Moving to Bellingham, need some good information please... (Seattle, Vancouver: sales, renting)

[bellenotte]

My husband, my two dogs and I are planning on moving to the Bellingham area. We are planning on renting so the housing market isn't our biggest concern. We both love the outdoors so that is why Bellingham sparked our interest. Can someone give us an idea on what it is like to live in Bellingham. For instance, safety, community, shopping, dinning, etc.
Anything you have will be greatly appreciated!!

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by bellenotte

My husband, my two dogs and I are planning on moving to the Bellingham area. We are planning on renting so the housing market isn't our biggest concern. We both love the outdoors so that is why Bellingham sparked our interest. Can someone give us an idea on what it is like to live in Bellingham. For instance, safety, community, shopping, dinning, etc.
Anything you have will be greatly appreciated!!

"safety" -- phbbt, no problems!
"community" -- pretty liberal in town ... less so in surrounding farm towns
"shopping" -- if you are into consumerism, you won't find anything lacking
"dining" -- fair ... but Seattle is 90 minutes south ... Vancouver B.C. 60 minutes north ... endless cuisine those cities
"outdoors" -- limitless ... heh, IF you can stand the infernal, incessant, gray and being soaking wet 8 months a year

[Dogs4us]

I have to take issue with ya, nullgeo! There isn't any shopping here at all. I'm not "into consumerism" as much as many folks are, but Bellis Fair Mall is one of the worst ever, and there are only a few stores in downtown and Fairhaven that I shop at. The lack of "good shopping" is one of my biggest complaints about Bellingham. Plus, we're in our 40's and there's no good place here to go out, listen to music, have a drink or two and dance. It's all about hip hop, electronic music and rap...on a Saturday night - particularly in the winter - there just is nothing to do here.
As for safety, there ARE problems. I'm wondering where you live, N? We live in a really nice, middle class, established neighborhood and there have been quite a few car prowlings and break ins; my son's car was broken into as it sat in our driveway and his brand new amps were stolen. I work in social services here, and meth and crack use are rampant. Don't even think of going downtown at night.
But it is absolutely beautiful, and the hiking is first rate.
Ferndale is conservative; Lynden is un-BELIEVABLY conservative. Bellingham is liberal with a bit of a hippie vibe.
Dogs aren't allowed at the farmer's market here - the only farmers market I've ever seen where that's the case. There are a couple of nice dog parks, though.
Anything else you'd like to know?

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by Dogs4us

I have to take issue with ya, nullgeo! There isn't any shopping here at all. I'm not "into consumerism" as much as many folks are, but Bellis Fair Mall is one of the worst ever, and there are only a few stores in downtown and Fairhaven that I shop at. The lack of "good shopping" is one of my biggest complaints about Bellingham. Plus, we're in our 40's and there's no good place here to go out, listen to music, have a drink or two and dance. It's all about hip hop, electronic music and rap...on a Saturday night - particularly in the winter - there just is nothing to do here.
As for safety, there ARE problems. I'm wondering where you live, N? We live in a really nice, middle class, established neighborhood and there have been quite a few car prowlings and break ins; my son's car was broken into as it sat in our driveway and his brand new amps were stolen. I work in social services here, and meth and crack use are rampant. Don't even think of going downtown at night.
But it is absolutely beautiful, and the hiking is first rate.
Ferndale is conservative; Lynden is un-BELIEVABLY conservative. Bellingham is liberal with a bit of a hippie vibe.
Dogs aren't allowed at the farmer's market here - the only farmers market I've ever seen where that's the case. There are a couple of nice dog parks, though.
Anything else you'd like to know?

Well, there you go folks -- Einstein was right: the universe IS relative ... and different people have different perceptions of the same places.

Here's how I see the character of responses that people from away [who are considering moving here] are interested in:
they are not interested in my personal anecdotal experiences ...
they are interested in generalizations based on common local experiences.
So, if I had my car stereo stolen in front of my house, the question is: is that a common experience? ... and the answer to that in the Bellingham area is: no, -- it happens -- but it is not common to the vast majority -- look at Bellingham's crime statistics, not individual anecdotes -- the place is average -- and violent crime is quite moderate -- furthermore, as for meth and crack, pretty much serious everywhere, Bellingham is not at all considered a hot, trouble spot by the state or local authorities. Is there meth and crack here? ... yep -- find a place that is free of it and let us all know where that is.

Consumer shopping? Again, you liking a selection of specialty stores or entertainment venues that aren't perhaps found in abundance here, is not the point of the OP's question. Bellingham is on the I-5 corridor, only 90 minutes from Seattle, and 60 from Vancouver, B.C., two world-class cities ... there isn't a big box or convenience store unrepresented in the area ... with multiple locations ... nothing inconvenient about finding near anything of common usage ... there are also many many many small specialty shops all around the area. As an example I'll point out building supplies and hardware: Home Depot, Lowes, and at least 8 excellent, fully stocked lumber yards, a wide choice of ACE and TrueValue hardware stores in every surrounding community -- and especially: Hardware Sales, perhaps the most remarkable hardware retail location in Western Washington -- if they don't have what you're looking for, you wouldn't even find it in Seattle.

