City of Bellingham
MAYOR’S
NEIGHBORHOOD ADVISORY COMMISSION
“JUST SO YOU ARE AWARE”—Information of Interest
v City leads nation
by “greening” 100% of municipal energy use
v
Bigger and better than ever—Bellingham Neighborhoods night out against
crime
v
Bellingham Mayor committed to disaster preparedness
v Public
Works Projects in the Neighborhoods
v
Steering Committee helps with Whatcom Creek Trail
Design, Racine
to Ellis
v
Parks Improvements--New Playgrounds
v “Making
Places for People” Project approach applied to arts district and Flora street
v Party
on the dock—come and dance above water!
v Ray
Suarez speaks on “The Old Neighborhood” September 12
v Attention
House History enthusiasts
v August
Inside Bellingham – BTV10
City leads nation by “greening” 100%
of municipal energy use
The
Bellingham City Council recently made Bellingham
a national leader in renewable energy, with a unanimous decision to “green”
100% of the electricity used in city operations. “Green power” is electricity
produced by clean, renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass. The city
will purchase 100% “green” electricity to run all city facilities - from the
fire station on Deemer Road
to the Post Point Wastewater Treatment Plant and all the parks and streetlights
in between.
This action
will make the City of Bellingham
the sixth largest local government purchaser of renewable energy in the
nation. Mayor Mark Asmundson explained
that this will eliminate about 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide pollution. “That’s
like not driving 22 million miles,” he said and emphasized that “Protecting the
climate needs to be our top priority, and this is a huge step in that
direction.”
City Council
member John Watts said that supporting renewable energy resources has always
been a good idea, but now both the economy and ecology demand it, “It is
essential that city government take a leadership role in protecting our
climate, and with this action we are leaders locally and nation-wide.”
According
to EPA officials, if the Bellingham
community purchases the estimated 25,000 MWh per year, the city will have the
following rankings in the Green Power Partnership:
v
Largest
100% renewable energy purchase by a local government;
v
Tenth
largest 100% renewable energy purchase by any type of organization.
v
Sixth
largest purchase of any percentage of renewable energy by a local government;
With this
action, the city joins another national green power leader: Western Washington
University. In 2005, WWU
began greening 100% of its energy use, making it the 4th largest purchaser of
renewable energy by an educational institution.
Council’s
action is a part of the Bellingham Green Power Community Challenge, a community
wide campaign to promote renewable energy being launched in September by the
City of Bellingham,
Sustainable Connections and Puget Sound Energy.
For more
details about the city’s purchase of green power and how you can, too, visit
the city website at www.cob.org.
Bigger
and better than ever—Bellingham
neighborhoods night out against crime
Neighborhoods
continue their focus on crime prevention by turning out for National Night Out
Against Crime on August 1. Officer Tara
Fleetwood, Community Resource Officer for the Bellingham Police Department,
reports that there were over 40 neighborhood events, from BBQ potlucks to Ice
Cream Socials. So far Tara’s
count is 1096 participants up from last year.
So we are growing!
Note that the
Alabama
neighborhood had the largest turnout with 8 events (two had over 150 people
attend); Events included guest speakers from the Bellingham Police and Fire
Departments, CERT (citizen emergency response team), Whatcom Humane Society,
Whatcom Dispute Resolution, STAR task force and City Council.
With Crime
Dog McGruff growling around several events, neighbor kids had to light
McGruff’s way with tiki torches, keep McGruff away from Bocce ball, off the
sidewalk chalk drawings, out of a dunk tank, and away from the good food!
Thanks to all
our neighborhood leadership, block watch captains, and volunteers who made this
night a success.
Bellingham Mayor committed to disaster
preparedness
When
Hurricane Katrina wrecked havoc through New Orleans,
when tsunamis slammed into Indian Ocean
countries, when disasters strike anywhere, responsible leaders ask themselves:
“Can that happen in my community, and what should I do now to make sure
we are ready if it does?”
This
is a topic of particular interest to neighborhood leaders, as emergency
management experts focus on home and neighborhood preparedness: getting to know your neighbors, working
together to prepare in advance, and banding together to support each other in
emergencies.
Mayor
Mark Asmundson has initiated dialogue with other elected officials county wide
to address emergency management needs, saying he believes our community is not
as prepared for disasters as we should be.
At
a recent meeting of the county’s Emergency Management Council, every member present agreed we need to do a
better job of helping the community prepare for disasters, so when they happen,
the impact is less and we recover faster.
Needs
not currently being met include making our community more disaster-resistant,
helping neighborhoods prepare their homes, families and businesses for
emergencies, and increasing our ability to help people when tragedy strikes.
