Condominium conversion: an alarming trend

Seattle apartments being converted into condominiums.

In 20004 it was 345. 2005 saw 1551 conversions, according to a front page article in March 20 Seattle PI.

If this trend continues there may be little left for rent in Seattle and buying a condo usually costs well over $240,000. That's still cheaper than buying a house.

It's population increase and a strong economy.

The main problem is, lots of people are buying condominiums and where are they going to put them? Seattle is basically running out of room for new construction, so the market turns to existing buildings. Convert them into condominiums, but where do the renters, and those who can't afford home ownership go?

Well, so far, I don't think that problem is too bad up here in Bellingham.

Yet at least.

Tons of new condominiums are being built all over town to help absorb the demand and protect existing rental properties.

So far at least.

Still there is lots of environmental concern about the explosion in construction seen around Bellingham.

Bellingham isn't real affordable either, but at least it isn't quite as bad as Seattle. It has some expansion room and it is also somewhat protected by it's low wage scale.

Supply and demand, but supply needs room.

Supply needs room, or, what developers call "buildable lots."

Seattle has around 10 times as many people as Bellingham, with in it's city limits, but only around 3 1/2 times the land area.

Bellingham isn't as dense, yet, but that is the wave of the future as population keeps increasing.

Another reason why housing demand is so high in Seattle is those huge rings of "low density sprawl" around most American cities. Traffic in all that sprawl is getting so bad that people are wanting to move back into the denser urban cores. Yet the cores can only hold so many.

That is part of the reason why Bellingham is starting to grow up with many new high rises planned for this city. We can become a new urban core, but I am afraid a lot of locals will fight it.

Remember, over population.

State of Washington's new tourism slogan, Say Wa.

"Say WA."

That's really a sound byte. It is for the tourists who go to KFC because they don't have time for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

It doesn't hold up traffic.

Now people talk about "doing" for travel. Like let's go to Hawaii and "do the Big Island." People can "do Washington," but it's faster to just say "Do WA."

The next state over is Idaho.

"I Da HO." If prostitution were legal, Idaho's motto could be "I Da Ho." Ho is short for whore.

Say WA, then look at your watch and have quickie sex at I Da Ho.

Moving on, moving on.

Moving on to Montana, what could that be?

You can't say cause you've got to run. The lunch break's over.

Commerce keeps it all moving along.

Meditations after the Dubai ports deal news

Staying right here close to home.

Many folks seem to be uncomfortable with things becoming so global. Still, more and more business and the economy is global.

How about vacation? There's eco-tourism, but there is also bike touring right here at home.

By co-incidence, I happened to be corresponding with someone living in the United Arab Emirates just as the Dubai Ports World / USA deal was hitting the news. Since then, that deal has been called off.

Interesting coincidence.

I don't think my correspondent was involved. He was working for some corporation over there. Related to the oil industry, most likely. He's from the US, but was over there for work.

He was writing me for vacation. For information and inspiration about bicycle touring. Was planning to return to USA and do a bicycle tour. Possibly return to living in USA.

I enjoy getting a few inquiries, each month, to my bicycle touring pages. This one just happened to be from the UAE.

He recently wrote that it is difficult to find bicycle attire in UAE. There are not that many people interested in bicycling or touring as there are in the USA and other places. Too many spoiled foreigners who cherish their large SUV's and don't like get out of an Air-Conditioned environment long enough to enjoy the outdoors and the glory of nature. He was looking forward to the peaceful expanse of nature and all that awaits seeing it from the slow lane of life, upon returning to USA.

Yes, I can imagine. Because of the ports deal, the radio has been filled with talk-documentaries about Dubai.

Basically "Dubai 101."

Interesting, but from what the radio says, it sounds like life in the "shopping mall city." Climate controlled, corporate. Then a rather harsh desert outside.

Many parts of the good ol' USA can be great for bike touring.

I have to admit, except for Canada, I have never ventured out of USA. I am sure there are some parts of the world that are nice, but it is fun to start my adventures from my own door. I have never been on an "eco-tour" to far parts of the world, but bicycling in my home town can be like an eco-tour just outside my door.

Future Real Estate Ad?

Back in the 1970s, President Ford gave a speech with this great analogy about inflation. He said it is like being at a football game where some people decide to get a better view by standing up. This blocks the view for the people sitting in back so they stand up next. Pretty soon everyone is standing up and the view isn't any better than when they were all sitting down. $600 million fixer upper.

I guess they are just working harder for that same view. Working two jobs and so forth.

I wonder if the rest of the economy will ever begin to catch up with residential real estate? Will minimum wage ever be $100 per hour or the cost of a loaf of bread climb to $50?

It's all just numbers. Population growth and low interest rates take their toll.

Minute Men Are Minute ... Small

Someone stuck a petition in my face asking me to sign against the Minute Men. Being a nice guy, I said yes, but I don't really care that much; one way or another. Yes, it's a hot button issue, and people get worked up about it, but beyond the symbolism, this isn't earth shaking.

Petition was asking Whatcom County Council to adopt a resolution against the Minute Men similar to what the City Council, in Bellingham has passed.

Oh well.

