Archive for June, 2012
Here’s a few noteworthy items from the Bellingham building permit applications and public meeting announcements:
Bellingham permits accepted (but not issued)
– At 101 Samish Way, an application was accepted to put in a new Subway restaurant.
Bellingham permits issued:
– At 3100 Woburn St., a permit to put in an elevated walkway between two buildings for Peoples Bank.
– At 120 W. Holly St., tenant improvement permits were approved to put in West Holly Market into the former Bandito’s space.
Public meeting notices:
– On Tuesday, June 26, a public meeting will be held for a new project that involves building 16 townhouses with each comprising of 2 bedroom and 1.5 baths at 3401 Northwest Ave. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Shuksan Middle School cafeteria.
– On Tuesday, June 26, a public meeting will be held to introduce a new project: Construction of three new six-plex residential buildings and preparations for a 24-unit residential pad at 4322 Tull Road (just south of Walmart). The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at 333 Calluna Court, room 105.
Whatcom Community College, the NW Innovation Resource Center and Western Washington University’s Small Business Development Center are joining forces to launch an entrepreneurship program at WCC.
The program, titled Launch and Build Your Business, starts in September and will help people start new ventures and develop their business ideas. The course blends on-line instruction with live workshops and support services.
The online course content from is self-paced and will be augmented by the monthly live seminars. The seminars are led by experts from NWIRC and SBDC, which will tie-in course content with presentations by local business owners and business experts.
The entire program cost is $239; registration starts in August through WCC’s Continuing Education Program. Pre-course information sessions will be held at 115 Unity Street, Suite 101, noon-1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 25 and 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 22.
Here’s the latest list of companies that have registered to do business in Bellingham (June 6-11). Most are new to Bellingham, but some are existing companies that have changed its address or ownership:
James R Doran Attorney, 100 Pine St #205, Bellingham
Bigge Crane & Rigging Company, 221 30th St NE, Auburn
Cardno ERI, Environmental Resolutions Inc., 815 Industry Drive, Tukwila
Gas prices continue to drop in Bellingham.
The average price for a gallon of gas was $4.19 in the Bellingham metro area on Friday, June 15, according to AAA Washington. That’s down 18 cents from a week earlier but is still up 25 cents compared to a year ago.
Bellingham’s gas price remains the highest among major metro areas in Washington. The next highest is in Seattle, at $4.11 a gallon. The least expensive gas among metro areas was in Spokane, at $3.90.
Diesel prices also continue to drop. On June 15 the average price was $4.04 a gallon in Bellingham, down 22 cents from a year ago. Bellingham’s diesel price was the second lowest among Washington’s major metro areas; Vancouver had the least expensive at $4 a gallon.
A variety of celebrations are taking place at three Bellingham businesses:
– Bellingham Finders Keepers, specializing in a wide range of vintage and collectible products, is opening at 10 a.m. Friday, June 15 at 1840 James St.
Bellingham Finders Keepers will buy, sell, trade and barter goods, according to co-owners Brent Spaulding of Ferndale and Rodger Alexander Jr. and Adam Scholtz of Bellingham. The store also will locate items sought by customers.
Bellingham Finders Keepers also offers more than 3,000 video games. Within a month, it will become an eBay Drop Off store, helping customers sell their goods on eBay. Other services being added by the end of July include appraisals, plus repairs of video-game consoles, iPads and iPods.
A grand opening is planned Saturday, June 16. Free on barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs will be offered from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and door prizes will be given away throughout the day.
Bellingham Finders Keepers, located in front of Diehl Ford and just off the Interstate 5 Exit 254 (State Street/Iowa Street) interchange, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 360-325-1154 or visit its page on Facebook.
– Jeckyl & Hyde Deli and Ale House on James Street (across from Hardware Sales) is having a belated grand opening celebration 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 15. There will be t-shirt and other prize giveaways and sales on pulled pork and brisket sandwiches.
– On Saturday, June 16 Eagles Games will celebrate its 25th anniversary. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will include sales, door prizes and free role-playing game day and demonstrations. Some of the free products include Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder and Battletech. Quantities are limited.
Eagles Games has been in Bellingham since 1987 and is at 221 W. Holly St. For details, call 360-671-1913.
Here’s a news release from the Washington State Employment Security Department, with unemployment stats for May. The Whatcom County numbers are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 19:
OLYMPIA – Washington’s jobs picture brightened significantly in May, with estimated net growth of 11,700 jobs, according to the state’s Employment Security Department.
The estimated unemployment rate also rose slightly, from April’s revised rate of 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent in May.
Employment Security economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman said the higher unemployment rate was caused primarily by more unemployed people re-entering the job market. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the estimated number of unemployed people who have looked for work within the past four weeks by the total civilian labor force.
Here are some interesting items that are in the latest Bellingham building permit filings:
Accepted (but not yet issued):
– A permit to enlarge the seating and parking areas of Wonderful Buffet restaurant at 4365 Meridian St. by removing a structure.
– At 117 N. Samish Way (in the former Arby’s restaurant) a tenant improvment permit was filed to put in a nail salon.
Issued permits:
– A tenant improvement improvement for the Whatcom Farmers Coop, which is going into the former Market at Fairhaven building at 3125 Old Fairhaven Parkway.
– At 3930 Meridian St. (in Meridian Village, near DeWaard & Bode) tenant improvement permits were approved for a new Carter’s clothing store.
Known by many for its moose logo, Bellingham’s Big Fresh Media has come out with its own moose sighting app. Here’s a news release from the company:
Bellingham based web development company, Big Fresh, is pleased to announce the completion of the mobile app Moose Sightings. The app, which is currently available for free download at the App Store, is one of many apps developed by Big Fresh.
The Moose Sightings app allows users to take a photo, or select an existing photo, of anything moose related and post it to a collective photo gallery located at www.moosesightings.com. Big Fresh hopes the app will create the world’s largest collection of moose photos.
“It’s fun and entertaining” says Mark Lee, Co-Founder of Big Fresh. “We love moose so much we put one in our logo and have quite the eclectic collection around our office. Over the years, we have come to realize that we aren’t the only moose fanatics around – there’s a ton of us. Creating the Moose Sightings app seemed like the perfect way to bring all of us together,” says Lee.
To download a free copy of the app, visit moosesightings.com.
Artisans NW Market, a company that features products from local artists and farmers, will be operating a market on Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer at the Depot Market Square.
The first market day is Tuesday, June 12. The market will be open from noon to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the end of September. It will feature products from northwest artists, farmers and food vendors.
Rick Alcantara, who is organizing this market, said in a news release that the markets’ first season will have a few special events during this first season, including a Garlic Madness and Salmon Festival celebration.
“We believe in giving all of the artists, farmers and creative food-makers, as well as our talented muscians, the opportunity to have a venue to share their creative works with the public,” Alcantara said in the news release.
For details about the market, visit artisansnwmarket.com.
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