In the next week, a big part of Seattle’s news and information landscape may crumble. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, you’ve undoubtedly heard, is about to stop printing. It may live on as a news Web site. It may not. But the people who bring you the Seattle’s news and information will still be in the city — and some of them will still be here on Capitol Hill.

One of those ink-stained wretches is Joseph Tartakoff. Joe covers the tech behemoth Microsoft for the PI and makes his home on Capitol Hill. We asked Joe about the end of the PI, Capitol Hill news and info and, most importantly, his cat Toad.

So, hypothetical, 6 months from now, there’s no PI, not even a PI.com — are you staying on Capitol Hill? What’s next?

Answer: It’s a secret, so I can’t say. But I’ll be living at the corner of E. Denny and Harvard, right above Twice Sold Tales, for at least the next three months.

What’s your Hill neighborhood (CHS map) ? How did you choose it and what would you write about it if it were your beat?

Since graduating from college a year-and-a-half ago, I’ve lived on East Denny. First, at 504, by East Olive, and now at 725, by Harvard. It’s a great, central street.

To the south, there’s Pike/Pine, to the west, there’s East Olive, and to the east, there’s Broadway. Everything is walkable and bikeable.

If it was my beat, I’d write about some of the great restaurants and shops around and the people who run them.

My favorites: Saley’s Crepes (where I always get a smile), The Feed Bag (where the employees are never scared to tell me what they think my cat should eat or do), Redwood (where the bartenders always remember my name), and the Anne Bonnie (which has cheap, cool art!)

The big story, I think, though, is the shift in the action from Broadway to East Olive. Each month, East Olive seems to get livelier, while Broadway gets duller. There was already a big gap between north and south Broadway due to the horrible way that Seattle Central Community College was built and it’s only getting worse with the Sound Transit destruction.

Guess I should ask you about the media landscape given that you are a Harvard educated journalist. Please explain what is happening in Seattle. In two sentences :)

People no longer buy print classifieds. Therefore, papers are going out of business (and people like myself are losing their jobs).

More journalism. You’ve seen how this site, um, works. What are your thoughts on mixing journalism with community and the way CHS covers the Hill? Any advice for us?

So, a few weeks ago, I read a post on CHS from a contributor who said he or she had overheard a conversation about how a restaurant on 15th was set to expand. I wanted to scream (and did in the comments)! Why didn’t the contributor interrupt and ask what was going on? Or at least call afterwards to ask the manager?

That got me to look into who was behind CHS. And then I realized that anybody could contribute! I was super impressed. So, I went back to the comments and apologized.

I used to read the now defunct Capitol Hill Times and it always put me to sleep. It’s never that way on CHS. There’s always stuff going on. It’s never stale.

Tell me about the cats. Do you have a Hillcats t-shirt? We can make you a big part of Hillcats 2009.

Hmm, we don’t know about the shirts. But Toad is a very handsome orange and white tabby who enjoys relaxing on his back, especially in the bathtub. He also likes hanging out in Cal Anderson Park during the summer, while I read the New York Times.

When I lived at 504, I fostered cats for the Humane Society. Lots of them. I had one litter of kittens, though, and then all of them died except one from a disease. So, I didn’t have a choice but to adopt such a tough cat. That’s how Toad entered my life.

Thanks for your time, Joe. Looking forward to what comes next for you and everybody at the PI.