25 Mar 09 Newsletter

March 25, 2009 Volume 2, Issue 2

Alabama Hill Association Newsletter

Chairman: Doug Bestle 734-2272 Vice Chair: Monem Salam 419-4148 Secretary: Larry Nicholas 647-2315 Treasurer: Jim McLeod 734-5127 Past Chairman: Richard Maneval 671-9559 MNAC Rep: Jimmy Kelsey 715-3053 AHA Area A (NW) Rep Brian Walker 671-8258 AHA Area B (NE) Rep Michael Eisenberg 734-3615 AHA Area C (SW) Rep Dean Haskins 733-2800 AHA Area D (SE) Rep Nancy Allen 922-0256 Special Interest Articles: • Neighbor Profile – The Conley’s • Highland Heights Park Update

Individual Highlights: Facebook page City Info AHA Membership Form

Next AHA Qtly Meeting is Tues May 5th, 7 PM Bloedel-Donovan

Pavilion

Neighbor Profile – Tom & Mickey Conley by Dean Haskins

Think you’ve lived on Alabama Hill a long time? Whether you have lived in the neighborhood for 5 years or 50 years, Tom & Mickey Conley have probably lived here longer! In 1957, with a small child and another on the way, they found themselves needing a larger home. Moving cross-town, Tom, now a retired teacher and Mickey, a retired Registered Nurse, picked out a building lot for which they paid $2000! They then had their home built on the lot for another $14,500. Today, after 58 years of marriage, they continue to live in that same home in the 2100 block of Huron St. Mickey says “It is still a great place to live. Molly and I try to get out every day to walk the neighborhood.” Mickey can vividly recall the trans-formation of the hill as more homes began gradually filling out the hillside around 1960. She says their view actually improved over time as trees came down and buildings took their place. They have no plans to move away as they would really miss many of their

Annual AHA Meeting Report We held our Annual Association Meeting last Feb 3rd at Bloedel-Donovan and had a great turnout. Our speaker was Mike Stoner, Environmental Director for the Port of Bellingham, and a Project Manager for the Waterfront Development Project. Mike brought along a PowerPoint presentation along with some large photos of the area and the proposed development. Still many opportunities for input at public meetings and online. Lots of stakeholders have interests in making this once in a lifetime opportunity a huge success. Concerns about seismic liquefaction and tsunami effects were discussed, what layout would provide the best views, how best to handle the old GP water treatment lagoon, keeping of old buildings and the development of entirely new structures, WWU’s stake in all

fine neighbors. Mickey and her 4 legged companion Molly can be found just about any day out walking so if you spot them, feel free to say Hi!

this and how best to deal with the contaminants left behind by the old GP operation. Very interesting and lively discussion. Visit their website at http://www.portofbellingham.com/ and go to the Waterfront Redevelopment tab for all the latest on this project. We also held annual election of officers and with the exception of our new Vice-Chair all of last year’s officers/reps were re-elected. Monem Salam was elected as our new ViceChair. Look for some info on Monem in upcoming newsletters. We also heard a Highland Heights park update from Brian Walker, some info on job opportunities coming up for the 2010 Census and a new home business for a special bakery Hope to see you at our next meeting on May 5th!

Alabama Hill Association Marcy’s Pumpkin Bread -

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(compliments of Marcy at The Garden Spot Nursery)

1 ½ cups raisins 1 ½ cups nuts 5 ¼ cups flour 4 ½ cups sugar (I cut the sugar to 3 ½ cups.) 2 ½ tsp. salt 3 tsp. soda ¾ tsp. baking powder 1 ½ tsp. each cloves, nutmeg & cinnamon (I up the cinnamon to one Tablespoon.) 6 eggs, beaten 1 large can pumpkin (29 oz.)

1 ½ cups oil 1 ½ cups cold water Mix dry ingredients with raisins and nuts in a very large bowl. Mix well the oil, water, eggs and pumpkin. Add to dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour into greased loaf pans and bake @ 300 for 60 to 75 minutes. (I use two 9 x 12 cake pans and bake @ 325 for 35 to 35

minutes.)

Highland Heights Park Update By Brian Walker

Over the last year, The Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association (AHA) has been working with the City of Bellingham Parks Department in hopes of promoting improvements to the Highland Heights Park. Good News! The City has begun the planning and design phase of the park renovation project. The current schedule is for planning/design to occur in 2009, followed by construction in 2010. Members of the AHA recently met with the City Park’s Landscape Architect Johnathan Shilk to begin discussing our neighborhood’s wishes for the park. Mr. Shilk will be on hand at the next upcoming AHA quarterly meeting, on May 5th at Bloedel-Donovan Park Pavilion, 7 pm, to present some preliminary park improvement concept drawings, and is very interested in receiving comments on these designs and any additional ideas from the neighborhood.

