Letters to The Editor: December 22, 2022-January 4, 2023

The Editor:

Oh, my goodness. You did it again! The  food bank asked and you answered. 

We are truly humbled by the outpouring of support from our community during our 2022 matching funds campaign, and it is with great pride in our community that we announce that through your generosity, we not only met our goal of $40,000 but exceeded it by over $6,000. It has been a difficult year for everyone, and yet hundreds of individuals funded our mission, often through self-sacrifice, as well as local churches, businesses, social clubs and the Blaine school district. Because of your generosity we will have the resources to continue to be a source of help and hope for those impacted by hunger. Thank you all so much, you have never let us down.

We are incredibly grateful for the leadership support from our very generous anonymous benefactor, who has invested heavily in the well-being of our community, and inspires others to do the same. We are humbled by the donor’s trust and confidence, and by everyone who has rallied to meet the goal and ensure that everyone in our community has access to fresh and nutritious food.

We are so thankful for your support, your faith in our mission and your commitment to ending hunger in our community. We are so proud to partner with you in a united effort to feed the hungry. Thank you everyone.I wish you all the joy and magic of the holiday season, and once again, I thank you for caring.

Sally Church, Blaine Food Bank

Blaine

The Editor:

The Blaine and Birch Bay Community Toy Store leadership team would like to say a huge thank you for the outpouring of love and support this community showed to our local families in need of holiday gift assistance this year! Close to 1,500 toys and 100 gift cards were donated this year, in addition to over $2,300 in monetary donations. This allowed us to help the parents of 300 children from 112 families provide gifts for their children this holiday season. The parents were amazed and so grateful for the large variety of high quality gifts they were able to choose from. 

This year’s shopping proceeds, which totaled $3,275, will be shared with the Bridge Community Hope Center’s emergency assistance fund, Valley Church Blaine campus VC Essentials outreach to unhoused people living in our area, and the Loads of Love program run by Christ Episcopal Church, which pays for people’s laundry costs at the Blaine Washhouse two Mondays each month. Through the work of these organizations, your donations will have an impact on families in the community throughout the year ahead. Thank you for making all this possible. A big thanks goes to all our volunteers, as well, and to Valley Church for the use of their Blaine campus facility. We couldn’t do this without all of you. This is truly a community-wide effort, and it is an honor to be part of such a giving community.

Laura Vogee, toy store director

Blaine

The Editor:

I attended the Blaine planning commission meeting regarding the potential change of the zoning code to allow large mobile home parks in east Blaine. Of the 17 people who spoke, 15 were against changing the zoning, all of whom live in or near the area up for rezoning. The two who spoke in favor don’t even live in Blaine, one of whom represented the developer.

The community’s concerns about rezoning weren’t about mobile homes or stick built homes; it was about the potential societal and environmental impacts of a very large high-density mobile home park. Residents wouldn’t own the land and would be stuck with high interest rates and depreciating assets. This type of development might generate a little money up front for the city in the form of permit fees, but the depreciating mobile homes will lead to decreasing tax revenue, leaving the rest of the city’s tax payers to cover the costs of maintaining the increased infrastructure in the long run. 

The area up for rezoning includes everything north of H Street Road from North Harvey Road to Valley View Road. This happens to sit right on top the recharge area for the aquifer that supplies Blaine, Birch Bay and much of the surrounding area. This is probably the worst place imaginable for high-density development and could adversely impact the aquifer’s water quality and quantity. Once an aquifer is polluted, it can’t be cleaned. This could require building a very expensive facility to treat the water. I like drinking high quality water right from the tap and don’t want that to change. 

Last November, parts of east Blaine experienced flooding and property damage.  The culvert under H Street Road for a tributary of Dakota Creek could barely handle the flow. Once much of the forest is cleared and paved over, flooding will likely be worse and happen more often. Concerns of current citizens should be taken into consideration. The developers will be the only ones benefiting from this rezoning. I believe previous city councils carefully considered these issues, which is why the zoning is what it is now. 

Don Kruse

Blaine

The Editor:

Good summary of the Blaine planning commission meeting. (“Planning commission tables vote on east Blaine manufactured home code amendment”) The commission has many questions to answer. One important fact: In well-managed parks, all new manufactured homes (MH) can be high-quality, all-electric, super energy efficient and a good investment. It was great to hear MH co-op ideas discussed at city hall as a tried-and-true remedy to the legitimate concern about homeowners being at the mercy of someone allowed to overcharge for land rents. Home co-operatives are a smart, legal remedy that keeps land costs affordable.

Home co-op ideas started to catch on in the U.S. over 100 years ago, when people formed co-operative corporations that purchased land for permanently affordable homes, apartment buildings and neighborhood shop space. In today’s Blaine example, it’s possible a Washington co-op corporation can own the land under a MH community, and each MH homeowner will own a share. The co-op will lease land to each MH shareholder, and the co-op will use the predictable annual expenses to set the MH land rents. The goal is to break even; profitability is not the motivation. Future capital gains are not a motivation.

Going further, what if, as another way to help finance a project, the community can ask the co-op to give up the speculative windfall from future land price escalation? The net present value of the future capital gain is worth a ton of money, based on recent trends in land prices. What if the community can convert that future value into a capital investment in high-quality homes? I’d support that deal if the homes are more affordable than market price and are owner-occupied by people with the widest possible range of incomes.

Affordability is complicated. I appreciate being able to comment here.

Paul Schissler

Bellingham