Wallyhood: Top Ten Stories of 2017

As I did last year, I reviewed the analytics for this site to uncover the top ten stories of 2017 as judged by page views. While 2016’s top ten was spread rather widely across topics, it was clear that in 2017, HALA (the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda) was what was on neighbors’ minds. Business openings and closing also figured prominently. I looked a little further down the list at the top 20 and 30 to confirm that, yeah, we still like to eat out; restaurant reviews are pretty frequently read on Wallyhood.

Here, then, are the top ten Wallyhood stories of 2017:

1. Nickelsville Coming to Wallingford (author: Jordan, 3,149 page views) This story details city plans to move a homeless camp from Ballard to a parcel owned by Seattle City Light located between Dunn Lumber and the I-5 bridge. Though this move was supposed to happen a few months ago, it’s being held up by the need to demolish a structure on the parcel. Jordan posted a follow up with more details about this.
2. Good news and bad news for Wallingford businesses (author: Katy, 3,068 page views) We do a lot of “business round up” type stories on Wallyhood, and I was surprised to see that this one made it into the top ten. When I looked more closely though, I think I see why. This discusses, among other things, the closing of beloved Half Price Books.
3. Mysterious shuttering of the Guild Theater (author: Christie, 2,909 page views) At the same time as the Guild closed, the Seven Gables over in the U District also closed. As far as I know, the reason for these closings, and any future plans for the theaters, are still shrouded in mystery.
4. Investigation in Green Lake (author: Christie, 2,847 page views) A dark topic concerning three brothers apparently engaged in child pornography, but it was local and important so we posted about it. We linked to the original story which was reported by the Washington Post.
5. Lights Out (author: Jordan, 2,811 page views) Remember the blackout? It extended from Green Lake nearly to Lake Union and from I-5 nearly to Stone Way.
6. The City reveals “Preferred Alternative” zoning changes for Wallingford (author: Susanna, 2,788 page views) The city laid out three alternatives for upzoning in our neighborhood and described their preferred alternative (a sort of combo of two of the three they outlined).
7. Rob Johnson Q&A on the HALA “Grand Bargain” Upzone of Wallingford (author: Eric, 2,635 page views) Johnson represents most of Wallingford with Mike O’Brien picking up those folks living near Green Lake.
8. Hey, Dick! There’s a New Kid in Town. (Not that Kidd …) (author: Jack, 2,611 page views) This story was a pre-opening scoop on Wallyburger which is now serving up burgers at the former home of Hawaiian Breeze on 45^th across from the QFC.
9. Join Us in Creating a Welcoming Wallingford (author: PaulC, 2,563 page views) This group, Welcoming Wallingford, was organized to push back against all the anti-HALA voices that seem to be dominating the conversation in the neighborhood.
10. Keep Seattle Livable (author: Glenn, 2,379 page views) One of many stories published last year about meetings concerning HALA.