art cred: Curt Doughty

WALLINGFORD: After a series of brutal, late-night attacks, Wallingford residents have asked the Seattle Police Department to help them protect... their gardens. According to a notice posted throughout the neighborhood, "Someone is randomly cutting at the trees, shrubs, and flowers along our sidewalks. The cuttings are sometimes light trims but there has also been heavy, damaging pruning." Seattle Police Department Crime Prevention Officer Diane Horswill says the unauthorized pruning has been going on for the last two or three months. "It's just sort of a creepy thing to do. It doesn't seem to be targeted at a person. We've been doing increased patrols around the area on a sporadic basis [and] the neighbors are trying to be more watchful."

BALLARD: Last weekend, Diamond Parking taped notices to the run-down motor homes in its lot on 24th Avenue, just south of NW Market Street, telling tenants of the lived-in vehicles they'd need to roll out or risk being towed. The property manager of the nearby Salmon Bay Center, who asked not to be identified, says, "Quite a few people [have been] using [the lot] for an ongoing, long-term tailgate party. They come over and defecate in [our] bushes. The [property] owner says they're not allowing overnight camping... but it's evidently not the case." Mary, who lived on the lot in an old ambulance, says the small community of van-campers—whom she refers to as "rubber tramps"—has gotten a bad rap. [We're] people that... can't afford $400 a month for an apartment the size of a pea, [but] just because we're homeless doesn't mean we're bad people."