Northwest Weekly News in Review
Here’s a few of the article’s I read this week that I’m adding here for my viewers. Each and every week when I’m posting to the blog, I read and review a lot of news articles and blogs. It’s imperative that one studies this market constantly to be a well informed source when on the subjects I write about. So here is my list of articles for the week of Dec. 16 to Dec 22, 2006.
$14.5M slated for Bellingham Bay in States budget - Via Bellingham Herald - Dec 20, 2006. The Port of Bellingham requested money from the state’s Model Toxics Control Act budget to help with cleaning up mercury in Whatcom Waterway. The Model Toxics Control Act is a voter-approved initiative adopted in 1989 to identify, investigate and clean up contaminated sites in Washington. This is great news for Bellingham Bay and the cleanup efforts in the Whatcom Waterway in preparation for the New Whatcom project going forward. This whole area in downtown Bellingham presents an exciting time for Bellingham residents and visitors to our great city.
Best and Worst Housing Markets in the U.S. - Via Real Estate Journal - Dec 20, 2006. Tacoma area rated 3rd best market to outperform the rest of the western states and Seattle-Bellevue area were rated 4th. Portland, Oregon was rated the 5th best on the list. There were a lot of cities in California that ranked pretty low, because they were overvalued in the survey.
Bellingham Boat Builder thrives in an ‘incredibly dynamic market’ - Via HeraldNet.com - Dec 18, 2006. In the past four years, All American Marine has grown annually at a 30 percent clip. Matt Mullett CEO, says these days their in the enviable position of choosing what projects the company should go after. His only limitation is having enough qualified workers to do the job.
Whidbey Island Takes Storm’s Biggest Punch - Via HeraldNet.com - Dec 16, 2006. All of Whidbey Island lost power last Thursday night when Puget Sound Energy’s main transmission line to the island was taken out by falling trees. Winds exceeded 90 mph on many parts of the island. My father in-law Jack Hill, who lives on the western side of Whidbey Island and had spent 20 years in the Navy said, “It’s the worst storm that he’d seen since he got out of the navy 25 years ago”.
VANOC on track and on budget heading into 2007 - Via Vancouver 2010 - Dec 19, 2006. VANOC and its partners are planning a number of exciting milestone events in February and March 2007 to celebrate the three-year countdown to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Details will be announced early in 2007.
Boston Ready to go Green - Via The Boston Globe - Dec 20, 2006. Boston is expected to become the first major city in the nation to require private developers to adhere to a strict set of so-called green-building standards, officials said yesterday. The goal is to make new buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, by promoting, for example, use of efficient heating and cooling systems, recycled building materials, and careful separation and disposal of waste.
There is an added cost for doing so, but I think the long term benefits of building with green standards will far out weigh the upfront cost of construction. Infact I think the Bellingham area already has had some of the best examples of builders that have gone green already, especially Rick Dubrow of A-1 Builders in Bellingham, WA. If Whatcom county ever took on the standards for building Green, Rick Dubrow should definetly be one of the advisors, if not running the committee. A-1 Builders has literally been building Green for at least 10-15 years. Good job Rick Dubrow!
Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Bellingham WA Real Estate