The next quarterly meeting is the perfect opportunity for you to come and share your ideas with City staff and voice what type of improvements you would like to see take place in our neighborhood park. Please feel free to contact me with questions or discuss suggestions for the park.

Brian Walker, AHA – NW Area Representative 3205 Maryland Place 360.671.8258 [email protected]

MNAC News

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Meeting held 3/18/09 – Jimmy Kelsey, our Rep . agenda again. Maybe the item with The MNAC meeting last week had a full the biggest impact in our city is the Urban Infill Toolkit. It is a goal of the Planning Commission (Bellingham City Council 2009 Goal #5) to be implemented this year. There is much discussion underway about the applicability provision and several others. Time on the MNAC agenda is scheduled for the April meeting to continue the discussion. The toolkit is a significant revision to Title 20, Bellingham Municipal Code with far-reaching implications for future development within the city. Check your BTV-10 th schedule for showings about it through April 16 . The proposal, a slide show, and related information is available for anyone interested at the Planning and Community Development Major Projects webpage.

http://www.cob.org/government/departments/pcd/major-projects.aspx Another major item is to be review and assessment of a proposal for a system of transferrable development rights (TDR) to supplement the Lake Whatcom Watershed Property Acquisition Program aiming to reduce the development potential in the watershed. It is the main agenda item for the th April 9 Planning and Community Development Meeting to be held in City Council Chambers at 210 Lottie Street starting at 7:00 PM. Guests from Pioneer Human Services described expansion into Whatcom County of the not-for-profit program. The organization provides support services “to people overcoming the challenges of chemical dependency, mental health issues, or criminal histories” including “housing, employment, training, re-entry and treatment services.” They are negotiating a lease for a facility on Holly Street and expect to hire a manager from within the local labor market. I have a folder of materials they distributed with more about their services across Washington as well as contact information. I am barely started on learning about land use planning and neighborhood activities in our community but will be pleased to try to answer any questions as Alabama Hill Association representative to MNAC.

Now taking local ads in our newsletter $200 for the Annual issue (approx 1200) $40 for all other issues (approx 250) Business card size

City+ Beat Mayor’s office will be suspending the neighborhood city newsletter for budget reasons – past issues are at

http://www.cob.org/news/neighborhoods. aspx The Planning Department provides weekly updates on permits and applications. Go to

http://www.cob.org/cob/Pubnot.nsf There is a lot of informative video on BTV10 off of the city website. Look for the IN-FILL TOOL KIT MEETING showing on Thursdays @ PM on Ch 10 as well. Visit http://www.cob.org/services/educatio n/btv10/index.aspx Finally, if you can still afford gas and want some driving info on local roads and projects, go to… http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ for

Dean Haskins has set up a Facebook page for our Association. It’s named “Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association” http://www.facebook.com

ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION PO Box 29902, Bellingham, 98228

PRSOT STD US Postage Paid Bellingham, WA Permit No. 122

NEXT Meeting Tues, May 5th 7:00 PM Bloedel-Donovan Pavilion Bring a neighbor & join us!

The Alabama Hill Association is a non - profit association open to all residents within the boundaries of “Alabama Hill”. If you are receiving this newsletter, you are a member. An annual ten-dollar donation per family is suggested, but not required. All donations are tax deductible. The monies collected are used to pay for mailings and the entrée at the annual picnic held in August. Those of you who have attended know it is a good deal! All the officers and members with “jobs” are volunteers, sadly, no pay. They attend Council meetings and other meetings to keep up on city decisions that could affect our neighborhood and report back to members for any required action. Some have a VERY busy schedule, but still manage to keep us informed. We are always looking for volunteers for any number of projects the Chairmen wants accomplished. st

Meetings are held quarterly starting at 7:00 PM. (1 Tuesday - Feb, May, Aug, Nov) Come join us and meet your neighbors.

ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION YEARLY MEMBERSHIP – $10/FAMILY NAME:__________________________________________________E-MAIL: ________________________________ MAILING ADDRESS:______________________________________________________ ZIPCODE_______________ Home PHONE: _______________________________ Cell PHONE: _______________________________________ VOLUNTEER? ___________ ISSUES OF INTEREST: __________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Make checks payable to: ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION PO Box 29902, Bellingham, 98228