Paws Awhile Store to Leave Fairhaven Location

            Fairhaven’s Paws Awhile, a Whatcom Humane Society gift shop, will have to leave its location in the Village Inn building at the end of June 2014 due to higher renting rates.

Thea Mancha, store manager at Paws Awhile, said that the future of the gift shop will remain uncertain until the Whatcom Humane Society holds its first board meeting of the New Year in January. 

             Christina Beirith, a volunteer at Paws Awhile, said that customers voice concern for the store when they see the “For Rent” sign in the gift shop’s window. Although it is uncertain if the shop will find a new location or have to close, Beirith was of the opinion that its current location was the best for the store. “At this point, it’s a little doubtful that we’ll find a place as perfect as here,” said Beirith. “If we do move, it will be a completely new ballgame.”

            Cindi Williamson, a bookseller at Village Books, said she is sad to hear that Paws Awhile will no longer be across the street from where she works. “I assumed they’d always be there,” said Williamson. “It’d be nice if someone could step forward and help them out.” Williamson added that Village Books is a pet friendly store and many of the pets that come in to the bookstore go across the street to Paws Awhile.

            At the back of the Paws Awhile gift shop is a bulletin board that displays information about the Whatcom Humane Society, animal services and events for animals and pets. Jo Pullen, another volunteer at Paws Awhile, mentioned that the bulletin is a good resource for people to gain information about pet health, and about what the Whatcom Humane Society does for the community. “Where will people get information about animal health when we leave?” said Pullen.

Christina Beirith said that she might start volunteering at the Whatcom Humane Society shelter located at 2172 Division Street if Paws Awhile closes. “Shelter help is always needed,” she said.

            Paws Awhile has been in its Fairhaven location at 1200 10^th Street for 15 years and will be celebrating its 16^th anniversary in May. It is the only gift shop operated by the Whatcom Humane Society, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the non-profit organization. The store sells new and used items donated by the community. When the gift shop’s volunteers were asked about where the donated items would go if the store closes, Beirith mentioned that they might have a big sale.

            According to the Whatcom Humane Society’s website, whatcomhumane.org, the organization was founded in 1902, making it the oldest non-profit animal welfare organization in Whatcom County.

When asked what kind of business might be installed in the space left after Paws Awhile moves Jo Pullen said “Nothing can take the place of this store.”

           

South Bay Suites Construction Builds Hopes and Concerns

The construction of the South Bay Suites building on 10^th Street and Mill Avenue in Fairhaven has some locals excited, but some are concerned about the noise and the building’s potential obstruction of the view of Bellingham Bay.  

Fairhaven’s Colophon Café is across the street from the construction site next to Village Books. Teddy Ahlvin, a 23-year-old employee at the café, said that you can hear the construction going on from inside the restaurant. “Every time someone opens the door all the noise from outside comes in. It’s like a weird bell,” said Teddy.

Susan Whitney, 67, is a volunteer at Paws Awhile, a Whatcom Humane Society gift shop. Whitney lives in a condominium about a block away from the construction site and said that when she closes her windows she can’t hear the noise. “I can’t see why people are getting upset,” said Whitney. “People do work on their houses all the time. Don’t they think their hammering annoys their neighbors?”

Many residents and business owners in the Fairhaven community are concerned about new construction compromising the view of Bellingham Bay. Height restrictions for new buildings have been established so the bay can remain visible for buildings further away from the shore.

According to City Councilmember Michael Lilliquist, the height restriction for new buildings varies between 54 feet and 66 feet tall, depending on its location. If the building is located down the hill, it can be taller than a building on top of the hill to help maintain Fairhaven’s view of the bay.

Due to its location, the new South Bay Suites building will slightly obstruct the view of Bellingham Bay for the businesses up the hill on Mill Avenue.

Ahlvin use to work at the Mount Bakery Café at 1217 Harris Avenue, two blocks above the construction site on Mill Avenue. The bakery currently has a view of the bay from its location, but South Bay Suites will take away part of it. “It’s hard to regulate with something like a view,” said Ahlvin.

The lot that South Bay Suites will reside on has never been developed. Construction began about a month ago and, according to southbaysuites.com, the building is expected to reach completion by the fall of 2014. The building’s website also provides the plans for each floor. According to the plans, the building will be four stories tall and include underground parking, office spaces, commercial spaces, and apartments.

The building’s construction includes improvements to the accessibility of Fairhaven’s South Bay Trail, a path that runs next to the development site. The trail has been a recreational outlet for many locals and starts at the corner of North Forest Street and East Maple Street, runs through Boulevard Park, and ends at the Fairhaven Village Green.

John Servais, the publisher of Fairhaven’s website, Fairhaven.com, believes that the South Bay Suites building is expected to fit in nicely with the rest of the neighborhood. “It’s going to be a pleasant looking building,” said Servais.

Susan Whitney expressed her excitement about the business the building will potentially attract to 10^th Street. “One business feeds another business,” said Whitney. “I hope they keep building more businesses to get 10^th Street developed.”

