Edgemoor Neighborhood, Bellingham, WA

Here is an excerpt from our March, 2016 ENA meeting minutes, written by ENA Board Secretary, Barbara Levin. Thank you, Barbara, for your excellent report!

“Our speaker for the March ENA Meeting was Public Works Director, Ted Carlson who detailed the city’s neighborhood traffic safety program.  He noted that approximately 1.5 million dollars has been set aside by the city for safety projects. More specifically, the three point program will focus upon sidewalk improvements, neighborhood policing and education.  Regarding speeding concerns, the radar speed trailers were located in specific areas where speeding is a concern and have provided good data.  Examples presented for the Edgemoor neighborhood included data taken on Hawthorne, Fieldston and Willow Roads.  Citing a few examples, the average speed on Hawthorne Road was 28MPH (approximately 1000 cars per day) and 22MPH on Fieldston (approximately 360 cars per day). Willow Road has approximately 1100-1200 cars per day with the speed averaging approximately 33 MPH westbound. 

Questions from attendees at the meeting followed Ted Carlson’s presentation.  Issues concerning the improvement of street lighting  in Fairhaven were discussed.  The city is replacing those street lighting fixtures owned by the city with LED lighting to improve visibility.  Ted Carlson indicated that the radar speed trailers would be set up in Edgemoor at specific locations where speeding concerns exist. Attendees presented suggestions to control speeding in the neighborhood including adding more stop signs at side streets to control speeding, yard signs signaling drivers to control speed, asking neighbors to take a pledge to drive at the correct speed in the neighborhood and continuing to place radar speed trailers in high traffic areas.  Another issue of concern involved cars driving on the wrong side of the road where Briar Road intersects with Bayside Road and perhaps using yellow markers to guide drivers at the intersection.  Identifying speeders by taking photos of speeding cars and forwarding to ENA Board members and police was also suggested.  Ted Carlson provided attendees with a phone number to call with questions/concerns about the specific issues discussed: City of Bellingham Operations Department: 778-7700.”

The rest of the meeting minutes can be read by clicking the March 2016 link on the top of the list on the ENA Minutes page at https://edgemoorneighborhood.com/ena-minutes/ .

We hope to see you at the next ENA meeting, which is our Annual Meeting, scheduled for June 14, 7-9 pm, at Lairmont Manor.

Sandie Koplowitz, ENA President

The December meeting of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was held on Tuesday, December 15, 2015 from 7-9 PM at Lairmont Manor.

The local Bellingham Fire Department engine crew and speaker, Robert Glorioso, attended the meeting. He spoke about fire safety and addressed questions from meeting attendees. There is a great resource for fire safety tips on the City of Bellingham website at http://www.cob.org/services/safety/education . We were pleased to hear that a representative from the Bellingham Fire Department will try to attend the ENA quarterly meetings in the future.

Several topics of concern during the meeting were bike and pedestrian safety in the neighborhood and training for catastrophic emergencies, such as an earthquake or train derailment and/or explosion. We were reminded to wear reflective clothing when walking or bicycling at night or even during the day when it is dark and rainy. Several informative websites were mentioned. The Bellingham Bicycle Master Plan was implemented in 2014 and the Whatcom Unified Emergency Management website has some great information. Also, the City of Bellingham website has recently been updated, so check it out at www.cob.org.

Bellingham Police Officer, Eric Ostercamp, spoke about criminal activity in the neighborhood. Watch for package thieves during the busy holiday season and keep doors and windows locked, because thieves prefer to walk in, rather than break in. He spoke about Crime Prevention through Environmental Design . One of the most important factors is to light up your property at night. This deters thieves and allows officers responding to calls to better survey the situation. Officer Ostercamp usually attends the ENA quarterly meetings. He is one of two neighborhood outreach officers for the City of Bellingham. He asks that we call 911 to report any suspicious activity, even though it may not be an emergency. Please do not contact Officer Ostercamp directly with these notifications, since he may be out of town and not able to check his voicemail or email. By calling 911, you will get the information to the right person at the BPD in a timely manner.

Officer Ostercamp suggested that Ted Carlson, head of Bellingham Public Works, be invited to speak about traffic calming measures at a future ENA meeting.

We held a drawing for some festive gifts to celebrate the holiday season and to thank residents for attending ENA meetings.

Our next quarterly ENA meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, from 7-9 PM, at Lairmont Manor. We would like to extend special thanks to Joel Douglas for allowing us to hold our quarterly neighborhood meetings at Lairmont Manor.

Sandie Koplowitz, ENA President