The morning after the 2000 presidential election I drove my daughter to school and then went to the neighborhood coffee shop on Northwest 32nd because I needed to be with other adults asking, what just happened? Never in my lifetime had I awakened to an undecided race. In 2004 the presidential election was conceded more quickly. I watched Kerry's concession speech while the backhoe digging a trench for the new side sewer narrowly missed hitting my picture window.

Last week I made another morning-after trip to the same coffee shop on Sunset Hill where 65th crosses 32nd. The block with the barbershop, video store and espresso place now known as Walter's Scoop. Walter has been there for nearly 20 years; but the name now references the ice cream counter in addition to the coffee selection.

The visit was in advance of the election but there was no lack of political discussion. It was the morning after an 'early design' review meeting for a project that will change the current make-up of buildings and businesses in the commercial district of Sunset Hill. The building that is currently home to Sunset Hill Green Market, an artist studio, massage therapist and apartments sold last summer. After a number of informal community meetings with the developer over 20 nearby residents attended the first meeting in Seattle's Department of Planning and Development process as the architect presented preliminary project plans on Monday, Oct. 27. Twenty people are a strong turnout.

On Tuesday Walter himself was behind the counter, steaming the soy milk as a mix of regular and first-time customers made appearances, some short, some extended. I started chatting with a white-haired, blue-eyed man in a Metro Transit vest who has lived in the neighborhood since 1984. We'd worked our way back from his fourth marriage ("you're telling her all that?" Walter interjected) to his first before I started worrying about whether his bus was parked outside. "I'm off work," he assured me. "Besides this isn't my route." But it's where he stops after work, four blocks shy of home.

The commercial district of Sunset Hill is not large; it is essentially a block of one- and two-story buildings, with a new pizzeria anchoring additional storefronts on the west side of the street. South of an alley is a combination of parking spaces, dumpsters, a grassy knoll and a building that everyone agrees has seen better days. The building sold last summer to a limited liability corporation (LLC) of which local developer Bill Parks is managing partner. Parks is known for working with Johnston Architects on projects that have been favorably received in architectural and neighborhood circles (Fremont Lofts, Boulders at Greenlake, Stonewater). Parks also owns the site at 65th and 24th N.W. just north of The Viking that has been subject to intensive planning. That project is on hold for now.

Leading the design review board on this project, architect and local resident Bill Singer asked for public input on "this very important corner," wondering what it is that people love about the block. "Do they love the building or do they love the Green Market and its owner?" Although architect Alison Walker Brems had previously heard neighbors campaign to save the building, these attendees were much less committed. The majority is that the community loves Chuck Genuardi's Sunset Hill Green Market and the old-fashioned, pedestrian friendly feel of the block, with its green space and wide sidewalks, but not the building itself.

I asked Bill Parks why he was doing project planning on Northwest 32nd when the Northwest 24th project is on hold. "Opportunity and risk," he said, adding this project is much smaller in scale and he has an investment partner. "I'll look at it again when the markets stabilize." Even this proposed project would not start construction for at least two years.

There were three main concerns expressed at the meeting; that the Green Market stay, for the new building to appear old-fashioned and similar to the current storefront and the issue of parking. Although the businesses are pedestrian destinations, neighbors also want to be able to pull up to the Green Market just before closing for their milk and in front of Rain City Video for a movie drop. Since Piccolino's opened the evening parking situation has changed; the restaurant has only street parking. At its maximum, the new project would have 16 units, necessitating 16 parking spots probably underground. Johnston Architects presented three schematics including two that kept or incorporated the original building; fewer units but parking might need to be above ground along the alley.

Bill Parks is good about meeting with nearby residents, there have been several meetings at Walter's and he has met one-on-one with Chuck and Robert Drucker of Sunset Hill Community Association. The design process is proceeding but the outcome is unknown, whether the building will stay or go, whether it will be apartments or condominiums, how many units, how many parking spaces, how many years in the offing.

The Green Market wants to stay part of the community but the possibility of doing business behind scaffolding cannot be appealing. The residents want to have their Macrina bread and water for the dog, a block that feels like a small, small town. As for Chuck and Sarah Genuardi, "We're just going to keep doing what we're doing every day."

Meanwhile at Walter's, Don Foisy the Metro driver and I swap life stories. We discover mutual acquaintances and shared experiences, including ones we'd rather forget involving family members and The Tumor Institute. His path has taken him from Idaho to New England, then back to the west, from the Air Force to Metro, to Sunset Hill. "Do you have any other places that you like to hang out?" I asked him as we sat together. He shook his head, "just here."

Peggy Sturdivant writes a series on neighborhoods for CrossCut.com and also writes additional pieces for the Seattle PI's Neighborhood Webtown: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/ballard/ Her e-mail is atlargeinballard@yahoo.com