Neighbors Celebrate New Park

This is my final story from the June 2010 ending of Journalism 307 at WWU. It was written after the opening of Highland Heights Park in the Alabama Hill neighborhood, which turned out to be a really great and fun day of talking to the neighbors!

Neighbors Celebrate New Park

This past weekend was a large family event for the Alabama Hill neighborhood. The grand reopening celebration of Highland Heights Park, on Vining Street, took place on a warm Saturday and many were in attendance.

The neighborhood council had proposed the renovation of Highland Heights three years ago. After two months of recent construction, children are able to enjoy the new playground equipment. Brian Walker, a neighbor and father who "got the ball rolling" on the park project, began the ceremony by thanking the neighbors and acknowledging that the park's completion was a team effort.

Walker's speech was cut short and muted by the 20 children lined up behind him, anxiously waiting to cut the golden ribbon along the front side of the playground. Another project leader for the neighborhood, Isabel Farquhar, led the children in the ribbon cutting.

“Remember, these scissors are not for cutting your t-shirts or your friends' hair!” she reminded them. And at Farquhar's count of three, the children snipped. The piece that fell into their hands, they were told, was their personal souvenir to remember the day.

Based on popular vote, the favorite new toy is the ‘Loopy Whoop,’ a dizzying playground addition where children continually spun each other. The new swing set took a close second and the other major addition is the colorful, new play structure.

There was a springy horse that was left as a “relic” from the old Highland Heights. In addition to safer playground equipment, renovation also included a larger and more level grass field.

“Before, this area was just a swampy hill. It could be fun if what you wanted to do was roll down a hill, but that's not the point of a park! And plus, you’d be all muddy afterward anyway,” noted Anna Malpica, a mother to two children in the neighborhood.

According to Malpica and the other adults in attendance, the leveled out field is one of the greatest renovations. Molly Maguire, a landscape architect for The Philbin Group, helped in the park's new design and said that the entire playground is more level because it is sitting 2-feet higher in elevation.

Neighbor Rob Poole lives up the street from Vining and doesn't have any young children, yet he was still excited about the reopening. To him, the park was one of those things that “you don't notice or appreciate until it's gone.” Poole called the park a “little gym” where he can play basketball or do yoga.

Throughout the two-hour ceremony, which began at noon, there was a turnout of nearly 75 people—a majority of which were children. Steve Amos and his two children live up one street from the park.

“My daughter asked me earlier in the week if we could go to this park celebration and I was like, 'Wait, what park?’” he laughed. Amos admitted that he didn’t even know the park existed until his daughter shared this information with him, which she heard from a classmate at school.

Highland Heights is a smaller area and is surrounded by trees and houses, making neighbors even more exclusively proud of getting it renovated. Donna-Marie Cahill and her husband, David Cahill, have been residents along the park's perimeter since 1987.

“This is not a neighborhood, it's a family,” she said. David Cahill agreed that the efforts to pull the park together have brought the neighbors closer. He believes it is the people that make his neighborhood great.

The celebration included hula hooping by both adults and kids, an inflatable Moon Bounce, barbecuing, and chairs set up on the re-painted basketball court for the adults to sit and mingle.

“I think today is more about what this park has already done for the community, rather than about what it will do,” Malpica said. “The city was getting rid of the broken equipment, with no thought of replacement and it was our neighbors who really stood up and rejected that. This really reminds us why we have neighborhood associations.”

The New Tigers in Town

The Alabama Hill neighborhood welcomes a new beginning Boy Scout troop.

A new group of Boy Scouts, Troop 4044, recently assembled in the Alabama Hill neighborhood.

The boys are known as "tiger cubs," the youngest level in the Boy Scouts of America system. Because of the natural "ebb and flow" of kids in the neighborhood, residents agree that the new group of Tigers is an exciting addition.

"There hadn't been a new den in the neighborhood for a while, so this was really exciting news for all of us," said Jim Boyle, an Alabama Hill resident and father of tiger cub, Jackson.

Six boys are needed to form a den. This number was reached in the fall of last year, said Boyle. The new tiger cubs of Alabama Hill represent the start of a new group of Boy Scouts at the first level.

Boys enter the Boy Scouts during their elementary years. They typically begin in the first grade, as tiger cubs. The boys will then graduate to become wolves, bears, and they ultimately graduate as “Webelo."

Scouts in Bellingham
According to Duane Rhodes, Scout Executive of the Mount Baker Boy Scouts, the first Alabama Hill troop was chartered in December of 1970. Because of recent electronic databasing, however, there is no record for start dates of every den in the neighborhood.

Although the interviewed cub parents could not say what a Webelo was, Rhodes was also able to provide this definition.

“Webelos means ‘WE'll BELOyal Scouts.’ It used to stand for ‘Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout’ which was the old progression of becoming a Boy Scout,” he said.

Bob Hook is the current scout master of Troop 4044. Just as his own tiger cub will graduate this year, Hook will also retire as leader of the tiger den. Another parent will have to replace Hook in order to continue a new group of tiger cubs.

