Changes are Likely to be Made to Northwest Avenue

                The city of Bellingham council members have approved the proposal for the addition of new bike lanes running through the Columbia Neighborhood.  In addition to the bike lanes some other improvements are to be assessed for the street as well according to city representative, Jack Weiss. 

Weiss said that the entire project will be designed over the summer and will include putting bulb-outs in intersections, making pull out areas for buses and putting in a few more cross walks throughout the street.  Weiss is a proponent for the bike lanes and said that he wouldn’t be surprised if the entire project will end up costing more than $250,000.  Weiss said, in the fall the council will have its budget negotiation meeting and Public Works, the company responsible for the entire project, will have the design plans and tell the council for sure how much money it will cost.  From there the council will decide on how much they want to spend. 

“We’re not going backwards on it [the bike-lanes],” said Weiss.  The question is just about how much they want to spend.  “I frequently travel on that street myself along with many other bicyclists that use that road and quite frankly it’s very dangerous in a few different areas,” he said.

Weiss said that he helped in the passage of creating an urban village in the Fountain District.  In it, the negotiation was that Meridian Street would focus on cars and pedestrians while Northwest Avenue would be used as a bicycle corridor for South to North travel.  “If I hadn’t moved on that the bike lanes probably wouldn’t have been built for maybe another 12 to 15 years,” he said.

According to the Columbia Neighborhood Association President Mark Keller the lanes will extend from the corner of Broadway and Elm Street through Northwest Avenue and will come to an end once it reaches Interstate 5.

                Northwest Avenue is a lengthy road consisting of a mix between both residential houses and  commercial businesses.  The addition of bike lanes means that the available on-street parking will be gone on one side of the street.  As far as Keller knows, the side hasn’t been determined yet.  “There are minimum widths for the road and so the road just isn’t wide enough to accommodate bike lanes and parking on both sides of the street.  They will keep parking on one side of the street,” said Keller. 

                Generally bike lanes are required to be about 5 feet in width so the bicyclist can be at a comfortable distance from traffic.  Northwest Avenue is unable to accommodate on-street parking on both sides while adding in bike lanes because the road itself doesn’t meet the minimum width requirements.

                “Very little of it [on-street parking] is used, so impacts to businesses would be minimal if any at all,” said Keller.

 Rianna Earl, cashier at Yeager’s Sporting Goods store on Northwest Avenue, feels just a bit conflicted about the bike lanes.  “From a personal standpoint, I don’t have a car; from a Yeager’s standpoint, I think it’s a bad idea because a lot of our elderly customers park there,” she said.  Earl said that even their regular customers don’t realize that there is a parking lot in the back of the store where the employees park.  She thinks that people will be confused about the parking in front of the store if it is affected.

“They have ample parking,” said Keller.

Deirdra Brummer, employee at Classic Health Apparel, located on Northwest Avenue, thinks the bike lane is a great idea.  “I take the bus or bike, so I like it,” she said.  She doesn’t think the business will be affected at all because there is a large parking lot close by that potential customers can use.  “I don’t care.  I think it’s a good idea,” she said about the parking concerns.

In Hiring the New Principal at Columbia Elementary

        Columbia Elementary is going through a complicated process as the school is interviewing for a new principal.  Currently the school has two acting principals, Terry Borden who comes in on Mondays, and Jeffrey Coulter.

                Coulter is the principal at Whatcom Middle School.  In 2009 Whatcom was destroyed in a fire.   Coulter has been working on re-building it, while at the same time assuming the principal role at Columbia Elementary.  “Everything that has to happen in a middle school in spring, we’re doing,” he said.  He’s pleased with the changes that have been made to the middle school and is grateful to Dawson Construction.  “In this construction climate, they’re doing the impossible,” he said.

                Whatcom Middle School is expected to re-open on Sept 6.

                Five elementary schools in the Bellingham School District are hiring new principals said Terry Borden.  As well as Columbia; Silver Beach, Geneva, Cordata and Larrabee are all looking for new principals. 

This is the fifth week Borden has been what he calls the “Monday Principal” at Columbia Elementary.  He says that he will be at Columbia for about another month and then the new principals will be chosen for the next school year. 

                “They’ve had some retirements, they’ve had some change in placements with different people…,” said Borden.  Positions have opened up and people have switched around creating openings for more people to work in the schools.

                The retired administrator assumes the basic principal roles on Mondays.  “The thought is that they wanted somebody here on the one day that Jeff who is the acting principal right now can’t be here,” said Borden.  The rest of the week he is the principal at Larrabee.  He considers his role to be a very minor one but still deals with discipline, placement issues and planning assemblies among other duties.  Lately his job includes a lot of assembly planning as everyone wants to be kept updated on the interviewing process for the new principals.

                He’s very busy and often deals with both schools all the time.  There are times when he gets called to Larrabee on Mondays when he is dealing with principal duties at Columbia Elementary.  Borden said he still gets paid a normal principal salary.

“Primarily [I] answer to whatever Jeff wants and help out,” said Borden.  Borden said that he will be returning to retirement after the new principals take their roles at the respective schools.

 The main job is to assume the leadership role at Columbia on Mondays when Coulter can’t be there, he said.  “It has been just the fact that we have someone available if needed,” said Michele Foster, who works in the office. 

Potential principals are being interviewed right now with the help of parents and employees of the schools.  “Then they’ll select people for each one of these schools and the superintendent will meet with the candidate and then make the determination which schools these principals go to,” said Borden.