The developers of South Bay Suites were unavailable when reached for comment.

Mugger Defense at Fairhaven’s Karate Quest Packs Punch

On November 7 an instructor at Fairhaven’s Karate Quest taught participants of a mugger defense class how to physically defend themselves from attackers.

The class agenda included what an individual should do if they are held with a knife to their throat from behind and how an individual can push an attacker away if they’re pinned to the ground.

Cecil Jentges, the instructor for the course and director of Karate Quest in Fairhaven, demonstrated the step-by-step processes that an individual can utilize to get out of an attacker’s grip or distance oneself from an attacker. He said that the point at which a person must choose to physically defend themselves depends on the importance of what the attacker wants from them. According to Jentges, an attacker will usually ask their target for at least one of three things: their items, their body or their life.

“[Karate] isn’t about tournaments, it’s about basic skills and life saving,” said Mick Jolly, creator of Karate Quest and former Secret Service agent who teaches self defense classes at Western Washington University’s Recreation Center.

According to Western’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, there were five counts of forcible sex offenses, four counts of aggravated assault, and three counts of simple assault on the University’s campus in 2012.

“Someone coming in to our classes not knowing anything will now have some basic skills with which they can defend themselves,” said Mick Jolly

Jolly, 46, started training in the martial arts when he was 7 years old. He created the first Karate Quest six years ago in Ferndale, Washington, when he decided he wanted to stop being an agent at the Secret Service and spend more time with his family. A second Karate Quest in Fairhaven was opened a little over a year ago and has since attracted around 200 students.

Jentges started training in martial arts when he was 13 years old and has since learned many different styles, including Kajukenbo, Kenpo, the Premier System, MMA, and Jujitsu.

“This job isn’t the thing you do to become a millionaire,” Jentges said. “[Martial arts] is a physical way for people to overcome fear.”

Karate Quest provides mugger defense classes and women’s self defense classes monthly and offers weekly classes for all ages.  The mugger defense class usually attracts between two to five people and the women’s self defense classes can have over 20 attendees. There is also an advanced mugger defense course offered that is five hours long in which there is more one-on-one defense training and a wider variety of techniques taught.

Along with the mugger defense and women’s self defense classes, Karate Quest teaches defense techniques involving pepper spray and firearms.

According to Jentges, it is smartest for a person to physically defend themselves if an attacker asks for more than their items. If a person can get out of a situation by handing over their belongings, he said, it’s safer for them and may actually save them money. “You’d have to go to a doctor to fix that hand you hurt by punching someone, so you could lose as much money fixing yourself as you would handing your money over,” he said.

Fairhaven Vacant Lots Continue to Be Developed

 Fairhaven residents and business owners are concerned about potential building developments in the neighborhood’s vacant lots.

Gordy Tweit has owned the Fairhaven Pharmacy for 51 years and has lived in Fairhaven long enough to witness many changes. In the wake of ongoing construction in Fairhaven’s lots, he spoke of community members’ concern over the heights of the new buildings. Tall buildings would not only obstruct views of the bay but would be inconsistent with the rest of the neighborhood. “High rises, to me, are the worst thing in the world,” said Tweit.

Even if a building in Fairhaven has been built recently, buildings in the neighborhood all share a historic appearance. One of Fairhaven’s requirements for new buildings is to fit in with the neighborhood’s historic motif. This includes staying within Fairhaven’s building code that requires the new buildings stay under a certain height limit, depending on the location.

Bellingham City Councilmember Michael Lilliquist, who serves on the Planning and Community Development Committee, said that when Fairhaven’s neighborhood plan was being revised in 2005 there was some “wrangling” over what Fairhaven’s future would be. There was a movement to instate a building height limit in Fairhaven in an effort to keep new buildings from breaking with the neighborhood’s historic feel. New buildings could be up to 54 feet tall and 66 feet tall depending on the building’s location. Buildings that would be installed in downhill lots would be shorter than buildings uphill so the view of the bay remained unobstructed. There are four vacant lots in Fairhaven that Lilliquist called “opportunity zones”; lots that have potential for new developments. Lilliquist expects these lots to contain businesses that will cater as much to visitors as they will to locals. One of the lots in question is on the northeast corner of Harris Avenue and 13^th Street.

Jody Finnegan, owner of 12^th Street Shoes and president of the Historic Fairhaven Association for the past two years, is familiar with the empty lot that is currently being used as a parking lot on Harris Avenue and 13^th Street behind the WECU bank. Finnegan expressed concern over the prospect of the development of the lot behind WECU bank. “We park in the lot behind WECU. That lot’s for sale so we won’t know how that will change,” said Finnegan. It is unsure exactly what the lot will turn into at this time, but the area is in a transition zone between commercial and residential developments.

Parking has been a point of tension in the Fairhaven community for a few years. Michael Lilliquist stated that a citizen-led parking task force is convening to resolve some of the parking issues that have arisen over the years with the influx of tourists and residents in the neighborhood. “There are going to be compromises, it won’t be an easy fix,” said Lilliquist.

