By Peggy Sturdivant

It is not an exaggeration to say that the pharmacists at Ballard’s Bartell Drugs have saved lives, and that is just within my own family. It was a pharmacist there who realized that an on-call doctor’s prescription could have caused my husband with lymphoma to bleed out. It was the pharmacist at Bartell’s who diagnosed the cause of my month-long unbearable headache to a manufacture’s change in the allergy medication.

They waited for me when I rushed there before closing, they rushed an order when a doctor said I needed to find my mother-in-law and get her the antibiotic immediately. Since I knew exactly the route she would take between her driveway and Bartell’s, as though it was the path between the house and the barn, I was able to try to intercept her.

When I think about the Bartell Drugs on 22nd NW the pharmacy comes to mind because sometimes it was life or death. But that entire store has been the anchor of downtown Ballard for me as long as I have lived here. Before camera phones it was the place to pick up our developed photos. I pored over the weekly specials so as to pick up chocolate chips at the same time as batteries, toothpaste and an overdue birthday card. It was good for some hardware in a pinch, cat food, even milk. School supplies and emergency toilet paper. It was close by. It was manageable. There was always parking, but mostly it was a destination on foot.

Already it’s hard to remember a time when the library wasn’t across the street. There has been joy in having the neighborhood center, the library, the ballot drop box--now that we don’t vote in person, and the one place in Ballard where you could pretty much meet all of your needs all in a tight cluster.

Ever since the brouhaha some years back to do with demolishing the former Mannings/Denny’s restaurant (think Googie) I have worried about the future of the Ballard Bartell Drugs. The developers thought then it bolstered their case to announce that Bartell Drugs would be their anchor tenant. All it did was strike fear into those of us who wondered, would they keep the 22nd NW location open? Then the recession slowed the building boom and I retreated into deliberate denial.

The building boom is back and will likely lead to another multistory mixed use building at site of the current Bartell Drugs. Henbart LLC, a subsidiary of Bartell Drugs has announced plans to develop the site, acquired for Bartell Drugs in 2011. Preliminary development plans include apartments, 20,000 s.f. office space, sidewalk level retail and underground parking. Construction wouldn’t start until 2015.

In answer to the question posed to Ballard District Council members by Henbart, “What would you like to see in a new building?” How about no new building? I am worn out by disproportionate population density in Ballard and so much change. We have huge Metro cuts pending. Micro-housing. Rob Mattson’s retirement. Lockhaven Apartments sold and a community cast out. The Ballard News-Tribune rolled into the back section of The Westside Weekly. Changes!

Ballard has accepted far more than its share of growth under the auspices of an Urban Village. And more change coming at us like a freight train loaded with coal. An Urban Village needs at least an anchor. Which has always been the Bartell Drugs in its current incarnation. The weekly destination of many retirement home buses, especially Norse Home. The place where all of the residents in the multiple retirement communities and senior housing buildings within blocks could reach independently, using walkers, wheelchairs and/or in sensible shoes. I like its scale. I want it to stay the same, probably because I don’t have a financial interest.

In a few years Bartell Drugs will likely be the anchor again. In the meantime their new location will open at the intersection of 15th, Market Street, and dangerous. The current location will slowly start to show its wear, the shelves will get bare. By the time it’s demolished it may have been an eyesore long enough that we’ll be relieved to see it go, like the old library. New construction will rise, allowing future renters to look down on the green roof across the street.

I’ve seen the same employees and pharmacists at the Ballard Bartell Drugs for a quarter-century. Is it so wrong to want some things to stay the same?