Bellingham, the ugly truth.... (shopping centers, suburbia, relocate)

[ShowMeBryan]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Everett? You're on Everett's case now? What's wrong with Everett? People on the Seattle forum continue to recommend Everett neighborhoods on relocation threads.

Some people aren't happy unless they're complaining about something. rkcarguy's posts in this thread are almost all negative.

[CrazyDonkey]

Bellingham is a town of "divides": West/East (of I-5), South/North, White/Indian (The Lummi), Residents/Students, Natives/Newcomers, Americans/Canadians, etc.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

December 23rd, 2023 was finally our last day in Bellingham.
While our immediate area was a nice little spot mostly immune from the multitude of issues that plague the city, the way that the homeless/crime/drug problem and lack of affordable housing affect nearly every aspect of daily life simply is not missed. What conveniences do remain, in comparison, were not worth all the negatives. Friends of ours that also moved out recently called Bellingham "Baby San Fran", appropriately.
I was born here, and have been through the areas many ups and downs. The willful decline to an Everett-like existence in just a few years has been shocking. Visiting a place where we used to roll down the hill in the grass as kids it's now littered with trash, needles, feces, and aggressive vagrants wandering around in zombie-like stages of addiction and mental illness.
"I don't know if you noticed, this isn't exactly home anymore".
Farewell.

I guess I got lucky, but I was in Bellingham last Friday and it was 55 and sunny, and I only saw a few pockets of homeless people as we were walking around downtown, and they didn't bother us. We went to Boulevard Park, grabbed coffee, and when I used the outdoor park restroom it was clean/tidy (although I did notice a needle drop box on my way out). That said, nothing I saw came remotely close to the Tenderloin or parts of West Oakland, so I'm really wondering where, specifically is so awful in Bellingham.

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I'm really wondering where, specifically is so awful in Bellingham.

I haven't been up there in a few months but last time the bad areas were huge camp behind Walmart (big mess), "vintage" RVs along the waterfront street near Marine Heritage Park and homeless sleeping in that park. There's also a bunch of homeless camps in the woods just west of WWU near downtown and people living in their cars around Garden Street.

[04kL4nD]

Good to know. I definitely wouldn't go out of my way just to shop at the local Walmart, but I can understand that residents have a different perspective.

[Snowman05]

Bellingham is like the Eugene OR version of Washington except more dreary. There should be a part 2 of that movie "conversations with God" filmed here. And now we suddenly have more new immigrants in the area that seem to have just arrived here from Mexico or Canada. They seem to want to leave already. This is where the bus line ends with out a passport.

[04kL4nD]

I personally think Bellingham as much, much more scenic and desirable than Eugene given its proximity to Canada, the San Juans, Mt Baker, etc, but unless you're wealthy or have the free time to enjoy those things, I can see the homelessness issue being a major downer if you're the type of person who also hates immigrants.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I guess I got lucky, but I was in Bellingham last Friday and it was 55 and sunny, and I only saw a few pockets of homeless people as we were walking around downtown, and they didn't bother us. We went to Boulevard Park, grabbed coffee, and when I used the outdoor park restroom it was clean/tidy (although I did notice a needle drop box on my way out). That said, nothing I saw came remotely close to the Tenderloin or parts of West Oakland, so I'm really wondering where, specifically is so awful in Bellingham.

