Ballard Alliance asking residents what they’d like to see in the neighborhood

Meghan Walker Ballard

The Ballard Alliance/Visit Ballard has created a survey to learn more about what kinds of businesses and services people want to see in Ballard.

It’s called the Ballard Community Survey, and has questions geared towards learning what businesses people most commonly visit or use, and what might be missing in the neighborhood.

“[We are] looking for feedback on what you love or think is missing from the neighborhood — take the Ballard Community Survey to share your perspective as a resident, business owner, employee or visitor of Ballard,” Anndrea Dohring from the Ballard Alliance posted in the My Ballard Group.

Everyone who takes the survey will be entered to win an assortment of gift cards from Ballard businesses.

81 thoughts to “Ballard Alliance asking residents what they’d like to see in the neighborhood”

    1. Does that mean more recreational drug vendors – legal or illegal – including heroin or meth dealers for your street camper friends? Thought so.

        1. Guess you have trouble identifying who the interlopers are who started the demand for drugs, and the other costly services to provide to users the rest of us have to pay for, eh Dan? Some of us are getting tired of Ballard being a long term warehouse for deadbeat druggers and vagrants. Ballard/Fremont have changed and not for the better as a result of this.

          Time for action, and I hope the Ballard Alliance is up for that too. I know many of their member businesses are.

          2. Or, better yet, you could stop using drugs, get a job, pay taxes and stop leaching off the rest of us. But that might interfere with your “freedom,” theft opportunities and mid-day dope induced snoozes.

          4. What does this have to do with legal dispensaries, hateful neighbor?

          5. Well, there are employers who don’t want their employees to use dope. Why make greater temptations and legal opportunities for some with weak constitutionals? Doesn’t really matter if the “dispensary” is legal or not. Some dopers are, well, ya know…dopes. If you don’t spend your money on dope, smokes, booze and lottery tickets you just might be able to pay the rent. Oh, wait, some people won’t rent to you because you did stupid stuff while using dope. Ain’t that a Catch 22? Maybe a lesson learned if you weren’t using dope – legal or not.

  3. Ballard needs bigger sidewalks, less cars, arcade/game place, more green space, less parking, more parks, and a cashew tasting center

    1. Seriously!? Less parking? I disagree, we need these business in Ballard and we need people to come and work in these businesses. Less parking is less of an incentive for a skilled worker to work in that area!

    1. Ole and Sven were hoping for more hard partying Icelandic girls. Inga was hoping for some more of those slick haired Northern European guys with nice cars.

          1. It really doesn’t. It doesn’t depend on what your definition of “is” is, or any other word games. It’s plain as day. Look in the mirror.

      2. Yes, fewer HATEFUL CRIMES by IGNORANT junkie scumf*ck who can’t be bothered to read a book or learn a skill. Simply “not being negative” is a pathetic, childish way through life.
        We hate things that threaten us: disease, crime, tragedy. Your virtue signalling Boomer nonsense is what got us here. I didn’t see any outrage about the stabbing and robberies, just some passive aggressive attempts to shame neighbors who are FED UP with the situation. Really reeks of the “Seattle Mentality” which endears so many to your cause.

          1. “Seek help, Hateful “Neighbor”.”
            Not an argument. Typical.

  8. What Ballard needs is a transient removal service. One phone call or text and your local transient(s) would be gone within hours. The transients would be safely relocated to the nearest drug/alcohol rehab center. The drug needles would be disposed of safely and all beer cans recycled, all the other belonging and trash would be neatly packed and stored in a garbage bag and deposited in a dumpster. Send the bill to the city.

    1. I was jokingly going to post that some here would want a better drainage system so that when the jackboots come through and perform their slaughter of the unsightly less than’s who don’t live up to your standards, the blood would flow past the harbor and directly into the sound. But I thought “I don’t want to be all negative like that so I’ll refrain.” Thanks for standing in for me.

