So far in Bellingham, low overhead plans seem to work better in the Central Waterfront Redevelopment District.

Some recent pictures of Bellingham's central waterfront redevelopment area.

The informal Container Village seems to be working well. Drawing people and activity. Low overhead and flexible. Small businesses in the container buildings seem to be thriving, during the warmer months at least. I think most of them close down for the winter, however.

Second story rooftop space on several businesses. Digester tanks from old pulp mill are now part of the artistic cityscape.

Other plans for higher end developments have proceeded much more slowly than expected, from what I gather. The flexibility of containers and lower overhead planning is a benefit.

2nd of 3 planned condo buildings. For sale signs in many windows.

3rd of 3 condo buildings.

It may be a long while before the 3rd building proceeds farther, as the second one still has lots of units for sale.

I sometimes jokingly say I hope there is reincarnation so I can see how this neighborhood turns out as it's been a decades long transition.

First of the 3 planned condo buildings looks more occupied.

Doing some AI research and my own memory of local news, I think the plans for larger projects, to help pay off costs of bringing the central waterfront into public use, have not panned out as soon as hoped. Much of the work, so far, has been paid for by environmental cleanup grants and government capital projects.

Still, there are long term plans for larger capital developments, but this may be much slower in coming than originally thought. Meanwhile the more informal, lower overhead flexible plans have proceeded bringing activity to the waterfront; the former site of Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill.

Many popular concerts and events around the container village.

A recreational bike track called the Pump Track. Tiled pulp storage tanks in the background left over from the pulp mill days.

An affordable housing project has been built in connection with a local nonprofit. There are plans for phase two.

Heat and hot water for major projects, including the condo buildings, comes from the waste heat of a small power plant. Encogen was first built when the pulp mill was running. It's natural gas turbines need cooling so it was originally planned as a cogeneration plant for electric power and to provide steam for the pulp mill. This could save fuel that GP normally burned in its boilers.

When the pulp and paper operations closed, the power plant was sort of left high and dry, so to speak. No one needed the excess steam, so they added some steam turbine technology for more electricity and to use waste heat off the gas (jet engine style) turbines. Still much of the heat is dumped out to the cooling fans.

Some of that heat is now used in the new waterfront buildings. When the power plant isn't running, I assume there is some gas boiler in the system to continue providing heat.

A major railroad track runs through the district. The sound of trains may bring pause to purchasers of high end residential. Relocating the track to the perimeter of the district would be expensive, plus there are many residential developments on the bluff above the perimeter.

Toward the end of the pulp mill's time on the waterfront, the railroad was working on a plan to relocate the line around the mill to reduce possible conflict between trains and factory vehicles, such as forklifts. Those plans were dropped, I guess, when the mill closed.

When the mill closed, a friend of mind said, "no point going around a ghost town."

As with all neighborhoods, they are always in a state of becoming. Some cathedrals, in Europe, were under construction for over a century.

Two conservative teams battled to a standoff in Seattle. The city, itself, won by calling it the Pride Match.

While both countries are culturally conservative about gay rights, Egypt and Iran's teams played to a tie score in the World Cup. This game took place in the US city of Seattle, noted for liberal attitudes on gay rights; the city calling that game "The Pride Match."

Some rainbow flags were flown in and around the stadium to the dislike of both Egyptian and Iranian officials. Meanwhile, back in the Middle East, war is still more deadly than a soccer game. Missiles fly between Iran and Gulf state Sunni nations more aligned with Egypt. The Sunni and Shiite split, in Islam, is one of many friction points among conservatives in the Middle East.

Ironically, the "elephant" in the Middle Eastern room is the United States with its ally Israel, each with the most powerful weapons of all. These countries are leading a sputtering war against Iran under the leadership of their conservative leaders Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Still, within the belly of the US elephant, rainbow flags fly peacefully in Seattle, in spite of more conservative leadership at the top of the US government. Freedom of speech is still alive in USA.

The soccer match between Egypt and Iran took place to a stalemate, as rainbow flags flew and crowds cheered more peacefully than the war that is now taking place in the Middle East itself.

Here in Bellingham, far out in the hinterlands of Seattle, some rainbow color projected on our Acid Ball Sculpture. Sculpture, a leftover from former Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill.

Maybe they should not pave a potentially temporary parking lot. Now I realize it will be gravel.

More parking is being added to Bellingham waterfront redevelopment. It's likely temporary. I think they should leave it gravel, rather than spending more money for pavement to a temporary lot. The existing lot, just south of it, is gravel. Now I learn the new lot will be gravel also.

Being a bicyclist, I don't need parking though I realize that car addiction is rampant in USA. Businesses, in that area, will likely benefit from the boost that more parking could bring. There is also a bus route that serves that area. One of the biggest draws to that area, now, is a beer garden. Hope people don't drive drunk.

This is at the redevelopment area where Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper Mill once stood.

It looked like they were getting ready for pavement, but now I learn, from comments and my own AI search, that it will be gravel.

