I wanted to chime in on this topic.

This is a mixed issue. First, I might have mentioned BenzFriends (BF) to Sam previously, when his SE broke and I’m glad that he got his car fixed there. I heard about BF from one of the techs at the Seattle MB dealer, who spoke very highly of the generosity and talent of the folks who work at BF.

I’ve been by this place and it really really really is an eyesore. It appears to be a greasy junk yard or chop shop for rusted and withered MB vehicles. It desperately needs to be cleaned up. I think if the proprietors would put a nice face on the place, the whole issue would blow over.

Georgetown residences for the most part contain no gems, either. While many of the gingerbread fashioned cedar houses built in this area date back to the late 1800s, most of them have been, at best, only marginally maintained since that time. Many are or should be fodder for the bull dozer. The end result is that the BF establishment only moderately -- if at all -- lowers any sense of aesthetic “charm” the neighborhood has, but that doesn’t make BF less of an eyesore.

Seattle has pretty stringent laws on having a business in a residential area. I too have a business in a residential area and can say with certainty that BF steps all over the requirements or restrictions imposed on businesses in this kind of location. Some of these restrictions include, no increase in typical traffic, no increase in noise, no obvious signs of commerce, no advertising of the address, no toxic chemicals used and so on. Despite this, I’m okay with what BF does – I don’t have to live across the street from it -- but if I did, I would be all over BF for their blatant violations. The reason I mention this is that the neighbors do have many points in their favor. The result: What the city will do is uncertain.

Certainly BF bring in a darn sight more tax revenue than the surrounding properties do, and that is a plus. And I’m okay that they are both good natured and specialize in a niche of auto repair that greatly benefits owners of, older daily driver MBs.

I guess the core issue is one of appearances. I would like to know how many of the indes that frequent this site keep their shops clean and pretty, or at least clean, and how many have -- how to say it -- junk yards from which they perform their work. Again, my take is to require BF to pretty up the place enough to hide it from public view. The difficulty here is that in the city a 6’ fence is the tallest one can erect. This brings the possible solution to plant huge bushes to both hide the place with the goal of deadening the sounds and thinning smells from the neighbors...

The Stranger article mentions several interested parties. These include, Diane Sugimura of DCLU, State Representative Velma Veloria, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis. One can always write the Seattle Times, and other local news reporting agencies as well.

Let the folks at BenzFriends take a leadership role of adding some beauty to the neighborhood. It is all but guaranteed to start an upward trend in a part of town would greatly benefit from it. Even better, the customers of BenzFriends would enjoy the change in appearances. Except perhaps they’d be worried about prices going up. . .

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"