    2. Hi, thanks for your support! Our most vulnerable community members have as much right to sleep in the Commons park as you do! You should try it, my friend. Then you too can experience the joy and freedom that is RV and tent living. Drug dealing, parking space hogging, ‘survival crimes’…truly our social justice initiatives have never worked better. Why would you want to deny our most vulnerable community members their right to your stuff? Get woke, friend!
      And remember, Vote Salty, Vote O’Brine in 2019!

  9. More Police would be number one thing Ballard needs in my opinion. To many crimes against property and people perpetrated by MOB’s tourists. Number two would be a bike lane on some other street than Shilshole. Number three, see number one.

  11. No more apartment buildings. Better infrastructures, bus options and more police présents. Clean up empty abandoned houses and lots. Ballard is no longer the funky neighborhood it was, but enough already on those ugly huge apartment buildings!

  12. 1) Active law enforcement, not just milling around Starbucks
    2) Removal of tents and illegal RVs
    3) More responsible dog ownership. Please keep barking fests to minimum out of respect for everyone else.
    4) Enforcement of laws against public consumption of liquor (you know who!)
    5) Ban on panhandling, or short of that, an education program to inform public that cash = drugs.
    6) Noise ordinances. Noise ordinances. Noise ordinances. For a neighborhood with very little industrial activity, Ballard is now just one big noise factory for some reason.
    7) Armed guards at library and removal of sociopaths/addicts from premises.
    8) Ban on leaf blowers

    JUST KIDDING! KEEP RAISING TAXES SEATTLE

  13. I’d like to see all the RV’s and tents relocated to a central area where their can be a strong police presence at all times. Also that Ballard Commons park cleaned up, it’s a depressing mess with all the homeless and derelict vehicles with weirdos sitting in them.

  14. Good comments here.

    If building a more buildings is inevitable, I think the area could use some office buildings instead of just more apartments.

    I also think there should be a 80+ stall parking garage built somewhere near downtown ballard, and that the businesses should pay for it. It seems like the current limiting factor to the retail and restaurants is the number of visitors. Maybe the parking garage could be built at or near where the light rail goes in.

    I also like the idea someone had below to make ballard Ave just a pedestrian zone, or at least part of the ave a pedestrian zone.

    All of the above is pointless unless we start to enforce current laws, like aggressive panhadeling, public intoxication, public substance abuse, drug dealing. Equal parking enforcement would be nice too.

    Ballard needs to be like downtown, with the “ambassadors” and group commitment to no graffiti. I work in a sketchy area of downtown (I’m on 3rd ave), and am sure I am safer downtown than in downtown ballard. There are actually cops on the street, and a downtown ambassador will call the cops ASAP if there is someone shooting up, or having a mental crisis. Ballard…… not so much.

  15. We can go on and on and on ! Ballard is toast and too late to complain and try this and that ! Face the fact that you live in a Liberal city #3 top of the list your State and local government is out there minds and not realistic to reality along with 90 percent of the population of King county .Your a generation of degenerates and that goes for people not homeless too…..your all a mess and only cure is a nuclear fallout and back to the Stone age for ya !

    1. Hi, thanks for your support! Dr. Clipper, you seem to be experiencing grumpiness. Do you need a safe space, can I virtue-signal you a hug in any way? We love our Ballard residents, and that includes you. Get woke, friend! And rember, Vote Salty, Vote O’Brine 2019!

  16. Please ignore any comments posted by me as “Fake”! Thank you all so much. I love you all and don’t want to upset anyone. I am an idiot and can’t help myself. I am going to hell I know this but I can’t stop.

  18. I’m interested in being able to walk through Ballard parks and not have to step over needles, trash, human feces and not have to deal with aggressive panhandlers. I’m so frustrated with the criminal element of homelessness and the inability of our city leaders to seem to deal with it. Note I said criminal element, not all homeless are criminals, but those that act so make a bad name for all.

  19. This survey is worthless. Ballard Alliance conveniently avoided the difficult topics thereby not seeking any real feedback from residents. why bother?

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