Two reports of banditry about the ‘hood recently. First, we hear from an anonymous tipster that there’s floral filching fomenting:
Plant Bandit– wanted to let you know that several homes near 46th and Bagley had plant and landscaping material quasi-stolen during the night last night. Plants were uprooted, potted plants (complete with saucers) and unplanted veggies were taken from my deck (very creepy, as whoever it was was directly outside my cracked-open bedroom window) and moved to the street, a bag of potting soil was moved to the sidewalk at another house, etc. My planting trays were at a neighbor’s house filled with decorative rock from my yard and plants ripped from rockeries, and several large stones in my yard were moved. We can only surmise that the would-be gardener was scared off–or had second thoughts–before they packed up the loot and made off with it. The idea of someone so desperate for gardening that they’d do this is sort of amusing, but the notion of someone rooting around, so to speak, on my private deck during the night is disquieting to say the least.
So strange. Whoever done it: those tomatoes shall taste bitter and your lettuces shall wilt! Healthy plants require good drainage, compost and honesty.
On another note, the “sign bandit” continues to impose his personal will on how the rest of us build community with our neighborhood. Apparently a man described as “about 60, large, distinctive grey military brush cut…wearing a navy blue rain jacket w/ a gold star on one shoulder” came into the Wallingford Neighborhood Office to deposit the signs advertising the Wallingford Art Walk and Wallingford Garden Tour he had torn down. Burks, is that you?
It amazes us how selfish some people can be: their personal desire for a clean pole overrides the rest of the community’s desire to come together, meet each other and celebrate our art and gardens.
And yes, signs for specific events are legal to post in Seattle.
My family and I made a really noisy return home at around 9:30 last night near the same intersection. Does the timing work with skeerin’ off the garden marauders?
As for the self-appointed sign “police,” I’d guess not Burks; close reading of earlier posts, in near disbelief, has led me to think Burks is female (one slip — maybe in the cookie / brownie forum?). Doesn’t preclude the possibility of there being a proud pair at work, pulling down legal signs.
Nah, Burks is definitely a man. You can look up the email address on the UW Faculty/Staff/Student Directory and find out his name, position, and department if you like.
So this guy could be Burks.
I have 19 rose bushes along my yard which borders an alley. A single rose bush was torn up and ripped from it’s roots last week and laid down next to where it was planted. I can’t figure out what happened but I’m assuming that someone decided to tear it up and just leave it there. It’s odd that it only happened to one bush.
Are the signs from telephone poles or those ones stuck in the grass strip between the sidewalk and the curb? From public areas, say, around Meridian park? (not in front of businesses or houses)? Maybe tent signs not in front of willing businesses/homes? Just wondering. I’m all for the Art Walk and the garden tour, but hate seeing the constant array of signage plopped into the public right-of-way along 50th by the park, for one example. No, I haven’t pulled up the signs, but if these are the signs in question, I see where the sign yanker is coming from. And don’t tell me these signs are a public service. They’re still unsightly, same as if they said “lose weight now” or “cheap roofing” and having them around encourages the similar commercial signs. Sidewalk signs in front of consenting private property only, please.
(I’m OK with telephone pole signs. They are not underfoot or aimed at drivers who should be watching the road. Sometimes they are visually quite interesting, sometimes uglier than a bare utility pole, but they’re mostly harmless.)
The temporary signs put in the parking strips wouldn’t be so bad if they were ever removed by the people who place them out. I live on 50th across from Meridian Park, and my block gets hit especially bad with signs that are *never* removed in a timely manner. I’m glad people like Burks and others remove them.
That wasn’t me. I do not remove the “community signs” on poles until after the event if there is a date of event anyway. I have not ever touched any of those wire frame signs that are stuck into the ground although tempted to remove those that advertise condos in Ballard. We need to get Lo-Fi of 429 Eastlake FINED. They use some kind of very heavy glue and lucky for me they don’t poster the 2300 block of N. 45th. The only block I keep clear.
There have been these sorts of Landscaping robberies for years – there is a person out there selling themselves as a landscaper, stealing shrubs and plants and charging their customers for the plants. Happened to me 3 years ago in Ballard and has been all over the Beacon Hill Blog (with photos of the perp) last year and this year.
Another floral theft (4400 block of Thackeray) – whole pot with geraniums lifted. Too sad.