In the several years I’ve lived in Belltown, you’ve been a good neighbor. The people who take classes with you are most nice, well-adjusted kids, and they don’t cause trouble. You’ve got a nice location, right on the waterfront. I use your parking garage often whenever I grab a Flexcar Zipcar for a few hours. All in all, it’s been a good relationship thus far. But there’s something on your campus I’ve got my eye on.
Your basketball court.
See, the City of Seattle took away a half court when they put in the dog park at 3rd and Bell. The closest public basketball court in now up at the Denny Playfield, which doesn’t get the love it should.
Belltown is home to some interesting open space. There’s the Belltown cottages, Victor Steinbrueck Park, the aforementioned dog park on 3rd and Bell, and the Olympic Sculpture Park. The latter has a sign which says, “no active sports allowed.” So while my neighborhood has a gigantic typewriter eraser sitting on a grassy burm, it doesn’t have a b-ball court.
Is there an agreement we can come to that might allow Kurt Rambis-types such as myself the chance to shoot hoops at your court, until the city finally puts up some rims under the Viaduct? I want to play some pick-up basketball without having to leave my neighborhood.
Can we make this happen?
Jesus, could you have written a more self serving post? What do you think this is, the Slog???
Isn’t the Seattle Art Institute part of a for-profit corporation? I’m sure they’d set you up with something, for a price… Looks like they are a part of the Goldman Sachs family (ref. Wikipedia). Are you a part of the Goldman Sachs family?
Belltown “open space”???
“Open space”???
My 2 neighbors to the South own 6500 acres & 12500 acres, respectively. That’s 30 square miles of cattle, grass, fields & trees.
That is f—ing Open Space!!
A hobo urinated park bench ain’t “open space” Will.
@ 1
I’ve always been a self-server. If you can’t serve yourself, who will?
@ 3
We do with what we got.
will–
Ye of the tribe of Mighty Low Expectations.
At least you play real sports will.
I thought most Belltowners only played Butt-tag!
Will, I believe the b-ball court you’re referring to is supposed to be open to the public. As I recall, it was part of an agreement reached between the developer and the City.
@ 5
You’ve got us Belltowners confused with former state Rep. Richard Curtis, former Rep. Mark Foley, and Sen. Larry Craig.
Dear Will, on behalf of the art institute let me say that you were sounding reasonable up to the point when you defined yourself as a Kurt Rambis styled player. You see, the art institute does not endorse black glasses and more over we cannot afford the medical expenses caused by elbow impacts with competitors eyes. We here at the art institute like a kinder gentler level of play. Besides for all the fouls he could draw, he was never very good from the foul line.
So we are sorry Will, but no you can’t.
P.S. Any idea what Kurt is doing now? Is he running a BB camp for short white guys? “Now as soon as you get the rebound, stick out your elbows and twist quickly from side to side like this.” “OK who wants to help with a demonstration?” …..Anyone?
Somehow I can picture anarchists in ski masks attaching hoops to buildings’ blank walls in every key-park parking lot in the neighborhood, and spray-painting a foul line and 3 point circle on the blacktop.
Probably better than throwing bricks through bank windows …
will @ 7
Me thinks you is birds of a feather…flucking together.
Present company excluded!
will, how do you stand being closed in by huge buildings sucking in exhaust air all day??
Where I live I can sight in my deer rifle from 300 yards on my own property.
Where you live (if you can call it living), if you drop your keys, you have to kick them into a phone booth & close the door in order to pick them up without being prodded.
It sucks to be you.
Kurt Rambis? I’ve always thought of you as more of a Greg Oostertag.
Anyway, I think anybody can play at that court.
Mr. Cynical, always thinking of gay sex, but denying he’s gay, like Sen. Larry Craig, or Mayor Jim West.
Just admit it; you are gay, you’ve always been gay and you hate Gold Star Mothers.
@ 8
6’8″ is NOT short, and he does have his own website.
@ 9
Good idea. Sorta like Critical Mass, but with basketballs instead of bikes.
@ 11
Maybe I’m more of a Steve Scheffler. (Ask someone who remembers the Sonics of the 90’s about Schef.)
@7…Will…
All recently seen checking out condo opportunities in Belltown!
Famous Belltown night spot pickup lines…”This butt’s for you.” Or, “May I push in your stool?”
Maybe not pick-up basketball, but certainly pick-up hand ball!
The Piper
Interesting that all the gay references are coming from the resident righties! What could it mean?
And Cynical, hooray for you that you and your neighbors all live on thousands of acres. Apparently you think we should all live like that. That would make the US’ population density somewhere around Montana’s. Besides being oh-so-practical, it would make it kind of tough to do little communal things like manufacture stuff or make movies and TV shows or have markets for your goods. Good luck with that!
