Dori: ‘Lawn Mower Man’ terrorizes Ballard neighbors, city ignores pleas for help

A thundering generator. An ear-splitting metal grinder. Music roaring at all hours of the day and night.

This is what Ballard neighbors who live near 8th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 49th Street have had to put up with for more than a year. The so-called “Lawn Mower Man” behind all this chaos now claims he owns the public sidewalk where he parked three vehicles, and two wooden sheds he has erected there.

We told you last week about a Ballard business owner who can’t seem to get any response from city leaders about rampant crime on their block. We also told you about a volunteer from We Heart Seattle who was told by city officials to back down from the group’s cleanup efforts.

Now, we’re hearing that this latest group of neighbors has a related problem of its own: Lawn Mower Man Charles Woodward, who would rather terrorize his neighbors than accept shelter placement. In this case, neighbors have been trying everything — from calling the city’s homeless outreach team, to trying to get a restraining order, to calling the mayor’s office, to calling the office of their Councilmember Dan Strauss.

The response? Nothing.

To get a response from city leaders, several neighbors reached out to reporter Jonathan Choe from KOMO-TV to document what they have to put up with. After watching the third of Choe’s visits to this site on Twitter, I had to get him on our show to talk about his report.

Click here for Jonathan’s full report, then hear my interview with him here.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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