It's a cause celebre for both liberals and conservatives.

The real problem is over population; high birth rates in various countries around the world spilling over into this country. If conservatives are worried about illegal immigrants flooding over USA, they should support world wide family planning efforts. Let's hear it for Planned Parenthood.

If liberals are really concerned about human dignity, they should support up- zoning, density, housing construction and low income housing, so everyone coming here can have a place to live. Let's hear it for good city planning, public transit and all that. Yes, we can still plan green belts also.

Really, I don't think the Minute Men do that much harm, but they don't do much good either.

If a handful of folks want to sit up by the border, in their pickups, I am not going to lose sleep over it. Also, I'm not that impressed. I don't think there has been one interception of an illegal border crossing, due to the Minute Men, here in Whatcom County at least. Not that I have read about. Maybe it's just for political fanfare.

The Minute Men are minute on my list of social issues.

Just listened to a Town Hall debate between Ron Sims and Ken Hutcherson

It was rebroadcast over KUOW Radio.

Ron Sims is King County Executive and Hutcherson is a reverend.

Interesting to note that Sims is a reverend also. Religious ideas can certainly be interpreted many ways.

Also interesting to note that both men are black.

Civil rights was the topic. Should civil rights protections include sexual orientation?

Sims is in favor, Hutcherson is against.

The debate was lively and spirited.

Rather than me regurgitating the debate, here is a thought that came to my mind just before the broadcast.

One must ask, "why it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of religion, but not against the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation?" Religion seems to be a more divisive and contentious factor than sexual orientation.

I am actually religious, myself, but I am not a fundamentalist. I follow a "liberal" interpretation of Christianity.

Under the original 1964 civil rights act, it would be illegal discriminate against someone describing themselves as "fundamentalist." How about "Islamic Fundamentalist" for instance? That would be considered "religion" and thus protected. However, sexual orientation can still be discriminated against.

Hum.

Isn't religion something people choose as Hutcherson claims that sexual orientation is? Religion can certainly stir up a lot of problems.

Also, of course, as Sims maintains that sexual orientation is not a choice. Science may not be 100% certain (like fundamentalist religions claim to be), but scientific evidence tends to lean toward sexual orientation's biological basis. There are DNA studies and so forth.

Religion, is a matter of choice.

Actually some people might even dispute that. There are religious determinists, but that's another digression.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act only covers race, religion, creed and national origin.

Even sex (whether you are a man or a woman) is not protected. Not protected in the 1964 constitutional act. That's why women will often remind us that we still don't have the ERA.

In most states and local areas, other categories have been added to civil rights. Women (or I should say men and women) are protected this way.

Age has been included, handicap status, marital status and some other things, in various states and localities.

17 states have now added sexual orientation to the list. Washington just passed this protection, last legislative session, but it is being challenged by a possible initiative.

Sexual orientation is a category that I think is at least as deserving as the original 4.

Hutcherson's perspective is kind of scary even though he has a right to his views, just like everyone else. He seems to think one interpretation of the Bible is "God's law" and this nation is based on that.

Sharia Law? Ops, I guess that's Islam. Sharia law is basically governing civil matters under Islamic religious code.

Sims spoke about the need to separate civil law from the various interpretations of religious belief.

Yes, I agree. America has got to be a nation with many flavors of religious, and even non religious belief. Otherwise, look at all that sectarian fighting in the Middle East.

Hutcherson says he doesn't want to be forced to hire a gay person. Well, that is kind of a libertarian argument that can also be used against other civil rights protections as well. Keeping that idea in mind, it is good to point out that Washington State's sexual orientation law would not force Hutcherson to hire gay people in his church. Religious institutions are exempt under that provision. Also smaller businesses with just a few employees or rental units are exempt. If you still wanted to discriminate against a gay person, (or non gay for that matter) in your church or renting a room in your private residence, the new law would not apply.

It does apply to larger things; for instance corporations and government agencies. A somewhat gentle law with quite a few exceptions. Trying to be nice and cater to objections.

Now, would Sharia law be that kind? Whoops, I guess that's Islam. Would fundamentalist religious law, of any kind, be that nice?

Hutcherson, like so many of the fundamentalist persuasion, puts one rigid interpretation of a religious doctrine over everything else. In my mind, a loving spirit matters most and people will always have different interpretations of doctrine.

New garage almost ready. More buildings in growing Bellingham, WA.

Outsourcing and teaching people new skills

Visiting Hyderabad, India, Bush said, "The United States would counter job losses by teaching people new skills rather than discouraging outsourcing."

Okay, maybe the definition of new skills will have to be broadened to include learning how to live on lower wages.

This may not be what Bush has in mind, but lower wage jobs, in America's service sector, are becoming numerous. This doesn't have to be all bad as something called "downshifting" can become a social movement.

Downshifting; leaving the rat race of high pressure, high profile work. Opting for what could be a spiritually more fulfilling path. Quality living. More time for friends, taking walks, exercise, volunteer work, art, study, reading, intelligent conversation, dancing, bicycling, what ever.