And Piper, your posts have gotten progressively more boorish and predictable, not funny but mean. You’re about to drop below the Puddybud-skip-the-post-because-it’s-stupid level…kind the blogger’s Mendoza line.
kind of the blogger’s Mendoza line.
Will, news flash, 6’8″ (on a good day) is short,in NBA terms, unless you are Jerry West.
You still sound like a liability risk to me though.
@14
Um, Capital Hill is the gay neighborhood. In all the times you’ve been down to Belltown to buy more crack, you never realized that?
“Kurt Rambis types”
You mean you play dirty and cheat?
I guess you get brownie points for being honest about it.
Oneman–
Frankly I could care less about TV and Movies. I prefer to invest my time and get some kind of spiritual or financial return on investment.
And manufacturing?? Thats all done out of the US thanks to BILL CLINTON, the signator of both NAFTA and GATT.
Belltown is the “Metrosexual” neighborhood where anything that feels good is ok. I think the toxic exhaust that encompasses the area thanks to the thick marine air has contributed to the ever growing population of kooks.
Good luck with all that.
I prefer where I am.
I can breathe…and not be forced to witness abhorent behavior which is Seattle’s claim to fame.
Michael, Kurt was never accused of cheating. He was put in when the Lakers wanted to take things up a notch or when the other team had already done so. He was what we call a physical player much like Charles Barkley but with more of a Clark Kent personality.
When you said “play dirty and cheat” I bet you were thinking about Rossi.
GBS @ 12
But, can he tap dance?
Mr. Cynical, have you ever actually BEEN in a city? Or are you basing your opinions on John Wayne movies?
@20
Belltown is the “Metrosexual” neighborhood where anything that feels good is ok.
You’ve clearly never been here.
What, a Kurt Rambis type? Probably more of a Jim McIlvaine type. Over-hyped and without a championship. Of course you would want to associate your self with a Laker.
#13 Will says:
You mean the years that Nick the Quick used to lead the Lake Show (Los Angeles Lakers) past the sonics? And who could forget that sonic meltdown against the nuggets, Dikembe lying on the floor clutching the ball over his head. Priceless.
Speaking of trash talking the sonics… does anyone know who “Coz” from the newsgroups is?
#8 Particle Man says:
Assistant coach with the Lakers. I would ask don’t you watch basketball but with the sonics as the home team, what’s the point.
I’ve lived in several big cities, including Seattle.
Enough to know it ain’t for me.
I used to work years ago in the Belltown area and saw the rebuilding of that area. While it has many anemities, it lacks the character of a real town. Too many like minded elitists who’s idea of helping the helping the homeless and less fortunate is to send them packing somewhere else.
Kind of a “it’s all about me” attitude prevails.
In rural America, people genuinely care about their neighbors. They need each other.
I don’t expect any of you City Slickers to understand.
@27
Too many like minded elitists who’s idea of helping the helping the homeless and less fortunate is to send them packing somewhere else.
On my walk through Belltown to work from the bus stop every morning, I walk past several assistance shelters. What on earth are you talking about?
Mr. Delusional:
There is no part of Belltown that has been full of “like minded” people in the last 20 years that I know of. In that time it’s gone from a pretty low-rent neighborhood, gunshots in the streets at night, to its fairly gentrified condition today. Nonetheless there always was and continues to be plenty of variety in the people you’d find there.
Of course you have to remove your head from your ass to see them.
#30 OneMan says:
Mr Cynical said the homeless were sent packing somewhere else. You said gentrified. What’s the difference besides your better use of vocabulary?
@26…Marvin…
“Coz” is probably Steve Pyeatt who ostensibly heads up Save Our Sonics. He routinely heads up one-man crusades.
The Piper
@31: Marvin?
What’s the VERY NEXT sentence in my post?
I’ll help you out…
Nonetheless there always was and continues to be plenty of variety in the people you’d find there.
Please, read for comprehension before you post.
At any given time you can find all different income ranges, social classes and races in Belltown. Where I come from, that’s not “like minded elitists”.
@21
Actually, I’d gotten him confused with Carl Rove.
@31
It sound like Mr. Cynical and his neighbors have plenty of room, lets convert a couple of their barns to housing for chronic drunks.
Will
this basketball court is a very good example of what I have been saying about the lack of planning by Seattle for these developer-led transformations.
I do not mean to flog a dead horse, but the pattern is all to obvious. Seattle deals with developers by making compromises so builders will make a profit. So far so good, but unless there is attention to the long run, the developers will build, sell off and go away leaving the city with a mess.
You write often of the desirability of high density housing and rail at the NIMBY attitude of single family neighborhoods. I agree, Seattle should have a mix if neighborhoods, some high rise, some single family detached, etc. BUT, high density implies an increased need of shared spaces …playgrounds, basketball courts, communty centers, etc.
