Bellingham: a step into nature, a step into the future

When I first came to Bellingham over 30 years ago, I was moving across the country from a hot sprawling metropolis where city by city, character was being traded in for box stores and apartment buildings. Bellingham has grown significantly in the time I have been here, and I appreciate the nod to history and preservation while building in a way that is appropriate for the scale of our neighborhoods. I live the addition of middle housing options, especially ADUs as our community expands to allow more to take advantage of all our community has to offer.

As we look ahead, I would love our trail system and walkable neighborhoods to be further expanded. In 20 years, I would love to be living in a Bellingham neighborhood with a Cafe, pub, or market within a half mile walking distance, I want to be able to hop on a bus and easily get to where I want to be with no need of a car, and I want to see more infill in our neighborhoods where cars used to be. That being said, I think we also need to recognize that access to recreation is one reason people move here, so if we want to move to a community that is less reliant on cars, we need to start planning for that with car sharing options and other innovations.