The Port of Bellingham plans to use gravel for the new 109-space parking lot in the Central Waterfront redevelopment district. This lot, located along Granary Avenue just north of the existing parking area, is being constructed as a temporary improvement to provide public access until permanent development occurs.

Parking Lot Specifications,
Surface Material: The project scope specifically calls for a gravel surface consisting of approximately 18 inches of gravel borrow and 6 inches of permeable ballast.

Environmental Protection:
The gravel serves as part of an environmental cap (layered over geotextile fabric) to prevent public contact with potentially contaminated industrial soil from the site's former use as a pulp mill.

Key Features:
Capacity: 109 new parking spaces.
Accessibility: Includes ADA-accessible parking spaces with painted symbols and concrete sidewalks for access.

Stormwater:
The design includes specialized stormwater treatment to manage runoff through the permeable gravel layers. Future Connectivity: The site will feature temporary access points to a planned waterfront skate park.

While the new lot is gravel, some adjacent permanent infrastructure, such as the main entrance path from The Portal to Kulshan Trackside, has recently been paved to improve overall accessibility.

Information gathered by AI from Port of Bellingham documents and posts on Facebook.

In another universe, Bellingham's central waterfront could have gotten a boost from WWU's housing needs.

Hindsight is better than foresight. I got to thinking maybe they should have built more housing for WWU students in the central waterfront district where Georgia Pacific used to be. WWU doesn't have much room for new dorms so several big student focused apartment complexes were recently built in Bellingham. One of the large complexes is Stateside while the other has a new name called The Wilder. See below.

Passing by large Stateside Apartment Complex between State Street and Bellingham's South Bay Trail.

An early waterfront plan called for WWU to relocate it's Environmental Sciences College at the new waterfront and even connect it to main campus with a gondola. I think the gondola plan ended, in part, due to NIMBY neighbors under it's proposed path.

Meanwhile the Environmental Sciences plan fell though around the 2009 economic crash and some state budget cuts. Since then, those two new housing projects were built on both State and Garden Streets.

Maybe they are better where they are now as they are closer to WWU than the waterfront district, but I tend to brainstorm about stuff like this. They could have provided more things for developing the waterfront area; especially if the gondola was there. Dream on.

Not just an elite. In this era, we have a mass wealthy class. 20, maybe even 30% of the population. That could be both good and bad. It's a new way to articulate the situation

Foundation work on a large condo project in our waterfront redevelopment district.

I hear, through the grapevine, that it's got plenty of buyers. It's considered high end with condos around the million dollar range. These days, being a millionaire is middle class, or at least slightly upper middle class.

There is a mass class of millionaires, a product of prosperity, but also a distortion because owning a home has lead to such great wealth appreciation, over the years, that it's pushed lots of ordinary people into millionaire class; on paper at least.

I often enjoy watching construction and I realize that large private investments help to jump start new things in the city; such as redevelopment of the waterfront. Lots of people complain about these projects, however.

Our city is experiencing changes and construction. Too much of it is thought of as for "high end." There are waiting lists and bidding wars for high end homes. Waiting lists implies lots of people. Seems like this isn't just a small elite. High end is just the middle class, or at least slightly upper middle class.

Not just in Bellingham, but nationwide, we seem to be experiencing the effects of a mass wealthy class. A product of prosperity and home value appreciation. This is having an effect on the landscape.

Most people, in this mass wealthy class, don't think of themselves as wealthy. Maybe they aren't. Everything is relative.

The term upper end may need to be redefined. Upper end is now actually just middle class. True upper end are now the multi millionaires and the billionaires.

Much of the focus of criticism, on the left, is focused on the 1% which are well into the multi millionaire and the billionaire class. Still, the bidding wars over homes and the lack of affordable housing, for lower middle class, may have more to do with the large number of people in the upper middle classes. It has to do with a large population which also relates to population growth.

Immigration is a factor in this country's population growth, but immigration isn't necessarily bad. It brings in labor, prosperity and vitality. A certain percent of immigrants do rise to the upper middle class thus helping to feed the bidding wars for housing. Bidding wars; especially in areas, like Bellingham, that are still considered nice places to live.

I think we do need to consider not just the 1%, but also the effects of the upper middle class on our landscape. It isn't all bad, but it has a big effect due to the large number of people involved.

Much of upper middle class is willing to tax themselves more for the benefit of the larger community.

There are a lot of voters in upper middle class, but if upper middle class doesn't feel gratitude for it's situation, it tends to vote like it's poor. It tends to support the politics of austerity and tax cuts.

Tax cut politics seems to always benefit the 1% and the billionaires as well. People often vote for tax cuts to middle class while complaining about the 1%. Seems like this tax cut politics always benefits the 1% also. Seems like practically nowhere has been able to pass a billionaire tax. Tax cut politics for the upper middle class does seem to always benefit the very top as well.

