One thing that struck us when we took our tour of block parties a few weeks back was that a number of groups of neighbors had established neighborhood e-mail mailing lists. They were using them to share all sorts of information: local events, move-ins and outs, and suspicious activity. In light of the frequency with which we hear complaints about petty crime around Wallingford and the police department's lack of interest in doing anything about it, this seems like an easy…
Perhaps it was a "speak of the devil" moment, but no sooner did we break our long "no crime stories" streak on Friday, then we walk out to our garage on Sunday and find our own bike missing. Phooey! It was a beat up old Specialized mountain bike with a baby trailer attachment on the rear axle. We had a 4 tumbler combination lock on it, which was left lying on the ground, tumbled to the right combination. Perhaps we were…
"First we look at the hills in the painting, Then we look at the painting in the hills." - Li Liweng, 17th century On 45th Street. I consider this street art. Some may call it graffiti. The badge says "Hello My Name Is Douchebag Californian". Near Paper Delights. Beneath the poster of Japanese manga warrior babe, the badge says "Hello My Name Is Oops I'm Sorry". Near Harold's Lighting. Tree shrine. Chalkboard reads "I want to make world peace. I want…
You may notice we don't do "crime" stories here on Wallyhood frequently. There's crime everywhere, we all know it, and we don't care to contribute to the vague sense of danger and disquiet that frequent crime reporting fosters. That said, once in a while, it's worth a note about what's going on, to help you level-set your precautions. Caleb shares a story and a warning: I had 4 bikes stolen off my front porch late Monday night/Tuesday morning near Lower Woodland…
Monday, we noted that the police have arrested a man accused of tagging Wallingford and many other neighborhoods with a spraypainted "Zeb". We've always had a bit of short-fuse for tagging, a form of graffiti in which the practitioner spraypaints or marks his name over huge numbers of pieces of private property. The most infuriating aspect of tagging is that city law requires the property owner to bear the cost of the removal of the mark and will fine the owner…
If you've been annoyed by the graffiti that seems to appear regularly around the neighborhood, take some cheer. Twenty-one year old Samuel F. Lehtinen was booked into jail a couple weeks back, accused (and caught paint-handed) of being the vandal spraypainting "Zeb" all of Seattle and Portland. Here's a few images of his handiwork, shot by Jeff over at Bedrooms & More: Have fun spraypainting the inside of your cell.
Wallyreader Jeff told us this morning that there was some police activity at the Wallingford Playfield, around 7:10 a.m. A man with a sleeping bag was in cuffs and there were two police cars and some sort of police van. At this point, we’re speculating it may have something to do with a bank robbery in the U District yesterday. According to the the Wallingford Neighborhood Office’s e-news, a bank robbery had taken place at Key Bank on 45th in the…