The Alabama Street Corridor Multimodal Safety Improvements proceed with mixed reviews

By Racquel Arceo

Based off of the results from a series of studies conducted by the Department of Public Works, there will be a variety of changes made along Alabama Street to improve safety.

In Sunnyland, the changes will including the addition of bike lanes, C-curbs, various types of pedestrian crossing lights, and “refugee islands,” the relocation and reduction of transit Gold Go line bus stops and “road dieting.”

The second open house for the Alabama Corridor Project was held on March 5 at Roosevelt Elementary School.

At the meeting, the Department of Public Work’s proposed plan for the Alabama Street renovations was revealed. The proposal included three variations of the road diet and other measures to improve safety.

The open house was for residents from all affected neighborhoods, including Roosevelt, Sunnyland, Lettered Streets, Silver Beach and Alabama Hill, and the Bellingham Police Department and Fire Department, to review the analysis and proposal for safety improvements along Alabama Street.

In 2011, Alabama street was found to be the street with the second most collisions in Whatcom County, right behind Guide Meridian, according to the Department of Public Works. The following year, Bellingham received over $1.4 million in federal grant funds allowing them to conduct studies for improvements along the 1.75-mile long Alabama Street.

Michelle Nancy, Sunnyland resident, has concerns about minimizing the main road through Sunnyland through the “road diet.“

“I don’t want to see traffic on the spillover streets,” Nancy said.

The “road diet” consists of moving the painted lines of the road leaving fewer lanes traveling in either direction and, as it would be for Sunnyland, adding bike lanes.

With the growing traffic on Alabama Street, Nancy said she doesn’t think the roads in Sunnyland are made to support the larger masses.

“Most of the people I have talked to, by in large, like the way it is now,” Nancy said.

Through the stretch of Alabama Street, the only portion that will include bike lanes would be in Sunnyland. The west end of Alabama has been recommended to have a hybrid 4-to-3-lane “road diet” between Dean Street and Iron Street. This “road diet” will reduce the road from two lanes going either direction to one lane going either directing, a left turn lane, and bike lanes going either direction.

Though the majority of Alabama Street is unable to sustain bike lanes due to the heavy traffic, most of the traffic was found to dissipate at James Street.

Although Nancy said that very few people she knows of approve of the bike lanes in the Sunnyland section of Alabama Street, Rory Routhe, city Engineer and Public Works Assistant director, has had the reverse reaction.

“A lot of people that I have talked to from this area are pretty happy with the changes,” Routhe said. “I think this will provide more safety, which is the main objective in the area.”

Along the length of Alabama Street there are currently eight stops on the Golden Go transit line, which, in the proposal, will be reduced to five.

“We are proposing to consolidate some of the stops,” Rick Nicholson, Whatcom County Transportation Authority’s director, said.

With the revised stops, only the outbound stops will be affected.

In Sunnyland alone there will be one less outbound stop leaving three inbound stops and two outbound.

Some of the changes to the stops will be to move them up the street more, past a cross walk.

“We are having buses stop on the far side of cross walks so the people getting off the bus will cross behind the bus instead of in front for safety reasons,” Nicholson said.

For some people they will have to walk further to get to their stops but “that is the trade off for making them safer,” he said.

The proposal also included the addition of C-curbs or “mountable curbs”. The curb is a divider between lanes traveling in opposite directions restricting left turns.

There are existing C-curbs in Sunnyland, through a portion of Alabama Street, but with the proposal they will be replaced and upgraded.

The longest stretching C-curb to be added to Alabama Street will go for three blocks.

The reduction of left turns will add time to people’s drives but it will not interfere with any emergency response vehicles.

“If we really have to we can drive over them,” Jason Monson, Bellingham Police Lieutenant, said.

Though the project got off to a rough start last year, after the first Alabama Corridor Project open house, with the proposal, people are starting to understand the changes more.

“I’ve heard mostly positive reactions,” said Lt. Monson.

Some residents are still skeptical of the changes.

Resident Bill Black has been running Alabama Street for years and sees no major issues with the street.
“I have never, in my 25 years of living here, seen an accident [on Alabama Street],” Black said. “I think they simply need to reduce the speed limit to 30.”

