I struggle to find the right word to describe the lead poisoning of Flint, Michigan. “Debacle” is pretty close, but there’s a lightness about it, a humor to it that doesn’t fit the gravity of poisoning and permanently damaging the health and intellect of thousands of children. “Scandal” poses it as a political issue, rather than a humanitarian atrocity. “Crisis” suggests something that something that occurs suddenly and can be suddenly solved.

With it all so fresh in our minds, the news that lead was showing up in the water in Tacoma, and that Seattle Public Utilities was advising residents …

Today’s the day. Right now.

Every year, the Seattle Foundation puts up somewhere around $1,000,000 in “stretch pool” funding as part of their GiveBIG event. All donations made through the GiveBIG website to King County-based 501(c)3’s that have registered will receive a percentage of matching funds from the stretch pool, as a percentage of the total amount donated. So, the more that you donate to your favorite charitable organization directly, the more the Seattle Foundation’s stretch pool will go to them, as well.

Wait, one more detail: only donations made today, May 3rd from midnight to midnight count!

So, …

From the 1930’s through the 1970’s, the Sunshine Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company at Woodlawn and Fourth Ave Northeast did a wonderful job of washing clothes, and a horrible job of disposing of its chemicals. Left in the soil and groundwater (and air) are tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, trans-1,2-dichloroethene and vinyl chloride. I have no clear idea what these are, but they sound nasty, and the Department of Ecology seems to agree, as they are undertaking a clean-up as part of a consent decree with Lutheran Retirement Home of Greater Seattle (Hearthstone).

The clean-up plan includes:

Folks, I have a new favorite sushi joint, and, if you’re not careful, you’ll miss it.

I don’t mean that it’s going anywhere: the owners have owned a successful San Francisco Japanese restaurant in the past, so they know what they’re doing: I just mean it’s craftily hidden behind a convenience store. Seriously, look at that picture. Does that look like the spot you’d pick up the tastiest bowl of Poke you’ve ever had?

No, it does not. But yes, it is.

Opened last week in the spot previously occupied by The Erotic Bakery at 45th and Sunnyside, the 45th …

Issues of mental health are very much in the news in Washington State and here in the neighborhood.   The deep interrelatedness of mental health and homelessness is particularly front of mind here in Wallingford.

The Good Shepherd Center ( 4649 Sunnyside Ave N ) is hosting a showing of Healing Voices to help shine some light on the topic of mental health.

HEALING VOICES explores the experience commonly labeled as ‘psychosis’ through the stories of real-life individuals, and asks the question: What are we talking about when we talk about ‘mental illness’? The film follows three subjects – Oryx, Jen …

The Greenwood Food Bank, operated by the Volunteers of America, got a shock when it received its response to their annual application for funding City of Seattle: Zero Dollars.

While the City didn’t explain exactly why their annual funding of $53,000 was denied this year, their new competitive bidding process, which ranks agencies based on cost and impact, sounds like it worked against VOA. The Seattle Times quotes Mark Johnson of the VOA as saying that the agency’s mortgage payments on the Foodbank property may have hurt them in this process by inflating the cost per person served.

Regardless why, …

If you’ve tried to comment on a Wallyhood post recently and had trouble, please try again. Thanks to Lily for pointing out an error in the system that was preventing people from signing in with their Wallyhood username and password and thanks to Phil for helping me to get it fixed.

You may have noticed that we’ve switched back to the Disqus commenting system. One of the features I like about it is the ability to “flag” a comment as inappropriate. If three people flag the same comment, it will automatically be hidden until a moderator reviews it. Should be …