Can "new skills" include learning to live better with less consumption? I am afraid that is not what our president has in mind, but the way things are going, it's needed. Yes, high technology industry and American ingenuity can bring higher profile work to some people, but world trade points out that America has no monopoly on prowess. The world is becoming a more even playing field.

Part of learning new skills can mean learning to live with more grace and quality, not just measuring all things in terms of material wealth or consumption.

However, the cost of living; housing, health care; things for mere survival are too high in America. Rents and house valuations are way out of step with large segments of the job environment that is emerging in America.

If these costs can be brought down, we might be able to have the cultural renaissance that a little down shifting can bring.

Technology Fix. Bush In India

It's a concept that better technology can help us cope with world problems. President Bush subscribes to this concept, for the most part. Recently visiting India, a deal has been signed promoting nuclear power for this highly populated nation. It's either that or India's huge population continues to industrialize using up more oil, coal and creating greenhouse gas to the max.

To some extent, I believe in technology fix, but there are other questions to ask. Has anyone considered trying to reduce population growth? Has anyone considered what happens when the world runs out of uranium? What about even more idealistic technologies like hydrogen fusion (rather than nuclear fission)? How about wind and solar power?

These more idealistic fixes seem to have always been "20 years in the future." When I was in college, hydrogen fusion was 20 years off. Now, 30 years later, they are still talking about 20 years.

Also there is changing some basic human assumptions. Wanting a better life for one's kids can be costly.

On the other hand, who am I to say that people in poor parts of the world should not have aspirations?

Then there is the whole question of "what is the definition for a better life?"

One can say, "be careful what you ask for as you might get it." Here in USA, the Bellingham area has recently suffered several horrendous car accidents. Multi car pileups. Quite a few deaths, all with-in the past few weeks. In one case, high school kids from Blaine, WA.

Technology fix might be able to address these problems as well. Automobiles spaced and driven by computer; rather than human. Cars that are "auto piloted" while they are on the freeway? It's been discussed by visionaries. Discussed as a solution to traffic congestion.

Then one can ask, "why do people need to drive cars?" Isn't public transit a better way to go? How about things like tele-commuting?

Then there is just slowing down. The modern world keeps moving faster and faster.

While I like some forms of technology fix, the Internet for instance, people are often surprised when I tell them I have never driven a car.

Never driven a car! They exclaim.

Yes, I have never driven a car. Didn't even take driver's ed. in high school. It was just too scary for me. Too scary.

However I do enjoy the gentle pace of my bicycle.

Steel frame under construction. Depot Market Square in Bellingham

Welding the steel frame. Construction in full swing on Farmer's Market structure near downtown Bellingham, WA. This city keeps growing.

About US Port Deal With Corporation Based In United Arab Emirates

It may not be that earth shaking of an issue.

I guess it's one of the things that comes with privatization of public facilities and multinational corporations.

Are Corporate Profits Bad?

A better question might be, "what is done with the money from corporate profits?" Does this money just go to private incomes for fat cats or does it go into things like research and development? Is it invested in improving the corporation's infrastructure, or does it just go to a bunch of wealthy people to buy bigger "show boat" homes?

How the profit money is used becomes a more important question, in my mind, than whether there is a big profit, or not.

The tax system can address this question.

Assuming it is better to invest in things like "plant and equipment," "research and development," "job creation," "the community," rather than investing in fat cat people, the tax system can address this need.

Raise personal income taxes on the wealthy, but maintain generous deductions for business expenses, investments and charitable donations.

The important question is not "is there an excessive profit?" The question is, "where does the profit money go?"

US Vice President Dick Cheney Accidentally Shoots Hunting Partner

Political pundits and cartoonists are loving it. Grist for many cartoons.

In some Islamic circles, cartoons would be considered more lethal than shotguns.

Cars can also be considered lethal weapons.

These things all float around human society. Guns, cars and cartoons.

Many people live around guns. It can be a way of life. Picture shows gun on display at a mom & pop cafe in central Oregon where I stopped to eat on my 2001 "round the northwest" bicycle tour. Gun was being raffled off to raise money for the local Lion's Club. That's something one is more apt to see in rural areas. Country values.

Accidents happen, but sometimes I think people are too confident in their abilities to control things. Adults are just kids playing with bigger toys. This certainly applies to cars, much of the time.

Many years ago, I remember a photo in newspapers. It showed Senators passing this gun around the committee room, holding it up, checking the sights for examination. A caption read something like, "the boys with the toys."

Even bicycles can be lethal, but much less likely. There is the phrase, "bikes not bombs."

As for cartoons, there is the phrase, "sticks and stones can hurt my bones, but names will never hurt me." I heard that in grade school.

I can't resist this. There is also a town called Cheney, Washington. Home of Eastern Washington University and another place I have passed through on bicycle.