Oklahoma! brings schools and territory folk together on the stage of BHS

By Racquel Arceo

The 1906 Oklahoma territory comes back to life on the stage of Bellingham High School in their all district production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

This year’s all district spring musical includes students from Bellingham High School, Squalicum High School and Sehome High School.

Opening night is March 6 and continuing on March 7 and 8 and 13-15 at 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. performance on March 9 and 16. Tickets are being sold at BHS Village Books and at the door for $10 a ticket.

Coming to Bellingham High School in 2000, after the theater department was remodeled, drama teacher and musical director Teresa Grimes will be retiring and has decided to end her work at the school with the same performance she had started it with.

The musical, set in the old west, tells the story of two cowboys fighting for the hearts of the women they love through songs and dance numbers.

BHS senior, Kelsey McHugh, choreographed each dance. After choreographing last years spring musical, Pirates of Penzance, McHugh said she fell in to the job again this year.

“Oklahoma! was really the first to combine ballet and opera,” said McHugh.

She said it was interesting working with kids her age and trying to emulate the dances in a way that high schoolers could do it while still sticking to the sort of folk dancing styles of the time period.

“I still have the men doing kicks and pirouettes but with more swagger, cowboy like,” said McHugh. “They do manly pirouettes.”

Hunter Dunn, a BHS senior will be playing the part of Andrew Carnes in his first musical at the school.

Growing up around theater Dunn said he had no intention on missing the opportunity to be a part of the musical.

“It’s a little trifle but [my favorite part is] the interactions on stage and seeing the final production once it all comes together,” said Dunn.

Getting to work with Students from the other schools, Dunn said, gave them the opportunity to put on a larger production.

“It’s fun getting to know other people from other schools that I wouldn’t normally be getting to meet,” he said.

Logan Earle, a junior from Sehome High School was recommended by his voice teacher to audition for the performance and will be playing both Mike and Skidmore.

This is the first time Earle has preformed in one of the BHS musicals and said it is great to have the opportunity to preform in their theater because it is so up to date.

“Sehome has an amazing theater program but it’s really small,” said Earle.

Earle said that the district musical is unique because “the amazing talent that Bellingham is able to draw from the schools.”

He said it was a large time commitment and had to stop most of his other after school activities but it’s worth it.

Natalie Maeda, a student from Squalicum High School, said it is kind of annoying having to travel back and forth to BHS six days a week for the three hour rehearsals but it’s worth it getting to hangout with and meet different people.

“The directors are very understanding for the students having to come from other schools,” she said

During rehearsals the students gather back stage to work on homework, play chess or socialize.

The entire production is made up of approximately 40 actors, 25 students making up the orchestra in the pit and 15 crewmembers working lights, sound, and the set.

The all district production gives student from the other schools to get the opportunity to preform on the up-to-date stage area and on a bigger scale than they would normally have access to Grimes said.

Before the show there will be a pie social and during intermission concessions will be sold to raise money for the theater production.

The entire production tries to be self-sustaining so all proceeds go back to the theater department to fund next years musical, said Grimes.

For more information about this year’s production or future ones call BHS at 360-676-5006

Sunnyland demands hearing to discuss neighborhood plan

By Racquel Arceo

Sunnyland Neighborhood Association is yet to receive a date for a hearing to discuss their neighborhood plan.

In 2007 the former Washington State Department of Transportation lot, off East Sunset Drive next to Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, was sold to private owners David Edelstein and Greg Hinton.

The four-acre lot was previously a superfund area used for storing and containing hazardous material. According to co-owner Edelstein, the land is clean and safe.

“The state delivered it [the land] to us with a clean bill of health and the state of Washington guaranteed it was clean,” he said.

Since the sale, volunteers of the SNA assembled a neighborhood plan proposing new zoning for the area.

Edelstein said he is hoping for residential zoning but the issue is whether the neighborhood, the city, and himself and Hinton will agree on what sort of residential zoning should be given.

 “We spent many volunteer hours making the proposal,” said Pat McKee, SNA volunteer.

SNA has been waiting for a hearing date to be set by the Planning and Community Development Department for the city of Bellingham since presenting their plan on July 23, 2012.

