By Peggy Sturdivant

Shadow the cat and the “sinkhole” on NW 80th are not necessarily related items. However I am becoming somewhat obsessed with both, as though I actually lived next door to the missing cat and the failing roadway.

It so happens that Shadow is missing from a home on 29th NW, near NW 80th St. The “sinkhole” is just two blocks away. The family missing their cat and the neighbors closest to the section of road that sends trucks and speeding cars airborne don’t know each other.

I learned about the road problem from the grant request of neighbors Kevin and Steve to the Ballard District Council’s March meeting. The request was one of six finalists for a Neighborhood Park and Street Fund Project, asking for stop signs on NW 80th to prevent more vehicles from landing in their yards. It struck me as wrong that they needed to compete for a small grant to remediate a dangerous situation near a school. As a Boeing engineer, applicant Kevin Zielke provided aerodynamic details about how delivery trucks “catch air” when jolted by the dip between concrete slabs. Neighbor Steve described when a boat trailer hitch snapped, sending the truck sideways and the boat off-road.

The NW 80th & Earl neighbors have the daily drama of their homes shaking from vehicles making the jump. On telephone poles and street corners on all the surrounding corners another drama has been more visible: the missing cat Shadow. Orange poster board signs announce the missing black cat at every intersection, the Wirtz family trying desperately to find their Shadow, an 18 month-old micro-chipped male adopted on Christmas 2014.

Their causes intersect on the surface streets but also online, where Kevin knows some neighbors in person and others on the social network Nextdoor. Meanwhile, the Loyal Heights neighborhood messages about Shadow have been shared with up to seven neighborhoods, so that Magnolia, Queen Anne and South Sunset Hill are all weighing in with black cat sightings.

Although Shadow has been missing since March 7th there might be more chance of his being found than an immediate solution for the strong dip on NW 80th. With the necessity to work with city departments and the limited options of ‘traffic calming’ and road repair, the sinkhole solution is very daunting compared to the possible reward of finding a cat. Many of us love our animals; not as many of us have Amazon Fresh delivery trucks catching air in our front yards.

The saga of the missing black cat is simply more likely to pull at the heartstrings and attract notice on local blogs, Craigslist and Nextdoor. Many want to help, but so far no one has been able to crack the case. The family has worked with a missing pet consultant. They hired someone with a dog specially trained in tracking cats. The extended family made signs and the kids made a video, “The Missing Shadow.”

So far the Wirtz family has received lots of tips, including an unsolicited phone call from a psychic. The callers tell their own lost-and-found cat stories. The positive of the experience has been connecting with so many neighbors. However, as a well-meaning friend asked Jessica, “When will you stop looking?”

Two children, their parents, and seven neighborhoods on Nextdoor are looking for Shadow and hoping for a happy ending. As Shadow’s owner Jessica said, “Missing is a hard concept for kids at this age.” Children’s books don’t usually leave the loose ends of real life. What stays missing and unresolved is much closer in its nature to what may become a sinkhole a block to the north. In order for neighbors like Kevin and Steve to get a longer term fix to the street problem maybe they should make daily posts about the near accidents, always hoping it won’t take an injury to finally get help.

In the meantime be on the look out for a black cat with a blue bone-shaped collar, and always slow down on NW 80th between NW 32nd and 24th. The ‘Lost Cat’ signs are sad enough; I don’t want to see a makeshift sidewalk memorial or a truck in a house.

If you have safety issues on NW 80th or any street, report the issue on www.seattle.gov in their request services section, in Safe Routes to Schools or Traffic Calming. As for the missing black male cat, contact Jessica at 206.818.8902.