Much of the consumption of resources also comes from the middle class. Policies that can lead to higher gas prices, like restrictions on oil drilling, effect the middle class. If the middle class feels poor and barely getting by when gas prices go up, the politics can shift against environmental rules that restrict oil production. So much is still governed by supply and demand.

If the vast number of people, in the middle class, really started pushing for a more fair and ecologically sustainable society, changes could really start happening much faster.

I think the 1% would have to change also as the power of mass markets would be shifting. The 1% stay on top by knowing how to play the market. If the market changes, they would feel the pressure also.

The vast number of voters in the middle class could change the market forces and political landscape.

Maybe I am naive, but I think the vast middle class could come from more of a mindset of gratitude versus a mindset of fear and the feeling of poverty. I think much of the feeling of poverty comes from constantly comparing oneself to people who make more money. Ultimately comparing oneself to the 1%.

It's our whole culture of emphasis on material wealth, I guess. Something pushed in the media, pushed by most of the 1% and bought by just about everyone else.

A mind shift in the middle class could move both the mass markets and the political landscape toward a better and more sustainable culture.

Update about Bellingham waterfront redevelopment district, October 2021.

It looks like construction might be starting on the waterfront condos that they started digging the foundations for and then stopped for some reason (I posted about below). Now it looks like things may be moving forward again according to a recent Herald article (October 25 2021) which might be behind a paywall for some people.

I picked up a recent Whatcom Watch newspaper (October 2021) with a big article about the many complexities at the second Harcourt construction site in Bellingham's waterfront redevelopment district.

It's basically still just a hole in the ground. Everything from worries about rising seawater to the virus has troubled this large project.

My image from about a year ago.

Without going into all those details, I got to thinking about a concept that is talked about in the Strong Towns Facebook Group. Incremental development. Often development evolves from small scale to larger scale over time; like as a small town, or neighborhood, grows up and densifies.

Seems like one of the problems with this waterfront district is that people have been trying to plan for the final outcome, right from the start. Planning the outcome before knowing what developments would want to move into that district, or where the money would come from.

People have debated, "how dense should it be?" "How tall should the buildings be?" "Should it all be park instead?"

No one knew what would naturally evolve there. By naturally, I'm meaning what the market, or taxpayers would bring. Maybe I shouldn't use the word naturally, here.

If truly left to nature, it would evolve into weeds growing up out of gravel.

Old Georgia Pacific pulp tanks awaiting new use such as for art.

Long before I knew about the Strong Towns Facebook Group, I remember thinking it's hard to plan out the waterfront in a vacuum. Not knowing who, or what would have the money, or demand to build there. At start, I guess the plans can't be rigid.

Since those early days of waterfront planning, after the Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill closed, the planning situation has improved, or at least introduced more of the concept of flexibility, I guess.

After that area sat empty for many years, while plans came and went. The Port District seems to have basically said, "lets get something started down there." Now there are some portable, or what are called "pop up" businesses going in that area. A beer garden, an ice cream place and so forth.

There is something called a pump bicycle track. These things seem to be successful. They are fairly small scale and can be moved around as more things come in. Portable type buildings.

Harcourt has succeeded, I think, in converting the old Granary Building into new use. From what I read, it is mostly leased now with small businesses and office use. In background right above picture.

The larger projects and plans, based on what people thought the area would look like in 50 years, are stumbling at best. Meanwhile, smaller and more flexible development is starting to take hold.

Good to see the street, park (Waypoint Park) and the bike paths there. I would understand if those things had to change course a bit, like relocating a bike path around a building at sometime in the future; if need be.

New street and bike path.

Old Georgia Pacific acid ball sculpture, Waypoint Park.

Seems like it is hard to plan for everything at once. Hard to plan everything at once without lots and lots of money from a central source.

Western Washington University was talking about putting something like a branch campus down there, a few years ago. That plan is at least on hold. It would have been in one section of that neighborhood.

Meanwhile there are some things starting down there and those things may change and move around a bit as future developments happen. Hard to predict, at first, just what shape it might take, but like so many towns and neighborhoods, the changes are often incremental and evolutionary.

What if interest rates go up?

Interest rates have been so low for so long, they would have a ways to go even before reaching historic norms. A perception that there will be even less breaks put on federal spending due to Democrats in both houses of Congress and the presidency of Joe Biden can bring speculation that rates will go up.

I think there's been lots and lots of spending anyway and rates have been low.

Sometimes, almost like fads, things like interest rates, or commodity prices will fluctuate. They may spike like panic buying and then fall again.

I remember when electricity rates on the spot market went into panic buying mode. That was a big factor behind the demise of Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill in Bellingham back around 2000. Electricity rates fell again.

Funny coincidence. It made toilet paper; another thing now talked about related to panic buying during the pandemic.

I think interest rates have been too low for years anyway. Existing assets, like homes, have been inflating in price. We'll need to build some new things for infrastructure and for creation of meaningful jobs.

If the federal Reserve prints money anyway, it ought to provide a special window for government to borrow from at bottom rates while homeowners, art collectors, speculators and so forth have to pay the regular market rates.

