I’m sure we’ve all been there. You’re walking around the city. It could be Seattle; it could be someplace else. Suddenly, you need to go. But where? You look frantically for a public restroom sign, but there are none to be seen. In desperation, you slip into a nearby cafe, tiptoeing past the “Restrooms for Customers Only” sign. On the way out, perhaps a twinge of guilt prompts you to buy a cup of coffee — partly renewing the problem that brought you there in the first place.

Now, the city has taken a step so that we can put …

Last Wednesday, SDOT held a public hearing at the Hamilton International School to solicit comment on proposed changes to the Restricted Parking Zones (RPZs) in our neighborhood. A review of the RPZs by SDOT had been solicited by neighbors impacted by an influx of drivers seeking all-day parking during weekday business hours. The meeting, attended by about 75 people, began with a brief outline of the proposal by SDOT followed by 2-minute comments from residents and then time for questions.

This RPZ proposal has been under development for some time, informed by an SDOT study of parking patterns in the …

Lovers of the Ethan Stowell restaurant empire will welcome a new eatery opening some time this spring on Stone Way. While I would love to say that we got the scoop on this first, the Seattle Met got the jump on us, and they have the story here.

The new Stowell place, called Super Bueno, will be located at 3627 Stone Way — just a few doors up from Manolin. The cuisine will be … what else? Mexican. If you’ve been to Frelard Pizza, another Stowell space, and have taken advantage of the kids’ play area to gain a bit …

Back in February, I wrote about strange street markings that had appeared just north and south of 40th St., but I couldn’t find out what they were about. When I queried SDOT, they replied that it was definitely part of a City Light project, but when I asked City Light about it, I got no reply.

Now it seems the mystery is solved. Maybe. I guess. Sort of.

Those of us living near 40th have noticed numerous “No Parking” signs (the saw horses with magic marker writing indicting the closure days and times) go up for a few days here …

The letter below, from City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, was sent to me here at Wallyhood unsolicited. Although Herbold represents District 1 which includes West Seattle and southwest Seattle, the issue she addresses here — the amount of parking required for new housing developments — has been hotly debated in the comments and forums here and throughout the neighborhood more generally. For that reason, we’re bending our usual rule, about content needing to be neighborhood-centric, to bring you this perspective.

On Monday, the City Council will take up Council Bill 119173 which was passed out of the Planning, Land Use and …

[Correction! Alert reader Richard noticed that the plan which I referenced for this article, dated May of last year, was updated this past March 20 (a few days after I downloaded the PDF of what was then the current plan). Although bike lanes will still run along 40th, the layout of those lanes has changed significantly. I have updated this article to reflect this new plan. I apologize for not checking to make sure the plan was still current before this article was published.]

Neighbors living near …