Lettered Streets Neighborhood Association

Tuesday October 12, 2010, 7 pm
Washington Square Highrise 2501 E Street

PROGRAM: Come meet Chief Jason Napier, Fire Marshall.  Our latest large fire  devastated Whatcom Middle School.  We need to know how to protect  our older homes.  Chief Napier is a highly trained expert in prevention services.  He has experience in  the FEMA Search and Rescue Task Force.  He has worked closely with the Life Safety Division to decrease the incidence of and the severity of fires.  Bring your questions to this discussion.

Please join us for our monthly meeting on Tuesday September 14th at 7PM.  Meetings are held at Washington Square,  2501 E  Street.  Bring your ideas for future discussions, and check out our lovely 2011 Garden Calendar, featuring gardens located throughout the Lettered Streets neighborhood.

Tuesday, August 10, 7 pm
courtyard at 2501 E St, Washington Square

Bring your family, friends and a lawn chair to set out in the courtyard.  We’ll bring the Mallard ice cream.

Come appreciate the summer beauty in your neighbor’s yards!  Our very first garden tour will take place on Sunday, July 25 from 1-5 pm.  Start at 2215 Young Street, where you can pick up a map.  Come see just how imaginative the gardens are….. some are mature, some are just beginning.  Some have fruits and veggies mixed in amongst the flowers.  Suggested donation of $5.

Have extra fruit or vegetables in your garden? Anticipate a bumper crop on your old apple tree? When the bounty comes at you faster than you can pick it, consider donating to the Bellingham Food Bank through the Small Potatoes Gleaning Project! They will also come do the harvesting for you, if necessary.

Partnering with farms, home gardeners, and farmers markets,  Small Potatoes harvests excess produce that would otherwise go to waste. From the scale of a single apple tree to an entire farm field of vegetables, gleaning volunteers work to collect unused produce and distribute it to 27 different emergency food programs in Whatcom Co. Last year 135,000 lbs of produce.  This year the program is expanding into the neighborhoods to harvest home produce.

LSNA board member, Kate Ramsden is the glean captain for the Lettered Streets, Sunnyland and Roosevelt neighborhoods.  If you have extra fruit or vegetables to donate, please call the Gleaning Coordinator at 360.739.5274. More information at their WEBSITE.

June 8 neighborhood meeting
7:00 pm
Washington Square Highrise 2501 E Street Please enter through one of the doors on the Logan Street side, off the side patio.

It’s almost impossible not to live in a historic home in the Lettered Streets, whose blocks are graced by scores of bungalows and Victorians dating back to the early 1900s or before. Of course, that means those of us who reside in them are always looking for ways to keep our houses in good shape without detracting from their historic nature.

On June 8 the following speakers will share their expertise on this topic:

Jim Gunsolus is a contractor who has specialized in historic homes. He lives in the Columbia neighborhood and has been very involved in planning for the Fountain district. He has given a number of talks on the topic of maintaining and restoring historic houses.

Anna Booker has done some renovation on her own historic home. She also participated in the historic home training provided by the Historic Resource Survey and Inventory project.

by Rae Edwards

If you’ve walked the native plant teaching trail that runs along the south side of Whatcom Creek in Maritime Heritage Park, you’ve probably noticed that the current plant identification signs are, well, a bit battered. Originally created by Columbia Elementary students, the signs have reached retirement age. Fortunately, the Komo Kulshan chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) is teaming with Whatcom Middle School 8th-graders to create new plant identification markers.

The Whatcom students will contribute the art for the signs, and the WNPS is compiling key information such as the Lummi and Nooksack names for the plants, plant ethnobotany (how the plants have been used by native and other cultures in the area), plant characteristics and habitat value. The cost to fabricate the signs will be covered by community donations, grants from the state and local chapters of the WNPS, and a Clean Water Centennial Grant from the Washington Department of Ecology through the City of Bellingham. Look for these new signs early this summer.

by Rae Edwards

The City of Bellingham is looking at updating the rather dilapidated playground near the salmon hatchery at Maritime Heritage Park, and potentially moving it to another location within the park.

At the April Lettered Streets Neighborhood Association (LSNA) meeting, Jonathan Schlik from the city Parks and Recreation Dept. presented the idea of updating and moving the playground from its present spot. The current playground equipment does not meet current city safety standards, is not wheelchair accessible and does not have good visibility lines into or out of the play area.

The plans are still in the scoping phase and Jonathan Schlik is looking for members of the neighborhood to sit on the steering committee. So far, Lettered Streets residents Earl Hutchins, Mike Kimmich and Rae Edwards have volunteered to be on the steering committee. Changes to the playground area would likely trigger a change to the Master Plan.

As one of the people who agreed to help with this process, I would love to get input from Lettered Streets residents who might make use of the playground. We will share details on this website and Facebook page to get your thoughts!

Jonathan offered to return to another LSNA meeting in early summer for further discussion of this idea.

The May 11 membership meeting will include a discussion of the Fountain District Urban Village Subarea Plan in preparation for a public hearing later this month. Please come share your thoughts, ideas, or concerns regarding the Fountain District Urban Village. See details in the article below.

Linda Stewart, Bellingham’s Neighborhoods and Special Projects Coordinator will also join us to discuss waterfront redevelopment topics. Linda coordinates neighborhood services and special projects city-wide, providing resources and liaison for neighborhoods and other key community partners.

Meetings are held the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:00pm in the Washington Square Highrise 2501 E Street.  Please enter through one of the doors on the Logan Street side, off the side patio.  Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate!

In 2007, residents from the Columbia, Cornwall Park, and Lettered Streets Neighborhoods launched an outreach and visioning initiative for the commercial area commonly known as the “Fountain District.” The Fountain District encompasses the area of Meridian Street beginning at the intersections of Girard and Broadway at the southern end, and extending to Illinois at the northern end.

The Bellingham Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Fountain District Urban Village, on Thursday, May 20th, 7 pm, City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie Street. Hearing Notice

The City was able to initiate the Fountain District Urban Village Master Plan project in 2009 because the three neighborhoods were successful in engaging residents, property and business owners in the initial planning process. The project goal is to develop a master plan and development regulations for an urban village.

More information and official planning documents HERE.