fight starts Thursday
The Council's Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan meets at 2 PM Thursday at City Hall to take up the Centers and Corridors legislation, which is the part of Mayor Wilson's accelerated housing push where the actual zoning gets rewritten. Six-story mixed-use buildings in the core of 30 new Neighborhood Centers, including Montlake, Madison Valley, Madison Park, and Madrona. Apartment-friendly zoning along frequent transit corridors. Committee Chair Eddie Lin (D2) is running it. If you live somewhere with a single-family designation and the words "neighborhood character" appear in your block's group chat, this is the meeting your neighbors are going to call you about. Virtual and in-person public comment open. The bigger fight here is whether Wilson can actually move Phase 2 by 2027 instead of 2029. We will know more by 4 PM.

Seahawks schedule drops Thursday at 4:30
First post-championship schedule, released the same week the Seahawks' ownership situation continues to be a $10 billion guessing game. Tickets go on sale immediately. Whatever they give us for the home opener will be picked apart for symbolism within the hour. Bring snacks.

Denny Blaine: top-optional officially extends to the "Clothing Required" zone
On May 1, King County Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung confirmed that toplessness is allowed throughout Denny Blaine Park, including the "Clothing Required" zone the city carved out last summer to appease the lakefront neighbors suing the city. The clarification was prompted by reports of private security guards, hired by University Village owner Stuart Sloan to patrol the park, selectively telling topless women and trans parkgoers to cover up while leaving everyone else alone. The park was added to the Washington Heritage Register in 2025 as the state's first recognized LGBTQ+ nude beach. The bigger trial in Denny Blaine Park for All vs. the City starts May 27. In the meantime, the signage is going to need an update, and the private security guys are going to need a new hobby.

Pike/Pine Social Spring Fashion Walk lands this weekend
The first-ever Pike/Pine Social runs Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, across Capitol Hill's Pike/Pine corridor, with more than 50 independent businesses, restaurants, and creative spaces participating. Capitol Hill developer Liz Dunn (Chophouse Row, Melrose Market) and event organizers On The Block Seattle put it together as a neighborhood-wide answer to the slow-rolling implosion of small-business retail post-pandemic. Saturday's anchor event is a 3 PM live runway show at Chophouse Row, with pop-ups, vintage sales, DJ sets, and an immersive freight elevator installation by LA Wiltbank. On The Block will activate its newest space, Eleven:Eleven, spotlighting local Black designers. Free to wander, paid runway show ticketed via Eventbrite. The kind of thing Capitol Hill used to do on a Tuesday night without anyone needing to organize it. Now it takes a coalition.

Anchorhead Coffee - 4233 SW Alaska St, West Seattle Junction
Seattle-based specialty roaster Anchorhead is taking over the former Junction Starbucks space, one of the locations Schultz shuttered during last fall's consolidation. Owner Jake Paulson is a former West Seattle resident, which is the kind of detail you note when a local roaster replaces a national chain in a historically union-friendly storefront. Anchorhead already runs cafes in Downtown, Capitol Hill, and Pike Place. The Junction makes four. Opening date TBD. Worth the patience.

Copine - 6460 24th Ave NW, Ballard, closing May 30
Shaun McCrain and Jill Kinney's French-influenced fine dining room closes for good on Saturday, May 30, when their ten-year lease ends. Copine was a 2023 James Beard nominee for Outstanding Restaurant, opened in 2016 by McCrain (ex-Per Se, ex-Book Bindery) after he and Kinney saw an opening for a serious, classically-trained kitchen in a part of Ballard that didn't have one. Business slowed last year, the math on a 3,300-square-foot fine dining lease stopped working, and the couple decided they wanted a break before deciding what's next. Four-course prix fixe Wednesday through Saturday until the last service. Reservations are going to disappear fast. If you have a memory of this place, go make one more.

New street parking rates take effect today
SDOT's spring rate adjustment kicks in this morning. Most rates stay the same, the rest move by 50 cents an hour in either direction, and Sundays are still free everywhere except Seattle Center during events. Holds until the next change in the fall. Check the city's paid parking page if you park downtown often enough to care.

Bike Everywhere Day is Wednesday, May 13
Cascade Bicycle Club's mid-month peak day, sponsored by the three companies most responsible for the traffic you sit in. Celebration Stations with free coffee, snacks, and giveaways pop up across the city, including a big one near the Fremont Bridge and SDOT-run stations on the Jose Rizal Bridge and elsewhere. If you have ever flirted with the idea of biking to work, Wednesday is the day with the lowest social cost, since everyone you pass is also doing it for the first time in eight months.

Thousand Heritage Bike Helmet - Bike Everywhere Day is Wednesday and the helmet most Seattle commuters wear looks like a cantaloupe with vents. Thousand made the one that doesn't... low-profile, certified, vintage moto styling, comes with the magnetic pop-lock dock so you can U-lock it to your bike without lugging it into the office. About $89. The helmet you'll actually keep on your head.

Biking Uphill in the Rain by Tom Fucoloro - The Seattle Bike Blog founder's 2023 UW Press book is the history of this city told entirely through the lens of bike lanes, missing connections, and the people who fought for both. Finalist for the 2024 Washington State Book Award. Fucoloro is speaking at Town Hall this Wednesday for Bike Month Bash. Worth reading first.

That's Monday. The Council resumes the upzoning fight Thursday. The Seahawks drop their schedule the same day. A different Wilson is wearing an ankle monitor to work. Leschi got its parking back. Copine starts its last lap. Anchorhead lands at the Junction. Tuesday is the sunny one. Plan accordingly.

See you Thursday with weekend plans.

If this made your Monday slightly more tolerable, forward it to someone who needs it. We grow by word of mouth and your word of mouth is doing all of the work. No really… Please let others know about us.. 🙏🏼

If you need me, I'll be at Copine or Anchorhead, probably.

- The Drizzle