There have been 30 new building and renovation construction projects in Fairhaven over the past 24 years. The newest building in the neighborhood is the Rocket Building which completed construction in 2013. The oldest building in the neighborhood is the Fairhaven Terminal building, which was built in 1888, and houses Tony’s Coffee and Tea Inc. and the Harris Avenue Café.

Fairhaven Pharmacy opened on Dec. 26^th, 1889 and moved 5 times until 1929 when it reached its current location at 1115 Harris Avenue. Gordy Tweit has owned the shop since 1962, but started work at the pharmacy as a delivery boy in 1941. “When I grew up in Bellingham there were people who owned cows and chickens and goats,” said Tweit. He has resided in Bellingham for most of his life, taking time away from the city to join the Navy and to attend school at the University of Washington to get his pharmacy license.

“I don’t know lots of the new places,” Tweit said. “When people get started on things, they start to change it. Always change, change, change.”

Fat Pie Pizza Expected to Serve More than Just Food Once Open

Fat Pie Pizza in Downtown Fairhaven is expected to attract more business to the neighborhood when it opens.

Construction on the Rocket Building, which houses Fat Pie Pizza and Rocket Donuts, started in March 2012 and was scheduled to reach completion by the end of that year. Rocket Donuts opened July 5, 2013 and the pizzeria was originally expected to open in August of 2013, but construction on the restaurant continues and is expected to finalize soon.

The main setback for the restaurant’s construction was due to the decision to add rooftop seating after construction had already begun. Adding outdoor seating on the rooftop required obtaining further building permits before construction on the roof could commence.

Pickup trucks and construction supplies periodically occupy parking spots in front of Fat Pie Pizza on Harris Avenue to keep construction material off the sidewalk. At times the spots are marked with caution tape or have traffic cones surrounding them.

Colleen Mitchell, owner of Culinary Creations on 11^th Street next to the new Rocket Building, said the construction supplies occupying parking spots has become “a little annoying” and that business was slow while the whole building was under construction.

“It’s better now, but their trucks still take up a lot of spaces,” said Mitchell.

When construction on the pizzeria is complete, outdoor seating will be available on all three floors. The roof will be able to seat 50 people, while the second floor will be able to seat 36 people. The pizzeria will have a full bar and a lounge on the second floor.

“Most of our seating will be outside,” said Fat Pie Pizza’s General Manager Kim Mindnich. “Outdoor seating will be available year round, as long as it’s a clear day.”

Fat Pie Pizza’s exterior stays uniform with Fairhaven’s historic themes, but its interior design is more contemporary, with pictures of historic Fairhaven expected to be hung on the walls. Seating will consist of thick wooden tables and chairs and booths. Mindnich said the interior design of the restaurant has changed a few times since construction began and minor adjustments have been made so there is enough room in the kitchens to accommodate ovens and storage space.

“We want a casual yet upscale feeling to the restaurant,” said Mindnich. “We want a unique look, but nothing special; something warm, welcoming and friendly.”

Madeleine Carpenter is a resident of Fairhaven and believes that Fat Pie Pizza is a good addition to the neighborhood.

“I think it’s something locals will navigate to,” said Carpenter, adding that it will likely attract a younger crowd because Fairhaven Middle School is nearby. She also mentioned that she often sees middle school students around Rocket Donuts after school is done for the day.

Colleen Mitchell said she hopes Fat Pie Pizza will bring more people to Fairhaven. “Rocket Donuts has already brought more people, so that’s a good sign,” she added. She also said she is hopeful that the completion of the pizzeria will attract a wider range of customers to her business.

Mindnich anticipates the addition of more businesses in Fairhaven will make the neighborhood a destination spot for travelers in the Pacific Northwest. He mentioned that he feels everyone in the neighborhood would benefit from the prospect of attracting more visitors into the town.

A Lot of Flowers, previously located where Rocket Donuts is currently placed, has moved further down Harris Avenue on the west side of Fat Pie Pizza. Some people in the neighborhood thought the move would negatively affect the flower shop, but Penny Ferguson, owner of A Lot of Flowers, is satisfied with her new location. Locals have made positive comments on the amount of light let in through the windows of the shop’s new home. Pearson Construction Company, the same company working on Fat Pie Pizza, constructed the building for the flower shop.

Fat Pie Pizza will offer a gluten free pizza and vegetarian sandwiches. The most expensive item on the menu will be a lobster pizza, priced at around $30.

“The pizza will be quite different,” said Mindnich. “We’re going to need custom made pizza boxes.”

Introduction

This is a student-run news site for the neighborhood of Fairhaven, Wash. Here you will find articles about what is currently happening in the town and have the opportunity to discuss the news with the Fairhaven Post's student reporter.

This site accommodates both blog posts and news articles. The blog posts will have quick updates about what's happening in town and the news articles will contain more in-depth reports on the issues present in the neighborhood.