I know, I sound like a socialist.

Some private money goes to things besides places to just park the money. Elon Musk seems to find exciting uses for his money. Maybe blasting a car into space wasn't the best idea; except for symbolically inspiring.

I'm a fan of science and space exploration however. Electric cars are needed and better batteries. Things that Elon Musk's companies do as well.

This sculpture reflects Bellingham, city of subdued excitement

Bellingham is often referred to as the "City of Subdued Excitement." Seems a fitting way to describe the acid ball sculpture in our Waypoint Park. An acid tank from the defunct Georgia Pacific pulp mill now repurposed as art in the park. Cool idea. Cover it with reflective particles; like used for signs on the freeway. Shine LED lighting on it. I was expecting some dazzling thing like a disco ball, but that may be too glitzy for Bellingham. The lights are shinning and reflecting off it's rusty surface, covered with that reflective material, but somehow it seems to have missed it's potential. That may still be okay as it fits in with the grey skies and the cool, moist air.

There's a dance that I often go to on Thursday evenings. I sometimes worry that the dance could be running out of energy. Attendance small, energy subdued; at least during sunny days. Subdued during last summer's smoky days. People comment that they are working through grief, pain and what ever. The national news rests heavy. I worry about the outcome of this November election. Are folks going to really be depressed if it goes south; so to speak? Going south in more ways than one, I guess.

Where's the celebration, joy and pleasure in people's lives? Can't we still live the way we wish the world could be?

Now that the weather is cooling down, I think the attendance, at that dance, may pick up. I was headed there today, but didn't quite make it as another gathering spot also starts to regain momentum when the sun hides. It's the YMCA sauna. Occasionally a space of conversation, but that can get so good as to extend into the dance time. At least that's what happened today. I do wish I could clone myself, but there's always next week.

Open house at Granary Building on Bellingham's waterfront

Screenshot photo from my Facebook post after the January 17 open house and planning discussions. It was good to see the inside of that building they have been working on.

Is Bellingham holding out too long for the high wage jobs?

Two port commissioners have temporarily (at least) halted a hotel plan for Bellingham's Central waterfront redevelopment. Plan put forth by Harcourt Developments. These two commissioners want to hold out for the possibility of something else; higher paid industrial, rather than hotel type jobs? Bellingham's been waiting a long time, but seems like high paid business tends not to locate in this type of city anymore. Maybe we should try and make Bellingham more affordable, rather than keep waiting for those high paid jobs that don't materialize?

I've heard that, in this day and age, high paid business tends to want to cluster into major metropolitan areas. Places where there are ports with containerized cargo cranes. Big manufacturing, or information type business also wants to be close to international airport hubs and "big time" research universities like Stanford. Bellingham may be relegated to the backwater class. Low wage jobs seem inevitable. We have education, recreation and retirement, but not a major research university.

Bellingham may just have to learn to live affordably and possibly take what it can get. One of the problems is, of course, housing, in Bellingham, is getting too expensive for the local job market. This is a problem in many parts of the nation as well. In Bellingham, it's driven by our city being a popular retirement destination. Rather than creating affordable and sustainable communities, much of American culture tries to hold out for the promise of higher wage jobs. Progress is good, but pounding one's head against the wall gets old after while. As a culture, we do make progress with things like gay rights and also the new technologies, like smartphones, that become available; even available to low income folks. These technologies create high wage jobs for only a small elite of workers. Workers mostly located in select metropolitan areas. As for the rest of us, we need to stop waiting and start learning how to live with the opportunities we have. In some cases, the inexpensive opportunities.

Will north leg of Boulevard Park Walkway ever be built?

While Bellingham residents are, for the most part, celebrating the likely death of a coal port that was proposed, near town, the extension of Boulevard Park "over water" walkway may be dead as well. Lummi Indian concern about tidelands and fishing habitat is credited with saving our region from the perils of a coal terminal, but it also has lead to more paperwork and complexity when building anything on our waters. The Lummi's have been, at least, slow to sign off on the project. Other concerns cropped up as well so the whole thing has been stalled in delays. Now it looks like time has expired on some important federal and state grants so that pot of money has evaporated. According to an editorial in Cascadia Weekly's, Gristle column of 5/25/2016 "Roads To Nowhere", it looks like the walkway is dead.

The south "over water" walkway was completed several years ago and is a very popular attraction. The north walkway would have helped in development of Bellingham's central waterfront left behind when Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill closed. Plans for redeveloping that piece of waterfront are progressing at a snail's pace.

As for bicycle and pedestrian trail connections across our city, the walkway would have been redundant. We already have the South Bay Trail that pretty much goes the same route. Still, the "over water" walkway would have been a popular amenity for tourists and economic development in the waterfront. Also, it would have provided a level pedestrian / bike connection along the waterfront avoiding a gradual hill up into downtown Bellingham.