Changes at 710 KIRO in Seattle

Oh, the automobile causes lots of problems. Even played it's role in talk show host Mike Webb's removal from the airwaves at KIRO. Aftermath of an accident and a case with an insurance company. (Details on that case in various medias around the region). Wouldn't it be better if people weren't so dependent on cars, with all the associated problems? Especially if one's politically liberal, makes more sense to walk, bike and use public transit. Cars are often the "weak link" in most people's lifestyles. Here are some of my thoughts on radio and automobiles on "Superbowl Sunday." I don't even know when the "Stupor Bowl" was to be played. I ask, "Seahawk's, are they baseball?" Anyway, on Superbowl Sunday I was curious when the big game would be on. Not that I really care, but so much of Western Washington is gaga over this. Tuned to 710 KIRO just as the "first quarter coin toss" landed. "Well, I guess it's right now." I turned off the radio and decided to go on a bike ride instead. It looked like Bellingham streets were all but vacated. "Everyone glued to a silly game?" I passed one yard where someone was yelling and kicking a lawn chair to smithereens. Something must have gone wrong in the game. The rest of the ride was peaceful as I am often in my thoughts. Time to wonder what happened to KIRO's evening talk show host Mike Webb. He's liberal with a loud "L," but now missing from KIRO's evening. Missing for a while now. Was the show pushed off by Seahawk fanfare and sports talk? A lot of big changes happening at KIRO recently, such as the loss of Erin Hart. I was not a huge fan of Mike Webb, but do think his voice, and perspective is worth hearing. He was a bit more confrontational than I like, often bullying callers he didn't see eye to eye with. I would have preferred a friendlier dialog, but did enjoy much of the show. Mike is a big critic of what is often called "Bush's war" in Iraq. It's called a "war for oil companies," but I seldom hear talk show hosts advocate bicycling, public transit, and / or voluntary simplicity. People tend to forget who buys that oil. Among liberal, as well as conservative perspectives, people often lose sight of the fact that, in part, "we have met the enemy and he is us." Commercial radio is a glamorous media, fast moving with lots of car ads. Kind of the antithesis of life in a slower lane. Interesting to note that the downside of automobile culture played a part in removing Mike Webb from KIRO's airwaves. A Google search brought me to a Seattle Times article dated December 28 05. It explained details of this car accident, not caused by Mike, but followed by a horrendous insurance hassle, or misunderstanding, that, for some reason, lead to the station removing Mike from its airwaves. Seems to confirm my impression that cars, while they have their good uses, can also be Pandora's boxes to great peril. Maybe in web casting, things can take on a gentler character. Also, for liberal talk radio, Air America keeps growing. Would be nice if Air America had some local content, rather than just from the network, but maybe someday. Things keep evolving. While not stridently liberal, or conservative, my favorite Seattle station is still KUOW. Carries networks like NPR and PRI, but also has a lot of very informative local talk.

Religion Has Been A Bad Boy And Had To Be Expelled From Public School

Yes I say Boy because religion was kind of being macho and aggressive. He kept trying to dominate with one point of view or another and not letting other points of view be heard in the class. He kept fighting others because he said, "there's only one way." Didn't listen to others.

So the teacher finally had to expel him.

It's not that religion can't go to school. If he behaved, he'd be okay. Many of our country's founding fathers (and mothers) were deeply religious, but many of them were too pushy about their diverging points of view. They basically had to kick religion out of school. There were so many different kinds of founding folks that they had to agree on a truce. They had to not let any one religious view try and take over the school.

Sometimes it was an uncomfortable truce, but they had little choice. They didn't want the school torn up with fighting kids.

Today the teacher says religion might be able to come back, but he has to learn to be multi-cultural. He might be allowed to come back if he is willing to take a class on "comparative religions." He has to learn that his many differing points of view are basically all okay. Even lack of a religious point of view is okay.

Old Street Light

Seen in a small town on last summer's bicycle trip. I am afraid to say which town for fear someone might try and swipe it for their antique collection.

It's a nice memory.

Reminds me of the light on my childhood street. It was just a regular light bulb with a filament, like old fashioned light bulbs. 300 watt.

On my childhood street, the bulb has since been replaced with a mercury vapor light (the blue) and then sodium vapor (the yellow).

That grainy glass lens, on my childhood street, is long gone, but the one in the picture remains.

Once I saw one of those lenses in an antique store with a big price tag.

Yes there is a lot going on in the news, but it can be restful to look back on a childhood memory. Something one often gets to do when traveling by bicycle and going slow enough to notice things like the street lights.

Life in the slow lane.

When I was growing up, I used to entertain myself by watching mercury vapor street lights turn on in a parking lot.

It was a small town.

At sundown the mercury lights would flicker and then give off a deep blue for about one minute. Soon the blue would gradually turn into a metallic, almost whitish blue of mercury vapor lights.

Some folks feel mercury vapor creates an abrasive light.

The incandescent light bulb on my street didn't have to warm up at all. Unlike mercury vapor it just came on, instantly; like an old living room lamp.

I dreamed of the day that I would see sodium vapor street lights with their warm yellow glow. We didn't have any in town.

Now just about all street lights are sodium vapor and they are taken for granted.

President Bush Refutes Fundamentalism?

It's an old law.

Going around that 1978 law requiring a court order before ordering wiretapping on US citizens.

Does this mean modern circumstances make old laws and prohibitions obsolete? Moral relativism?

I never thought I would hear someone, who allies himself with the religious right, advocate tossing the law just because it's old and possibly no longer useful in a modern situation.

