Pay Attention to the Birch Bay Tourism Study

Everyone concerned with the future of Birch Bay should read and consider the ideas put forth by the consultants who are paid $25,000 by the Port of Bellingham. There is a version at www.birchbaychamber.com (click on "survey").

Dodd Snodgrass, the Port's project manager who oversaw the work (dodds@portofbellingham.com), e-mailed us a copy of the latest version last week. It is 95 pages with nice pictures – that's a lot of paper and ink.

Some people are not favorably impressed. At the February meeting of the Birch Bay Chamber, John Gargett, the president, said he didn't know people have trouble finding Birch Bay. At an information-sharing meeting last Tuesday, Charlie Shelton, the Port director, and Michael McAuly, the newest Port commissioner got an earful from a man who rents cottages who said that he “resents outsiders who tell him his business.”

Kathy Berg, chair of the Birch Bay Steering committee, in written comments to those who guided the consultants, noted that, “Unfortunately, the sometimes inaccurate information is a distraction and counter productive.” She added that, “weaknesses” listed in the consultant's report have been addressed and or been improved over the past 10 years by the Steering Committee.

My view, from the meetings I attended, is that the consultants seemed more interested in expressing their own ideas than in seeking out all the key people in the community and listening to their ideas.

Among the 13 people they did interview are few of the have-done/can-do people who have built the community. In a section on what is likely to happen to the tourism market in Birch Bay if nothing is done, the consultants include: “Continue as a sleepy backwater.” 

Birch Bay is generally recognized for the best warm-water beach north of California. The State fish and game commission ranks Birch Bay as the best clamming beach north of Seattle. Seventy thousand people camped at the state park last year. There were 500,000 total visitors, according to Ted Morris, who manages the park.

Last week the Herald reported census numbers for Whatcom County communities. In the past decade, Birch Bay had the greatest percentage growth (69.6%) of any community in the county and, with the exception of Bellingham, the most gain in people (3,453); greater than Blaine (914) Ferndale (2,657) and Lynden (2,913).

Do these number define a “backwater?”

While the consultants fill their study with bright ideas about how to attract more people to Birch Bay, I think the priority should be on how to create more activities and amenities for people who come so they will stay longer and spend more money. That's going to take entrepreneurial enterprise.

Nonetheless, those who study the recommendations will find some good ideas that prompt thinking.

In my youth I made a modest living taking California investment analysts to New York to meet reporters and broadcasters. Most of the discussions were about hot new companies and their business plans. Some of the best business plans were described as originating on one side of a folded napkin – a paper napkin.

So, if you've read this far I suggest that, as you study the consultants' recommendations, you take a piece paper – re-use paper folded the long way – and write down five things you would like to see happen, aside from Kathy's berm and Ted's boat launch.

Five things that are do-able in the next three years. 


Send them to us as a comment for posting.

ak

Survey on Speeding

Do you think the year-round 25 miles-per-hour speed limit on Birch Bay Drive is appropriate?

Do you think many drivers exceed the speed limit on the Drive?

 




Do you know of anyone who has been injured by a motorist speeding on the Drive–as opposed to a self-inflicted accident?

We can't have a red-light camera—because we don't have a traffic light—but we might be able to have a meter that measures speed and photographs cars' license plates.

Would you welcome that?

ak


Comments are not only allowed but are actively encouraged. 

It's Valentine's Day

We buy an estimated 250 million valentines each year based on a myth and a desire to share the love.

According to Wikipedia, there are at least 14 martyred saints with the name Valentine. “Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried... north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name."

 Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni, from a 14th century French manuscript

Wikipedia further states that historian Jack Oruch, cited in the Wikipedia article, has made the case that the traditions associated with "Valentine's Day", did not exist before Chaucer. He argues that the speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th-century antiquaries. 

One legend, found on History.com, contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other History.com stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to one History.com legend, Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

In Great Britain, History.com goes on to tell us, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology.

Ready-made cards, states History.com, were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America. 
 

And now we're up to 250 million sold – and that doesn't count hand-made cards or cardless gifts.

Happy Valentine's Day.

rah

Pay Attention to OUR Land-use Issues

What is going on between the Whatcom County Council and the state government has a lot to do with how Birch Bay develops.

While it is fine to take vicarious interest in what goes on in Egypt, Pakistan and so on, if you want to participate in democracy, the County Council is where the action is.

As the Elder once said in a memorable Steering Committee meeting, “The business of Birch Bay is building primary and secondary homes,” so what is built and how it is built is of great importance to our economy. Do we want growth to be concentrated in a compact Birch Bay Urban Growth Area or don't we care if more new houses are built on five and ten acre lots of former farm land?

To understand the issues related to Whatcom County's failure to comply with the state's Growth Management Act read the February issue of Whatcom Watch. The GMA protects rural land and encourages urban development to make services such as fire protection more efficient. Hard copies of Whatcom Watch are available in a number of locations including the Blaine library or go to www.whatcomwatch.org

The authors of this article are Cathy Lehman and Jean Melious. Ms. Lehman is chapter director of Futurewise Whatcom, which brought legal action against the county that resulted in an “Order of Invalidity” by the Growth Management Hearings Board. Ms. Melious is a land use attorney and professor in the Environmental Studies Department at Western. She was chair of the Whatcom Planning Commission for four years and ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in the last election.

On the other side of this issue is the “We the People” movement, our county's version of the national Tea Party, that put up “Land Grab” signs and elected a majority of the present County Council members. Their argument is that the Growth Management Act is the product of “Olympia bureaucrats” – to quote Sam Crawford, the current council chair.

As Randy Cross, president of the Whatcom Tea Party, explained in our profile, published in March of last year (and found below),“The focus of the Tea Party is on progressive trends: Making people do what they would not do voluntarily.” That certainly can apply to the landowner who is tired of growing alfalfa and would like to “cash in.”

Whatcom Watch is the ultimate in “grass roots.” The mission is to cover local government and environmental issues. No one gets paid except for those who earn a commission on the few ad sales.

Editors have come and gone but a constant is Bill McCallum who has served the publication since it was a typed newsletter almost 20 years ago. He is listed on the masthead as “layout director,” but is really chief shepherd looking after finances and circulation.

The new editor is Jennifer Karchmer who teaches in the Communications Department at Western. Despite 20 years at major newspapers and CNN, she brings youthful enthusiasm for strengthening the voice of the Watch.

Pay attention – it's free!

ak

Comments are not only allowed but are actively encouraged.

Jerry Larson - Addendum

A celebration of his life will be held on Friday, February 4th at 4:00 PM at the Sons of Norway Hall in Bellingham, 1419 N Forest St.  Arrangements by Moles-Greenacres Funeral Home & Memorial Park.