Maybe someday, as the central waterfront gets more developed, the proposal will come alive again.

I took the above photo near where that walkway was proposed.

Digester building being torn down

I've posted a few pictures of this process on Flickr as well as here. Waterfront. A friend of mine says that every once in a while they tear down some more buildings to make it look like progress is being made. Redevelopment of Bellingham's central waterfront is kind of a slow, many years project. Maybe not as long as the building of a Medieval cathedral.

Scroll down.

Cool looking steam rising from power plant

Cool looking because that power plant is not normally used unless it's really cool weather. It's usually used for peak power demand; like when folks turn up the heat. We've had some cool, clear days recently. Frosty with lows around the 20s. Typical of winter.

Orange cloud band of sunset and windows of YMCA near by. Power plant, which is located on Bellingham's waterfront, burns natural gas. It used to be a co-generation plant when Georgia Pacific pulp mill used it's leftover steam. Now, with Georgia Pacific gone, the power plant runs alone; when in use. I think it's been upgraded so more of it's waste steam runs another turbine to generate power, rather than going to the Georgia Pacific that isn't there.

A few proposals are circulating to incorporate this plant into the redeveloped waterfront using leftover heat again. That is, if the waterfront development ever gets going. Woops, I forgot to read the last update in the newspaper on that.

Trade deficit coal trains through Bellingham

Money flows out of the US to China and other countries while manufactured goods flow in. Then much of that money comes back into the US as China and others invest in our debts.

Can we ever pay China back? Can we ever pay with real goods and services that they can use?

Seems like a tall order, but there may be a time when we export more things to China and other nations. Some manufacturing can migrate back to the US. We do have quite a few raw materials and farm products.

Coal is one of the commodities that USA has and China needs, though it isn't a real expensive item. Are we becoming more like a third world country where raw materials are the main export? Have we painted ourselves into an economic corner where dubious compromises have to be made?

USA has lots of coal and some of that coal comes through Bellingham. Thus the coal trains now rumbling along our waterfront.

As to be expected, these trains are controversial. I'll admit, the trains don't make that much difference to me. What's a few more trains coming through town? Sometimes it's even fun to watch them. I don't have to commute across the tracks very often so it doesn't make much difference to me, but lots of Bellingham is worried. As usual, there is the NIMBY (we don't want this in our backyards) reaction as well as other concerns.

Biggest concern, of course, is global warming. All those tons of carbon going into the atmosphere.

Part of the reason why there's controversy is plans for a new cargo facility at Cherry Point; the Gateway Pacific Terminal proposed by an outfit called SSA Marine. It would be a bulk shipment facility for both coal and other goods such as agricultural commodities. With that terminal shipment capacity could increase significantly.

Currently, the coal trains are headed into Canada, to a coal shipment point called Westshore Terminal which is located near Tsawwassen, BC. That's just north of the border.

If Gateway Pacific is built, it would be on this side of the border, in USA, so the export wouldn't have to involve Canada. It could possibly mean more trains through Bellingham.

Does Bellingham get any benefit from this?

Jobs in construction and a few permanent jobs running the terminal. Some benefit, but nothing real dramatic. No wonder some people are upset. Bellingham is just a tiny part of the bigger picture. USA has been called "the Saudi Arabia of coal." Asia needs it and we're just along the way.

Both our current mayor, and other candidates for mayor (there's an election coming up) have concerns. One of the big questions is, "what effect does rail traffic have on the redevelopment plans for Bellingham's central waterfront?" That's the place where Georgia Pacific pulp and paper mill once resided. The railroad cuts right through that property.

I'm reminded of plans that BNSF Railroad floated back in the last days of the pulp mill. The plan was to move the railroad. Move it to around the periphery of the mill rather than going right through the yard with forklifts, roads and other mill commerce zipping back and forth across the tracks. Plans called (if I remember correctly) to move the mainline closer to the bluff where some switch tracks are now, rather than going through the "gut" of the mill.

Right about then, Georgia Pacific closed. It closed for various reasons including rising electricity costs.

When discussing that rerouting plan with some of my friends in a local sauna (where city planning issues are often discussed), I remember someone's comment about moving the railroad around a closed mill.

He said, "no need to go around a ghost town."

Yes, part of the hollowing out of industry in America means things like pulp mills are closing. GP is replaced with a ghost town for now, but there is a lot of talk about redevelopment for that piece of the central waterfront where GP was. Moving the railroad to more of the periphery might help those plans. Is the railroad still interested? Could the increased traffic possibly expedite those plans?

If the railroad was closer to the bluff, it would be easier to build overpasses across the tracks. Possibly even something like a snow shield or sound barrier. Of course those condo owners, right on top of that bluff, might object. Are Americans spoiled?

Still, most of these issues seem fairly minor. The biggest worry isn't really about Bellingham. It's the concern about global warming.

As far as I'm concerned, more trains aren't necessarily a problem. More exports from USA are good. Things like farm products, for instance which is part of the Gateway Terminal plan, but the vast amount of coal being burned in various parts of the world is worrisome.

