As a follow-on to our previous post regarding Fourth of July traffic planning, the police department wants you to know that it is illegal to set off fireworks anywhere in the city. However, they ask that you not call 911 to report fireworks violations, as the 911 system becomes overloaded and can’t handle life threatening emergencies. Only call 911 to report fires and injuries and such.

Also, they ask that you not light off fireworks in the John Stanford School parking lot, because it’s right across the street from our house and scares the bejesus out of a very old cat.

Car prowlers are at it again, this time between 42nd and 43rd. Caroline forwarded a neighbor’s mail:

Monday night our son’s car was prowled while sitting in our driveway. Only some change and cologne was taken. Not cigarettes or tools or other more or less valuable stuff. Just a word to the wise. If you have other folks e-mails let them know please.

To which another neighbor replied

W—’s car was prowled on Monday night too–also in the driveway. They found some keys from work in the glovebox then, tried to use them on the back door. They discarded them in a flower pot. They then got into the house (the side door may have been unlocked) (no sign of forced entry) and stole my wallet and two laptop computers. They discarded my driver’s license, library card, and American Express (They don’t take American Express!!) on the sidewalk across the street–which were found and returned to me by a neighbor. The scary part of this is that we were home asleep upstairs when they came in the house and stole these things. We filed a police report.

Kids around the McDonald School playground (NE 54th St and Latona Ave NE) are invited to the Second Annual Fourth of July mini-parade:

4th of July Parade
9:00 AM, MacDonald School Playground

Assemble and walk around the block. Just for fun.
Early so as not to get in the way of your other plans.

Come!

Bring your bikes, trykes, wagons, push-carts
Your drums, flutes, clarinets, and fifes
Your funny hats, your flags
Your fun and festive pets
Your red, white, and blue.

Our route is clockwise from 54th to 55th along the sidewalk.

(Thanks to Annie for forwarding)

When we posted a real estate listing a few weeks back, several commenters took us to to task for not squawking about the $750K asking price. Many suggested that Wallingford real estate prices are simply inaccessible to most.

In answer, we take today to highlight the Cheapest House in Wallingford. We thought it was the house for sale half a block down from us, just across the street from the John Stanford School (location!) at $419K for 3 bed / 1.75 bath or perhaps the house a block up from us at $399K for 3 bed / 1 bath, but no, there’s cheaper still.

Head north a bit and you’ll find 348 NE 53rd St at $369K for 3 bed / 1 bath. The photos all look charming, so we’re a bit puzzled at the price. Perhaps it was built on an Indian graveyard? There’s a puppy mill next door?

Realtors are telling us that the low end of the market is moving quickly, helped by the abundance of supply and by the incentive programs put in place by the stimulus program. Oddly, the high end of the market is also doing fairly well, as those with money are taking advantage of relative bargains on that big upgrade they’ve always wanted. The middle, however, sounds like it’s still suffering.

If there’s a cheaper house out there, let us know.

On the flip side, the most expensive house for sale in Wallingford appears to be this giant at 4033 Corliss Ave N. offered at $1.375M:

Kids. Don’t you just feel like abandoning them in a Walmart parking lot sometimes?

No? Really? Well…we don’t either. That would be wrong.

But, if you did feel that way, Melissa Benaroya, MSW and Robin Dowdy, M.Ed. are offering “Mommy Matters”, a series of six classes for mothers of toddlers:

New group led by local parent educators. An opportunity to share experiences and get support around what matters most to you as your child hits the “two’s” in a private and confidential setting:

• Learn behavior management strategies.
• Gain insight into toddler development.
• Nurture & strengthen relationships with self, child(ren) and partner.
• Feel confident about your parenting choices!

They’ll meet for six Wednesdays, July 8 – August 12, 10:00 – 11:30 am at Mosaic Coffee House (4401 Second Ave. NE) or 7:00 – 8:30 pm at The Hearthstone – Boardroom (6720 E Green Lake Way N.). Cost for each six-week series is $150.00. Pre-registration is required: Melissa Benaroya at (206) 226-6707 or Melissa@benaroya.net.

The Seattle Municipal Archives have uploaded another cool photo to the Wallingford Flickr Pool, this one of Gas Works, c. 1966.

The city acquired the land in 1962, but it wasn’t opened as a park until 1975.

We could have sworn there was a house right across the street from Mosaic just yesterday!

All of Wallingford seemed to be out and in good cheer last night for that once a month combo – Farmer’s Market followed by Art Walk. At the market, we picked up a pound of Olsen’s grass fed ground beef, a jar of rare star thistle honey and earful of Paul Dorpat’s deliciously quirky sense of humor.

From there, we caught up with Amy from Wallingford Center (those apartments we told you about have been rented), checked out some cool monkey art at Trophy Cupcakes, said hello to Nabil and his new hot dog stand (yes, he does serve veggie dogs) and ducked into Cutz to say hi to Phillipe and Colleen and to check out the paintings and prints.

Next stop was Bella Cosa, to see their Market Challenge (you bring something from the Farmer’s Market, they’ll cook it up as part of a 4 course meal, iron chef style) in action. When we arrived, the first takers (below, including Bella Cosa’s talented featured artist, Mia Piace Kate, second from right) were heading towards dessert. Their submission to the challenge: squash blossoms and some sort of broccoli – cauliflower hybrid. The squash blossoms were stuffed with crab and smoked salmon, fried and layered over a green goddess salad. The rest of the meal…just check out the custom menu. $20 / head (including wine?). The verdict rendered by the jury: delicious. Could be yours next week.

From there, we ambled down to Re-Leaf Massage, where we took in another beautiful art show (paintings incorporating old watchwork) and Mrs. Wallyhood enjoyed a complementary (and well deserved) massage. Now that’s art!

Folks, if you’re not going to Art Walk, you’re missing out on a quintessential Wallingford experience. And if you are going, see you in August!

One of our biggest gripes about Seattle is the lack of good street food. You visit so many other cities, and there are vendors selling delicious food on street corners wherever you go. Seattle? Nada lotta.

Thus, it’s good to see at least one spot open here in Wallingford: Saucisse Kabir is selling hot dogs in front of Babalu on the corner of 45th St and Wallingford Ave on Wednesdays (to coincide with the farmer’s market and art walk) and weekends (to coincide with nibbly shoppers during the day and hungry drunks at night).

Recognizing our duty as intrepid reporters, we “took one for the team” and sampled the wares this past Saturday: a thick, foot-long dog with sauteed onions and cream cheese. The report: delicious. The onions were especially good (Nabil tells us its his own personal recipe of spices) and the dog itself was tasty and huge (which, at $5, it better be).

While there, we were introduced to Michael, the owner of Babalu, who…how to put this…expressed his displeasure with our coverage of his establishment. It’s true that we have not been glowing in our recommendations and it’s also true that we should have called him and asked for comment before running the story. We offered to print whatever information he sent us in response, an offer we will abide by. So Michael, if you’re reading this: let us know what we got wrong, and we’ll let our readers know.

Jakey sent in this link to last night’s Colbert Report segment on the lawsuit seeking to stop Seattle’s Fourth of July fireworks display. Colbert, as usual, makes some excellent points, especially regarding the relative pros and cons on underground benzene plumes.