McKee spoke to Jeff Thomas, Director of the Planning and Community Development Department on Feb. 5 to discuss the pending hearing but is yet to receive any commitment for a hearing date.

“That was my principal goal for the meeting, to set a date,” said McKee. “The first step in getting our proposal enacted in law is a planning hearing.”

The Bellingham municipal code requires department to process the SNA code in a timely manner, something that McKee feels he has not done.

“We are going to continue to put pressure on the planning director. [Thomas is] the person that has to assign staff to begin processing our amendment,” said McKee.

There has been speculation that the reason for the delay is the department is trying to first revise the Infill toolkit. The code under revision is currently used for only multi-living housing and will be reworked to accommodate single family housing as well.

“I don’t feel there’s any need to delay consideration of our plan,” said McKee. “Once the planning commission begins to consider our proposal they can suggest changes which could involve some of the new toolkit codes.”

McKee has also attempted to bring the situation to the mayor Kelli Linville hoping she could speed up the process and help get a hearing date set but he is yet to hear back from her.

“We are asking for a planning commission by March 31,” said McKee.

Once the zoning of the land is settled, there are no official plans for what the land will be used for.

“We have tried repeatedly to come up with plans for what the neighborhood and city think should be built there,” said Edelstein.

Avenue Bread wood carver

By Racquel Arceo

Avenue Bread may be known for its assortment of artisan breads, pastries, and soups but there is one item that isn’t feature on the menu. While searching for a table, customers may stumble upon a man whittling away.

About five days a week, for the past year and a half, Steve LaMarine turns a table in the diner in to his own personal workshop.

Since moving to Bellingham about eight and a half years a go to be closer to his daughter and her growing family, LaMarine has retired.

Before bringing his talent to Avenue Bread LaMarine would do pieces for friends and family sending his work across the country, like to Philadelphia and Atlanta.

LaMarine taught himself how to carve caricatures when he was just 16 but said that since he was a baby he had always been doing something with wood. Growing up his father was a carpenter so material was always available to him.

Since retirement LaMarine said he really started getting in to his carving and learning about it through different magazines.

“I think a lot of people who say they have no artistic ability are working in the wrong medium,” he said.

After stopping in for breakfast with his wife one morning LaMarine decided Avenue Bread would be a good place to carve.

“I started coming here because I don’t really have a place to work at home,” LaMarine said.

When he first started carving at Avenue Bread he would only work for 30-40 minutes during his breakfast, keeping quiet about what he was doing. Now LaMarine sits openly, for hours at a time, carving, keeping pieces proudly displayed in front of him for curious customers to see.

“It also explains why there’s a man sitting there with a sharp knife,” LaMarine said.

LaMarine enjoys working in Avenue Bread so often because of the atmosphere. He said he likes hearing the happy people around him talking and laughing.

“No one comes to a restaurant to fight, and that’s what I want to hear, laughter,” he said. “I’ve been photographed seven times by tourist. It really cracks me up.”

Working alone, LaMarine doesn’t produce enough pieces to sell commercially; in fact, when he first started, he wasn’t selling his work at all, just giving it away. 

“This last year was the first time I’ve ever sold anything,” he said.

He made the decision to start selling when there suddenly became a high demand in his turtle carvings. Being one of his favorite pieces to carve, LaMarine said his turtle is his trademark carving though his Santa Claus carvings are his best sellers.

Charging around three dollars an hour LaMarine doesn’t make much of a profit but, for him, that isn’t the point.

“I don’t want this to get to be a business where I’m working on deadlines, that takes the fun out of it. I didn’t retire from marketing just to switch to another stressful job, I don’t want to add more stress to my life,” LaMarine said. “[Carving is] something I do for fun, not for the money.”

Currently LaMarine is working on a few pieces to donate to animal rescue and a donkey he was commissioned to carve.
“A lot of the stuff I make, it’s the first time I’ve ever made it,” he said.

Carving in the restaurant LaMarine tries to be courteous, not just to the customers, but also to the staff, never leaving behind a mess.
LaMarine doesn’t do much in the ways of advertising, he said people mostly hear of him through word mouth but he is working on setting up a page on Facebook. For now, LaMarine can be contacted at slamarine@aol.com