Rhodes said the process of implementing a new leader is fairly simple. The applicant must be a father of a scout and if approved, he will go through training. The process lasts for a few months, depending when the parent begins, before the gathering of the new den.

"The Boy Scouts program is great because it teaches our young members how to live well in the community," Hook said. In addition to learning outdoor skills—like tying knots and making fires—the boys also assist in community cleanup.

The most memorable event for Boyle was when he and Jackson, along with all the other tiger cubs and their parents, helped pick up litter at Whatcom Falls Park earlier this year.

Hook believes the boys learn a sense of dedication and accomplishment through the program.
Both Hook and Boyle expressed the constant necessity for scout recruitment. Currently, the Scouts advertise through fliers or bulletins in schools and by word of mouth.

New recruits
There is a great need for recruitment especially when it comes to the Bear Den, the third-grade level.

Hook said that boys are simply more interested in sports than Scouts during that age, and that the low “bear-year” number never seems to progress.

"In my particular block, there are only six boys. It really does depend on having the right numbers—including ages—at the right time," Boyle said of troop development.

The last Alabama Hill Troop 4044 meeting of the year, takes place next Wednesday at Silver Beach Elementary School.

Don’t be Afraid to Call in Crime

Residents of the lower part of Alabama Hill have consistent crime complains, however, it is up to their reporting to slow the crime rates down.

To bring neighborhood crime to police awareness, Alabama Hill residents must become involved and report the suspicious acts they witness, officials say.

Jeeter Brock, a resident on the lower half of the hill, has been living in the area for three years. He summed up his time in the neighborhood as “absolutely terrible.” There have been multiple instances of gunfire in the early morning, yet Brock said that police never arrive during these occurrences.

When asked about his conversations with the law enforcement, Brock admitted that he has never actually called in the crime he has witnessed. Brock's reasoning for not doing so is his safety. The way he put it, he doesn't want his name leaked for the wrong reason.

The reason of “not getting involved,” is a major issue for residents like Brock, and for officials trying to keep the neighborhood safe.

“When there is suspicious activity in the neighborhood, the police can't do anything about [the mere suspicion],” noted Dean Haskins, a real estate agent and neighborhood representative.

“People must continually, repeatedly and always call in what they see,” he said.

Haskins described how individuals might witness suspicious activity and call it in the first time they see it. However, through pattern, the chances of the resident calling in a similar act a second time is not likely.

Past experiences
Jimmy Kelsey, assistant chairman of the neighborhood association, talked about recent, long-term police stakeouts.

“The Bellingham Police Department told me about stakeout groups at the 7-11 who were part of a ‘lookout’ system being used to keep track of any cars going into the area,” Kelsey said of Brock’s residential streets.

With successful drug busts in Alabama Hill this past year, neighborhood officials are hoping to encourage residents to take action in order to prevent the emergence of additional—particularly drug-related—crime.

Near Brock’s home at a small store outlet, is the Little Bugs Consignment shop. Sarah Blethen, an employee, said that immediate police response in the 7-11parking lot is not a rare occurrence.
However, she has witnessed suspicious individuals on the nearby residential streets, where police do not commonly show up. As with Brock, Blethen prefers not to involve herself with these suspicious incidents.

Police involvement
Haskins, whose real estate office is located a few doors down from Little Bugs, disagrees with the common residential attitude of Brock and Blethen.

“I would say they're doing a good job,” Haskins said of the Bellingham Police. The police, judges and other law enforcement are repeatedly invited to the neighborhood's quarterly meetings in order to hear the concerns of the residents, he said.

Brock admits that he has seen police cars with their lights off, parked along his street in the early morning. Brock’s point is that stakeouts are not the same as in-the-moment police arrival. He believes there is not enough being done to rid of the criminal and drug activity in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood officials argue that there is no police arrival because there are no residents calling in the crime. Without residential reporting, nothing can be done about neighborhood situations like Brock's. While people like Kelsey and Haskins advocate citizen patrol, Brock would prefer that all patrolling be left to law enforcement in order to protect the resident’s safety.

How to fight off suspicious activity
“Right now it's about deterrence,” said Brock. “I'll do what I can to keep it all away—I've installed cameras and used lithium grease for the fence—but I don't want to be involved in something bigger. I have my wife to protect.”

Neighborhood representative, Doug Bestle, encouraged residents at the most recent Alabama Hill meeting to wave ‘hello’ to those they find suspicious.

“In a tight-knit neighborhood, we know when someone doesn’t belong,” Bestle said. He argued that a friendly approach is an alternative and much safer way of tackling the situation, as he understands how terrifying confrontation can be.

The Bellingham Police Department has always offered ways to report suspicious activity. When reporting to the police department directly, residents will be asked for their name and contact information. However, there are various tip lines listed on the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office website in which callers can remain anonymous.

Report suspicious activity to:

• Whatcom County Sheriff's Office anonymous criminal activity tip line:
  (360)715-7459 and 1-866-456-2157
• Whatcom County Sheriff's Office anonymous drug activity tip line:
  (360)676-6952