In contrast, I think the developer model is to create self contained communities, sort of vetical suburbs, intended to minimize foot traffic. 2200 is a orrible example of urban planning.
So, I am with you. SLU. Broadway, etc should require the developers to provide amenities .. from basketball courts to public schools.
BTW, while I am happy to see a park where sculture park is, the collection reminds me of nothing so much as ahigh class garage sale. The Calder is a feft over no one else wnated, if it is an eagle , it is a dead lone. The Oldenberg ought to be accompanied by a venfing machine where you can by erasers originals as tokens. And the pissing man???? PULEEEZ.
BTW on the subject of Belltown art:\
The sculpture of the rr track running down the middle of Olympic park is its best feature. What vision! I see it as a comment on Seattle as a feminine city, a erogenous rift penetrating through the park into the business district.
As I think about it, maybe this sculpture is bit too much for current PC Seattle?
#32 Piper Scott says:
@26…Marvin…
Yup, that’s him. Used to live in kirkland, owned and/or worked at a tire store.
Talk about trolls, he was one of the best.
@36
Good on ya.
Tx Michael.
I am truly pissed that MY taxes will g up to support overpriced condodes while nothing is beig done for the in habitants of those condoes or for the rest of us to make the new neighborhoods into great places to visit and live.
A lot of this reminds me of the sovet era barracks.
Hey OneJerk@15:
Why is it you 16%ers claim skip my posts then come back and want to know where I get my PuddyFact URLs for my PuddyStudies? If you choose to skip what I write good for you.
It’s okay OneMan. Stay ignorant. Your pod brother Clueless Idiot needs someone as dumb as him.
SeattleJew@40: When we moved here in the early 90s, we researched various areas. Seattle moved down on our list because of a sister who used to live here. This sister is a rabid political Donkey. Her suggestions to me were “don’t live in Seattle”. Now how did she know this? I thank her to this day.
OneMan: Skip to the next post!
Writing of Belltown: We’ll see how many guns are a blazing from the “crowd” after dark this summer.
Somehow I remember this little snippet about BellTown from Goldy’s paper of record. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....hot03.html
Will, maybe you can get on the “Nightlife Advisory Board” and support your mayor Greg “I Don’t Give A ” Nickles. Then when a nightclub breaks the rules you can claim eminent domain, close them down, tear it down and build your basketball court!
We won’t discuss the drug dealing issue from the PI article. Lee will get upset his other favorite spot has been identified.
As always Puddy seldom forgets.
Oneman, I told you to skip to the next post.
I am surprised you all forgot the http://slog.thestranger.com/20.....hooting_tw
discussion on the BellTown shooting.
This describes your typical Seattle McDimWitt voter:
“He said events like this happen in Israel all the time, and the reaction is much different than in America, where civilians are afraid and confused for hours. Since all Israeli citizens have gone through two years in the army, people react much more intelligently, much more like a group that knows roughly what to do, and conscious of noting identifying details of suspects.”
Puddy
Why bother trying to convince the Jew/ He thinks it is the Republicans who make Seattle expensive just because developers want the taxpayers to subsidize their projects!
The real reason Seattle pays more taxes than the rest of us is all the goodies they want! Imagine if you or I wanted a zoo, an art museum, huge CITY parks,trolley cars, … would we expect the little guy building houses on the ridge to pay for OUR toys???
Then you get guys like Will who come to Seattle expecting
‘a big city?’ Yout hink someone is gonna put up a hoop for you? Huh!! You and I know the truth .. all those new buildings down town are DORMITORIES for people to dumb to buy cars and live out in the burbs! I can see it now … Billy and Mel, sitting by the fire place in their 4 seasons suite, looking down at the peons who have to live there.
If Will wants to play basketball, he can use the parking lot bext to his condo!
Right on!
Gipper: Yes, everything bad about Seattle is a righty’s fault, even though we’ve never controlled Seattle.
Hey Will: I just loved your post. As an ex-basketball player the Kurt Rambis reference was “dead on” for me. I imagine thick black “taped” glasses, elbows and flying (well not vertically but horizontally) for rebounds.
As far as the “longing” for a court…Bball courts are a focus of an area. Ever been down to the beach courts on the coast near LA? or courts in Bed-Sty in Brooklyn. You gotta have game to even be picked to play there.
Ahh – the old days when I could actually fly….now I am too darn big and slow. Can’t hardly dunk anymore and they put me underneath instead of at point guard…what’s the use!
Piper Scott says:
@26…Marvin…
“Coz” is probably Steve Pyeatt who ostensibly heads up Save Our Sonics. He routinely heads up one-man crusades.
The Piper
For a guy that is the Lone Ranger in a Kilt I am surprised you would accuse the leader of a group with thousands of members of heading up “one-man crusades”.