He
has proposed additional city resources to address these needs and proposed
changes in the way emergency management services are shared among city and county
officials. These conversations have proved contentious at times, but Asmundson
has said he is determined to make improvements.
“My
resolve comes from evaluating lessons learned and increased public expectations
resulting from recent disasters, both in Bellingham
and world-wide,” he said. “We hope disasters never happen, but we also know
that they do. I am committed to making sure we are prepared.”
For
more details about the city’s proposal for emergency management, visit the
city’s website at www.cob.org.
Public
Works Projects in the neighborhoods:
Alabama Hill
v We have replaced sewer
lines on Huron Street
and an adjacent alley as part of our annual sewer replacement program.
v Speed humps will be installed on Vining Street after
receiving favorable public input at the recently held open house for potential
traffic calming sites.
Birchwood
v Public works will be proceeding with
the installation of speed humps on McLeod
Road in various locations after receiving
favorable public input at the recently held open house for potential traffic
calming sites.
Central Business District
v The grand opening celebration in July for Depot Market Square
introduced the major features of this fabulous new community center. We continue to work on final construction issues
to complete the project. The Saturday farmers market is going strong and the
facility is in use for other community purposes with parking available during
the work week and Sundays.
v
Repairs
to the Holly Street
Bridge (at Whatcom Creek in Old Town)
and the sewer line underneath will extend service life of sewer and increase
public safety by rehabilitating and strengthening the bridge. We’ll get going
again on the project the end of this month to strengthen the bridge’s footings
and complete the repair of the northwest wing wall.
Columbia
v
In order
to increase the safety of the Eldridge Street
Bridge and extend the
life of the aging structure, we are making various improvements, including
hanging a new 16-inch water line. Work
will begin November, 2006.
v
Positive
input was received and changes incorporated into the West Street
Improvements project design based on suggestions provided by Columbia neighborhood residents at their
meeting with the Mayor and Public Works staff on July 20. Directional signage to the new Squalicum Parkway
route to the new park will be provided on the major arterials after the park
construction is completed. In addition, local access signage for West Street and
more lighting for pedestrian and bike safety including lighted bollards on the
new trail will be added. The City will continue to take traffic counts to
monitor use, and monitor signal timing at the Squalicum and Meridian intersection. We’ll also be looking at neighbor requests to
evaluate an additional connection to Squalicum
Parkway using the W. Illinois Street right of way. The City also provided the procedure by which
the neighborhood could design and install additional traffic circles for
traffic calming through the Public Facility process. The West Street Project work was awarded to
Oceanside Construction of Bellingham on 8/7/06.
Construction should begin in late August and will continue for 8-10
weeks. The road will be closed to through
traffic during construction.
Cornwall
Park
v
Structural
resurfacing on Squalicum Parkway
from Birchwood to Ellis Street
is nearly complete. Pavement markings
and restoration should take place in the near future.
v
Water
main replacements on Elm, Victor, Peabody
and Vallette streets (part of our annual scheduled replacement program) are
complete.
Guide Meridian/Cordata
v
Structural
resurfacing of Bellis Fair Parkway
from Cordata to Meridian
is nearly complete. Pavement markings
and restoration should take place in the near future.
Happy Valley
v Construction is nearing completion for
street work at Donovan Avenue
and 30th Street
to provide curb, gutter, and sidewalk arterial improvements. This is part of the Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDOT) project to signalize the southbound ramps
of Interstate 5 and Old Fairhaven
Parkway. 32nd
Street at Old Fairhaven Parkway was closed
permanently last month as part of this project.
Next steps after paving work are signs, pavement markings, and
landscaping. Contact Derek Holzl of Public Works (676-6961) for information on
this project.
Lettered Streets
v
The
curb, gutter, and pavement replacement work on Young Street from Girard to Halleck is
nearing completion. Pavement markings
and restoration should take place in the near future.
v
The
water main replacement on B Street
is complete.
Mount Baker
v The Kearney Road Reservoir, our new water tank on King Mountain,
is nearing completion. All that remains
are punch list items and restoration. The tank is now functionally on-line and part
of the City’s water system. This tank is needed for additional
water storage to provide service and fire flow to the Cordata area and the
industrial area east of James
Street (Mount Baker Neighborhood).
v
Public
Works will proceed with the installation of speed humps on East Orchard Drive in the 900 block after
receiving favorable public input at the recently held open house for potential
traffic calming sites.
Puget
v
Structural
resurfacing on Moore Street
from Fraser to Meador is complete.
v
This
month we will begin the Fraser
Street (between Puget and Lincoln Streets) project
involving pedestrian and bike, drainage, and roadway surface improvements. Tiger construction was awarded the project in
July and will be starting next week.
