A wall map of Seattle is tacked up above my desk in The Stranger's grimy news department. I stare at the map frequently, and not just to check street names or figure out how to get to a cool new bar I heard about.

I stare at it because it's dotted with pushpins highlighting the stories I've written since my editors shoved me out the door in January and told me to check out what was happening in every corner of the city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Each pin is precisely located where the story happened, like the blue one stuck at Evanston Avenue and North 35th Street, for the Fremont Sunday Market, which came under fire last summer from Sound Mind and Body gym next door. There are over 30 pins now, from Lake City to Rainier Beach (a few are even off the map, in Lynnwood, Auburn, and Puyallup--town names I scribbled onto the blank white wall in ink). I stare at the map to make sense of neighborhoods and how they fit into Seattle's larger story. I remember where I've been, decide where to go next, and worry about the spots I haven't been anywhere near yet. (Note to West Seattle: I know there's plenty happening there, but I haven't found the right story yet--call me if you have it!)

Over the year, a few neighborhoods beckoned for extra attention, like Belltown, Columbia City, and Georgetown. The stories there had a deeper theme.

Belltown had a rocky year, with vacancy rates soaring and rents falling. While it seems impossible that Belltown will slide back into what it was a decade ago--a dump of warehouses and drug dens--the neighborhood, which recently symbolized Seattle's glowing economy, is now on the decline. In the booming fall of 2000, vacancy rates were a low 2.5 percent. Even a year ago, vacancies were still a safe five to seven percent (the range where tenants and landlords have equal power). These days, one in 10 Belltown units sits empty. Remaining businesses and residents are plagued with drug dealing, a growing homeless population, and noisy bars (one of the only things thriving in Belltown).

This year, Columbia City also jettisoned what it was "supposed" to be--a hip, arty South End neighborhood. When a bookstore, an art gallery, a salon, Eleventh Hour Productions (which puts on the Seattle Poetry Festival), and now a fancy restaurant, Salumeria, all closed up or moved, it became clear that Columbia City wasn't destined to be the cultural center of Rainier Avenue. But that's not all bad: Nice consignment stores and smaller restaurants, things the neighborhood's residents need daily, emerged from the shuttered storefronts. Columbia City may not be the Capitol Hill of the South End, but it's becoming a perfect neighborhood for the people who live there.

A few miles south of downtown, past the West Seattle Bridge, Georgetown saw its fate change too. Though The Stranger pegged Georgetown as the next hipster haven, it didn't happen. Sure, the two businesses that sparked Georgetown's "renaissance"--Stella Pizza & Ale, and Industrial Coffee--are doing well, and a few new bars and cafes have popped up. But the neighborhood is more of a sweet enclave for the locals who don't mind the nearby industrial sites and roar of airplanes landing in their backyard. The hipsters, it seems, just don't want to make the trip down Airport Way South, past the old Rainier brewery. See you at Linda's!

Throughout the year, there were other neighborhoods that I swooped in on to survey the action, but--thanks to the weekly news cycle--I always had to move on, and didn't get to finish what I started. So this week, I revisited Lake City's new food bank, the Crown Hill park that had a few gang shootings, and First African Methodist Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill to see how things shook out after I had come and gone.

North Helpline Food Bank, the Lake City food bank I wrote about in February, is still open, which is both good and bad. It's great that Executive Director Rita Anderson got city funding--$30,000 for each of the next two years--in spite of the city's budget crunch. "It's the lowest [amount] that any food bank gets, but that's okay. We got in," Anderson says. But, she notes, it's unfortunate that North Helpline Food Bank needs to stay open--in a better economy, Seattle might not need another food bank. The bank feeds 1,600 families (another 20 families join almost every week), and is now open for a second day. "We need to turn it around, and get people back to work," Anderson says.

Across I-5 from Lake City, I stopped by Crown Hill in August to write about a few gang-related shootings--which weren't reported in the mainstream media, but rocked the otherwise quiet neighborhood. Baker Park, on 14th Avenue NW near NW 85th Street, hasn't had gang activity since the mid-summer shootings that scared neighbors. "Seems things have calmed down," one neighbor says. "But I suspect it's just because it's winter."

On Capitol Hill in March, I visited the city's oldest black church, First African Methodist Episcopal, to write about Reverend Dr. John Hunter's idea to move the congregation to Tukwila in South King County. That area--not Seattle's Central Area--is now the Puget Sound's black population center. The church's members were supposed to vote in September about moving, but Hunter postponed the vote indefinitely, citing an "ungodly atmosphere" of publicity and controversy (some church members actively protested the possible move). The church is hush-hush about when, or if, they'll vote.

And last but not least, I had to check back on one of the kookiest stories I wrote about all year. Last spring, I met Danny Piecora, owner of Capitol Hill's--and perhaps the nation's--only pizzeria/church. When he added religious services to his menu last May, I wasn't sure it would last. It did. Services in the back dining room now take up the whole Sunday morning, from 8:00 a.m. to noon.

A year after I started my regular neighborhood coverage, there's still plenty to do. In 2003, I'll look for the issues percolating in West Seattle, Ravenna, Wedgwood, Magnolia, and Madison Park. I'm also looking forward to following up in Georgetown, Columbia City, Belltown, and Paul Allen's South Lake Union, of course. That's a lot of ground left to cover (it's a big map).

amy@thestranger.com