My name is Pia Hallenberg and I’ve worked as a journalist in Spokane since the fall of 1998. When I first moved to town, I lived on Illinois Avenue and Greene Street so Hillyard was the first place I got to go shopping. That was in 1993 and a lot has happened in Hillyard since then: Market Street has been restored and improved, lots of businesses and restaurants have moved in and there are more great developments on the way.
I've had neighborhood blog for the South Perry District (where I live now) since April and I'm totally excited about taking my blog endeavor to Hillyard. If you have time, come in and meet me at The Outlaw Café (5012 North Market Street) on Friday Oct. 15 at noon. I'm hard to miss - I carry a laptop and a camera.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to find out when and where I'll be back - the plan is to find a good time once a week - and I've been known to bring free newspapers.

To begin with, I’ll focus on three major areas: neighborhood news, crime watch and family and business activities. Think of the Hillyard Blog as your very own neighborhood newspaper - let me know about upcoming community events, special painting projects and swap meets.

Did your dog go missing? Send me a photo and a short description - and let’s see if we can find it. Having a multi-family garage sale? Tell me about it. Someone broke into your garage? Let me know when and where it happened - let’s help each other keep the neighborhood safe.

Can’t reach city hall? I’m your gal - let me know what bugs you and let’s see if we can’t get it figured out.

If your business has a Facebook page let me know and I’ll link to it from the blog. Please e-mail news items, stories and photos to piah@spokesman.com