Residents are encouraged to avoid the area if possible and drive
carefully in the construction zone.
v Public Works will proceed with the
installation of traffic circles on Nevada
Street after receiving favorable public input at
the recently held open house for potential traffic calming sites.
Roosevelt
v
Our
structural resurfacing work at the following locations in this neighborhood is
complete. Pavement markings and
restoration should take place in the near future.
Ø
Toledo Street from Alabama to the dead end
Ø
Queen
Street from Kentucky to Carolina
Ø
Kentucky Street from Pacific to Woburn
Ø
St Clair Street from Alabama
to Connecticut
v
Demolition
of the store at the intersection of Woburn and Alabama will allow for
traffic flow improvements at this busy intersection, enhancing safety and
providing better circulation. Demolition
is expected to begin on August 14, 2006.
v Public Works will proceed with the
installation of traffic circles on Texas
Street in the 1600 and 2600 blocks after receiving
favorable public input at the recently held open house for potential traffic
calming sites.
Samish
v Temporary speed humps - In response to
specific requests, the PW Department purchased temporary speed humps and will
install them on 34th Street north
of Connelly Avenue.
These roadways currently rank below the threshold of traffic volume we use for
approving permanent traffic calming devices.
Placement of the temporary speed humps provides an interim traffic
calming measure allowing both staff and the neighbors time to further study the
situation and work towards a permanent solution.
v
Public
Works will proceed with the installation of speed humps on 36th Street in the 1600 and 1900 blocks
after receiving favorable public input at the recently held open house for
potential traffic calming sites.
Silver
Beach
v
Our
structural resurfacing work on Northshore
Drive from Silver Beach
to the City limits is almost complete.
Shoulder grading, pavement markings and restoration should take place in
the near future.
v
We
are designing and constructing a water quality treatment facility for East Academy Street
on the North Shore of Lake Whatcom as another addition to work to improve water
quality of Lake Whatcom.
We expect to start construction mid month.
v
Variable
Message (VM) speed limit signing - We will be installing Bellingham’s first VM
speed limit signs on 30th Street south of Old Fairhaven Parkway in the South Neighborhood. This should help address neighborhood
concerns about occasional excessive vehicle speeds. The VM signs, costing approximately $10,000
each, are educational tools that are used for traffic calming on arterial
streets in lieu of speed humps or traffic circles reserved for local access
(residential) streets. Each sign is
equipped with a radar unit to monitor vehicle speeds, and when a certain
threshold above the posted speed limit is recorded, bright messages such as
"slow down" or "your speed is XX" are displayed to the
drivers.
South Hill
v Our new pump station at the existing
water tank location at Sunset
Heights is now complete
and on-line. This water pump station
will alleviate pressure and fire flow deficiencies on the top section of South
Hill. Over the next couple of months,
the old water tower will be demolished and a permanent security fence will be
installed.
Sunnyland
v
Street
overlay work on Ellis Street from Sunset to Alabama is underway as is Hampton
Place from East North Street to Ellis Street.
Ongoing work will include curb, sidewalk and storm main replacements
where necessary.
Whatcom
Falls
v
The
structural resurfacing work in the Whatcom
Falls neighborhood is
completed. Pavement markings and lawn restoration will
take place in the next couple of weeks.
v
Construction
has begun on Whatcom Creek Salmon Habitat Improvement Project to improve fish
habitat and stream channelization on Cemetery Creek and Salmon Park. Funding for this work is from the Olympic
Pipeline Settlement.
v Temporary speed humps: We are also
trying this intervention on Silver
Beach Road north off Lakeway Drive. (See information for Samish Temporary Speed
Humps, above).
York
v
Structural
resurfacing work on Iron Street
from Fraser to Meador is complete.
See our website for more information about capital projects under
construction: http://www.cob.org/pw/curconst/index_current.htm.
Steering Committee helps with Whatcom
Creek Trail Design
The Parks and Recreation
Department has recently formed a steering committee to assist with the final
design of this important link in the trail that connects Bellingham
Bay to Lake Whatcom.
Made up of citizens and affected property owners, the committee will meet on a
monthly basis and provide input to the City's design consultant, AHBK. The committee is currently working on a
segment from Racine Street
to Ellis Street.
