More Zoning Questions

Since looking into the land use violations at 2510 Beacon Avenue South, I've wondered about other properties nearby. After all, the whole area is supposedly zoned Neighborhood Commercial 2 ("A moderately-sized pedestrian-oriented shopping area that provides a full range of retail sales and services to the surrounding neighborhood").

Including this property right across the street at 2507 Beacon Avenue South.



Hmm. It doesn't look terribly retail-ish. Does the lease sign explain that the business will have to be a purely retail one?



Nope. It's advertising the space as potential light industrial. Let's double-check to make sure that this warehouse building without a single window out front really is zoned NC2, or retail-only.



Yup.

I don't know what to think about this. I would love for the center of the Beacon Hill business district to be a dense retail area, and I do think zoning enforcement can help turn things in that direction. However, some buildings just don't look like they were meant to be retail spaces. I guess business owners are supposed to try and make retail work in these awkward spaces, or the property owners are supposed to remodel the buildings to better suit that purpose. I don't know.

Planet Georgetown

Planet Georgetown is closing at the end of the month. A bunch of Georgetowners came by tonight to say goodbye.





They've been here 22 years.





They've served a lot of tan food.











Ice ice baby.













Peace out.

SPU Offers to Help with Christian Restoration Center Cleanup

After calling to hang up my hat as a graffiti ranger and turn in my little red wagon, I ended up chatting with graffiti guy Anthony Matlock at Seattle Public Utilities. I complained to him that the neighborhood miscreants just can't keep their hands off of the Christian Restoration Center building. And he mentioned to me that his team can help out with that problem. He can send out a team of court-ordered "volunteers" to paint out graffiti on frequently tagged properties like that one at least once a month.

Their help doesn't absolve the property owners from responsibility for the mess. (And I found out that the property manager has been out there as recently as this week to take care of the problem on both the wall and the windows.) But, let's face it, it's going to get hit again, so the building can use all the help it can get.

So I got Anthony in touch with the property owner and manager, and now they're working together on this. Let's hope it helps.

Not Enough Trashy TV in the South End

Because Netflix has it listed as a "long wait," I just went out to the Hollywood Video north of Columbia City to get the first disc of "The Tudors: Season 2," which came out yesterday.



Yeah, I know it's totally trashy -- the perfect thing to watch during the cold, dark, rainy end of my maternity leave.

But the store manager said they didn't have the Tudors. She said people ask for it, but corporate doesn't send it to them. I asked where the next nearest Hollywood was, and I forgot whether she said 23rd or Rainier Beach, but I do remember that she said that that store wouldn't have it either.

It's not like it's an obscure title, and it's not like they're a small store. They carry thousands and thousands of titles, but not the No. 4 bestselling DVD at Amazon and one of the top-requested titles at Netflix.

I could have tried Blockbuster, but, oh yeah, the South End doesn't have any. And Beacon Hill doesn't have any (English-language) video stores at all, and Georgetown doesn't either.

Oh well.

Seattle Homicides in 2008

If Seattle loses one of its dailies in 2009, please, God, let it be the Seattle Times.

As far as I can tell, the Times website still doesn't have anything about the neo-Nazi incident in the U-District last night, in which officers shot and killed an armed man in a German military uniform. Instead, they're leading with their continued punishment of the mayor ("Nickels revises salt policy, admits mistakes") and dumb fluff like "Turns out resolutions aren't empty promises." Yawn.

Meanwhile, the P-I already has a lengthy story about the crazy-scary neo-Nazi incident. And Casey McNerthney has a story about the homicides in Seattle in 2008, along with a list of the victims and the circumstances of their deaths.

Later this month when the police come out with their press release about last year's crime, we'll be able to match the numbers with the names. Thanks, P-I.