The renovation of a street corner has been one of several projects that have been undertaken by the Take Back Birchwood Committee, a subcommittee of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association.
In collaboration with Public Works and the Mayor’s Office, Take Back Birchwood has a goal of trying to make the neighborhood friendlier to visitors in an attempt to bring more customers in to the local businesses. This has included adding more streetlights, clearing out overgrown vegetation and the renovation of sidewalks.
“The Take Back Birchwood Committee started with the small goal of transforming the northwest corner of the intersection,” April Barker, President of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association and member of the subcommittee, said.
In front of the 7-Eleven on that northwest corner were shrubs surrounding a sycamore tree that were cleared out and replaced with bark. The Take Back Birchwood Committee plans to coordinate with Public Works to use the area to create a flower bed where the shrubs originally were.
Along that corner, the roots of the sycamore tree are damaging the sidewalk, so when the work is being done with the flowerbed, the sidewalk will also be redone, into a winding path that will not infringe upon the roots of the tree.
The owner of Northwest Licensing, Chuck Hamstreet, is very happy that the improvements are being made. His main concern was that the various shrubbery around the intersection was providing an area for transients in the area to perform illegal activities such as drug deals, drug use, public urination and defecation. The one area that concerned him the most was that northwest corner, where he said he has witnessed each of the illegal activities occur.
“This has been a hub for activity of that nature for some time,” Hamstreet said.
Barker said that she and several other members of the neighborhood association have taken time to clean up trash from the northwest corner of the intersection, before the corner’s renovation was underway. She has found broken bottles, needles and feces-covered sleeping bags.
“All the while my shoes were slapping through puddles of urine,” she said.
That is why she determined that something had to be done about the corner, and helped to found the committee that is attempting to make a difference in the community.
Another area in the intersection that received attention was underneath the bridge that is part of Northwest Ave., to the south of the intersection. Vegetation had grown underneath the bridge, and homeless individuals were sheltering underneath the bridge to keep dry while staying out of view. With the vegetation now cleared, it has made it easier for police to see if anybody is under the the bridge, and to get anyone who is underneath out from underneath.
Before the vegetation was cleared from under the bridge, Hamstreet said he would regularly see smoke rising from underneath the bridge as fires would be lit under the bridge. Even though the area is more visible, it hasn’t wholly prevented individuals from setting up camp under the bridge although there has been a substantial decrease in the number of people who take up camp under the bridge.
Mayor of Bellingham Kelli Linville has seen improvement, but believes that if Take Back Birchwood is going to be truly successful, more residents will have to take part cleaning up the neighborhood. Several citizens have written letters to the Bellingham Public Works Department in an attempt to get some of the Take Back Birchwood projects underway. Linville resides in the Birchwood neighborhood.
“I’m trying to get people to buy into, ‘This is your neighborhood too,’” Linville said during her question and answer session during a Birchwood Neighborhood Association meeting.
Barker said that the committee believes that the neighborhood has allowed vagrancy, substance abuse, violence and a disregard for safety to take place in the neighborhood, and that the committee has one goal, “Take back Birchwood.”
Since the implementation of some of the plans the committee has put in place, several local business owners have noticed a marked decrease in transient activity around the intersection, especially with the main area on the northwest corner being cleared of the shrubs.
The committee believes that the cleanup of the area will eventually help to bring more visitors to the area, which would increase traffic to local businesses.
According to the Bellingham Police Department, there were 778 reported incidents in 2013 that occurred within the Birchwood neighborhood.
