CAPITOL HILL: Christine Larsen, a Capitol Hill resident and mother of three, was tired of ferrying her kids across town to outdoor pools in Magnolia and West Seattle during the summer. So Larsen founded neighborhood group Project Splash to lobby the city for an outdoor pool east of I-5. The city doesn't have money for a new pool, but Larsen hopes to raise funds through private donations. Project Splash will meet at Miller Community Center on October 15 at 7:00 p.m. and Meadowbrook Community Center on October 23 at 7:15 p.m.

PIONEER SQUARE: Seattle's oldest neighborhood will get more housing after the city council leaned on Kauri Investments to build 26 apartments inside their hotel development in the historic Alaska Building. Kauri needed to get city approval to work on the top floors of the building—over 100 feet—and the city told the developer it would only issue the permits if they added housing. According to Kauri CEO Kent Angier, the city wanted "more eyes on the street." The city's demands have held up development at Alaska, and Kauri is working on reconfiguring the project. Scoffing at the city's stance, Angier says, "A hotel does eyes on the street [better than] residential. We'd hoped to be under construction at this point."