Name your category and you will find at least the basics here, as anywhere along any interstate corridor in the nation. Bellingham is hardly a 'lost backwater' village in the swamps (I WISH IT WAS!).

As for where I live, that has nothing to do with anything the OP would need to know as long as my general info is on target ... but since you asked, I live on Lummi Island, which IS nearly crime-free, although even here we have a few meth and crackheads and a couple chain saws have been stolen over the years from the back of someone or other's pick-up truck. I shop and do business in Bellingham multiple times weekly. Two of my four kids live and work in Bellingham. (They've Never had their car-stereos stolen ... although, years ago I had mine stolen on the reservation where I sometimes park near our ferry dock ... I hardly consider that a crime wave statistic). I've lived here 10 years. Lived in Seattle for 30 before that ... no crime there worth noting beyond the ordinary in America, either. Grew up in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. as a youth -- uh, yeps, crime aplenty there alrighty

None of the categories that the OP asked about have any significantly negative statistics to report. Bellingham is as beautiful, lively, artful, fun, and well-stocked as any community its size ... more so than many.

The issues to think about before deciding on a move here are:
can you handle the short winter daylight and generally gloomy weather that persists for most of the year?
and can you be happy in a place that is so nice that development growth will trample the area during your years here?

[Dogs4us]

Ok...so you start your post, N, talking about different folks having different perspectives...then go off on a rant about how MINE are wrong, or irrelevant, or just plain not interesting. C'mon!
My perspective is different - probably because I don't live on Lummi Island! I live here, work here, play here, and speaking of work, as I mentioned, I work in the trenches and get a look at the "dark underbelly," so to speak. Like just today I heard about several areas in Fairhaven (yes, Fairhaven!) that are rife with dealers of all sorts. A friend who is a cop said that "things are really getting bad here." Again, a different perspective, one that's a bit more connected than your view of Bellingham from Lummi Island might be!
But, you're entitled to your perspective and I don't intend to wag my finger at you and tell you how irrelevant your points are.
I must point out, though, that I don't consider "big box stores" to be "good shopping!" ICK.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by Dogs4us

Ok...so you start your post, N, talking about different folks having different perspectives...then go off on a rant about how MINE are wrong, or irrelevant, or just plain not interesting. C'mon!
My perspective is different - probably because I don't live on Lummi Island! I live here, work here, play here, and speaking of work, as I mentioned, I work in the trenches and get a look at the "dark underbelly," so to speak. Like just today I heard about several areas in Fairhaven (yes, Fairhaven!) that are rife with dealers of all sorts. A friend who is a cop said that "things are really getting bad here." Again, a different perspective, one that's a bit more connected than your view of Bellingham from Lummi Island might be!
But, you're entitled to your perspective and I don't intend to wag my finger at you and tell you how irrelevant your points are.
I must point out, though, that I don't consider "big box stores" to be "good shopping!" ICK.

heh ... I agree with you that big box stores are less than exciting shopping ... nevertheless they provide much of what most folks require in basic ... and they are not the sum-total of shopping available here ... my example of Hardware Sales illustrates the point. There are many other specialty shops as well; just not near as many as you can find by taking a short, simple drive down the freeway a bit.

As for "working in the trenches": that is probably where your perspectives are formed ... you work with the "underbelly" ... cops do in their way, too ... and that becomes their primary view of the world around them ... for folks interested in moving in from away, as for most folks who don't work exclusively with the troubled segment of the local population, what you see everyday is not going to be the common community experience.

As for living on Lummi Island, it hardly insulates me from reality. I can match war stories with pretty much anybody anywhere. Disabled combat vet who has raised four children, held dying loved ones as well as strangers, youth spent in big east-coast and mid-west inner-cities, crippled in brutal accidents, worked like a dog for over 45 years, as a business owner employed dozens of employees including drug-addicts who robbed me blind ... I gotta list a mile long. There isn't anything about the "dark-underbelly" of life I haven't lived in spades.

Bellingham is a mild, beautiful, fair, and safe community. The "dark side" exists everywhere. You have my sympathy and appreciation that that is your reality for now. Hope it changes for you when you need it to ... just as I changed my realities when it was time for me.

best regards.

[Dogs4us]

Thank you for acknowledging my perspective this time around. I do know that it's jaded by my profession, but I've also seen past some of the Mayberry-type facade. I too have "been around the block," although obviously not as much as you. But I really don't think it's as safe here as you seem to believe.

Oh, and thanks for your service with the military; hats off to you!