Excellent jm - absolutely excellent!

lol - the Bagdad !!!!

http://www.pstos.org/instruments/wa/seattle/bag...

Bring back the Bagdad Theatre.

sorry miller. i was waiting for you to say something to me.....:)

Jules:

Don't ever correct me in public again!

(I'm kidding)

I'm sorry, I was just kidding. Don't listen to a thing I say. I am a 13 year old insomniac.

Peace out

SIGH.

As I said Black, if they are doing well I am glad to hear it and more power to them.

"Maria - have you seen their bottom line?"

Don't waste her time with your silly 'facts', m.

Good call, Fauveress!!

Change is often hard for many to accept and it depresses them. Change does not depress me. Change is life and I like life. What is important is that we keep an eye on things so that the inevitable change benefits us all. That’s why I like this forum.

I think Old Ballard and New Ballard should have a key party at the flag shop.

Can't these people leave quietly?

My Ballard is depressing lately. Can we have another pillow fight or something? Please?

Not COULD be worth more IS worth more. What we choose to do with what we have should not decide it's value for taxes unless it also decides its resale value.

Wait, everyone! I have a great Idea for the space. We should tear the building down, and replace it with condos above and retail spaces at street level. Wouldn't that be great? Maybe a sushi or pizza place could go into the new retail area! No one could have had this idea before! HAHAHAHhaahhahahahah

That was sarcasm. I am definately not old or new Ballard. The flag store was obsolete, and online shopping has to have killed their business more than anything else, even the crappy economy!

Something else will open there, and hopefully with a little luck and a lot of hard work, it will be a success.

Also, my info on the boat place and Archie McPhee's is that when the landowner of both properties died, and the land passed to family, the new property tax (being taxed at the highest and best use...ie retail/condo) killed the ability to keep as is and make the tax payment. This is stated with no judgement of the people, but of the tax laws. Just because property could be worth more, doesn't mean it is making more. Shouldn't we be taxed on what is?

You know, the Grays Harbor area still has some of the Old Ballard ambience. Things are changing there, but a lot slower.

I'm glad to hear that m.

I also would like a definition of normal type. I am a boomer single mom who makes almost exactly the median income in Seattle. Is that normal? I live here.

Define normal types please.

Actually I know 2 of the retail business owners on Ballard Ave and while they've seen better times they are making it. Of course, both are smart enough to live within their means, and make appropriate business decisions.

Maria - have you seen their bottom line?

The old Ballard was a scrappy white 'hood. The new Ballard is so expensive normal types can hardly afford it. Could we have some in-between, please?

That's right Billy. No one is stealing their property.

Old Ballard loves to piss and moan about new money, but flash some dollars at 'em, and watch how fast the Natives will grab their ankles.

m have you seen their bottom line? Talk to the owners.

definitely not a disgruntled neighbor. i saw the sign myself and it was stuck up on the door from the inside. this guy is just bitter. and a bit clueless.

What we really need is a nail or tanning salon to go in there. I just don't have enough choice!

Gotta disagree with Maria - there are small retail businesses making money all up and down Ballard Avenue.

Fight to keep Ballard the butt of jokes on "Almost Live."

Oh, wait...

The flag shop should just sell on Amazon and Ebay - why waste money on a lease when you can just operate online? You have a larger clientele anyways and low overhead.

I can sympathize because my father owned a small retail hardware store up until he sold 2 years ago and luckily got out and got to retire. Small businesses are great and make this country tick. But to survive, you have to be able to evolve, and a flag store moving to online retail seems the way to go.

Good luck!

I went by the flag store yesterday to buy a flag case for a memorial flag and did not see the note on the door (the store was empty). Perhaps it was not the store owners who placed it there, but a disgruntled ballard resident. Thanks, Zipper for the link to their web site. Their prices for the flag case are much cheaper than most of the others.

Oh yeah, about the sign in Nicks last year?
"Would the last small business in Ballard please turn out the lights?"
Nick owns his own land and demolished his own building to prepare his land for sale.

The debate is a distraction. There is no Old Ballard that we can "save" or recreate.
What we really need is just a better Ballard.
What is a better Ballard?
How do we get there?
How do keep the inevitable changes that are happening on track to make Ballard better?
Are more people in Ballard going to make it a better place or worse?
How do we shape development to build a better community?
These are just some of the most obvious questions we should be asking and not wasting hot air dividing the community over what's already happened. Let's look at what's about to happen and how that's going to impact us.

