Bellingham, Washington - A Local Living Economy

[StayPlaySmokies]

Great video! It's important to show an actual community doing this and making it work. We plan on sharing with our networks, families and friends. Might just have to visit Bellingham, WA.

[Arikiel]

I do love it here. Just don't go east of the freeway and it's awesome. :)

[vicmarie22]

Born and raised baby, I want to raise my family here too!

[SuperE4GL3]

thumbs up if you live in bellingham WA

[LaPersonaNonGrata]

I'm in Victoria, B.C. and I can see the lights of Bellingham from here. I would like to go there for the day and explore the great city of Bellingham.

[Arikiel]

@LaPersonaNonGrata Look forward to your visit. It's great here. With so many of you here we do like to complain about the Canadians invading from the north but it's all good natured fun. I'd love to visit Victoria again myself sometime. Vancouver Island is awesome. :)

[LondonUnderground186]

Such a great and beautiful place!

[elcee8]

Yey! I'm moving to Bellingham in a month

[BellinghamLawyer]

Great endorsement for Bellingham!!

[Jewelieta]

Excellent video. Thank you so much. This made me fall in love with Bellingham even more. I'm at a crossroads right now and can move anywhere - Bellingham is on the top of my list. :)

[penyoz]

Where did you get your facts about Bellingham from????

[mrreach]

just like Gilmore Girls...lol, but seriously exactly where i see my self in 5 years.... only thing is its not that culturally diverse something i would miss im sure

[wanttogotoengland]

I have no clue as to why you two aren't better known in the land of youtube. I'm spreading the word, that's for sure.

[wanttogotoengland]

too cool, too cool.

[SeafireVideo]

Great video! Can you tell me what camera, settings & lenses you used? Also, how did you get the tracking shots on Railroad Ave sidewalk and bicycle shots—stedicam? or?

Don erikson27djs@yahoo.com

[JourneyofAction]

Hey @SeafireVideo we film with a Canon 5d Mark II...We used a monopod (unipod) for almost every shot

[waterdistrictband]

@SeafireVideo is the music in this American football?

[donovangreene]

I do not live in Whatcom county, which is why I am interested in your opinion as a local.

[jharadie]

@donovangreene You're right, YT pages don't give much info, nor would jharadie appear to have many vids. Look also at whatcomvideo & queernwwa. Just out of curiosity, where do you live? Bellingham is indeed an interesting community, how many other towns would a vote to flouridate the water incite death threats? Conversely, recently there's been some major charitable donations w/stipulations that donors remain forever anonymous. To be continued after hearing from you...

[etjrowe]

I miss Bellingham. I have been in the Navy and lived elsewhere for years now. I still visit often and am aware that Bellingham has it's problems. But having lived all over for most of my adult life now, I want to go home. It has it's own thriving culture and economy. This is one of the biggest reasons I love Bellingham. It's a REAL community full of pride and love. You don't find that many places anymore. That's why people chose to stay, because cheap cost of living doesn't = happiness.

[wschenken]

@etjrowe "It's a REAL community full of pride and love." While their is no statistical evidence (though we could get it with a survey), I think this is something that most people can agree with.

I just think it is important to remember that this was true before people were encourage to shop local.

[jharadie]

As a resident, yes, Bellingham is indeed very special, can't see myself living anywhere else. Truly appreciate this vid, however, I won't share or recommend it. It's just a bit too "fantasyland" in that it completely ignores the very high cost of living, unemployment problems, and more. Sadly, too many parents have to look at their children and then their checkbooks, and can't buy local because prices are just too high. A great ideal, but this vid just doesn't honestly present our city.

[donovangreene]

@jharadie Interesting points, are you saying that Bellingham has a higher cost of living, and more unemployment that most places? This film doesn't imply Bellingham is problem free by any means. It's purpose is to show how diverse the local economy is in Bellingham and the sense of community that fosters. Buying local isn't usually cheaper than big name chains, but a lot of American communities don't even have these local options.

[wschenken]

@donovangreene The fact that Mallard's get fresh herbs is awesome for me. I love their Ice Cream. It no doubt improves my quality of life. But that does not me that the economy is thriving. I still have to have a job where I can afford to buy Mallard's Ice Cream. Many people around the country do not and the problems actually structural. They have more to do with national economic policies than whether people shop at WalMart or the Coop.

[etjrowe]

@jharadie The video is concentrating on one thing that Bellingham does well. It in no way tries to be a statement that Bellingham is a Utopian society. Just that it has a thriving local economy that is worth being proud of. I have family that works in the finance department at city hall. I have seen the faces of people struggling just to pay their water bill. But being proud of one thing is not the same thing as ignoring those other issues. If anything, pride motivates people for further change.

[wschenken]

@etjrowe that's the problem - there is no evidence to support the claim that we have a thriving local economy. There is evidence that Sustainable Connections is very good at marketing.