I am not enough of an expert on that law to debate whether the President needed to bypass it, or not. Maybe the writers of that law put enough provisions it in so the court order could be obtained in a timely manner. Then the President was foolish to bypass it.

On the other hand, maybe that law means this. "When a terrorist is about to strike, you call the court and hear that you have to wait till the next business day, after 9." Too late.

I don't know, since I am not a legal expert, especially on that law.

Usually our nation's laws are more flexible and relevant to modern needs than so many of the old moral codes of religious fundamentalists.

It is interesting to hear Bush, who panders to the religious right, those guardians of rigid, laws and old morals, say, "it's an old law."

"Don't obey when it gets in the way."

That rhymes.

"Don't obey when it gets in the way." Could become the next Republican campaign slogan?

Moral relativism. It's getting some new converts.

Domestic partnership in Washington State

One piece of good news

Civil Rights legislation has just been extended to include sexual orientation and trans gender status in the state of Washington. It passed by 2 votes in Washington State Senate. Passed with a more comfortable margin in the state house. The governor plans to sign it. Good news.

Glut of highly educated career seekers, is America a doormat?

I once heard, on the radio, about someone from India coming to USA for a "better job." Soon after they got here, the better job was out sourced back to India.

They went back.

It seems like America can be a door mat. People coming here for opportunities and corporations sending jobs elsewhere.

Everyone just trying to make a buck.

Then I heard about another person who finds better job opportunities in Ecuador than USA (especially Bellingham). We have such a glut of educated people that his BA didn't mean much in this job market. In Ecuador, even though he isn't making a lot of money, his BA means more. He is writing, teaching and so forth. Things he would never qualify for in Bellingham with just a BA. Good place for him to start building a resume of experience at least.

It also helps to have roots there and speak the language, or better yet several languages.

Brokeback Mountain Movie Review

Well written, thought provoking, a very sad and tragic story.

Still, today, I know of so many gay people who have gotten married, heterosexually, like the two characters in Brokeback Mountain, even though it isn't, what could be called, their true "bliss path." The term "living life as a lie" is so common.

Spouses and kids suffer as well in these "marriages that shouldn't be." It's sad all the way around.

One can't blame the Brokeback characters for not really knowing what they wanted, after all it was Wyoming in 1963, before Stonewall, even.

Their gay relationship was troubled also as they suffered a lot of internal ambivalence over it, not to mention the threat of getting one's head bashed in with a crowbar for not toeing society's line.

A friend of mine wondered why they didn't just "drive their trucks out to California," San Francisco for instance, to better lives. Back in 1963, it is easy to believe that they wouldn't know anything about gay life anywhere else on the planet. Also, once marriage and kids are involved, there are commitments that are hard to walk away from.

The film followed their unhappy existences for 20 years, basically up to 1983 when more open gay role models could be found, but there was no hint of this in the film. The two main characters led insular lives seeming to have no knowledge of a larger gay world, or the news outside their own little worlds. They were focused on making a living, families, relationships and so forth; like a lot of people I know.

Good thing it was just fiction as this was such a sad tale, but many real people do seem to live these kind of "shadow lives." Living in the closet can be hard.

Following one's true "bliss path" is better, but it isn't always easy to know what that is, or to live it given society's pressures.

* The natural scenery was fantastic, but living that stifling life of small town America? - Harsh. Just passing through can be better. Above photo: Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains, from my 1991 bicycle tour across USA.

On Martin Luther King Day

I woke up to speeches, by Dr. Martin Luther King on my local NPR station today.

Part of one speech was about revolutions in technology and the social order. King was marveling about how the world is being knitted closer together with technical achievements like the jet engine. I heard him say, it is now possible to travel from Tokyo to Seattle with-in a day.

Due to the international dateline, and the speed of jet travel, someone in Seattle can ask a person arriving from Tokyo when they started their journey. The person from Tokyo can say the journey started "Tomorrow!" Crossing the international dateline can mean starting the trip Monday, Japan time and ending Sunday, US time.

King was discussing how the smaller world created by things like jet travel can also necessitate revolutions in human thinking where the entire world should become more like one brotherhood.

This speech was given many years ago. Now, we even have the Internet.

It was interesting to hear especially the day after Stardust space mission's successful landing with dust from a comet.

As our technology opens up potential for networking the whole world, so can our social thinking be inspired to strive for more of a world wide brotherhood.

I find this thinking more comforting than the idea that technology is evil. Of course, technology is a tool that can be used for either good, or bad, but it can inspire revolutions and changes in human thinking. That was a spirit of optimism which permeated the 1960s.

Stardust returns comet dust to Earth

Congratulations To NASA and the international scientists for successful return of Comet Dust to Earth

Screen shot from an old astronomy film and my flash.

The unmanned Stardust Mission has successfully returned it's sample of comet dust to Earth. This will help scientists explore cosmic questions about the formation of our solar system.

Asking cosmic questions brings the best out of humans.

Around the time of this great technical achievement, the news is also full of our failures here on Earth. A US missile hits house in Pakistan killing innocent people and missing the intended terrorist. Sometimes I feel like there is a war among fundamentalists. Traditional values "Christian capitalists," in the US, versus Islamic Fundamentalists.

