PI

The arsonist we heard about last week has been caught, according to the SPD Blotter: Officers arrested a man Monday in the Wallingford neighborhood after residents spotted him lighting a fire in a recycling bin outside a home. A witness called 911 around 6:30 PM when he spotted the suspect open his neighbor’s recycling bin and set fire to the contents.  The suspect ran away when the witness yelled at him. Seattle firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames that were just feet from…

Heidi, who lives near 44th and Latona, forwarded this note from her neighbor Tim: The Seattle Fire Department was out knocking on doors today.  Apparently there has been an arsonist in the neighborhood setting fires outside homes. As recent as today. The very nice fireman suggested that we all be aware and importantly to remove anything near the house that the arsonist could light on fire.  I scanned in the flier the PFD is handing out; he asked if I might let my neighbors know. I…

(This article was contributed by Sophie Hayes, a journalism student at the University of Washington.) The city’s Office of Planning and Community Development is encouraging what they believe could be one solution to Seattle’s housing crisis: backyard cottages. Backyard cottages, or detached accessory dwelling units, are small homes built on already-existing lots. Homeowners in single-family residential neighborhoods in Seattle have had the option to build them since 2010. Some homeowners rent them out for additional income, while others use them to expand…

(I know, I just wrote that we're done here, but lots of folks had been asking about the helicopters over Wallingford the other night, and this story of a going on in the neighborhood needs to be shared.) On Sunday, Ian wrote: Thought your readers might be interested to know that we had an attempted burglary at our house on the 3600 block of Bagley Avenue this evening. My wife and I were watching TV in our living room when I…

Hi Folks! I've got some bad news (or good, depending on how you get along with my writing): I've decided to put Wallyhood on potentially permanent hiatus. The recent dust-up, where Steve Questad (aka E30 Memorial) wrote to all of our sponsors asking them to cancel their support because of Wallyhood's "racist bigotry" (original in all caps), wasn't alone what did it, but it did give me the nudge to revisit why I've been writing Wallyhood. I started Wallyhood in January…

I started writing for Wallyhood this past spring when Jordan took off because I valued a Wallingford community site and wanted to explore writing as a creative outlet. I was also hoping to form constructive relationships with the city in getting good things to happen for Wallingford. Constructive relationships with the city proved impossible, largely because the city no longer has anyone assigned to support neighborhoods. It's all downtown meetings based on city functions without visits to neighborhoods when making plans.…

Harley spotted this sign in front of the towering sequoia tree near 46th and Eastern (by the old Bittman house): I'll leave with with this quote, which is somehow appropriate: My dad once gave me a few words of wisdom which I’ve always tried to live by. He said, “Son, never throw a punch at a redwood.” ~Magnum, P.I.