Susanna, Author at Wallyhood

Public Hearing February 21 for the HALA upzones with final Council vote on March 18

Susanna January 10, 2019 12 Comments

The upzones are coming! The upzones are coming! (Can you picture me riding my horse through Wallingford and sounding the alarm just like Paul Revere?) But seriously, the City Council is moving forward.

On January 7, the City had the first of five special committee meetings to discuss the HALA MHA upzones. A public hearing has been scheduled for February 21 and a final City Council vote is set for March 18. Yikes.

There’s currently a glut of empty luxury apartments and increased density is driving gentrification in historically minority neighborhoods like the Central District, but the City moves forward …

Wallingford targeted for more housing growth than most other urban villages under HALA

Susanna January 28, 2018 210 Comments

As I reported in November, the City has released the “Preferred Alternative” maps for proposed zoning changes under HALA (if you don’t know what HALA is, you can find out more here). What I did not have in my hands when writing about the Preferred Alternative maps the first time, was the figures for just how much new development Wallingford could expect under these proposed zoning changes.

As you can see in the document linked below, Wallingford is targeted for a whopping 95% increase in housing growth under the latest proposed changes! This is a big jump from the 39% …

The City reveals “Preferred Alternative” zoning changes for Wallingford

Susanna November 20, 2017 100 Comments

Micro apartment buildings throughout the Wallingford Urban Village? It’s possible under new zoning recommendations recently released by the City. Even though Mayor Ed Murray has left office, his Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda or HALA lives on. The HALA upzones (known as Mandatory Housing Affordability or MHA) are being championed by our own District four City Council member Rob Johnson, who is chair of the City Council’s Planning, Land Use and Zoning committee.

A key part of this housing agenda is zoning changes to allow for larger, denser developments throughout the City. In exchange for allowing developers to build more …

The life and death of our Neighborhood Plan

Susanna October 23, 2017 171 Comments

I’d like to tell you a story about the life and death of our Neighborhood Plan. The story starts back in the 1990’s. It was a time when Seattle was still a small big city before Amazon took over a whole neighborhood, when we were the center of a musical grunge scene and flannel was everywhere (well, maybe that last part hasn’t changed).

If you are old enough, you may remember this version of Seattle. But while the cool kids were listening to grunge there were some other groups, of likely the more bookish variety, that were involved in …

Join the Wallingford Community Council for a Waterways Walk on Saturday, October 7th at 3-5 p.m.

Susanna October 2, 2017 3 Comments

From the Wallingford Community Council:

Join us on a family-friendly walk along Lake Union to learn about the public access points on Lake Union. Free and open to the public.

When: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday October 7th, 2017. Rain or shine.

Where: Waterway 22 (bottom of Stone Way North). We’ll meet where the Burke Gilman Trail intersects with Stone Way, in the parking lot area by Solsticio – N. 34th St). Then about 3:15 p.m., we’ll begin to work our way east toward Waterway 15 (just to the west of Ivar’s, NE Northlake Way/4th Ave NE). For those …

City Council candidate Jon Grant in Wallingford this Sunday

Susanna September 15, 2017 Comments are off

City Council candidate Jon Grant will be coming to Wallingford for the second time this week. If you missed him at the candidate forum in Wallingford on Thursday, there is another opportunity for Wallingford folks to meet him this Sunday, September 17th.

From 10:00-11:00 AM, Jon Grant and his team of volunteers will meet in Woodland Park (shelter #1), which is accessed from 50th Street. At 11:00, Jon and company will leave the park and canvas the neighborhood. So if you’re around on Sunday, head over to Woodland Park at 10:00 to meet Jon Grant, ask him about his campaign, …

Meet and Greet with City Council candidate Pat Murakami in Wallingford this Friday

Susanna June 14, 2017 11 Comments

City Council candidate Pat Murakami will be at Acadia in Wallingford this Friday, June 16th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Murakami says she wants to be a strong voice for the neighborhoods in City Hall and make developers pay impact fees that could go towards schools, transportation, parks and fire/safety. For more information on this candidate for City Council, please visit her website at http://www.votepatmurakami.org/.

Murakami is running for City Council position 9, an “at large” (citywide) seat. Position 9 is currently occupied by Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez who is running for reelection (in case HALA and development are issues …

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DOUG. on You Won’t Believe Where the Trumpiest Voting Precinct in Wallingford Is!Oh my! Fixed. Thanks for the heads-up. Wallyhood regrets the error. Hopefully no...