Christmas 23

I support the Planning Department’s proposed housing strategy. Specifically, the incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city UGA. The incorporation of this area would meet many of the city’s goals. The UGA Reserve Area does not impede viable farmland, wetlands, nor does it affect the percentage of tree canopy. Development in the UGA Reserve Area will not run into limitations of building within areas that require the removal of existing trees that are important to our city’s ecosystem. It actually creates an opportunity to expand the city’s goals of increasing the percentage of tree canopy coverage.

The city is in desperate need of affordable housing, including rentals and homeownership that fill the needs within a variety of income levels. The Larrabee Springs developments are a great example of consistently meeting many of the city’s goals by creating developments that are green, efficient, and affordable. The incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city’s UGA will allow for expansion within that area and the development of urban villages, which can help to foster healthy neighborhood communities.

In order to accommodate the influx of housing within the city and the county, expanded and efficient public transportation must evolve. Our current infrastructure has exceeded its maximum safe capacity as demonstrated regularly by the serious and dangerous congestion in certain areas within the city and around the county. There is consistently fewer parking spaces provided within multi-family developments and within newer housing developments. The Cordata area has a bus station that already connects the Lynden and Ferndale areas. It is only natural to expand transportation services between Lynden and Ferndale via the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area.

I support the Planning Department’s proposed housing strategy. Specifically, the incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city UGA. The incorporation of this area would meet many of the city’s goals. The UGA Reserve Area does not impede viable farmland, wetlands, nor does it affect the percentage of tree canopy. Development in the UGA Reserve Area will not run into limitations of building within areas that require the removal of existing trees that are important to our city’s ecosystem. It actually creates an opportunity to expand the city’s goals of increasing the percentage of tree canopy coverage.

The city is in desperate need of affordable housing, including rentals and homeownership that fill the needs within a variety of income levels. The Larrabee Springs developments are a great example of consistently meeting many of the city’s goals by creating developments that are green, efficient, and affordable. The incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city’s UGA will allow for expansion within that area and the development of urban villages, which can help to foster healthy neighborhood communities.

In order to accommodate the influx of housing within the city and the county, expanded and efficient public transportation must evolve. Our current infrastructure has exceeded its maximum safe capacity as demonstrated regularly by the serious and dangerous congestion in certain areas within the city and around the county. There is consistently fewer parking spaces provided within multi-family developments and within newer housing developments. The Cordata area has a bus station that already connects the Lynden and Ferndale areas. It is only natural to expand transportation services between Lynden and Ferndale via the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area.

I support the Planning Department’s proposed housing strategy. Specifically, the incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city UGA. The incorporation of this area would meet many of the city’s goals. The UGA Reserve Area does not impede viable farmland, wetlands, nor does it affect the percentage of tree canopy. Development in the UGA Reserve Area will not run into limitations of building within areas that require the removal of existing trees that are important to our city’s ecosystem. It actually creates an opportunity to expand the city’s goals of increasing the percentage of tree canopy coverage.

The city is in desperate need of affordable housing, including rentals and homeownership that fill the needs within a variety of income levels. The Larrabee Springs developments are a great example of consistently meeting many of the city’s goals by creating developments that are green, efficient, and affordable. The incorporation of the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area into the city’s UGA will allow for expansion within that area and the development of urban villages, which can help to foster healthy neighborhood communities.

In order to accommodate the influx of housing within the city and the county, expanded and efficient public transportation must evolve. Our current infrastructure has exceeded its maximum safe capacity as demonstrated regularly by the serious and dangerous congestion in certain areas within the city and around the county. There is consistently fewer parking spaces provided within multi-family developments and within newer housing developments. The Cordata area has a bus station that already connects the Lynden and Ferndale areas. It is only natural to expand transportation services between Lynden and Ferndale via the North Bellingham UGA Reserve Area.

am concerned that the focus is to "reduce barriers to build housing," rather than to reduce barriers to housing. Housing regulations are important for keeping people and the environment safe. We need low barrier housing and shelter, and affordable housing, but not unregulated building. We need rent control! Wages do not increase apace with rent, and rent increases every year. Aside from the difficulty of getting into housing, maintaining stability of the housing you are in is difficult when you don't know if you will be able to continue to afford your home when the lease is up. What is affordable when you move in can quickly move out of your budget.
The term "business friendly culture" sounds like a euphemism for removing unhoused people from view. Downtown is very safe, and unhoused people do not make it unsafe, nor are they responsible for businesses closing. Using unhoused folks as a scapegoat is not acceptable. We are all part of the same community and must care of each other. We need more low/no-barrier shelters, and daytime shelters. Some cities have also installed lockers that allow people without homes to store their belongings safely.

We also need more places for people to be that don't cost money! For youth, for adults, for elders, for families. It would be great to have community and recreation centers that give us a chance to build community without financial barriers. I would personally really like accessibility information (grade of the trail, material of the trail, width, etc.) about city parks to be easily displayed and filterable on the website. For great examples of accessibility information, the disabled hikers guide to Washington is awesome.
More frequent transit would be lovely, especially in the areas where buses only come every hour. I love the every 15 minute routes! Please do not have bike lanes disappear mid-street.
As we move into the next four years, enshrining values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility is more important than ever. Let's protect our queer, trans, BIPOC, and migrant community members and all of our rights to bodily autonomy.

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Have participants put a "santa belly" under their shirt using a pillow. Place a limbo stick at a starting height. Then line up, and one by one try to limbo underneath (with the Santa belly) until everyone has tried. Slightly lower the stick and have those who made it through go again. Continually lower the stick until one winner remains!

You’ll need a deck of cards and 3+ people circled around a pile of candy canes, one less than the number of players. Everyone takes turns pulling cards with the goal to be the first to get four of a kind (ex. four Kings). Once you do, take a candy cane as stealthily as possible. Once that happens, everyone else races to grab on of the remaining candy canes. The person who doesn't get a candy cane is eliminated. Do this until one winner remains.

One player, the answerer, picks a Christmas themed object. All other players ask the answerer "Yes" or "No" questions to guess what the object is. If no one guesses correctly after 20 questions, the answerer has won and picks a new object for the next round. If someone guesses correctly they get to pick the object for the next round.