Yearend musings on the real estate scene

What goes down must come up?As we’ve learned to our dismay in recent years, real estate values cannot permanently defy that old adage,  “What goes up must come down.”   Having endured more than four years of declining values since the bubble burst in the summer of 2007, Seattle-area homeowners may be forgiven for now wondering “Are we there yet?” For surely at some point we’ll reach bottom, this demoralizing downward trend will reverse...

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Greetings of the season

Best wishes to you and yours from the Madison Park Blogger for a happy holiday and a great end to the year.We took a little tour of the neighborhood Christmas decorations earlier this week, and here present some of the more outstanding examples of the lighted trees in the Park. While there are also some great lighting displays on Madison Park homes, we found that getting the proper perspective from which photograph them was difficult in the absence...

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Another cottage comes down

Progress or simply deplorable?The wrecking crew was on site early this morning, and once the work got underway it didn't take long for the tiny, brightly-painted house at 2032 41st Avenue E. to bite the dust.  The 590 sq. ft., one-bedroom home---now just a pile of rubble---would have celebrated a Centennial Anniversary if it could have remained on site for just another couple of years. But that was not to be. Built in 1914, the house was one...

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Vandals strike again

In what was more likely a wanton act of destruction than any kind of political statement, a person or persons unknown broke both of the plate glass windows at Spa Jolie last night---and for good measure broke a window in the vacant space adjacent to the spa as well. This is the building, owned by Constance Gillespie, that was vandalized in the same manner earlier this year. The structure's middle space, unoccupied for years, is once again open to...

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Police Blotter 12/15/11

A crime rash of another kindLast week KOMO reported on one of its websites that Madison Park has been experiencing a "rash" of burglaries over the past few weeks. That was news to us, since the Seattle Police had reported only one such break-in during the four-week period ending 12/15.  We quizzed KOMO about its report and found that the station had apparently confused our neighborhood with Montlake and/or Madison Valley (it's just so confusing,...

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Christmas ships attract big turnout

It was clear skies and smooth sailing for the arrival of the Christmas ships off Madison Park Beach last night, as hundred of spectators lined the shores, stood on the pier, or watched the show from the windows and decks of condos and apartments along the water.  The balmy-for-December air temperature may have been responsible for what was certainly the largest crowd to attend this annual event during the last decade---and perhaps ever.The Christmas...

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How we voted: 2011

Almost 60% of Madison Park’s 3,400 registered voters mailed in their November election ballots this year, and on each of the major ballot issues they agreed with the majority view—but with an even stronger level of support.  King County Elections recently released the voting totals by precinct, so we took a look at what the numbers show for the nine precincts that make up Madison Park. On Initiative 1183, which privatized liquor sales, Madison...

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Appealing those assessments

We ended our recent report concerning the 2011 assessments by noting that while you can choose to believe that the Assessor's valuation of your house is invalid, you still must your pay your property taxes based on that analysis. Of course, as has been pointed out by several readers, that is not strictly true.  If you really think your property assessment is off base, you can choose to appeal. It's a course of action open to all; but it's...

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This fence to be removed

Parks Board makes its recommendationAfter serving for more than 60 years as a safety barrier (and, in the opinion of many, an eyesore), the chain-link fence at Swingset Park is about to become a thing of the past. That, at least, is the position of the Board of Park Commissioners, which this evening voted 4-0 (with one abstention) to recommend to the Superintendent of Parks & Recreation that the fence and its attendant blackberry bushes be removed....

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Exploring underwater wreckage off the beach

There's a lot of wreckage under the waters of Lake Washington, almost all which arrived there accidentally. Though at least one vessel was intentionally scuttled in the Lake, much of the underwater debris consists of commercial boats or ferries that sank (usually during storms) and were not recovered.  Some of the wreckage, however, is the remains of military aircraft that took flight from the old Sand Point Naval Air Station.Until KUOW...

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December happenings

'Christmas Ship' and flotilla arrive December 17As regular readers of this blog know, there is officially one and only one Christmas Ship--all of the rest of the boats following in its wake each year are simply holiday hangers-on.  Just so we don't get an irritated email from Argosy Cruises (which owns the "Christmas Ship" trademark and hates to see it misused), we're reporting unofficially that "The Christmas Ships" will be arriving...

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McGilvra scores high (as always)

The Seattle School District last month made public the annual School Reports for each of the schools in the system, and once again John J. McGilvra Elementary School had an excellent outcome.  This was the third year that the District used this form of academic reporting, and it was also the third year in which McGilvra was rated a Level 5 school, the top designation.  Slightly fewer than a quarter of the Seattle Public Schools qualified...

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