When the firefighters are getting attacked on the job you know the drunks/crackheads are getting out of hand.
Maybe a few more police on the beat would keep them from thinking they own the place?*

*I actually had a wasted crackhead scream "I own this place!" at me after I refused to give him the dollar I didn't have.

It looks like the hair salon on 56th and 17th got broken into last night. One of the windows was completely broken this morning.

Get that psyche degree from Home Shopping Club did ya?

maria-

it sounds like you have you own personal identity crisis and you letting someone else dictate that to you. get over it and as you say "look forward." why bother entertaining the thought unless you have a sense of humor about it? i think it's funny and keeps the conversation lively. i can relate to old and new so i have one foot in each pool. what a life!

Mr bean and others I also find the old v new kinda amusing. I grew up here from ’62 to ’80, moved away for 22 years and returned three years ago. What does that make me? I’m not Scandinavian and from what I can find even in 1910 only 34 % were so that is not an issue that I can see. I miss some old things about Ballard and really like some of the new things and vice versa. It is still pretty white as it has always been but then again Seattle is still the most segregated city in which I have ever lived so that is not surprising and not an issue for me either.

I have always been one to look forward and not dwell on the past so I guess that makes me new Ballard? I also enjoy old things. (I am and old thing!) So does that make me old Ballard? I like condos and have no problem really with townhouses so does that mean I am new Ballard? I grew up in a 1920s Tudor and went to Ballard High so am I old Ballard? I think I am just a Seattlite who lives in a neighborhood I like and is convenient and safe relatively safe for a city.

Very sorry for the poor fireman just doing his job.

These are the same people day after day hangin and drinkin. Tell me, what's the "exit strategy" for these schlubs? Are they just too cute to go? Like it or not Ballard has a lot of tourists due to the Locks. Which Seattle do we want them to see? Where's mayor McCheese on this and too many other issues in our hood? Where's the outrage? Marches? Rent-a-mobs when we need 'em to put an end to these shreds of human debris?

What a dick.

BTW - I consider myself "Ballard" not New or Old. It is high time that we all started trying that on for size on this blog.

Darnit, my boyfriend would have loved to see a good fight at the old Denny's. Of course they happen all the time so it's not like it's surprising.

I would like to turn the whole block including 7/11 into condos. Maybe then, we won't have as many break-ins at our condos. Gotta spread the love.

Oh, speaking of break-ins... we had four cars and one storage unit broken into on Thursday night. Sweet.

Steve,
The vacant lot is an attractive hangout for the drink-all-day-and-night crowd. Not sure if building something there will chase them. They congregate all over Ballard, regardless of the status of the building they are leaning up against - the City office, the Ballard Market. Once Jacobsens and Archie McPhee is gone, they'll have a few more places to lean.

Mr Bean... I am just as confused.

I first lived in Ballard from 1994-1996. I then moved to lower Queen Anne for a bit, but then returned to Ballard in 2002, when my husband and I bought a Ballard home built in 1910 (old!). Also, my husband had lived in Phinney Ridge from the early-90s until we moved here.

So, am I old or new?

(On a separate note, when I lived here in the mid-90s as a 20-something, it was pretty boring. You had a choice of 2 or 3 bars and basically no restaurants worth visiting repeatedly. I more than welcome all the new businesses that have opened.)

Mr Bean - I wonder which of your ballards you think you belong to?

I live right down the street and was passing as police wrestled him to the ground. Getting a bit tired of this bum hangout. Tearing down Denny's was a bummer for some people but I hope they can get funding to build there soon. It will flush out the crowd thats always hanging out there.

there's a program at the church on 65th at about 11th. we could direct them there. it's w/in walking distance too!

E/C: the bums goes to the bars?

Mr Bean would like to know what constitutes New Ballard vs. Old Ballard.

Or better still, why care?

Mr. Bean has lived here many a year, as has the extended family. The sister moved away for many years and even lived in *gasp* LA. Now she lives in Ballard. Is she Old, being born here, or New, having lived off the secret island world of Ballard for two decades? Perhaps I should ban her, or make her feel uncomfortable?

Mr Bean proposes a better dinstinction, how about Mean Ballard and Nice Ballard. Or Pissy-Pants Ballard and Accepting Ballard?

p.s. what to do with my NEW neighbors from distant CA. They had the nerve to invite the Beans to dinner...to their Townhouse...what to do, what to do....

we may need a alcohol program in close proximity to all the bars soon...

What is wrong with people!?!?!?

So do New Ballardites need to get a Visa from Old Ballardites or is it the other way around?

JM/Nordic Woman: New Ballard would have set his lawyer on him.

If it's the incident that I saw by the old Denny's lot it was a group of three homeless people gathered around a fourth on the ground. It seems likely that one or more was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when help arrived. I did not witness the assault though.

Jim,
That's definitely NEW Ballard, NOT Old Ballard.

I hope they throw the book at this guy. One of my friends works at that station.

It is actually a felony to assault an on-duty firefighter, something my hubby has had to explain to his share of drunk and disorderly folk.

That’s definitely Old Ballard!

there should be a specific law for assaulting a fire fighter. i hope this person has one #%*@ of a hangover!