I wish people would stop fighting over who has the best answers and look up at the stars more. Putting energy toward asking cosmic questions, with out already knowing the answers, is a step toward more peace in this world.

Tear Out Parking Lot, Put In Paradise? Proposed Bayview Tower in Bellingham

Playing the song "pave paradise put in a parking lot" backwards.

Picture shows balloon in parking lot where tall residential building is planned. Balloon was bringing a camera up to different levels, for "sneak previews" of what could be seen from various floors.

Some people will miss that parking lot. There was recently a meeting about the proposal to build a 23 story condominium building in downtown Bellingham.

Bay View Tower it's called.

Could be a paradise at least for the people living there and hopefully for folks around it as well.

I don't drive or park, so I wouldn't miss the parking lot.

Then there is another "Paradise," here in Whatcom County. It's a neighborhood, I hear, is sort of the opposite of true paradise. That area, called Paradise, is located out by Kendall. It's way out away from things like county sheriff services. Has had problems with crime and so forth.

Maybe that paradise is too far from what people call "Infra Structure." It's in an unincorporated area away from city services.

The building, planned for downtown, Bellingham would be where services are close by. "Building up," instead of "sprawling out," but some folks will miss that parking lot.

40 parking spaces would be removed.

The building will provide parking for it's tenants, but some of the businesses, around that neighborhood, are worried.

Maybe replacement parking can be built somewhere else; like in a downtown Bellingham parking project.

I keep wondering why people are so dependent on cars? Aren't we trying to live in a paradise? Wasn't it "parking" that took out Paradise?

The meeting was a mixture of comments about that building. Some favored while others opposed it.

Of course, to be fair, not all the opposition to that building was based on lost parking. Some people just think the place will be too tall. It could stick out like a sore thumb, but several other buildings are planned in the area. They would be farther south, along State Street.

I like tall buildings even though I would like to see some sort of observation deck, or restaurant open to the public. Something that a tall building can provide to the larger community.

Little is planned for public access yet, but plans are never totally cast in stone. One person, at the meeting, complained that the building might be just a, "vertical gated community."

Yes, I do think there is too much of that. Gated communities, that is. There is just too much fear and distrust between differing income groups in this society.

There is some low income housing planned across the street, also a bit north on State Street. A mix of housing types. That is what downtown is becoming.

I like that better than zoning all the rich folks in one neighborhood while the poor live in another, or the poor can't afford to live here at all.

I'm still fortunate to have affordable rent in Bellingham. I just take up one small room with a tiny bathroom. Room for my computer and bicycle. Wouldn't it be paradise if people could all live my way? It's easier if one has no pets. Just don't have too much stuff.

Building planners are trying to work with the neighborhood. They discussed things like bringing flex-car to Bellingham at that meeting. Also the builders plan to make it a model in "green building" architecture.

There would be a rooftop garden that is less of a drainage problem, for the city, than the asphalt parking lot that's there now. Trees and plantings actually absorb, and then slowly parcel out the run off. They do that better than the asphalt of old parking lots.

Plants growing on a building. Could that be putting paradise where the parking lot was before?

On the other hand, maybe population shouldn't be growing. We are more likely to be able to keep things the way they were if people, the world over, would just cut back on having kids. I remember when people could rent an apartment for $100 per month. They could buy a house for $20,000.

Now most houses are well over $300,000. Condos and apartments take up less yard space so they are a bit more reasonable.

We're just running out of space, here on planet Earth. North Dakota is still there, but we do need some space for wildlife, agriculture, watersheds and so forth.

I do hear that Whatcom County's growth rate has slowed down a bit in the past few years. It's a bit slower than it was in the late 1990s. Slowing down, and more of it is in-filling.

I also read that USA population growth rate between 2003 and 2025 is projected to be at around 1.33% each year. Bellingham's growth has been 1.6 % per year between 2000 and 2005. It's a bit higher than the national average, but not like "double the national average."

* Growth figures in Dec. 27 05 Herald.


Image I found from the net. Proposed Bay View Tower for Bellingham as visioned around 2006.

Are Our Civil Liberties Being Eroded by Working Too Much?

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin.

That quote is quite popular these days. Floating all around the Internet as well as on various radio talk shows, letters to the editor and the like.

I recently heard one talk show host ask, "why aren't people more outraged?" "Why aren't folks marching in the streets?"

Well, this might not be your typical answer, but it's true.

People are just too busy, working full time, or overtime.

Folks are too busy just commuting to their jobs. Getting up early in the morning, fighting traffic, arriving at home real late. Were is the time, or the energy, for anything else?

It seems like many are willing to give up liberty in exchange for security and creature comfort. Nice homes, higher paying jobs, good retirement plans. Is the price our liberty? Is there any time left for living?

Of course some people love their work so much that doing the job can be pure liberation, but others spend much of their lives doing work just to pay the bills not to mention all that time spent sitting in traffic.

I recently went to a web page of Franklin Quotes. The first quote to come up was that famous one about essential liberty and temporary safety. The next quote to come up is this:

"Eat to live, not live to eat."

