WALLINGFORDITE

Stone Walled.

2007-07-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

This evening a grassroots (netroots, really) group of cyclists met at Gasworks Park to plan a ride to protest Seattle's capitulation on its promise to make Stone Way a bike-friendly connection between the Burke Gilman Trail and Green Lake. About 30 people showed up and scheduled the ride for Wednesday, August 1 at 5pm.

A single property owner and developer, Suzanne "Suzie" Burke, has managed to throw her weight around and bully the City into eliminating bike lanes from Stone Way, as well as keeping the Burke Gilman Trail closed for yet another year. Perhaps worst of all: she's a hard-core right-winger who gave money to Rick Santorum just last August. Does this woman really speak for the people of Fremont and Wallingford? I hope not.

Burial Grounds.

2007-06-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Down the street from us some genius stuck a 4500 square foot home on a 4000 square foot lot. I'm not sure what kind of people would pay $1.36 million for a house with a yard the size of a VW bus, but I hope they're not afraid of ghosts. The poltergeist of the little old bungalow that sat on that space for the past 100 years might just haunt their champagne dreams.

Squeaky Wheels.

2007-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I discovered that FlexCar had removed their ONLY vehicle parked within the dense swath bordered by Brooklyn Avenue, Stone Way, Lake Union and Green Lake. Tens of thousands of residents and zero FlexCars.

I complained to the company and threatened to cancel my membership if they didn't better serve my neighborhood. Either they succumbed to my threats or it is a terrific coincidence that there are now TWO FlexCars parked in the gravel parking lot behind Dick's on 45th. I don't really care how they came about, I'm just happy to have access to a Honda hybrid for trips to PCC and a Subaru sedan for a night at the opera.

Sweet Relief.

2007-06-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on a fairly long bike ride and burned more calories than a large plate of spaghetti could replenish. At 7pm I craved something sweet. Unfortunately The Essential Bakery, Just Desserts and Wallingford Bakery all close at 6pm or earlier on Sundays. Even The Erotic Bakery was closed (though I'm not sure I was hungry enough to eat a slice of penis cake). I was so desperate I almost went to Winchell's.

Instead I called Boulangerie. I swear this place never closes. The owner said he'd be there "at least until 9." I walked up the streeet and purchased a delicious Honey and Walnut Tart. I must have looked satisfied because the guy with the drum (who is always hanging out front) said to me: "It looks like you got styled!" Indeed.

Hairy Palm.

2007-05-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Our Windmill Palm is looking great these days. Its flowers appear fuller, brighter and more luxuriant than they were last Spring. A robin's been spending the mornings tugging hair off its lower trunk, then flying next door with the takings to build a nest in our neighbor's eaves.

Nature's rad. Except for the flies.

Street Cred.

2007-05-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

While riding toward the John Stanford International School rummage sale on Saturday, I passed this crime scene. The man's death (possibly linked to an earlier stabbing) was written up in the P-I this morning.

The guy died just around the corner from my house, so I'm not sure why the paper refers to this as happening in the "U District". I guess this kind of stuff just doesn't happen in Wallingford.

The New World?

2007-05-19T20:58:00.001-07:00

Today was the John Stanford International School's annual rummage sale. I scored a CD of X's 1983 classic "More Fun In The New World" in great condition for a paltry $2. On Track 7 John Doe & Exene Cervenka exclaim:

"...I'm guilty of murder of innocent men,
innocent women, innocent children, thousands of them!
My planes, my guns, my money, my soldiers,
my blood on my hands, it's all my fault!
I must not think bad thoughts..."

Not much changes in 24 years.

Origins of Man.

2007-05-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the opening day of boating season in Seattle (whatever that means). This couple was cruising Lake Union in what I believe is an original Amphicar.

Like creatures venturing out of the primoridal ooze, this elderly couple floated up to the Sunnyside Boat Ramp, slid seamlessly aground and turned east toward civilization. Why the hell doesn't everyone have one of these?!

Utopia.

2007-05-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

If I were the Supreme Ruler Of All Seattle, this is what my commute would look like.

Yes, the University Bridge closure caused havoc for many people, but it was nirvana this morning for those of us who commute by bicycle. I suggested to the cop who kicked me off the east side of the bridge that Seattle should close down a bridge to all motor vehicles once a week. Perhaps on a rotating basis -- University, Montlake, Fremont and Ballard. And Aurora once a year on my birthday.

Suppressed Anger.

2007-04-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago a friend of mine moved from Seattle to a small town in Virginia, about 30 miles from Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech University. I emailed him earlier this week to make sure everything was okay with him and his family. It was.

He gave me a Virginia Tech t-shirt last year and I considered wearing it after the shooting this week, but I decided that the man-on-the-street may not want to be reminded of a tragedy via t-shirt. So it remains buried in the bottom of a dresser drawer.

Some folks a couple of blocks from me are hanging a Virginia Tech banner from their balcony. Their intentions are undoubtedly benevolent -- a tribute and a memorial. (Perhaps they are alumni?) But I wonder how their immediate neighbors feel about this constant reminder.

In my old apartment, "Impeach Bush" and "No Iraq War" signs hung proudly in my window. But now that I live where I do, in a quieter neighborhood with quieter neighbors, I leave those signs buried in the bottom of a dresser drawer.

Something In The Way.

2007-04-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

Seattle's gone tree crazy and that's a good thing. The city is planting trees by the truckload and this will beautify the landscape and freshen the urban air. A neighbor of mine is a Seattle Tree Steward. She organizes mass tree plantings every few months, and over the past several years has planted hundreds and hundreds of trees.

These trees got screwed.

Instead of winding up next to a park, near a school or even in a simple planting strip, they are under the freeway. I've always wondered what it would've been like to be born into a life of extreme privelege. No need to ask these trees; they are arboreal crack babies. Hopefully what doesn't kill them will make them stronger.

Culture Clashes.

2007-04-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today marks the beginning of this couch's third week on the curb. I suppose the folks who placed it there are waiting to see if the garbage collectors will pick it up. They didn't touch it two weeks ago. Or last week. Maybe today?!

Meanwhile, half a block away, two houses side-by-side have gone up for sale. One is listed at $760,000, the other at $880,000. Will the folks shopping for a house that is pushing the million-dollar mark want to live on a street where couches linger? Perhaps they'll find it kitschy. If I were these sellers, however, I don't think I'd take that chance. I'd borrow a pick-up truck, drive half a mile to the dump and get rid of this thing.

Yesterday evening riding my bike up Densmore Avenue, I saw a man in Eddie Bauer gortex "watering" the plush lawn on his large corner lot. Attached to the hose's nozzle was a green plastic jug. As I rode by, the middle-aged woman in the patch-work house next door, hippie skirt blowing in the breeze, asked the man: "Are you spraying poison on your lawn?" I think this relationship is in trouble.