From the Wallyhood Crime Desk…

The recent report on apparently random gun violence here in Wallingford (and I consider neighborhood discharges to be gun violence whether they hit anything or not) led me to consider crime in our area. The editors here at Wallyhood suggested a story idea to our stable of writers on crime near Gasworks Park, as we’ve noted an infrequent, but fairly steady, reporting of primarily property crime (break-ins and thefts) around that location. But what about for the neighborhood as a whole? How do we compare to the rest of the city?

First of all: comparing …

We at Wallyhood understand that many of you depend on this blog to guide you through the complexities of life: where to eat, what to wear, what to laugh at, what to believe, etc. I decided to channel my inner spirit animal, Jeff Bezos, who is also a frequent visitor to my Wallingford residence— judging by the plethora of empty and repurposed Amazon boxes that litter the place—to explain why, in this most consequential election season, Wallyhood has opted to make no political endorsements. Our joint editorial statement is included in its entirety below; we encourage our readers to reference …

North Wallingford neighbor Kathy Bowie, whom we wrote about earlier this year in a feature about Food Not Bombs, also hosts a Halloween haunted house and is seeking assistance for that venture: either staffing as a ghoul or goblin, or less scarily, for batteries of all sorts to power the various attractions. Please consider supporting a good-humored neighbor as she provides some much-needed diversion right before a truly frightening election! You can call or text Kathy directly at 206-940-9973. And, you can visit the haunted house (311 N.E. 51st) on the weekend before Halloween (Friday 10/25 and Saturday 10/26, 6-8 …

Wallyhood heard from Talia, who is a research analyst at Seattle University and works with the Micro-Community Policing Plans (MCPP) team for SPD. The goal of that research is to review the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey results and provide opportunity for those who live and/or work in Seattle to discuss real time community safety concerns and build relationships with police at the precinct and micro- community (neighborhood) level. Talia asked that we share information about the survey with the Wallingford community.  Here’s the scoop:

Seattle University is administering the 10th annual citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey, which is accessible …

“Food insecurity” is jargon for being hungry. And whether folks in the neighborhood know or care to admit it, we are surrounded by hungry people. There have been never-ending discussions about the incongruity and the travesty of hunger existing at all in the richest country on the planet, but this article focuses on a low-key, grassroots effort by one of our neighbors to allay at least a little of the need.

Those of you who prowl Facebook, and the Wallingford-Fremont Group there, occasionally see posts from Food Not Bombs, and neighbor Kathy Bowie. Food Not Bombs is a loosely structured …

It has been hard not to notice how re-development has reshuffled the deck of Wallingford business district buildings: the gaping space where the dearly departed Guild 45^th theatres stood, and the newer leveled and now excavated portion of the block where the Fainting Goat and The Sock Monster once resided. It’s all in the name of progress, Seattle-style. More housing density: Make it so! And don’t bother with on-site parking, because we like to pretend that cars aren’t necessary!

But, I digress…This story is really a focused look at one of those businesses that was displaced by one of …

What’s the deal with recycling? For the longest time, Seattle prided itself in being on the forefront of reducing the massive volumes of trash going into landfills by encouraging/mandating recycling. The footnote to that statement is that it HAD to…city-owned landfills had closed in the 1980s and been declared Superfund sites, and local waste disposal options were dwindling. Depending on how long you’ve been a Seattle resident, you may remember when we had color-coded milk crate-type bins into which we sorted glass, paper, and cans. It almost felt sacrilegious when we were told to toss all of our recycling into …