When Kitaro caught fire back in 2011, we mourned. When the burnt out shell remained for three and a half years, an eyesore and a graffiti magnet, we mourned again. Now, there's reason to cheer.While the King County web site doesn't have a demolition permit for that property listed (although it does have a vacant property complaint), Jeff Lindstrom spotted demolition trucks outside earlier this week, and the workers told him it's coming down. I stopped by on Thursday, and there…
Happy Independence Day, y'all. It's a good one to celebrate: gay marriage, healthcare for all, Citizen United overturned. OK, two out of three ain't bad. If you've been around Wallingford for a while, you know that it's going to get hectic, and with the temperatures up in the record-breaking high 80's, it's going to sizzling. It's also going to be dry, dry, dry. So please, please, please, go easy with the personal fireworks (this means you, too, Lynne!) Seriously, people: remember…
Did you know Sound Transit is thinking about running rail through Wallingford? Well, they never came to Wallingford to ask, but they are in fact planning it. Hell, I wouldn't have known if Mike Ruby hadn't told me, and he didn't even know until a week and a half ago. You might think "that's nice, maybe I'll use it", but if you think that then you clearly don't understand what adding light rail means. Light rail costs over a half billion dollars…
The SPS Wonkathon votes have been very one sided in favor of Rick Burke, so I'm going to compress the last two wonkathon posts into one here and eliminate the vote. When you have an imbalanced situation like this I don't see a point in dragging things out. I would like to thank both candidates for taking part, and I look forward to working with victor in the election to address issues with Seattle Public Schools going forward. Sherry Carr did a…
The Wallingford Community Council President this coming year is Carl Slater (fuzzy pic on the left from the annual meeting). He lives at 41st and Burke and is enthused to be running the show for the next year. This Wednesday night's meeting of the WCC is his first, wish him luck. The meetings are in room 202 of the Good Shepherd Center. Here's tonight's somewhat subdued agenda from Carl, you can go right after the farmer's market if you like: 7:15 Announcements…
Today we cover a couple hot button education issues... Wallyhood's School Reform Question: There's been obvious tension between the top-down, test-centered school reform movement and school teachers. School reformers argue that it is necessary to measure the effectiveness of teaching in order to achieve better outcomes. Teachers argue that tests are a poor measure of a teacher and that administration should be focused on supporting school communities instead of passing judgment on them. How do you plan to navigate this rift,…
Welcome to Wallingford's Seattle Public Schools Wonkathon, running Monday to Thursday this week! Sherry Carr is retiring from the School Board, so our area is up for a new District 2 representative, with Rick Burke and Laura Obara Gramer running for the seat. SPS buildings are funded by two alternating 6 year long levies that are spaced 3 years apart for renewal. We are currently a couple years into the BEX IV levy, with the BTA III levy to be renewed as BTA IV in a 2016 vote.…