People are angry. There’s anger in the streets of Bellingham like I have never seen before. It almost feels like the city has reached a boiling point, and a whole lot of ugliness is about to bubble up and spill out. Several times it looked like violence would erupt on March 13, 2021 during a march from Lowell Elementary to the house of Seth Fleetwood, the current Mayor of Bellingham.
Many of the protestors are the same people who showed up to protest the clearing of Camp 210 back in January. In fact, the protesters had three demands which they posted on the Bellingham Occupied Protest Mutual Aid Instagram account (bopmutualaid). First they demanded amnesty for everyone arrested at the Camp 210 sweep on January 28. Second they demanded permanent housing for the homeless, and third an end to all sweeps of homeless camps.
After a year of being almost exclusively online, Whatcom Community College’s campus is starting to open again for spring quarter. While classes are still online, study pods have begun to open up at the new Phyllis and Charles Self Learning Commons and the Orca Food Pantry has reopened.
Spring is alive with Summer around the corner here in Bellingham and across Whatcom county. Residents however are wondering about what to do outdoors during this pandemic. There is one activity that has not been limited or closed this entire time and that is outdoor trails. One New trail currently under construction is the Bay to Baker trail.
The Bay to Baker trail is a new trail being worked on right now with the goal of connecting 74 miles of trails between Bellingham and the Mount Baker ski area.
For the past fifteen years the Whatcom Disc Golf Club (WDGC) has worked hard to ensure our local disc golf courses stay groomed and ready for players. Within the past three years they’ve seen immense growth, held fundraisers, tournaments, and volunteer work parties.
Ryan Klassen is the current president of the club and provided some great insight into the standard club events, “In a normal year, we run a number of disc golf events. During the week we usually have a random doubles tournament, weekly singles events at various courses, and a few larger tournaments like the Cornwall Classic at Cornwall Park, the Battle at the Border in Blaine, and we usually run a fundraiser for a local charity or food bank called the Ice Bowl.”
The City of Bellingham cleared the homeless encampment on the morning of Thursday, Jan 28th.
It was located between city hall and Bellingham Public Library. Camp 210 began as an occupied protest in November 2020 against a lack of resources and shelter available for the homeless population of Whatcom County. Besides providing space for an estimated 90 to 120 homeless people, the camp became a grassroots hub arranged by residents, volunteers, and advocates to collect and distribute donations as well as raise awareness of their issue.
