Particularly timely will be the appearance of Nick
Hartrich as guest speaker at our Tuesday, May 12 general meeting. Hartrich, Green Building Program Manager of
Sustainable Connections, represents a local forum whose mission statement calls
for businesses to come together to transform and model an economy built on
sustainable practices. Sustainable
Connections envisions a thriving, collaborative community in which local
businesses are prosperous and contribute to a healthy environment and the
well-being of all citizens. Begun in
2002, SC includes more than 600 local independently-owned business members, a
staff of eight, and a board of 13 business owners. One of 53 forms within the framework of
Business Alliance for Local Living Economics (BALLE), it is considered the
model network. The 7 p.m. meeting at
Birchwood Community Church, 400 Meadowbrook Ct., also will include a Cordata
Community Food Co-op update by Member Outreach Facilitator Laura Steiger.
Developer Ted Mischaikov’s redesigned
428-home project now
has a name. It’s Cordata Country as
revealed in a front page Herald story this past Monday. Mischaikov’s plan will be detailed Tuesday,
June 9 when he speaks at a regular meeting of the GM/CNA. The session is not to be missed and it’s
quite likely the meeting will be moved to a larger room at Birchwood
Presbyterian Church. Cordatans should
spread the word. The re-working of
former owner D.R. Horton’s design, while maintaining the number of units, is a
dramatic departure utilizing many different types of homes including cottages
and row houses to escape Bellingham’s same old, same old. Other changes include a 3.5 acre park east of
the parkway, a 2,500 square-foot community center, and a switch to Kelly Rd.
from Kline Rd. as an east-to-west connector.
As Mischaikov recently observed, “It’s the same thing done a heck of a
lot better.”
Those who haven’t seen the 10,500 sq. ft. Cordata Community
Gardens are in for an impressive sight.
Located at the end of Cordata Parkway on land donated by developer Ted
Mischaikov, the Gardens are an excellent example of what can be done through
careful planning, infectious enthusiasm, a love of the soil and what it is
capable of producing, and learning to work with the City and others in
obtaining grants to make the project possible.
Including 50 beds (each 4’x16’), the Gardens will be open every day from
7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a garden-wide work day set for Saturday, May 16. Many thanks to Dee and Ben Andrews and Bill
Smith for their leadership of the Garden Committee whose membership also
includes Jim Chow, Laura Fornalski, Lorena Shah, and Rhett Winter.
And, of
course, we’re all looking forward to the June 6 GM/C Neighborhood Association
annual party--this year a salute to Cordata Community Gardens, site of the
event whose highlights include such outstanding raffle prizes as: $100 gift
certificate from the Community Food Co-op; three-month Bellingham Athletic Club
membership; a quilted wall hanging; Pickford Film Membership; 24 original note
cards by Shasta; five $10 gift certificates from Bellis Fair merchants;
AT&T Universal Blue Tooth Headset; two $25 Billy McHale Restaurant gift
certificates; three $25 Home Depot gift certificates; and a $50 Fred Meyer gift
certificate.
Bet you didn’t know Cordata has a professional basketball
team and they’re currently in first place in the International Basketball
League? Further, the head coach of the
Bellingham Slam is Rob Ridnour, father of Luke Ridnour of the NBA’s Milwaukee
Bucks. Home games are played at Whatcom
Community College’s Whatcom Pavillion. Upcoming
home dates: May 9, Seattle Mountaineers; May 25, Vancouver (BC) Titans; and
June 5, Oregon Waves. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and
seniors, and $5 for kids 12 and under.
Google bellinghamslam.com for further details. Because of the increasing importance of WCC
in our Neighborhood, this space will include information of interest as it
pertains to our membership. A broad
spectrum of information is available by Googling Whatcom Community College and
various links.
The Association’s by-laws, those rules that govern us, require
some revisions and will be available at Tuesday’s general meeting. A vote on the changes will be included in the
June 9 general meeting. Many thanks go
to Ralph Wenning for his work on the project.
Deadline Dash….Reflective of a changing community is
the decision by Lynden to combine Holland Days with the Farmers Day Parade to
create Heritage Celebration Day. This
year’s event will be held June 6 with the Klompen Dancers very much in
evidence….Michael Lilliquist will run for the Ward 6 seat being vacated by
Councilwoman Barbara Ryan. He’s being
endorsed by our 1st Ward Councilman Jack Weiss….The GM/CNA wishes to
extend enthusiastic thanks for work well done by those board members who
recently chose to resign. Those thanks
go to Pat Adams, Caroline Yaude, Bill and Dorothy Smith, plus Dee and Ben
Andrews. The latter remain chairs of the
Gardens Committee….The first of four Guide Meridian roundabouts to be completed
this year (others will be located at Pole, Wiser Lake and River Roads) was
inaugurated five days before the official opening of the first one. A Canadian trucker failed to slow down on his
approach, crashed into utility poles and deprived 1,500 users of power before a
surge was heard three miles away in Lynden.
The 180 ft. diameters of the roundabouts compare with Cordata Parkway
locations at Kellogg and Westerly Roads of 160 and 144 ft. Semi-trucks and some buses are required to
roundabout alone--at least that’s the hope.
More later,
Bob Sanders
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