Vol. 2, #13

Prez Sez

If you feel like you’re experiencing culture shock and can’t keep up with all the changes going on around you, you must live in the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood.

As I sit here at my computer looking out at what remains of the nearly clear-cut Cordata Woods, I realize at this time next year I will be looking at road construction and the start of a 344-unit housing project. That area is now in the process of being annexed into the City, along with property for the new school on Aldrich Rd. plus some acreage owned by Trillium Corp. I also note there will be an International House of Pancakes in the new center at the corner of Eliza and Bakerview Rds. Then, there is the proposed Cordata Town Center to be located at the corner of Meadowbrook Ct. and
Cordata Pkwy.

We’re also told high rises and a Jack in the Box will soon materialize at Bakerview and Northwest   Avenue. Wal-Mart’s expanding, and another new retail area is proposed for the corner of Stuart Rd. and The Guide. Did I leave out the fact that the Dairy Queen area is rapidly changing with the plans for a new bus station and Community Food Co-Op. That’s just a taste of all the changes on the drawing board and the already materializing in our neighborhood.

Accommodation is what we are about; accommodating change in the form of extension of our neighborhood boundaries, new buildings, businesses, single family homes, apartment complexes and condos, retail establishments, roads, a bus station and, perhaps, a partridge in a pear tree. The City is committed to growth, and we are committed to helping shape it while creating character in our neighborhood.

More than ever the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood Association needs you to officially join our organization. We are doing our best to track all of this as we become more proactive in getting a jump start on what is coming down the pike. WE NEED YOU TO KEEP UP YOUR MEMBERSHIP WHEN JANUARY ARRIVES. Of course if you haven’t joined as yet, just e-mail our Membership Chair Adrienne Lederer at luvgreyhounds2K4@comcast.net Memberships cost $10. 

We are very excited about the addition of several new Board members who are full of energy and great ideas. By the time you read this, we will have held our first strategy meeting as we continue to serve as a watchdog for our neighborhood at large and for your individual neighborhoods. Homeowners and renters association presidents will soon be contacted for an invitation to our Neighborhood Summit in November. 

Cathy Starr, President, Guide Meridian Cordata Neighborhood Association
crstarr@comcast.net

Typically topical is this month’s general meeting of the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood Association. Elected interim mayor by the Bellingham City Council, Tim Douglas is no stranger to the office having served in the position from 1984 to 1995. Douglas is of particular interest to us as the city dickers with Trillium Corp. for land to meet our needs for a parks and trails in Cordata. Further, he is chairman of the Bellingham Library Board of Directors. A branch library is another of our goals with Whatcom Community College and a Cordata park visualized as possible locations. The peripatetic Douglas has a biography whose highlights include a 14-months directorship of the Peace Corps in Russia where he also was an environment and economic consultant. Don’t miss this chance to question the man whose guidance of Bellingham will began just three weeks and a day after he appears before us at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 10, at Birchwood Presbyterian Church’s chapel, 400 Meadowbrook Court. Douglas’s talk is titled: “What’s In Store for Bellingham? The Mayor in Waiting Speaks.”

New Board of Directors members are Beverly Jacobs and Patrick McGinty. The Hawaiian-born Bev, who lives in El Dorado, moved here three years ago from Atlanta where she was in special education administration for high IQ programs. Patrick, whose background includes teaching at the college level, is in banking having moved here from Boston. An outdoorsman, he lives in Darby Estates and has expressed an interest in Transportation/Traffic and Membership. They replace Linda Langey and Mike Kettman who have resumed teaching responsibilities. We’ll have more about Bev and Patrick in upcoming issues of “The Insider.” 

One of our more exciting projects is the Neighborhood Initiatives Program enabling us to, hopefully, qualify for a $150,000 BOC grant. After considering a number of possibilities, your board earmarked five acres located near Birchwood Presbyterian Church as a possible park site with the potential money going toward it. Such a park would be in addition to the 20 acres being discussed by the City and Trillium Corp. Project head is Parks & Trails Committee Chair and Board Member Jim Zander. 

Deadline Dash….Not to be missed is the Birchwood Presbyterian Church’s Annual Arts & Crafts Show Nov. 10-12. Normally, The Insider is disinclined to offer blatant plugs. We make an exception in this instance because of the church’s significant help which includes a location for general meetings…..A recent national survey put Bellingham 30^th out of 317 markets for housing overvaluation. With a median home value of $288,000, our area is overvalued by 54.3 percent. Naples,Florida ranked #1 with 101.5 percent…..Our complaints about storm water facilities at Darby Estates and the DR Horton development have come to the attention of Bill Reilly, COB Storm & Water Utility Mgr. Your Board will meet with him in the very near future….One of the more striking aspects of the Board’s collective abilities is its team play including editing suggestions of each other’s e-mails as we communicate with City employees and write letters to the editors of area publications. Call it e-mail enhancement.

More next time,

Bob Sanders

Comments

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[Shirley Jacobson]

The only good news, IMHO, on the development side is that the Food Co-Op is coming - looks like not as soon as promised, though. Isn't it interesting how money-making endeavors pop up almost before you hear about them but things like the parks and libraries are lost in the planning process forever.

Just what we need Pancake houses, and fast food restaurants. And, what is going in at Meadowbrook and Cordata - a 7-11 gas station??

Sorry to be so negative but it is depressing!

[Ryan M. Ferris]

You say "Accommodation is what we are about; accommodating change in the form of extension of our neighborhood boundaries, new buildings, businesses, single family homes, apartment complexes and condos..." But I don't get it. What exactly will accomodation get you? More traffic, more smog, more crime, less personal freedom, health,security, and quiet?

The 2005 WS DOT report projects the growth on Meridian to be continuing and unabated. The 35 thousand vehicles per day that cross Bellis Fair and Meridian today becomes 48 thousand by 2030 according to projections. (http://rmfdevelopment.com/public/SR539-I5-ECCE.pdf) Plans include a Smith Road off ramp and extensive widening of Meridian and all Bellingham off-ramps. Most of this work is to be completed by 2010.

Is it not bad enough that every four days in Whatcom County a bicyclist or pedestrian gets hit (see http://www.bellinghamherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060820/NEWS09/608200364) or that Whatcom County has the fifth highest and increasing age adjusted cancer rates in the State? (see statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov) Or that our underfunded Bellingham Police sees nearly 65,000 calls per year while our Sherrif begs for more money to avert a law and order disaster? Or that our Fire Districts feel so underfunded they have to sue to stop growth (http://www.bellinghamherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061005/NEWS09/610050374/1001/NEWS). Does your accomodation bring you nice pats on the head while the "power elite" of Bellingham trashes your neighborhood with your consent? Are you sure your accomodation just isn't co-dependence to acts of profiteering and political violence?