What Ballard needs is retail businesses that make money and I don’t see much of that around. You could shoot a cannon through most of these stores today and not hit a living soul except the clerk. Funny really how the “One Market Under God’ folks are beating their dead horses.

Why can't I post my opinion on here? It is an open board. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean I can't speak my mind. Maybe we need to call this site MyPretentiousBallard.com

Please, please, for the love of God, turn it into an Italian shoe emporium so the Geeks can keep the angry traffic flowing on Myballard.com!

what they really need in that space is a god damn head shop.

Evan - "I wish those of us who do still love living here..."
Big negative assumption on your part or poor phrasing? We do love living here - still.

I wish those of us who do still love living here could harness the bitterness of all these folks like the flag shop owner.

Maybe some kind of alternative energy green business thing.

Golly, I sure wish Ballard was just a big museum of old people and stores that don't make money. And maybe dirtier. That would be cool. Neat shops like boat stores in the middle of residential neighborhoods and flag shops. Now that's Ballard I can believe in..

I'm just glad this post hasn't paved the way for a ridiculous armchair economics debate revival.

Old Ballard will come back in a decade or so...when the neighborhood is no longer hip and the cheaply built town homes and condos start to age. It will just the SFH that will die in Ballard. I should start a pool on when the complaints about urban blight start. Those that are too new to property ownership to understand that buildings deprecate will be shocked at the battles go on when their townhouse needs to be painted and they have to get multiple families to agree to lay out a large amount of cash.

I'm not looking forward to this, as I don't enjoy seeing people suffer but mark my words it will happen.

Great. Now I can boycott them online too!

I own a local Ballard business and have lived here for 30 years. I am FED UP with people who think that there was something remarkable and charming about our retail sector when it was vacant and dangerous. That flag store was a welcome addition to the mix, but the market has spoken and you didn't make the cut. I would have happily continued to buy from you, until you started blaming others for your failure. Ballard doesn't need anymore blame-finders and societal cruisers. It needs people ready to work and contribute. Good riddance.

The old Ballard is long gone. C'est la vie. Get over it. Come back in 10-15 years or so when the overbuilt multifamily homes turn Ballard back into the ghettos.

Dude - they sell FLAGS.

Banks are failing. People are losing their homes. Who in their right mind is spending their hard-earned money on FLAGS these days?!

Look, I'm sorry, but they sold flags. Flags. I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.

miller:
i stand corrected, sorry. it was on their door i guess. ....

miller:
that note was not even at the flag shop--read the story before you call them childish. this was the note left at the boat place a year ago.....

It is definitely new Ballards fault that their business died!

That's a pretty childish note, and it sort of gives me a "Don't let the door hit you...." attitude toward them. I would rather they had put up a note thanking everyone for buying enough flags to keep their (somewhat ridiculous) niche business in rent money all these years.

My new ballard man toy bought a flag there last week. He refused to tell me the price because he thought it was so high. I didn't think 40 bucks for a flag was that expensive but he did. :(

Might as well have just made it say. "Fight to keep BALLARD divided between old BALLARD and new BALLARD!!!" Can we please stop this pointless division making? Pretty please?

dramatic.

All the Kings Flags will be fine....check out their website:

http://www.allkingsflags.com/t-about.aspx

They came to Ballard after opening their California location. Wouldn't call them too local.

But seriously, how many flags do have to move to pay the rent? They should have bought the building with their CA money.

The former location of Nick's boats , on 65th, is still empty, so why were they forced out?

It was a cool store, and I bought a few obscure flags there. They were very knowledgeable about the flags of the world. I hope they can move their business to the Internet somehow. And I'll miss their poor sickly shop cat, too...

I guess the Ballard mentioned in the note is the Ballard that used to buy alot of flags...

Please don't start an "Old Ballard" vs. "New Ballard" arguement again. Ballard is continuing to evolve, as all living organisms do.

I can understand why the owners of All The Kings Flags may feel somewhat bitter but the truth is that the marketplace has changed; particularly for niche products; and they didn't change with it.

I'm sure Knute Berger can help with this. "We know things change, but we want them to be the same after they change. And even though growth is inevitable, can we grow in a way so that we stay the same size? We want the freedom to do what we want, but somebody needs to make sure nobody lays a finger on my favorite hang out. Also, everybody gets a pony."