Help out our friends in Maple Leaf - here's the bad development they're fighting.

Maple Leaf's really got a battle on their hands with this one, but there is a window of opportunity to let the city know what you think about plans to replace the old Waldo Hospital and surrounding forest with 39 townhomes.

The city is going to accept written comments about the project through January 16th, so if you want to send them your opinion, now is the time.

You can learn more about the scope of this project at Maple Leaf's SaveWaldo.org web site.

Will this,


become 39 of these?

Seattlest proclaims 'Wedgwood' as unhip, citing the poll results from a wholly owned Amazon.com beta web site.

An insider from Seattlest clued me in to this post. It's called 'Capitol Hill, you're the top hip' and writer James points out that, "Wedgwood, our old nemesis, comes in at #76, behind places like "Blakely Alley by U-Village," Covington, and Monroe. That's a loosy-goosy definition of "neighborhood," even for Seattle."

Of course, what's the source of this report? How about a beta version of an Amazon.com social network called 'UnSpun' which also tackles such important questions as, "Best color to write with", "Favorite Sandwich", and "Favorite Male Cat Name". Wow, a really hip site that asks questions like that must be an authority on hipness.

Anyway, here's three good arguments to use when anyone challenges Wedgwood's hipness and says we have no character.

1) Because the Seattlest says we're not hip. Can you really trust the opinions of a blog like Seattlest that hilariously confused the glorified fajita shown below with an actual Philly Steak Sandwich?
2) Ciscoe lives in Wedgwood and he swings a mean hoe.
3) And my group of unhip Wedgwooders could smoke any collection of Seattlesters in a 'Trivia' challenge anywhere or anytime. (Well, as long as the challenge isn't held too late on a school night or in a scary biker bar. We are from Wedgwood you know.)

The Wedgwood Broiler's Lounge is awesome.

No other reason for this post than I just want to say that Wedgwood is lucky to have such a great place as the lounge in the Wedgwood Broiler. The only thing that makes it better (other than Husky football victories which are hard to come by this year), are the holiday lights that they've put up all over the place. And look at this review, even the hipsters (well some of them, anyway) are down with the WB.

"Yeah Right! Bye!" I guess the JCC is really out of here.

There was a party at the JCC building on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning the following was spraypainted on the building. Coincidence? We'll let you be the judge.

Anyway JCC, it looks like this really is goodbye. You were a great neighbor and we will miss you, (we'll even miss the martial arts guys and gals who used to train at your center and also jumped over our garbage cans while running down our street). From your friends on NE 87th St, goodbye and, "'Yeah Right! Bye! We'll miss you too!'"

No building permit yet.

Can you believe that it's been about a year since we first learned about this project? Just wanted to say thanks to everyone whose supported us through this blog, attending the design review meetings, and the 100+ folks who attended the Wedgwood meeting last month.

I also wanted to throw out these quick updates for y'all. The DPD hasn't yet issued a building permit for the property on 86th, so we're in a wait and see mode right now. (Just to let you know, twice each week on Monday's and Thursday's the DPD announces all new applications, decisions, and early design review notices. If you want to follow the progress, you can sign up to receive their emails via their web site.)

Many of you have asked what can I do next? Well, good news on this front. We're also working on formalizing WAG into an official group so that we can represent Wedgwood residents who want to take a more active role in reducing the scope of this development. We still need to cross some of our t's, and dot our i's, but it shouldn't be too much longer So, stay tuned!

Jobs, school and working on another blog.

You've probably noticed we haven't been posting much lately, but that's due to the fact that we got all wrapped up in jobs and school stuff. You know, real world things. But, the good news for Wedgwood Action watchers is that we'll be back soon with our regular updates!

Anyway, if you'd like to check out some other land use stuff that I've been up to, check out a new blog I've been writing called smarterneighbors.com.

Wedgwood Domino's robbed Thursday, Wedgwood Market robbed Friday, suspect arrested.

Just wanted to pass along this news, a suspect was arrested in armed robbery of the Wedgwood Domino's (at 35th Ave NE and NE 73rd) and the Wedgwood Market (which I think is technically in Bryant).

Anyway, the good news is that from all accounts in the press that nobody was hurt, and they may have caught the person responsible.

Wedgwood businesses posting our flyers!

Just wanted to send a shout-out to local businesses Cafe Van Gogh and John Paul Monir Salon for posting our flyers! Thanks for your support, and if you support our cause we encourage you to patronize these shops!

Did you know? Here's some interesting Wedgwood history.

When we talk about maintaining Wedgwood's neighborhood feel, there's no better way to understand it then to understand Wedgwood's history. I recommend you check out HistoryLink's web site for a bit of Wedgwood's history.

However, I do have to say that I found this bit of information from HistoryLink about Wedgwood's Big Rock to be pretty funny.

In 1970, Wedgwood Rock acquired a new reputation. Some neighbors complained to the city council about hippies who frequented the rock. Complainants reported that, "dirty, long-haired, bearded individuals" (Lake City Star) loitered around the rock, climbed it, and disturbed the neighborhood. Climbers were accused of harassing citizens, taking drugs while on the rock, and using abusive language. The petitioners expressed the belief that Big Rock was being used by hippies to identify homes to burglarize. In October 1970, the city council took the situation seriously and passed an ordinance making it a crime to climb Big Rock, punishable by a fine of $100.

About Greg (seattle67) from Wedgwood Action Group

In case you want to know what I look like, here's my Mii! Want your own, but don't want to wait in line for a Nintendo Wii? Well, you're in luck. You can make and download one here.