Gary Shigenaka

96 Articles

Gary recently retired from a long career as a marine biologist with NOAA, where he responded to oil & chemical spills and provided scientific support following hurricanes. He has been a Wallingford resident for over 30 years, his son attending John Stanford International School and Hamilton Middle School.

Wallingford Construction Project Nears Completion

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Those of you who inhabit or pass through Middle Wallingford—which I loosely define in my admittedly subjective conceptual view of the neighborhood—know that the area around Bagley and 43rd has experienced a substantial construction project for a lengthy period of time. What’s the story with this, and when will it be completed? Wallingford resident Darrell Bulmer, who works for Seattle Department of Transportation and in fact lives in the construction zone, connected me with the Seattle Public Utilities project manager for the work, Ian Fitz-James.

Ian provided a detailed description and update for the project, which is nearing completion:…

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Breaking and Mysterious News!

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Wallyhood just mourned the demise of the much beloved old Julia’s restaurant across the street from the Wallingford Center at the end of last year. The restaurant closing was not without controversy, as my fellow editor Megan’s article described at the time. However…we received a note from reader Marilyn who alerted us to the fact that *something* may be afoot at the site. A couple of weeks ago, I had walked past it on my way to our quarterly meetup with writers at the Blue Star and saw some folks inside, but I figured it was just the usual squatters…

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Wallyhood Quarterly Meeting, 13 February

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Those of you who have been paying attention—and we have empirical evidence that that includes at least ten of you, along with the editors, and the army of foreign hackers who bombard us with spam—know that Wallyhood held the first quarterly writers’ meeting of 2024 at the Blue Star Café and Pub last week. We had a nice turnout, given that it was Fat Tuesday as well as the night before Valentine’s Day. People who showed up were treated to the ever-popular and exceedingly nutritious beer-tater tot combo, which was worth the price of admission by itself.

The primary goal …

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Wallyhood Winter Meetup (and Tater Tot Fest)

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Attention Wallyhood writers, aspiring writers, potential editors, and interested community members! The current Wallyhood editorial staff (Jack, Megan, Julie, and Gary) invites you to a meetup with us on Tuesday, February 13th, 7 p.m., at the venerable Wallingford restaurant, the Blue Star Café & Pub (4512 Stone Way N.). In addition to some old-fashioned engagement, we’ll be brainstorming story ideas and looking for writers willing to take them on.

Wallyhood remains an all-volunteer operation, so we depend on the support of our community to keep our journalistic juggernaut moving forward. We would like to hear your ideas …

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Light Rail Disruption Jan. 13 – Feb. 4

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Those of you who use the light rail out of the U District or UW stations to travel north or south should prepare for a month of disruptions and curtailed service. Didn’t this just happen last summer? some might ask. Why yes, a disembodied digital voice might answer. But now, according to the Times, Sound Transit workers will be correcting a 1/8” gap between light rail wheels and track width along a 500’ span of track in the heart of the currently modest system (Seattle has a long tradition of poor transit track planning, as some will recall that the…

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Tribute to a Beloved Wallingford USPS Carrier

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Happy New Year, Wallingfordians! There hasn’t been a lot of love heaped on the USPS since that DeJoy fellow took over during the Dark Times. And I know from personal experience that mail delivery around here can be an adventure, if it happens at all. But our neighbor Mary posted this really lovely tribute to her longtime mail carrier over on Facebook, and I asked her if we could post it here as well. It’s a reminder, for an upcoming year that is sure to try the patience and good will in all of us, that there are dedicated and …

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University Cooperative School (Pre-K to 5th Grade) Open House, 2 December

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Wallingford resident and parent Katherine passed along this announcement about an open house at a nearby (U-District) cooperative school. While we at Wallyhood typically try to maintain a tight focus on our neighborhood, these days parents cast their nets more broadly and this is just on the other side of the freeway from Wallingford. The information below was provided by the school.

University Cooperative School is a community-oriented, pre-K to 5 school with a progressive, experiential, multi-age approach to learning. Students, educators, and parents work together to create an intimate and caring community.

The school’s environment is both vital and …

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