[donovangreene]

@wschenken What hard evidence would you believe that Bellingham has a thriving local economy? Are there any communities you do believe are a solid, proven example of a strong local economy?

[wschenken]

@donovangreene That's a very good question. First of all, I don't think it is fair to ask me to set the standard since I am not the one making the claim. But I will put my standard out there. Now it will likely be rejected by LLE theorists because I come at this from a different (still liberal) perspective. They will say that to be local, the owner of the business must live in the area. I thinking an economy is thriving when high paying jobs are plentiful relative to the population.

[donovangreene]

@wschenken Thank you for your well thought out reply. A healthy ratio of high paying jobs, or at least living wages, being plentiful relative to the population sounds like a solid economic indicator to me.

[wschenken]

@donovangreene Cheers! You are very welcome. thanks for the good questions.

Green tax shift at its simplest: tax pollution (like green house gas emissions) and eliminate payroll taxes. I have not seen it better explained than in alan durning's book. It won't let me post the link. Google "sightline tax shift"

The result: more jobs and less pollution. at the beginning of the 20th century there were more resources than people. Now the opposite is true. So taxes should be on what is scarce.

[donovangreene]

@wschenken Thanks for the link! A green tax shift makes perfect sense. I'm looking forward to reading Tax Shift by Sightline Institute.The green tax shift seems like a complementary policy to supporting local business. I do agree that a green tax shift would have much more dramatic, farther reaching consequences in a community like Bellingham. Buying local isn't the only solution or the entire solution, but it's an important part of the solution, emotionally speaking more so than financially.

[wschenken]

@donovangreene A good example in Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle. Microsoft has spurred incredible wealth and numerous other businesses. Companies like RealPlayer and now there is a google office in Kirkland and hundreds of others. If you look in the wanted pages there are hundreds of programming jobs in the area, even through the great recession.

In general though, thriving local economies have disappeared since the 80's. The answer is not shopping local, its a green tax shift and higher income taxes.

[donovangreene]

@wschenken The idea that larger companies provide a larger economic engine certainly makes sense as well. This is no doubt one of the reasons that Bellingham is lobbying google so hard to bring fiber to the community, as that is the infrastructure that so many tech companies view as a pre-requesite for expansion into an area. With that expansion comes more jobs, increased per capita income, and more revenue for the community created by taxes. What kind of a green tax shift do you have in mind?

[wschenken]

@jharadie Thanks for having the guts to say that. They lost me in the intro when they said that Bellingham is a sustainable community. There are some efforts to that effect but there is nothing particularly sustainable about Bellingham that has been documented in any way. Bellingham may be different in that Sustainable Connections has convinced people that the community is more sustainable because a portion of the populate tries to buy local.

[jharadie]

@wschenken You're welcome. Please understand I'm unhappy two ways: (1) that Bellingham isn't anywhere near as Utopian as this vid *implies*; and (2) that Bellingham could be closer to the Utopia that this vid implies. What bothers me the most is that I'm not some group passing through, seeing what they want to see. I *live* here, and day in/day out I watch people struggle, and not just with their water bill. Were there a bit more truth in the vid I might have found it more likeable.

[donovangreene]

@jharadie How are people in Bellingham struggling?What do you think the community of Bellingham could do differently?

[jharadie]

@donovangreene Before I attempt an answer, and since I couldn't find out from your channel page, I must ask: do you live in Whatcom County? If so, for how long?

[spikelet]

Love this video. Well done, well made, and going on my FaceBook right away. Cheers.

[JourneyofAction]

@spikelet @mindfulbreath - thanks! we're glad you like it. thanks for passing the video along!

[kellialbright]

Um... Rock I mean. Typo... Hehe

[kellialbright]

This is my hometown! Rick on bham!

[sixthheretic]

Hey this is where I live.I even know the mallards manager liana. They have great Ice cream there.

[ohanamaggie]

I live in Bellingham! Thank you so much for posting this! I'm posting this on Facebook!

[mindfulbreath]

ALL of my Bellingham/Whatcom County friends are posting this on their Facebook pages - just wanted to let you know what incredible warm fuzzies it brings me (and obviously others, too) to see my home highlighted as the wonderful, positive, healthy, happy, embracing place that it is. Thanks for the video, you guys!

[livelylife]

Too bad it rains so much...

[gfdoctor]

Great view of our special town. Thanks

[CaptainInterlude]

Soooooo Coooool! SOOOOO IMPORTANT!

[grahamulax]

great video! I miss living there!

[Rabbitronica]

Stumbled at 320 views.

[comradejules]

Awesome you made it to the circus!

[shadowfox3500]

One of the many reasons why I LOVE living in Bellingham. The sense of community is just so close that it almost feels like family.

[MynaIT]

Great job Nick Hartrich and Liana Lipman ! :)

[Sweetmash1]

Great Episode, as always guys! Good Job!

[JourneyofAction]

@Sweetmash1

thanks! we appreciate the support