  Throughout the next few weeks there will be meetings that include parents who want to voice their opinions about the qualities they want the new principal to have.  Parents may also e-mail the office to make their opinion known.  The new principal will be picked by July and be able to start by the beginning of the next school year.

Theft in the Neighborhood.

Bellingham’s second oldest neighborhood has been experiencing a small number of misbehaving individuals.  Theft has been a small problem in the area recently.

                Nearby resident Brenda Gray said that her bike was stolen Saturday, April 23.  The LeMond road-bike was blue with yellow highlights and affectionately nicknamed “Lemon.”  It was stolen out of her backyard.  “I think it’s because the economy is so bad, people are desperate,” she said.  Gray also elaborated that she loves this area and said that the stealing of the bike won’t have any long-term effects on the way she lives her life.  “I think I won’t leave things in my backyard at the moment but I may forget in three months,” Gray said with a smile. 

                There are several block watches in effect in the Columbia Neighborhood.  People in the past have gone for walks and greeted others with a smile, if they saw something suspicious they would call the police.  “If you go patrol do it by being friendly and not being nasty,” said Flip Breskin, resident of Columbia Neighborhood. Flip set up a listserv as a way of keeping neighbors informed about the issues in the neighborhood.  Her e-mail list also includes the police department.  Just last month she was able to aid in getting a student his bike back that had been stolen and found at Elizabeth Park by the tennis courts.  “That’s what is supposed to happen in a neighborhood,” she stated.  Her belief is that the more people know each other the less crime there is.

                The community feel of the Columbia Neighborhood is appealing for Flip.   She purposefully moved to the area in 1999 because she wanted to live where her neighbors were involved and she could get involved in the community as well.  “There are always going to be people misbehaving,” she said.  

                Residents can request extra patrolling by police if they can show that the number of crimes has risen in their neighborhood recently.  “I am not aware of extra patrols, said Flip, but in fact the police don’t have enough eyes to do that work, so it’s up to the neighbors.”

  “I don’t think it would stop it,” said Gray about the extra patrolling. 

  In a residential neighborhood of about 1,700 homes, this kind of thing is going to happen. “I guess I think it’s someone who knows the area,” said Gray.

                In Bellingham as a whole, theft has decreased since 2007.  After jumping a bit in 2009, in 2010 the numbers of reported theft have hit a low.  As a member of the community and a neighbor a good way to keep your neighborhood safe is to report any suspicious activity that may be observed.

There has been nine reported instances of thefts alone in the Columbia neighborhood in April, the most that have occurred so far in one month this year.  Last year most thefts were reported in May according to the city of Bellingham website.  In May of 2010 there were 20 reported instances of theft.  Luckily for Columbia residents, the theft trend has been steadily decreasing over the last four years.  It’s generally considered normal for the numbers to spike once the weather starts getting nicer.

Arson at Elizabeth Park and the Broadway Youth Center

                Firefighters raced to Elizabeth Park in the Columbia Neighborhood Sunday evening April 10 after smoke had been spotted coming out of the bathrooms.  Minutes later they responded to smoke coming from the Broadway Youth Center located at 1415 Dupont St. only a block away.  Arson is suspected in both fires by a group of middle-schoolers that were reportedly seen walking around the area according to residents. 

 

The fire in the bathrooms at Elizabeth Park is believed to have been started on the toilet paper rolls.  From this location it is determined that the arsonists made it to the youth center and started another one.  This fire was out before the firefighters got there.  It is believed that the arsonists entered the building through a window and started the fire in a trash can in the bathrooms since the bathroom doors were locked.  

Broadway Youth Center club director Rick Qualls was called by one of the neighboring businesses about the fire.  “We just grabbed our coats and ran out the door,” he said. “We live in the neighborhood so it only took a minute or so to get there.”  The firefighters were already on the scene once he got there.  The fire was already out but had taken its toll on the building.  “It is doubtful that the locations were ‘targeted’,” said Qualls.  He doesn’t believe that anyone would have anything against the youth center, but the suspects were just looking for a place that they could get away quickly.

“It’s surprising that no-one interfaced with them,” said park visitor Kim Bauer.  The neighborhood around the area is primarily residential and the people that live there feel safe from acts such as this.  “Kids do what kids do,” said Bauer.  The park continued to be busy as ever after the news of the fires in the area spread.  “I don’t think it will scare people from coming here during the day, said Bauer, they were damaging property not people.”  

Others believe that steps should be taken to help protect the community from future similar situations.  “Hopefully they’ll have a meeting and try and get someone to watch over the park,” said Julie Silverman, a mother that frequents the park.  She finds the situation scary and uncertain. 

There wasn’t much damage done to the park bathrooms but the youth center sustained damage that will hinder it from re-opening until it is fixed.  Qualls was hopeful of the future for the center. “There were some changes ahead of us even prior to the fire; this may just accelerate that process.”  He believes that the kids who started the fire took part in the activities at the youth center, a disappointing thought for Qualls because the center encourages kids to take part in its activities and discourages them from acts such as this.  Finding the arsonists responsible for the fire is a police matter and charges will be pressed against them if they are found.  

The youth center opens at 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.  The normal building will remain closed until the damages can be fixed. “The time frame for re-opening is in the hands of the insurance companies involved,” said Qualls.  Until then they will be operating from a building in the same area.

Arson isn’t a frequent occurrence in the neighborhood and just one instance of it won’t scare the people that visit the park often away.  The youth center was a bit more damaged than the park and so the people that use it and work there are adapting to the situation by relocating to a different building for the time being.  The services offered normally at the youth center are still in effect and will remain so as they work to repair the damages as well as make improvements to the building where business generally takes place.