Even in China, new technologies such as solar power are being developed, but can it happen fast enough? That's a challenging question, especially now that there is increased worry over nuclear power. Nuclear still could be part of the cleaner energy spectrum. Figuring out technologies that use less energy, like happens in the electronics world can help. Also changing cultural attitudes can help, like more bicycling and public transit. Hopefully the world, including USA, can find alternatives to the continuing increase in use of fossil fuels. Either that or maybe finding a way to sequester the carbon? That's a different story.

Picture, nude bike ride protesting fossil fuel happens, by coincidence, to be crossing over a coal train.

Why steam is still rising from old Bellingham Georgia Pacific site

It's a power plant. See also Future heating district for Bellingham?

Used to be for cogeneration when GP was still going. GP benefited from its waste heat. Now it's just a power plant (burns natural gas), but could play a cogeneration role in future waterfront development.

Steam rises part of the time when plant is in use.

Riding my bike around town snapping images. With energy issues making news, here is the cooling tower and power lines by Encogen power plant in Bellingham. Kind of like "found art." Modern art.

Designing a city without knowing what is going to be in the city

That's what the city of Bellingham, the port district and the public have been doing for several years with the waterfront land being vacated by Georgia Pacific West.

There has been quite a bit of debate over density of buildings on the site after redevelopment.

Also debate over street layout.

Well, no one knows what's going to be there yet.

What will the streets be going to or around?

Planning is good, but I fear that a lot of effort and money is going to "planning in a vacuum."

Consultant fees, studies.

Reams of copy paper and truckloads of tonner, as I once read in an article.

Lots of studies.

Of course it's good to have public input.

In the private sector, a lot of things are planned around their uses. Shopping malls that don't take shape until the "anchor stores" at least show some interest.

Form following function.

Still, this often ends up in something rather ugly.
Allowing the market to drive things.

The term "market driven."

Often planning will cave in to the convenience of consumers. Consumers governed by their automobiles.

Malls with the largest land use being parking.

Being proactive in the planning, like city of Bellingham and port district are trying to do, should lead to a more environmentally friendly result.

Biggest use that they've talked about so far is relocating Huxley College of environmental studies from Western Washington University's main campus to a "waterfront" campus.

Government use.

State government; education.

Don't knock it. In these "bank crisis days," government is looking like the "enterprise of last resort." Possibly the only enterprise available to bail out the economy.

Historic buildings that are currently on the site influence plans as well. There are quite a few of them. Old industrial buildings.

A recent news headline reads that city is suing the port district over plans that the port has to tear down 3 of the buildings.

What do these buildings look like?

I think I know what the bleach plant looks like at least.

The other 2 ?

They are tucked back in there, I guess.

That bland looking tissue mill is being torn down now. Port wanted to demolish these other 3 buildings before demolition crew leaves the site.

Hum, I'm not sure what buildings they are talking about.

Really, I am not too picky about what goes on down there. Maybe I should be.

As long as there are bike lanes, I'm not hard to please.

Hope something nice can emerge in that waterfront space before I pass from this planet.

Also hope they don't spend too much money on consultants laying out plans that might just get tossed out as future plans take shape around the new uses.

One good reason to hope there is life after death. It might take more than one lifetime to get through the entire process leading to an exciting new neighborhood on Bellingham's central waterfront.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement of New Whatcom Redevelopment Project is now available for free on two CDs, but if you want the printed (Luddite) version, it will cost you $120 and you'd better bring a forklift.

This, according to a front page article in January 17 Whatcom Independent.

Photo: books I found in my place scanned edge on.

I say, yes, the "high tech CD" takes less space and paper, but you might ask, "why the hell does there have to be such a massive document?"

Population growth and cultural / political / business expectations can add to complexity in life. While technology might help to enable this, it can also save us from such things as the onslaught of that paper mountain.

Written July 9 2008

Not real long after the last toilet paper rolls leave former Georgia Pacific warehouse in Bellingham, a new use for most of that facility has been found; a temporary use at least.

Unpacking baby furniture for a Canadian company called Stork Craft.

Pretty impressive that they found a new use that soon. Other parts of the old GP site will take a long time for cleanup and redevelopment. Warehouse is more ready to go.

Port of Bellingham is taking over management of the facility as part of waterfront redevelopment after closure of GP.

* several blog posts consolidated here.

Tearing down old Georgia Pacific West paper mill in Bellingham

* Compilation of blog posts with pictures from tearing down of Gerogia Pacific pulp and paper mill in Bellingham.

Below picture, November 26, 2008.


Creating a blank slate.

It's been interesting to watch them dismantle and recycle most of the paper mill.

Recycled paper, recycled paper mill.

Some people still think it's quite a waste to build a mill and then tear it down.

The sidewalk along Chestnut Street as it crosses the railroad tracks down to Roeder Avenue is a good place to look out over what's happening down there.

