The McDonald’s on Greenwood Ave. near 85 St. closed down a couple weeks ago, and taggers have unleashed their talents on every square foot of it. Now it’s arguably Greenwood Avenue’s biggest eyesore.
A business owner across the street says the land has been purchased by developers, so it should be demolished in the next couple months.
My Ballard
A news blog for Seattle's Ballard neighborhood and beyond
Taggers go to town on closed McDonald’s
June 22nd, 2008 · 24 Comments
Tags: Phinney Ridge-Greenwood
24 responses so far ↓
1 James // Jun 22, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I have noticed the vandals seem to be very active all over the Greenwood neighborhood north of 85th Street. I am sure it’s a pain in the neck for the businesses that have to do the clean up.
2 Suthii // Jun 22, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Why would they tag the only place they can afford to eat in? I guess they don’t teach irony at tagger’s school.
3 Suthii // Jun 22, 2008 at 5:22 pm
“the land has been purchased by developers, so it should be demolished in the next couple months.”
Finally, the place was an eyesore and McDs, BK, Denny’s etc. are the culinary and social equivalents of a crack houses. Hopefully that block on Greenwood Ave will get better soon, I’m seeing some good changes already.
4 The Raven // Jun 23, 2008 at 5:57 am
Personally, I think the tagging is an improvement. Caw!
5 Peter // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:24 am
“the land has been purchased by developers, so it should be demolished in the next couple months.”
No doubt making way for Greenwoods newest eyesore. Replacing McDonalds with McCondos is hardly what I’d call an improvement.
6 James // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:31 am
“No doubt making way for Greenwoods newest eyesore. Replacing McDonalds with McCondos is hardly what I’d call an improvement.”
Why? McDonalds didn’t add much -except trash and litter around the area.
7 Suthii // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:45 am
McD’s/BK/Dennys add nothing to a community and this one was a magnet for drug dealers because of the pay phone out front.
I’d take condos over a McDs any day and luckily so would most folks with an ounze of common sense. Some folks can’t see any kind of improvement without having their pseudo-class envy bubbling up. I mean, when you’re reduced to defending Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler, how much credibility do you have?
8 James // Jun 23, 2008 at 7:06 am
The vandals are only immature idiots with no idea how do anything productive with their time. Why don’t they try doing something that makes this a better place?
9 Peter // Jun 23, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hey you kids! Get offa my lawn!
*shakes cane*
10 pioggia // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:53 am
“McD’s/BK/Dennys add nothing to a community and this one was a magnet for drug dealers because of the pay phone out front.”
Are there really any drug dealers left who don’t own a cell? Otherwise gotta agree with Suthii for once. I don’t feel that there’s a real need for more condo’s at this point (If that’s what is going in next) but closing a McDs is hardly a loss for the community…
So if we do have a growing problem with tagging in the area, what can we do about it?
11 biff // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:54 am
Does anyone really use spray paint for a legal use?
12 Suthii // Jun 23, 2008 at 9:10 am
Peter, would you wave a cane if they were tagging YOUR property?
13 Mike // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:20 am
I bet they tagged that McDonalds just to start a comment riot on MyBallard.
14 Peter // Jun 23, 2008 at 3:44 pm
No, I wouldn’t - because I am not old. You are old, and grumpy. I am better than you. I win.
Please close this thread.
15 joe // Jun 23, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I’m sad that this place closed. Where am I supposed to get my hangover mcmuffin?
16 Phins // Jun 23, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Abandoned buildings insure diversity in the neighborhood. I mean, where are the drug dealers and homeless supposed to congregate? Each neighborhood should be required to maintain a certain percentage of its buildings with a status of “abandoned”.
17 Susan // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:19 pm
We’re having a huge problem with graffiti here in Greenwood. There was a suggestion at the Greenwood Community Council meeting last week that this might be — in part — due to the fact that the Boys & Girls Club has been closed for remodeling for the past six months. The Club re-opened this weekend, so if that’s true, we hope to see a reduction in the graffiti as the kids get off the street again.
And as a resident of Greenwood, I am very happy to see McDonald’s be torn down, and condos and 1st floor retail go in in that space. I sympathize with some (but not nearly all) of the angst in Ballard over all the recent redevelopment, but the part of me that thinks Ballard is a great place to shop and eat now, also has me hoping for some of the same here in Greenwood. Some.
As for the tagging of McDonald’s? At least it’s coming down soon. I’m hoping they concentrate their energies there for a while, instead of continuing the huge mess they’ve been making of Greenwood trash cans, fences, light poles, garage doors, outbuildings, mailboxes, and anything and everything else with a pseudo-flat surface.
18 Ep // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:59 pm
How many apartments do you think will fit in that space? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
19 JM // Jun 23, 2008 at 7:49 pm
The Greenwood vandalism is certainly a waste of time and money. The paint isn’t cheap (unless shoplifted) and crawling around in the middle of the night for what? Unfortunately, there’s a new crop of these idiots every year.
20 CK // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:53 pm
It would be nice if some kids taking out their angst on a soon-to-be-demolished icon of gluttony were our biggest worry. I mean it’s pretty harmless really, in this case (likewise for the poor old ballard dennys). Now if only these graffiti artists had a little more skill and creativity, instead of painting the same boring old black logos everywhere…
21 JM // Jun 24, 2008 at 5:42 am
I hope the developer of the MacDonald’s site will work with the city to improve the sidewalks on that side of Greenwood Ave. because it is a mess.
22 l3j // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:19 am
That McDonalds was already the eyesore of Greenwood Ave. Tagging something that’s slated for demolition seems like a much better idea than tagging anything else.
23 l3j // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:20 am
@Joe (15): I recommend getting your hangover breakfast at the Baranoff instead.
24 Jim // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:59 am
I have a taser in my cane so when punks come around to do their tagging I zap their asses and ask them who is laughing now.
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