IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The April meeting will be at FairhavenMiddle School on the 2nd Thursday of the month, April 11th, rather than our usual meeting date.
We had very interesting guests from the Bellingham Police Department at our last meeting. We expected an officer, but we had 4! They are part of a 5 officer team designed to deal with ongoing issues in the neighborhoods, but they reminded us that we are their eyes and ears.
As an example, they talked of the mail theft ring operating primarily in the Fairhaven neighborhood which they broke up. There were only 2 or 3 people involved, but they had a ledger with names, addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers…for 240 different people! They had gleaned all of this by stealing mail and packages. Oftentimes, victims didn’t know they had been compromised, because the thieves didn’t use existing credit cards. They used the information gained to open additional accounts using a victim’s identity, with a different address.
A major factor in the police department’s catching the thieves was information provided by people in the neighborhood. If you see something odd, call the department and let them know…specific places and times are most helpful. You may think it is meaningless, but when they put it in the context of other reports, the picture starts to take shape. The more knowledge they have, the more likely they will be able to fit the pieces together and stop the problem, so they gave us some
TIPS FROM THE BELLINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
- Pick up your mail every day.
- Get a locking mailbox (Hardware Sales will give a discount if you tell them you are from the Edgemoor Neighborhood). Thank Veronica Douglas for that!
- In an emergency, call 911. Specifics of place, time, and descriptions are most helpful.
- In a non-emergency (there is just something not quite right), call 360-676-6911.
- For general issues, call Sgt Almer at 360-778-8747 or email dalmer@cob.org.
- For vacation watches, call the 676-6911 number and tell them when you will be gone. Senior volunteers will keep an eye on your house while you are away.
We also talked about speeding in the neighborhood, our wish list relative to it, what can and can’t realistically happen and what we can do. They took our wish list (places that seem to have ongoing traffic hazards) back to share with the appropriate departments, and I received a call a day or so later from Buzz Leake, our neighborhood traffic officer. He is usually in the neighborhood twice a week. He said 95% of the stops he makes are neighborhood residents, and 90% of the stops are on the Hawthorn hill. So, it sounds as though we are complaining about ourselves!
The waterfront development project is getting very close to a final design decision. The Planning Commission has been holding hearings, which are shown on Channel 10. If this is a topic important to you, please get involved. The time for input is drawing to a close.
The annual meeting will be June 13th. Details will be forthcoming – if there is a speaker you would particularly like to hear, let someone on the board know. We will be electing some new board members, so start thinking about if you would like to serve or know someone you wish would serve. All nominations must be agreeable to the person nominated. Board positions are for 2 years and are elected by the membership. After the general meeting, the board will meet and elect the officers for the coming year.
Several neighbors have offered to lead woods walks through the ChuckanutForest for those of us who are not familiar with it. As the weather improves, watch Edgemoor.Nextdoor for invitations. We all know there is a great deal of sensitive area within the site, so the question was raised…what is okay behavior in the Forest and what is not? We were told it’s okay to walk and it’s okay to ride bikes, but it’s not okay to get off existing trails or to build ramps and jumps. If you want to ride hard, go to Galbraith.
This is an informal summary of the March 6th meeting, and is not intended to substitute for the official minutes.