Now that the tearing down of the paper mill is almost done, activity may be subdued for a while.


Written October 9, 2008

Old Georgia Pacific paper mill being torn down. Image taken a few weeks back.

Pulp mill closed several years ago, in part do to an electricity price bubble. Prices for power gradually go up in Pacific Northwest as population and economic growth means a lower percentage of our power can come from our cheap hydroelectric resource. The hydro electric resource is only so big. God didn't build us enough rivers.

Exasperating that problem was a "power panic bubble" of around 1999 and early 2000s. Enron was a big part of that. Prices spiked and then came down again.

Our economy has it's underlying problems such as limited supplies of energy and land. People often want to buy houses when they say, "no more land is being made." These problems are gradual, but on top of this situation comes speculation. Companies like Enron take advantage of this to fuel panic.

The bubbles and bursts become exaggerated and worse than the underlying situation.

Increasing cost of wood chips in this area was another reason cited for GP to close. Wood chips from forest lands were the raw material in the paper making process.

Those were the big picture, long term reasons for GP's demise, in my opinion, but there was also a big drama toward the end. A drama over the pulp mill's attempt to generate it's own power using portable diesel generators. This brought up air quality concerns. GP was located in the heart of Bellingham; practically downtown.

Picture isn't that good as my camera was starting to die. Sand got in the mechanism for adjusting focus and exposure. Time to get a new camera. Luckily digital cameras aren't that expensive and they keep improving.

GP used to get flack for using chlorine in the paper bleaching process. Some of that paper went to into photography. Most of it went to toilet paper, but pulp for photo grade paper was also made. Now days, digital cameras don't require all that paper and chemicals for developing the image. At least technology keeps moving forward.

Photo taken April 22, 2008

Picture of ivy growing in the shape of a heart in Bellingham. On the side of the Old Granery Building, Bellingham Central Waterfront. Fate of that building is still to be determined as part of the old GP / Central Waterfront rehabilitation process.

Below photo taken February, 2012.

Slow process.

Trailer says "scrap it."

Next on the ever evolving list of old factory buildings to come down is the bleach plant. This process has been taking place for a few years.

While much of the mill site has been torn down, they plan to preserve a few buildings; including the tile tanks pictured here.

May 25, 2006.

Surprise, I actually got it in a picture.

Two concrete towers were imploded this afternoon at the old Georgia Pacific West Pulp Mill. Part of a long term waterfront renovation process.

Bang, Bang, the towers came down and then a cloud of dust that was less impressive than I thought it would be.

I remember "boom, boom" when those towers were in use. Something like rail cars were filed with a material that would drop into the silos, which (I think) were actually giant kilns. This created a toxic sulfur substance that was then pumped into the digester building for cooking wood chips into paper pulp. Digester building is just to the right of where the two towers stood.

Residents of Bellingham would hear the booms when the material dropped into those kilns. It sounded like two rail cars coupling.

Now the towers are gone as our waterfront continues to evolve.

See More of my memories about GP.

Waterfront Theme Park: "The Pulp Mill From Hell"

I had a vision from the future of Bellingham's Central Waterfront. It wasn't as easy to find buyers / tenets for the waterfront redevelopment as many had hoped (or feared), so the port district decided to make the old pulp mill buildings into a haunted house.

A haunted for house for fund raising purposes.

Let's make it a scary theme park. Call it, "The Pulp Mill From Hell."

People came to from all over. The same folks who went to horror movies.

There was the chipper blade to avoid, so as not to get ground up.

Exhibit B: A monster cloud of chlorine gas wiping out the city.

Then, remember that skeleton found in one of the boiler chimneys, back in the 1980s, I think? Still no one knows who that was, as far as I have read, and the ghost can still roam the park.

There was even a tiger roaming around, on loan from the San Francisco Zoo.

Plenty of lore and some fantasy for a fantastic theme park. Ever tried conveyor belt rides?

The theme park was "world class," "extreme sports," but then I woke up from that nightmare.

Ebenal CH2M Waterfront building 3 stories or 4 stories?

I'm not a libertarian, but it's really none of my business whether this waterfront building is 3 stories or 4 stories. People all over Bellingham are talking about it, of course. Everything is talked to death.

As the world gets more crowded, everyone's in each other's backyards and everyone's going to be in each other's business.

It's across town from me, so why should I worry?

I will say that the plans call for a 4 story building in order to economically justify the construction of an underground parking garage in that complex.

Things people must do to accommodate the almighty automobile.

If folks want to fret about the extra story, they should ride bikes or take the bus. Less need to justify expensive garages.

When chatting to a friend in Australia about all these issues, he says, "boy, I wish that's all I had to worry about." "3 or 4 stories in a building clear across town."

I say, "what problems are in your life?"

His reply, "other problems like having a life."

Like, "get a life man."

Some condominium owners might be upset about a changing view, but their condominiums changed the view also.

Then there's folks who say I'd be missing the point not worrying too much. It's a promise for some height limit that the city has made and then altered.

