Western Front - 1992 January 14

              Gov. Gardner offers no
answers in address,
page 10
iiillllli:; Itiltll
Cures for the winter blues,
pages 5-7
Men's and women's
basketball teams
victorious,
pages 8-9
The Western Front
January 14,1992/Volume 84, Number 19 Western Washington University please recycle
Many retail businesses call it quits downtown
By Amy Wold
staff reporter
Shopping traffic, the economy,
Bellis Fair Mall and achanging market
are the reasons store owners and
managers give for stores that are ei­ther
moving out or closing perma­nently
in downtown Bellingham.
A few of the stores that have
moved or are in the process of mov­ing
out of downtown include
Woolworth's, Fashion Direction,
Nordstrom Place Two, Franz Gabl's
Ski and Bike, Blackberry Books and
Country Boots.
Oneofthereasons given for these
moves was the change in the down­town
market. Since Place Two moved
to Bellis Fair Mall, many of the
younger customers went with it.
"I don't see the downtown dying,
I see it changing," Cushing said.
Place Two moved from down­town
and into Bellis Fair Mall about
a year ago.
"We moved to expand some of
our special departments and we
needed more space. We also wanted
to be in a convenient place for our
customers," said Susan Alsup,
spokeswoman for Nordstrom.
"There isn't a lot of traffic down­town
since Bellis Fair opened," a
manager of Fashion Direction said.
Fashion Direction's style of clothing
caters to a younger crowd and so it
moved to Bellis Fair Mall where there
are younger customers.
Franz Gabl's Ski and Bike is
closing for another reason.
"They talk about a recession in
"I don't see the downtown dying, I see it
changing."
Pamela Cushing, executive director of
Bellingham City Center.
"We don't have as many young
customers downtown anymore," said
Pamela Cushing, executive director
of Bellingham City Center.
Cushing said the retail business
downtown is changing to meet the
demands of an older crowd. Cushing
said she expects the shops downtown
to become more art orientated, offer­ing
specialized goods that can not be
found in malls.
the economy. The ski industry is in a
depression," said Dick Zagelow,
owner of Franz Gabl's Ski and Bike.
He said this depression of the market
was the most important reason for
closing. The recession in the economy
was secondary and the downtown
issues were last on the list.
"The downtown is not the stron­gest
retail area right now," Zagelow
said.
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• However, if he did decide to open
another store, Zagelow said he would
probably open it in the downtown
area.
Because of all the retail stores
moving out, for one reason or an­other,
Cushing said a 30 percent rate
of vacancies opened downtown be­fore
Bellis Fair Mall opened. Now
there are only 19 percent vacancies,
she said.
Cushing said the decrease in va­cancy
is because businesses, that do
not involve retail, have been moving
downtown and renting office space.
Students fight proposed tuition increase
Sam Kitchell
campus government editor
Gov. Gardner's proposed 14
percent tuition increase at Western
has not gone by unnoticed. Many
students are now becoming active in
the fight to make sure that tuition
does not increase.
"Students need to get active in
letting their representatives know their
opinions regarding tuition increases,"
said Associated Students Legislative
Liaison Erika L. Snyder.
"They need to target the Whatcom
legislators," Snyder said. "They also
need to target legislators on the Higher
Education Committee and get their
parents to write their home legislators.
Representatives love to hear from
parents."
Snyder, who is living inOlympia
this quarter as Western's official AS
liaison, said she hopes Gardner's
proposed tuition increase solution will
be met with strong student opposi­tion.
It is important for students to get
their side represented and not just
leave it to administrators, Snyder said.
"Students and administrators
come from two different levels,"
Snyder said. "The administrative side
is worried about money and funding
in general while students are more
worried about the immediate prob­lems
of class size and shortening li­brary
hours."
Snyder encouraged students to
send letters or call the legislative
hotline (1-800-562-6000).
The legislative hotline is a quick
way to leave a message for senators,
representatives, the governor or the
lieutenant governor. Callers should
specify their districts and identify the
bill or issue in which they are con­cerned.
Legislators are really receptive
to students, Snyder said.
"Li my opinion, letters are more
effective than hotlines because they
seem to get more attention," Snyder
said, "but both are necessary."
Washington's lawmakers began
their 60-day session yesterday and
are now determining how to solve the
colossal $900 million budget di­lemma.
Member of the Washington Stu­dent
Lobby (WSL), Anne Nichol, is
working closely with the AS Board
members to organize student aware­ness
of the bills and issues being
pushed through the legislature.
"We are trying to get some letter
writing campaigns going," Nichol
said. "We are also trying to get a room
set up for students to use the legisla­tive
hotline. The room will have lists
of the current bills going through leg­islature
that affect us."
Bills being considered include
the Washington College Promise
Program Bill that will revamp finan­cial
aid and a StudentTrustee Bill that
will get a voting student on the board
of trustees.
Nichol welcomed students to the
WSL office in Viking Union 221 to
get addresses for their representatives
or more information on bills going
through legislature.
"We might try to get a couple
students to go down to some of the
hearings such as the Ways and Means
Committee hearing at 3:30 p.m., Jan.
20 in Olympia," Nichol said.
"It would be good to show student
Please see Reaction,
page 3.