It's kind of a whack-a-mole type situation. The camps set up in various spots and grow until their occupants "cross the line" regarding thefts assaults stabbings shootings etc. Then they get flushed out and cleaned up, but they simply disperse elsewhere in the city. The trend seems to be back and forth between retail row on Meridian and downtown/waterfront. Bellingham is small compared to the Tenderloin, the whole city limits is only around 20sq/mi last time I checked. The homeless population is sitting around ~1,000 though, and that's a lot for a city of this size and population.
What was the breaking point for us, was simply one evening. Went to the bank and just missed closing, so are waiting for the cash machine line a few minutes before realizing the couple at the machine were not depositing checks but were two "twitchies" trying to jimmy it into giving them money. Next stop Home Depot for some wire. Not a cart to be found even though the store was pretty quiet they are in use or in a camp somewhere, my partner gets inside and all the wire is locked up in this cage, wait 15 mins to get someone to open the cage and get the roll of wire and then followed her to the checkout making sure she wouldn't run out the door with it. While this is happening I'm waiting in the car and a homeless is walking through the lot looking for his next car prowl deciding ours was it. Came very close to the passenger window and looked inside before realizing I was still in it with my hand in the glove box. Then, over to target, and the place is just a pigsty. Stuff on the floor, empty shelves, didn't have what we wanted that said there was 6 in stock, and then another homeless stealing a cart of stuff almost ran down my partner on the way out. She was able to jump out of the way just in time.
Anyway. Our interest in Bellingham is no more. If it qualifies as gold because its better than the tenderloin knock yourselves out, tell your friends. If you want to dodge the risky areas, simply follow Bellingham looks like s*** on FB and see where the camps are, and go elsewhere.

[Transmition]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

It's kind of a whack-a-mole type situation. The camps set up in various spots and grow until their occupants "cross the line" regarding thefts assaults stabbings shootings etc. Then they get flushed out and cleaned up, but they simply disperse elsewhere in the city.

It's weird how closing down a camp doesn't just magically make all the homeless people have somewhere to live. I don't know what people are really expecting.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

It's kind of a whack-a-mole type situation. The camps set up in various spots and grow until their occupants "cross the line" regarding thefts assaults stabbings shootings etc. Then they get flushed out and cleaned up, but they simply disperse elsewhere in the city. The trend seems to be back and forth between retail row on Meridian and downtown/waterfront. Bellingham is small compared to the Tenderloin, the whole city limits is only around 20sq/mi last time I checked. The homeless population is sitting around ~1,000 though, and that's a lot for a city of this size and population.
What was the breaking point for us, was simply one evening. Went to the bank and just missed closing, so are waiting for the cash machine line a few minutes before realizing the couple at the machine were not depositing checks but were two "twitchies" trying to jimmy it into giving them money. Next stop Home Depot for some wire. Not a cart to be found even though the store was pretty quiet they are in use or in a camp somewhere, my partner gets inside and all the wire is locked up in this cage, wait 15 mins to get someone to open the cage and get the roll of wire and then followed her to the checkout making sure she wouldn't run out the door with it. While this is happening I'm waiting in the car and a homeless is walking through the lot looking for his next car prowl deciding ours was it. Came very close to the passenger window and looked inside before realizing I was still in it with my hand in the glove box. Then, over to target, and the place is just a pigsty. Stuff on the floor, empty shelves, didn't have what we wanted that said there was 6 in stock, and then another homeless stealing a cart of stuff almost ran down my partner on the way out. She was able to jump out of the way just in time.
Anyway. Our interest in Bellingham is no more. If it qualifies as gold because its better than the tenderloin knock yourselves out, tell your friends. If you want to dodge the risky areas, simply follow Bellingham looks like s*** on FB and see where the camps are, and go elsewhere.

Do you have a source for Bellingham's homeless population being 1,000 people? If that's actually true, I can definitely see why locals would be entirely fed up. That number seems incredibly high to me, but if there's data to support it, I really don't have any rebuttal.

In any event, I can sorta relate to your decision to leave for what you think are greener pastures. Oakland really became completely unlivable for us by the time we decided to move out of the Bay Area and up to WA. People have always said Oakland is a crime infested hell hole, but 95% of my experiences living there were positive and I honestly didn't think it would descend into the current state that it's in now. But things there really are so bad that I would never move back. It breaks my heart that a place that was my home for so long and defended so fiercely against criticism is now so awful that I don't even want to come back and visit old friends that I miss dearly. Wherever you wind up, I hope you feel safer and more at peace, but I can tell you that the problems Bellingham and Oakland have aren't unique to just them. They exist to varying degrees all over this nation, and if you relocate with a bad attitude and are on the constant lookout for negativity, you'll easily find things to worry and complain about. In other words, I don't blame you for wanting a different environment, but whatever personal problems you have that aren't caused by others are going to follow you around, no matter where you go, so there's that.