OK, I guess only a lawyer might pay that much attention to the process leading to the manufacture and then changing of height limits. I'm getting bored now not being a lawyer. Of course, we don't have enough lawyers, ha, ha.

Remembering Georgia Pacific in Bellingham

More pictures below.

I didn't work there, but I remember the mill being a big part of Bellingham.

Just logged onto December 16 Bellingham Herald and saw that the last part of GP's Bellingham mill closes December 21. Closing of the paper mill.

The pulp section closed in 2001.

Rising cost of electric power is one factor leading to it's closure. Population in the Pacific Northwest has outgrown the inexpensive hydroelectric resource. I read that wood chips, used in the pulp making process are more expensive as well, in this area at least.

Economic backbone
Continued below.

It used to be that GP was a big "reason for being" in Bellingham. An economic reason for being at least. Kind of like "reason for being" is the work you do or the cog you fit in the giant system we call an economy.

When I came to college, I wondered what percent of the economic pie for Bellingham was GP, what percent was the University and so forth.

When GP closed it's pulp mill in 2001, I wondered if Bellingham's retail balloon would deflate. There seems to be a lot of stores in this area that sell to the local market. A lot compared to the number of businesses that bring money in from outside the local market.

Can all these stores survive selling to one another's employees? Can all these stores survive with little "fresh money" coming into the region from outside? Little money to offset all that money going out buying the products we consume. Products from outside the region at least.

I hope I haven't lost you yet.

It's talk of "basic sector versus secondary sector." Most retailing would be considered secondary sector.

The stuff I learned in my economic geography classes.

Surprise! The loss of GP payroll didn't "seem," at least, to deflate local retailing. New restaurants and shops keep coming. Some struggle and close, but others do a bang up business.

A growing market of retired folks have been moving to the area bringing money with them.

To some extent, the local economy can coast on home equity money; a phenomenon made possible by unprecedented growth in real estate prices over the past 20 years.

Many home buying consumers, in Bellingham, don't have to work. They often don't even have to pay a mortgage. Selling some previous home for a fortune means just being able to "write a check" for the new one with money left over. I have friends who have done this.

I'm sure there is more details on how the guts of a local economy works, beyond what I can fathom. New consulting firms coming to town, expansion at local oil refineries, the Internet.

On one hand, it's how people eat, but on the other hand, it's "just money."

Often it's mind boggling, but somehow the economy keeps going.

GP tours

Continued below.


I remember 4 tours of GP that I have taken over the years. They used to offer tours during summer months at regular times. I showed up for one in the late 1970s and got a souvenir box of tissue products.

In the 1980s, there was a computer club called "Bellingham User's Group." BUG for short. We toured GP and looked at the computers. That club had a lot of GP employees as members. It met in a drab old classroom at one of GP's administrative buildings.

Later in the 1980s a friend of mine worked as a tour guide. I took his tour.

Eventually tours were not offered anymore, except under special circumstances.

The last tour I took was sometime after pulp mill's closing. Local citizens went on a tour organized by Waterfront Futures Group.

Where were you on that day?

In 1987, GP had a chlorine leak the same day as the big 1987 Wall Street plunge.

Quite a co-incidence.

Wall Street plunge was early afternoon. GP leak was early evening. I'm sure I remember, it was the same day.

The music stopped in an aerobics class that I was in. Someone made an announcement kind of like, "don't panic, but we are evacuating due to a chlorine leak." First I thought it was a leak at the Y swimming pool, downstairs, but soon realized it was GP. Downtown Bellingham was being partially evacuated.

The crowd of people returning their key cards for the locker room was quite impressive. Milling around the service desk all at once. Now they don't even use those type of key cards at that gym anymore.

I took the short walk to my place and got a portable radio. Then headed up hill to Western Washington University thinking, "chlorine is a heavy gas that sinks." Figured the University would be like a "safe haven." "An ivory tower."

I didn't smell very much chlorine and soon after I got to campus, the radio issued an "all clear." It was OK to come back downtown.

New technology
Continued below.

Chlorine plant from years back. 1987 leak was not from chlorine plant itself, it was (if I remember correctly) loading bleaching formula from a rail car into the paper bleaching section of the mill.

People grumbled about GP using chlorine to bleach paper. In the last years of the pulp mill operation, I think I remember they switched to a new kind of "non chlorine" bleaching process.

When there's finger pointing, I often blame the consumer.

Part of that pure white paper, they produced, was used for photography.

Remember, pure white photo paper for snapshots?

Most of the rest was used in toilet paper of various colors. It used white as a foundation.

I remember writing a letter to the editor, sometime in the mid 1990s suggesting that folks who don't like chlorine ought to start using digital cameras. Bypass the need for photographic paper and so many chemicals used in film developing.

Back then digital cameras were new and still fairly rare. Now, it seems like old fashioned "paper" photography is also becoming a relic of history.

More of my memories about Bellingham with Georgia Pacific.