Have people sold out their lives to so called financial security? Are they working themselves to death?

There is a growing movement to "Take Back Your Time," or at least take back some of it. How about a shorter workweek? How about longer vacations? More time for family, friends and community and activism. More time for a better world.

Here is a link to this friend's new blog.

People For A Shorter Workweek.

Demise of the Bellingham Weekly?

Update 2025. There is now the Cascadia Daily News

Bellingham has many publications.

Back when I was in college, I lived at a rooming house on High Street. The new publication called "YOU," "You Magazine," or something like that was around.

It must have felt that it was "The News Tailored To You."

Didn't last long, however.

One day, my rooming house manager found copies of "You" arranged in a fan on the floor. It was in front of the main door. Someone had distributed the paper in a fan, rather than a pile. There was one copy for each room in the house.

The manager said, "What on earth is this?" because it was in the way.

I said. "It's YOU!"

She gathered up the fan and said, "We only need one."

This is one way to make a hydrogen bomb. Ask Thermo the magician

Thermo came to my grade school several times during the mid 1960s in the form of a magnificent film called "Our Mr. Sun." Thinking was different back then. Today's folks might shutter at what was presented in grade schools back then, but revisiting this film today has a comforting feel. Sort of a blast from the past, like they might say on oldies radio. Also very interesting script writing in this 1956 documentary about the sun covering history, religion, science even promoting solar energy.

See some other parts of my "time machine" experience (via ordering the DVD from Amazon) below.

Picture is one of my attempts at a screen shot before I remembered to turn off the flash. It's kind of neat. Hydrogen Fusion, the power of the stars.

Living with lower LOF (level of service) on Bellingham streets

Traffic planning lingo. Stands for Level Of Service. "F" basically means traffic jam conditions, at least during rush hours.

In this age of paperwork, Bellingham city planning staff is being ask to set LOS standards for various streets and intersections in the city. Level A would be the least congested.

The city is starting to accept the reality that many streets will become, or are already at, "level F."

This has citizen groups outraged; like they think city government can really do something about it. Similar to the Bellingham and Whatcom County's growth estimates, these are all guidelines that planners work with. The numbers become political footballs, as if governments can really control this.

The best laid plans are subject to market forces. One can talk city hall into adopting low population growth goals, but the market dictates anyway, if floods of folks keep moving in, having kids, and so forth.

Maybe we should adopt socialism, but I am not really advocating that.

So now there is a citizen ground swell against Level F, but I fear the city can't really do that much about it.

Adding more lanes to some arterials is one solution, but this costs tons of money. For instance, to widen a street, one often must "buy out" and tear down adjacent buildings. Since around 1975, the cost of buying property has gone up, possibly 14 fold. A $25,000 1970s house could be $350,000 today!

Taxes anyone?

Then there is another possible solution which I fear could be tried. Limiting the number of housing units built. Denying building permits. Creating a housing shortage.

Problem is, population keeps growing. Towns that limit housing units often become places where the billionaires are chasing out the millionaires. More realistically maybe the multi millionaires are chasing out the mere millionaires.

Is this the kind of city we want, where people like me, who never afforded home ownership, must leave? Currently I read that over 50% of Bellingham's people are renters.

Until socialism and nationwide population control comes (I'm not really advocating socialism at least) there isn't much the city can do about LOS F. Not much that wouldn't be painful at least.

It's up to the people, and market forces, to prevent traffic gridlock. The best way to avoid LOS F is for people to walk, bicycle or use public transit.

Also the city should, and is actually starting to, think about what kind of development is being encouraged. Building up, instead of sprawling out, makes it easier for people to avoid dependency on the automobile.

Our Mr. Sun, the movie revisited

It's quite the film and a part of my formative childhood years. I saw it in grade school several times back in the mid 1960s. It was a 1956 classic with Bell Telephone Company backing.



On Youtube. 56 minutes.

Such a film would not likely be shown in public schools today as it mentions religion, but only in some gentle ways. Such as saying, Science is one way of reaching for the light beyond.

Not being much into movies, I surprised myself by ordering the DVD after discovering it's available at Amazon. Haven't seen this for almost 40 years, but still remember it well.

A great story about two film makers trying to put together a documentary about the sun. They want some splash to make it interesting. The fiction writer conjures up a magic screen and invents some characters; "Father Time" and "Mr. Sun." These imaginary characters just about take over the studio as they argue with the film makers about how to proceed.

Mr. Sun does not want his story told as nothing but a bunch of facts, figures, charts and numbers. He's a romantic, says Father Time. The Sun's ego tells a story of being worshiped as a god. From the ancient Egyptians to the Greeks, worshiping the Sun God.

There seems to be even a hint of gay script writing. Remember this was 1956, but Mr. Sun liked the Greek perceptions of him best.

Apollo the handsome sun god.

It even showed a frontal nude statue of that god. Mr. Sun proclaimed, "Oh, that was for me, I loved it." Going across the sky playing beautiful music, but then along came someone to spoil it all. Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher who felt that the sun was not a god, but a hot stone. He was imprisoned for that belief, and Mr. Sun was not at all sorry for him. However man (remember this is before modern feminism) was starting to fall for his mind. Thinking began spreading like the measles. To the Arabs with their numbers and so forth.

