Small Apartment Inspiration

If you live downtown, you probably live in a small space - check out this smallest, coolest apartment contest for NYers - for apartments less than 500 sq feet. Some are terrible, some are amazing, and all of them are tiny - makes you think of the cool things you can do with your small space.

- K

The Unfortunate Truth: Craigslist People are Pretty Lame

Everyone loves craigslist. It's simple, it's fascinating, it's educational, it's entertainment, it's free. So why are all the people who respond to ads so flaky?! It takes about 15 emails/phone calls to arrange to pick anything up, people don't show, they don't bring money when they do show, they complain, they send their girlfriend's roommate's older brother to pick up your couch so you're letting some random in your house that you haven't even had an email conversation with...basically, if craigslist wasn't so cool it would be a huge pain in the ass.

- K

Free Parking is Dying

The last free parking in Uptown.
Originally uploaded by jseattle.

As the parking meter kiosks spread around town (they look like robot soldiers), the very few places to park for free are shrinking even more - this is bad. It basically forces people who live downtown to drive their cars to work every day, because without a spot in a garage, there is nowhere you can leave your car. Hard to reduce the traffic burden by taking the bus if you'll have a parking ticket waiting for you. No wonder people leave their cars in the free spots for so long. The last great stretch of free parking is right next to the soon-to-be sculpture park - clearly, it won't last.

- K

Taller Buildings - About Time

The mayor just released his plan to raise building height limits downtown. This should have been done long ago. Raising the height limit means skinnier buildings - city folk get better light on the streets, more space for downtown living, and, hopefully, better architechture. No more squat blocky buildings please! Go Mayor Nickels!
News coverage here.

- K

Meet the Neighbors

Here's a very cool site for us apartment/condo dwellers. Meet the Neighbors lets you post a profile and meet the other people in your apartment building or condo online. It's knocking on doors for the friendster/match.com world!

-K

Critical blogger sued by city

None of this here in Uptown, I'm sure. We're boosters! ;)

Boing Boing: Legal fund for French blogger being sued by for criticizing his town

(btw, the legal 'fund' is a paypal donation jar -- and i'll be damned if I can actually find the link on the French dude's blog)

Did you give John Kerry $782.93?

Uptown_Givers
Originally uploaded by jseattle.

Remember that whole 2004 election thing? Here's how your neighbors (or, at least, everybody within 1/2 mile of the Mecca Cafe ;)) contributed to the pot. (Thanks to the folks at fundrace.org for the fun data front-end)

Interbay - our neighbor to the north (with a groovy yuppie grocery store coming soon!)

Hard for us to complain about a Whole Foods and other assorted development being planned just down the road - but, yeah, we'll miss the lady bug dude, too.

Top 3 future-type things to look forward to in Seattle's Uptown

sculpture_park
Originally uploaded by jseattle.

Here's what we're eagerly anticipating. You?

3) Smaller but yum! The Boat Street Cafe moves to our hood - July 2005


2) Bigger: The Lumen project and Gates Foundation HQ with new grocery store and restaurants - End of 2006


1) Biggest: The Olympic Sculpture Garden opens - Spring 2006

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

I'm not a hippie but do we really need a Viaduct

With all the worry-warting on the cost of tunneling (who didn't see that one coming?), can we please please please talk about solutions beyond building another mistake?

Though their name sounds maybe a little too revolutionary for casual Seattle, the People's Waterfront Coalition make the case that we should tear down the Viaduct and, gasp!, not replace it with anything.

I don't know that this is 100% the right answer -- but I do know it should be talked about more. Start talking!

-J

Irregularly Recurring Service Feature: Best of CL

Recent Uptown highlights from nutty Craigslist users like you! I know K likes to play the game of match the Craigslist 'w4m' posts with the Craigslist 'm4w' posts -- maybe we can also provide the same service here. If only the painter guy were into sugar gliders!

- J

May- 8 RAVE- My CL snuggle buddy from last night (Belltown)

May- 3 RE: RAVE: I LOVE MEN (lower queen anne)

May- 3 RE:RE:........shy men (lower queen anne)

May- 6 Silver heels and jeans (Belltown)

May- 3 belltown all over on sat. - m4m - 34 (belltown)

May- 6 you live a few doors down......... - m4w - 28 (lower Queen Anne)

May- 4 Cute Ex-Pagliacci Girl - m4w (Lower Queen Anne)

May- 7 Host/Hostess sought for busy Lower Queen Anne restaurant (Lower Queen Anne) <<retail/food/hospitality

May- 9 Lounge Cocktailer (Belltown/Seattle) <<retail/food/hospitality

May- 9 Fellow sugar glider owners? (Seattle (Belltown)) <<pets

May- 5 Take off your clothing, I want to paint your picture (Belltown) <<artists

May- 4 Going to the grocery store? (Lower Queen Anne/ Seattle) <<volunteers

Denny Triangle?

Look, our next door neighborhood also made a land grab a couple years ago - the Denny Triangle. http://www.dennytriangle.com/home.htm
I think this means we can go all the way to 6th!

Spotted in Uptown: Westlake flag guy

time: 6:35 AM
place: 1st Ave. bus shelter, across from Minnie's
who: That wacky nutball who continually ballyhoos his assorted flags on street corners around the Westlake Mall
what this means: The dude starts his day in Uptown. Either he lives here OR, better yet!, this is where his special lady lives. What do you think her compulsive issue is?

This belongs to Uptown now, thanks

uptown_belltowncorner
Originally uploaded by jseattle.

Here's the corner of Belltown we're claiming

Uptown poetry

Halfway-house resident, you watch me in open windows
Through clouds of sandwich stink and service station cigarettes
I undress and wonder, can you tell I am a man

(hmm, methinks the poet's genaral protocol is too personal and we lacketh a key to unlocketh hist meaningth)

-J

Life in Uptown

Seattle doesn't really need a new neighborhood but I don’t want to live in Lower Queen Anne or even Upper Queen Anne for that matter. I want to live downtown in the city with people who ride the bus (though I rarely do) and dogs that are rat-sized (though I don’t have a dog) and hair salons barely outnumber coffee joints and fancy-pants restaurants (though I have nothing parenthetically funny to insert here).

But if I say I live downtown, you might think I live in a highrise or at the mall or in a comfy booth at the Déjà vu. I don’t. I live in the catbird seat above Elliott Bay, overlooking the under-construction sculpture garden, watching the PI globe spin round just north of the graceless hub-bub of Belltown, just west of the Space Needle pointing to the sky. I live uptown. Calling it by name, I live in Uptown.

It’s not Belltown, or Georgetown or Allentown so post your propaganda for those 'hoods elsewhere, thank you very much. We’re here to talk about life in Uptown - to celebrate the best convenience stores, latest sushi restaurant and most annoying local *feature* (I nominate the gross permanently-wet sidewalk in front of Dendreon (what are those people doing in there anyhow???).

Our bounds are relatively small geographically. WikiPedia’s Seattle denotes Uptown
as the area west of Seattle Center but I’ll cut the lines more
specifically as this blog progresses. First, we take a small triangle
from Belltown, claiming Broad and north. Watch out Seattle, I'll be
claiming more down the road.


Seattle probably doesn’t really need a new blog, either. But here you
go anyways. At least we're being efficient -- instead of two ranters
and ravers taking off on separate flights of fancy, my gf and I are
consolidating our efforts in this single, soone-to-be spectacular blog.
But I'll let her tell you all about that part.

- J