Western Front - 2006 February 24

              THE WESTERN F R O N TS
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY An independent student newspaper serving the campus community since 1970. ISSUE 13, VOLUME 136
Stuart's survives
Favorite coffee house finds new home
BY JUSTIN MORROW
The Western Front
Exactly one year after Stuart's Coffee House
closed when it lost its lease on Bay Street, owners
Maria Koplowitz-Fleming and Garry Fleming will
sign a lease Sunday, to open Stuart's At The Market
in the Bellingham Public Market.
"On the last day at the old location, we had a big
blow-out and it was kind of like a wake for Stuart's,"
he said. "We thought this was a good way to show
we're back and to remember that date."
Both owners will host a lease-signing parry from 4
to 6 p.m. Sunday to celebrate the new market location
at the Bellingham Public Market, which is located on
the corner of Cornwall Avenue and York Street.
Bellingham storyteller Doug Banner will perform
Stuart's crowd favorites, including bis rendition of the
fairy tale "Iron John." He performed at Stuart's for
eight years, Fleming said.
Stuart's At The Market will offer free wireless
Internet, easy chairs, couches and board games to
encourage patrons to relax at the coffee house, she
said.
see LEASE, page 4
CHRIS HUBER / THE WESTERN FRONT
Garry Fleming, owner of Stuart's Coffee House, said Stuart's
will be open for business at its new location at the Public Mar­ket
on York and Cornwall streets within the next two months.
CHRIS HUBER/THE WESTERN FRONT
The Bellingham Bay Foundation presented a proposal to the waterfront advisory group Feb. 15 to fill in the lagoon
at the former Georgia-Pacific site as part of the waterfront development plan to incorporate park space. The dilapi­dated
Georgia-Pacific site sits behind the lagoon (foreground), as seen from the Hotel Bellwether lighthouse.
Lagoon at stake in bay plans
BYDANGROHL
The Western Front
As soon as the Bellingham Bay
Foundation proposed its plan for the
Bellingham Bay - waterfront to the
waterfront advisory group on Feb. 15,
the group all but dismissed the proposal,
foundation executive director James
Johnston said.
The foundation's plan for the
waterfront was dramatically different in
key areas than the Port of Bellingham's
plans, Johnston said.
The key difference in the foundation's
plan was its use of the 30-acre lagoon
mat treated the wastewater run-off from
Georgia-Pacific's pulp plant when the
plant was in operation, said foundation
president Mitch Friedman.
The Port of Bellingham commissioned
the LMN Architects of Seattle to design
plans for the waterfront, which use the
lagoon as a public marina, said David
Syre, CEO of Bellingham's Trillium
Corporation. Trillium Corporation and
Design Workshop of Denver developed
the foundation's plan.
The foundation's proposed plan
involved filling the lagoon with dirt and
sediment, creating a 30-acre park.
A marina in the lagoon would not be
cost-effective because taxpayers would
pay for a marina that LMN designed
for luxury yachts, he said. A park would
serve everybody in the community,
rather than just those who can afford
boats, Johnston said.
Filling the lagoon to create a park could
challenge environmental regulations,
said Mike Stoner, Port of Bellingham
environmental director. A permit to fill
aquatic land would be difficult to obtain
unless the project provides general
improvements to the shoreline.
The foundation's plan could increase the
see WATERFRONT, page 4
Downtown
drivers share
community
cars
BY HEIDI SCHILLER
The Western Front
This spring, Community Car Share of
Bellingham, a nonprofit organization, will begin
providing a service allowing members to reserve
and use cars parked in downtown Bellingham in an
effort to reduce traffic and auto emissions.
Car share programs exist in many large cities in
the United States, including Seattle, Los Angeles
and Chicago, and U.S. Transportation Board
studies show they reduce traffic congestion and auto
emissions, said Lorraine Wilde, general manager
and co-chair of the organization.
"We believe people should only use a car
when they need it," she said. "This will help
people who have strong environmental values to
live those values."
Wilde said she doesn't know yet what the cost
of membership will be, but expects it will be less
expensive than owning a car, she said. She said
she won't know the cost until she purchases the
cars, but it will include an annual membership
fee in addition to an hourly and per-mile fee.
Ideally, the program will have enough cars so
that anyone can reserve one whenever and for
however long needed.
Wilde said she modeled the car share program
after the company Flexcar which began in Seattle
in 1999 and spread to 6 cities nationwide, including
Portland and Los Angeles.
In Seattle, Flexcar owns and operates 150
cars used by 150,000 Seattle residents, Flexcar
spokesman John Williams said.
Flexcar has two payment plans, he said. One
charges a flat rate of $9 per hour and the other
see PROGRAM, page 4
LIFEATNIGHTLIGHT
Photo essay of multiple bands
that performed at the Nightlight
Lounge this month.
ACCENT, PAGE 8
HEAVENLY VICTORY
Western women's basketball
team wins its 17th
consecutive game.
SPORTS, PAGE 11
DYING TO BE THIN
The government needs to regulate
web sites encouraging anorexia
and bulimia.
OPINIONS, PAGE 14
WEATHER
Saturday: Cloudy
Hi: 42 Low: 32
Sunday: Rain
Hi: 46 Low: 38
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