National Night Out: Earlier this week several Bellingham Police Department officers stopped by National Night Out Against Crime events hosted by community groups. National Night Out Against Crime is held on the first Tuesday of August each year. It’s a time for communities to come together, build relationships and stand united against crime. Forming positive relationships is crucial to our commitment to community and our officers were happy to attend. Thank you to the residents for the invite!
Restoring our streams: This month, we kick off another project to enhance water quality and support salmon habitat in Padden Creek. Urban environments pose unique challenges for our streams — straightened channels to make way for development and pollution runoff from surrounding surfaces can hinder their health. But the City’s habitat restoration work seeks to overcome these challenges through projects such as this one. With this project, we are transforming a section of Padden Creek from its current straightened path into a newly crafted 1,000-foot channel that follows a more natural path and adds important habitat features. This project builds upon years of restoration work in the Padden Creek watershed. Learn more and find project updates on our website.
Dispensing fun: Our BTV crew has been exploring arts and culture in Bellingham in their In Bellingham series. These short videos provide a glimpse into some of the many things that make Bellingham a cherished and fun community. The latest installment features a unique local company, Pocket Box designs, that refurbishes and stocks vending machines with a variety of novelty items and local art. Keep your eyes peeled for these quirky vending machines popping up in Bellingham and watch the latest installment of the BTV In Bellingham video series to learn more.
Loans available for home repair: Did you know we offer low-interest loans that support low-to-moderate income homeowners in making repairs to keep their homes safe and livable. Our Home Rehabilitation Loan program is looking for applicants. Apply by October 1 to be considered for a 2024 loan, and please help us spread the word! We are also looking for more contractors to support this important community program – you can learn more about joining the program’s contractor pool on our website.
Improving public spaces
As some say, we have two seasons around here, rainy season and construction season. As you have been moving around town lately, we’re sure you have noticed that we’re taking full advantage of the drier weather months to make improvements. Below are a few updates:
- New buildings: Demolition and site prep work continues at our Pacific Street Operations Center and Woburn Street Operations Center. If you’re near our Woburn site during the day over the next week, you’ll hear concrete and asphalt being crushed to re-use within the site. Both projects will continue to improve efficiency and coordination between the Public Works and Parks Departments.
- New bridges: Next week crews will be constructing a temporary bridge on James Street as part of the project to replace Meador Avenue and James Street bridges. In mid-August the detour route will switch back to James Street so that we can construct the final bridge over Meador.
- New roundabouts: Work continues at Meridian and Illinois and at Illinois and Sunset. Crews are working on installing and fine tuning the lights at Cornwall and the Sunset roundabout. And drivers can expect continued delays and flaggers as we finish paving the new roundabout at Meridian and Illinois (pictured below). The project has taken a little longer than we expected, but we are making good progress and should wrap up this fall.
- New sidewalks: Improvements to the sidewalks at Chestnut and State Streets are underway, including curb repairs and installing new ADA ramps at three of the corners. This work is part of our annual sidewalk maintenance program which addresses known trip hazards, cracking, and brings sidewalks up to ADA standards.
- Additionally: Just a heads up that BNSF will temporarily close two railroad crossings next week for repairs. The railroad crossing at Pine and Wharf Streets will be closed overnight on Monday, August 12, and the crossing at Cliffside Drive will be closed overnight on Tuesday, August 13.
