Monthly Archives: January 2009

Tipster Sara turned us on to what could be the most colossal, earth-shaking construction project this side of the Big Dig. How do we know it’s big? Well, just listen to what it’s called:

Large Neighborhood Street Fund

It’s right there in the name. Large. And Large it is. The city is going to invest $6 million citywide for new sidewalks at schools, sidewalk repair, better lighting in business districts and slowing speeders, and Wallingford stands to gain from the city’s largess. Now, granted, $6 million is only .000012% of what Bernie Madoff embezzled, but it’s also 600,000x my allowance …

How did we miss this? Tipsters, work with us, here! We depend on you to bring us the news, and we have to go to the Queen Anne blog to find out something happening in our own neighborhood?

Apparently, a Dick Spady, founder of Dick’s Drive-In, held a press conference at his Wallingford store (the original Dick’s, we might add) to unveil the winner of the first ever Dick’s poster design contest today. Best we can tell from the web site, either today, or Friday, or maybe all week, Dick’s is featuring 1954-style $.10 Cokes and 2 for 1 hamburgers …

…

Wallyhood now qualifies as “media”, and as such is privileged to receive breathless press releases. We were amused to have recently received one entitled:

New Whole Foods Market® Will Anchor TRF Pacific’s Interbay Urban Center
New Store to Feature Interactive Healthy Eating Center, Whole Values Section and Other Innovations

“Interactive Healthy Eating Center”? Umm…so, that would be…a “restaurant”?…

Wallyhood doesn’t have a forum section (we’re a bit envious of the West Seattle blog in this respect), but we do have some healthy commenting, and the post with the most was the recent news that new condos may be in the offing for the Tweedy & Popp / Rusty Pelican / Murphy’s / Kill My Lanlord Dry Cleaner corner. It’s worth bubbling them up:

On the nay side, we’ve got “more soulless depressing boxes”, “Go build your crappy condo on one of the festering holes left by QFC” and “Boo for condo development on 45th”.

On the yay side, …

If the cantata of lyric and quotation on display at Open Books tonight hasn’t snared you, perhaps you’ll want to head over to Wide World Books & Maps tonight at 7 pm for a talk on Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Sez their web site:

Exuberant Meli Seval, best known for presentation of her Turkish homeland, tonight takes us to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Offering both historic and contemporary views of these far-away lands, her knowledge and enthusiasm will infuse the evening to the delight of all who attend.

If the gorgeous photos we found when we searched Flickr for Kyrgyzstan are anything …

Yesterday, we reported that Shalom House, the assisted living home for adults with cognitive disabilities on Latona and 42nd, shut its doors. We received this note explaining the closing from Rachel Byer, the Director of the Seattle Association for Jews with Disabilities:

Yes, after more than 20 years in the Wallingford Neighborhood, Shalom House has closed it’s doors as an Adult Family Home (AFH) for adults with cognitive disabilities. While Shalom House was recognized as an outstanding example of AFH programming, services and client needs have changed over time and most people now prefer supported living (in their private homes) …