The project recently received a $500,000 transportation enhancement grant to
supplement local Greenway funding. For
more information contact Park Project Engineer, Gina Gobo at the Design and
Development Division, 676-6985
Parks Improvements--New Playgrounds
Coming soon to a playground near you:
v New
Swing at Fairhaven
Park
v Civic Field Playground
(between the Aquatic
Center and Carl Cozier
Elementary School)
v Broadway Park
Playground
v New
salmon water spray feature at Cornwall
Park Spray
Park
v Lake Padden
Playground replacement construction begins after Labor Day
“Making
Places for People” Project approach applied to arts district and Flora Street
This month, a
group of citizens interested in applying an approach to and tools for making
great public places has been looking at the arts district and Flora street areas.
“Placemaking” looks at four key qualities:
Accessibility, Activities, Comfort and Sociability and offers solutions
for attaining these qualities in a defined location, or place. The ideas of the
participants will provide the City, businesses, property owners and other
potential partners with short and long term implementation ideas.
Planning and
Community Development Department will be incorporating these ideas into a
“Placemaking Vision” which will inform the design plan for improving the
streets and public spaces within the Arts District. A number of neighborhood representatives have
participated in this activity and are interested in applying the concepts to
their own neighborhood “placemaking” activities. Contact Tara Sundin of our Planning and
Community Development staff for more information about this exciting process
(676-6880) or tsundin@cob.org.
Party on
the dock—come and dance above water!
Taylor Dock Uplands - The Parks and Recreation
Department is working with Tiger Construction to put the finishing touches on
the new, improved entrance area to Taylor Dock which includes landscaping,
seating, plaza, overlook, restrooms, covered shelter, gateway, and sidewalk.
Those of you who have been enjoying the Wednesday night music and dances
downtown at “Downtown Sounds” are in for something as great in Fairhaven.
A community-wide celebration of Taylor Street Dock, our "Party on
the Dock" is scheduled for Saturday, September 2 beginning at 6 PM with
music by the Atlantics. So, on Labor Day
weekend we can honor all those good folks who labored to make this such a great
community asset.
Ray
Suarez speaks in Bellingham
on “The Old Neighborhood”— September 12
Ray Suarez may be a familiar name to any of you who watch the News Hour
with Jim Lehrer on public television or Talk of the Nation on public
radio. A renowned journalist, Mr.
Suarez’s September 12th talk explores themes from his book, The
Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration. He will speak about
urbanization, connectivity, population and social dynamics, economy and
culture, politics and technology, and global environmental threats. He will
describe how these “drivers” shape our cultural landscape, as well as our
practices and education. He proposes a framework for moving forward to transform
our neighborhoods into centers of dynamic vitality for everyone.
Ray Suarez’s
talk kicks off Kulshan Community Land Trust’s 2006-07 urban design speaker’s
series, “Growing a Livable Community Everyone Can Afford.” We anticipate this will be a thought-provoking
discussion of value to our neighborhoods.
This event is
Tuesday, September 12, at 6:00 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2401 Cornwall Avenue.
Admission is $8 for KulshanCLT members, $15 for
general audiences, and students 16 and under are free. Tickets may be
purchased at the door or in advance at Village Books, the Community Food Co-op,
and at KulshanCLT, 215 West Holly, Suite
H20.
Attention
House History Enthusiasts
The
Washington State Archives is offering a free workshop: Researching the History of your Home or
Property on Saturday, August 19th 8:30 am – 12:30 pm.
Presented
by the Washington State Archives in collaboration with the City of Bellingham and Western
Washington University's
Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, this half-day training session will be
led by knowledgeable staff who will answer your questions about:
- how
to access information from local government resources and title companies
- what
research materials are available at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
- how
to use resources at the Washington State Archives
Additionally,
an overview of the resources available at the Whatcom Museum Photo Archives and
the Bellingham Public Library will be offered.
To register contact: Diana Shenk, Regional
Archivist, Washington State Archives, (360) 650-2813, diana.shenk@wwu.edu
Space is limited so register soon!
The workshop is sponsored by the City of Bellingham Planning and
Community Development Department as part of a series designed to support
citizens in the preservation of their historic homes and neighborhoods.
August Inside Bellingham features
fun at “spray” parks, Depot Market, sculptures and more!
Inside Bellingham airs on BTV10, the city’s government
and educational access channel, several times each week. Inside
Bellingham also is available to view on the city’s website. For BTV10 schedule information and access to
on-line television programs, visit the city’s website at www.cob.org.
The
August episode features:
v
Young entrepreneurs in action at the Children’s Craft Fair;
v
A peek behind the scenes at key features of Depot Market Square, including the use of
environmentally friendly building materials;
v
A visit with artists whose sculptures are on display in the city’s
Civic Center;
v
Joining in the fun at Bellingham’s
“spray” parks, a new way to stay cool in the summer.
v
And more!