An apartment building, with retail on the street level!

Okay, so no surprise there. What is somewhat of a surprise is that, after all this time, something is actually going to emerge in the space once occupied by Kitaro Sushi at 1624 N. 45th.

Kitaro burned down December 7, 2011 as we wrote about here. I’m not sure an exact cause was ever determined, but reports at the time said the fire was electrical in nature. A dentist’s office was also damaged in the blaze.

And then time passed.

In 2015, the building was emptied and boarded up.

And then …

If you’ve taken advantage of the nice weather in the early part of this month to rake some leaves, then you may have built up a real backlog. All this month, SPU has been taking extra containers of yard waste for free for customers that already subscribe to yard waste collection. But this is your last week to put out extra stuff!

From the SPU website:

SPU is providing free extra yard waste from November 1-30, 2018. Extra yard waste must be in paper bags (up to 60 pounds), or placed in an extra container that contains only yard waste. …

Seattlekit writes: this coyote has been seen in a 1-mile radius around the zoo for about 2 months now, mostly to the east and south (Wallingford). So I’d like to offer the official name for this male coyote of “Wally Coyote”, as a take-off on Wile E. Coyote of Roadrunner cartoon fame. You in?

Yes, Kit, I think we are!

If you don’t often peruse our forums, readers have been posting recently about a rash of coyote sightings in the neighborhood. This is not a particularly rare event for us. In fact, going back through Wallyhood stories, I see …

I’m beginning to feel a bit like the Chief of Wallyhood’s Playground Bureau. Just a couple of weeks ago, I reported that the transfer station playground is being redone by the contractor due to some deficiencies in the original construction. And this week, I’m here to report that the Wallingford Playfield, along Wallingford Ave. near 45th, is now closed for renovation.

It closed on November 6, but I hadn’t noticed until a friend mentioned it to me. Jordan posted about it back in May, and Ben followed up with an announcement about a community meeting convened to seek neighborhood input …

The Green Lake and Wallingford Paving and Multi-Modal Improvements project (new name!) is the city’s official name for work to be done up by Green Lake, but also includes a host of improvements and renovations along 40^th St. These include addition of and improvements to cross walks; repairing sidewalks; installing some bus shelters; adding and improving pedestrian lighting; repaving of 40^th; and construction of a bike lane.

While the sidewalk repair garnered some criticism when it was revealed that a number of trees might have to be cut down to facilitate that, the greatest controversy was generated …

I passed by the transfer station one dark night several days ago, and was surprised to see the playground fenced off and under construction. Most of the walking paths were dug up, and some of the landscaping seemed to have been removed – among other things. The playground and the station itself were completed back in late 2016 as we wrote about here, so why so much work so soon?

A sign on the fence briefly described some of the work:

The sign also provided links …

Here’s a reminder that Meaningful Movies which celebrated their 15th year here in Wallingford as we reported back in February, is having their monthly screening this Friday at 7 pm. The location is 5019 Keystone Place N. (Keystone Church), one block North of the Good Shepherd Center, across 50th Street.

Jim writes:

Meaningful Movies in Wallingford screens documentary films on the 1st Friday of each month.  On Nov. 2, we are showing “Dark Money,” which examines the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials.  After the film, we’ll have a community discussion and a guest …