Here's Something Taking Place in Belltown!

You know, ever since I got back from my trip in June, you could accuse me of profound disinterest in my own neighborhood. And you'd be right. Sure, I've been working down in Pioneer Square for most of the summer, but that's no excuse. The truth is that since my return, instead of thinking about Seattle as a collection of neighborhoods - with Belltown being the king of them all - I'm really seeing this town as a whole community - and not necessarily an interesting one. I can't help it at the moment. I'm pretty sure that will change - I mean, last year I was posting 2-5 times a day (on average) about all kinds of small stuff taking place around here. And it was very fun for me. I suppose that my recent travel experience and in particular my time in Istanbul may have changed the way I look at Belltown. OK, let's blame those wonderful, friendly Turks and not the dour, unhelpful, semi-civilized Ukrainians for this change of heart. Sure, I've lived here for 20 years and all, but I didn't really expect to become this indifferent. Well, like I said, that will probably change. And to prove that I'm at least making an effort, I give you this:

Behold, the Cristalla! When I wrote about this place a while back, I spent some time ridiculing their south wall, saying that for a ritzy condo tower, such blankness was quite unbecoming - especially since the wall was gradually turning into a graffiti magnet. But it's a new day for the Cristalla! I'm not sure what they're doing, but at least it's something! Let's give them a round of applause.

Anyhow, so there you have it: developments in Belltown! Hooray! I'm sure my interest in the community will rekindle after I return from my next trip: October, same countries, slightly shorter time away. I think the key is to not have such a good time.

And It Continues...

I didn't think that my dire prediction of more and more and more tagging on the Cristalla would come to pass so quickly, but things happen when they happen. Here is the latest addition:


Yes, this dumbass tagger was in such need to express himself in spray paint and the drab gray south wall simply would not do, so now the facade of the building is fair game. I'm all for it. Dumbass taggers, have at it! The Cristalla management doesn't care. I mean, they've already conceded the entire south wall of their building to you. Anything you put up stays up, so why not start working the front of the place?

It seems that Cristalla still doesn't understand that graffiti accumulates. If they're that dim, then the place deserves to have dumbass tags going up on all 24 stories.

As Predicted...

Folks, I'm no mad street prophet. I merely predicted the future based on my past experience in Belltown. I knew that if the Cristalla did nothing about the horrid graffiti on their unattractive south wall, more horrid graffiti would follow. The prophesy has been fulfilled. Here's the wall a bit over a month ago:

Yes, lovely, isn't it? Well here's what it looked like as of this morning:

Even lovelier, no? Here's what the entire south wall of this multi-multi-million dollar condo building looks like:

It doesn't exactly exude class.

Let me reiterate the point of my first post: terrible graffiti accumulates. If you wipe it out quickly, dumbass taggers will eventually find another spot for their dumbass tags. Now, if I was a tenant of the Cristalla, I'd be all over maintenance to get rid of those tags. After all, the building charges maintenance fees, so why aren't they maintaining the appearance of the building? Yeah, I'd be kind of pissed off at them about now. I mean, what's next, panhandlers in the lobby? And like I previously said, even my old, creaky, perpetually-broke building is better at taking care of these problems than a big, rich, gleaming condo tower is. But hey, I don't live there. And thank God for that, because I'd totally be in major debt with condo payments and all. I just expect better things from more expensive places.

No One Could Have Predicted...

...that when you leave Belltown's worst graffiti uneradicated...

...other efforts will follow:

It's a pretty well-understood urban rule that graffiti accumulates. If you don't wipe it out immediately, more will follow. You'd think that the property managers at the Cristalla would understand that, but no. They're merely surrendering the entire south face of their very expensive 24-story condo tower to taggers, graffitists and various other creators of visual noise. How much are their tenants paying per month in maintenance dues? Obviously, they're not getting their money's worth.

Yeah, I know that I've really been on the Cristalla's case since this post last week for the P-I, but they face the same set of problems as any other building in Belltown. It just seems that every other building is better at responding to those problems. Heck, even the Rivoli is more on the ball.