Susanna, Author at Wallyhood

Draft Zoning Maps Released for Wallingford

Susanna October 22, 2016 22 Comments

The city has released Wallingford’s draft MHA zoning map. Click here to download the PDF.

Under this draft proposal, there would be no single family zoning left inside the urban village boundaries. The website includes instructions on how to interpret the map, which I recommend you read. In general, when you look at each zone on the map, our current zone is on the left and the new proposed zone is on the right.

The most dramatic changes, where the city wants to change some of the Single Family (SF) zones to Low Rise 3 (LR3), are mostly found west …

Saturday: Recycle Styrofoam, Clothes & Small Household Items

Susanna October 12, 2016 2 Comments

Rainy days and time for fall decluttering!

Bring your donations for Goodwill and those Styrofoam chunks and peanuts, and even bubblewrap and shrinkwrap to this collection event sponsored by the Wallingford Community Council.

It all happens on Saturday, October 15 from 1 pm – 5 pm at the church parking lot behind Dick’s Drive-In on NE 45th in Wallingford. Enter on Second Avenue NE into the parking lot of Seattle First Church of the Nazarene.

Here are the guidelines for donations to Goodwill.

Due to space constraints in the Goodwill truck, no furniture larger than a coffee table will be …

Don’t Paint My Village

Susanna October 2, 2016 77 Comments

It’s been almost a year since I joined the Wallingford Community Council with concerns over the future of our neighborhood and our city in the face of rampant development. After countless hours of following HALA and Seattle’s land use politics, I frequently find myself mumbling and grunting in frustration like Yosemite Sam. I picture wealthy developers like Vulcan sitting down and writing out policy after policy that will give them more power (and us less). In exchange, our elected officials at City Hall get all sorts of campaign contributions. Ahh, democracy.

This urban village “painting” is one more policy that …

Update on Gas Works Park Renovations

Susanna August 6, 2016 3 Comments

Gas Works Park is one of the most popular destinations in our area. On August 3rd, Seattle Parks and Recreation gave a presentation to give an update on its current renovation plans. The presentation was at the Wallingford Community Council monthly meeting and was open to the public. To make the park a better experience for all of its visitors, the City is redesigning of the play area and bringing parts of the park up to ADA standards. The three areas to be addressed are: the east entry, the “comfort station” (known to us lay folks as the restrooms), and …

The HALA Engagement Problem

Susanna July 30, 2016 104 Comments

Ever since the HALA report was released last year, the plan to upzone the urban villages has proceeded like a steamroller out of City Hall. We were promised lots of opportunities for public engagement, and there have been a few. The HALA public engagement problem is this: all of the public engagement meetings exist on the premise that the upzones are going to happen, and public input is just to discuss how we should upzone.

I don’t want to talk about HOW we should upzone, I want to talk about IF we should upzone.

HALA presentations to City Council …

Volunteer Opportunity: Summer Reading Buddies

Susanna June 29, 2016 1 Comment

If you’re looking for a lovely and fun volunteer opportunity this summer, Family Works, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club, is looking for summer reading buddies. Take a few hours out of your week this summer and give the gift of reading. Here’s the flyer:

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Seattle 2035: Turning the Emerald City into the Concrete Jungle

Susanna June 25, 2016 30 Comments

There has been a lot of discussion about HALA, but a far broader change to Seattle land use policy is coming up in the form of a new version of the Comprehensive Plan. The City is required to draft a Comprehensive Plan which acts as a roadmap for urban planning over a 20 year period. We have reached the end of that 20 year period for our first Comprehensive Plan, so Mayor Ed Murray has undertaken to write another one, which will be the Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan. The Mayor’s office has released the final draft, and a public hearing …

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