As the story goes on, much of the interesting science is described, as much as they knew in 1956.

Hydrogen fusion, the mystery of chlorophyll.

Animation shows this fussy cook mysteriously using sunlight, to make sugar from carbon dioxide and water molecules. Proclaiming, "and the Russians didn't invent me either, I invented myself" Mr. Chlorophyll seems to not like being filmed.

Quite far sighted, for 1956, there is a discussion of world population growth. Also a segment about how we are depleting our storehouse of fossil fuels. Stored wealth that Mr. Sun has showered down on us over billions of years.

Like depleting a giant bank account there wasn't that much worry when the average withdrawal was modest, in the 1500's, but by 1975, look how large the withdrawal bags will be. We'll have to learn how to use Mr. Sun's energy more directly. Quite a few early solar energy projects are shown, including a solar heated home in Massachusetts.

History, science, religion and our constant sense of wonder are stirred into a great mix.

I feel very blessed to have had this in my childhood. Now it is a treat to see again after all these years.

Isolationism; a case for some of it

Here in America, there are folks who's minds are occupied by Middle Eastern politics, yet they don't know how to get across their own city with out going on the freeway.

They can argue the affairs of Palestinians and Israelis, complain about greedy oil companies, or talk about the need to maintain stable oil supplies from the Persian Gulf, but they don't know which bus to catch, in their own neighborhoods. They don't know what surface streets are good for bicycling or walking in their own back yards.

There are both "red state" and "blue state" folks who jet around the world, seek enlightenment from the mountains of Nepal, but haven't paid enough attention to finding that path right here in the good old USA.

Some folks have written off the USA as a hopeless rat race. They rejoin, reluctantly, after getting off the jet from some "third world" paradise.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Put your psychological energy into the world around you. Start your trip at your front door.

Ride a bike, take the bus, support alternative living in your own place. It's closer than Nepal.

This can also make a world wide difference.

Falling off the fence

Before the second Iraq war that toppled Saddam Hussein, I was sitting on the fence. Sitting on the fence as to whether it was an okay idea or not.

Now, it looks more and more like a bad idea to have started that war.

For many years, I have had a sneaking suspicion that this nation's fundamentalist "traditional values" folks have had a fascination with their "like kind" in other parts of the world. Our "Moral Majority" folks seem to be drawn to the affairs of similar folks in the Middle East. Our fundamentalists seem to have an interest in similar attitudes about family, religion and so forth in Islamic countries. Maybe they have some sort of respect for "bull headedness."

Trying to "fix" the Middle East is something that the US government has been involved in for years. To tweak it away from it's more extreme versions of fundamentalism; bring "democracy" there.

It doesn't seem to be working.

I hear that Saddam Hussein's brutal rule may now be replaced with a brutal Shiite theocracy.

We have played a role in bringing that on. It may be no better than Hussein. It could expand the influence of Iranian Shiite fundamentalists. Maybe we have helped to create another monster.

The "Christian Right," in USA, has entertained a fascination with trying to "fix" fundamentalist cultures in the middle east. The problems seem beyond our capability and each year high birth rates bring more and more angry young folks into the situation. Few are even discussing the "population" aspect of this situation. One can't expect fundamentalists to care about problems related to population. It's just not in their dogma, both here in the US, or abroad.

The problems just get bigger and bigger and eventually we could become overwhelmed.

Some say, "a fool is born each day." One can also say, "more terrorists are born each day."

We might be better off finding a way out of this growing quagmire.

One talk show host, I listen to, says "you can not occupy an Arab country." "It just doesn't work." He suggests withdrawing.

Also, to protect the USA, this talk show host suggests having a rapid deployment force that can still "take out" (so to speak) serious dangers if they arise in the world. Still being able to prevent weapons of mass destruction, or large terrorist camps, if they arise.

Of course, this means, for the most part, except for the possibility of a rapid deployment, we withdraw.

This could also mean a period of less stability in world oil supplies.

I think we are better off putting our efforts into making USA energy independent. We need to pay more attention to our domestic front. There are a lot of things that need improving in this society. We have enough of our own hang ups so we aren't in a very good position to try and solve all the world's problems.

We are like someone who can't swim trying to save someone who is drowning.

This may sound somewhat pessimistic, but here is a "light at the end of the tunnel" kind of thought. This war seems like another Vietnam. Remember what happened when we finally gave up on the Vietnam War?

There was a period of infighting between different factions of "Communism." Vietnam and Cambodia fought one another. Unfortunately, innocent people died, but after a while, the problems sorted themselves out. Vietnam seems to be at peace now.

Maybe we are just trying too hard to solve problems beyond our capabilities. There are a lot of things we need to do for our own country; like finding ways to more happiness with less consumption of world resources. Newer, "better" technologies, reinventing urban planning, alternative transportation.

Think of all the Americans who die each year in automobile accidents. Things can be better here.

If we pay more attention to our "home front," we might put ourselves in a better position to be a model to the world.