April 13 - 19, 2023
FREE
Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
Blaine chamber has new executive director, page 6
Derelict vessel bill becomes law, page 6
Blaine Senior Center activities, page 8
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Blaine City Blaine, Birch Bay residents celebrate Easter Council gives another $50,000 to food bank By Grace McCarthy
(See Food bank, page 3)
s Children filled their Easter baskets with candy during Northwood Chapel’s Easter egg hunt on April 9. Churches and local organizations provided plenty of options to celebrate the holiday with Easter egg hunts across Blaine and Birch Bay. More photos on page 10. Photo courtesy Todd Gallahar
Birch Bay community bike shop patches hole By Ian Haupt The 98230 zip code now has its own bike shop. Through Birch Bay Bike Shop, residents and visitors of Birch Bay and Blaine have easy access to bike rentals, sales and service throughout the year. Birch Bay Bike Shop owner John Roy, who opened the shop in February and started running it full time in April, said he hopes his new shop will be an asset to the community. “I want people who maybe are a little in-
timidated, maybe they haven’t ridden in a while, and they’re out here and they want to join in the fun,” Roy said. “I’ll work on their old bike and get it going again, or we’ll find something for them to buy or rent. I just want people to get on bikes and enjoy Birch Bay.” Roy bought the storefront at 4823 Alderson Road, unit 105, right by the C Shop in early 2022 with the intention of opening a business. Not yet sure what he would sell, Roy talked to Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Center staff who said the area was in need of a bike
City of Blaine hires new public works director By Grace McCarthy The city of Blaine has hired Harpiar Gandhi to serve as the new public works director. Gandhi has over two decades of engineering experience working for companies and local governments in Canada and Oregon. Blaine City Council unanimously approved Gandhi’s employment contract during its April 10 meeting. His first day on the job is June 1. “I’m looking forward to working with
the city of Blaine and achieving the city’s goals,” Gandhi said in a phone interview. Gandhi earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Gulbarga University in India and master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Calgary in Alberta. Gandhi served as general manager of transportation and utilities for the municipal district of Bonnyville in Alberta from 2013 to 2018. He then spent two years as an engineer and consultant at Altima Contracting Ltd. in Vancouver before starting his current position in 2020 as the public
works director for the city of Clatskanie, Oregon, a city of 1,700 people southwest of Longview, Washington. Gandhi said that he applied for the position because his background in public works prepared him well for the new challenges and opportunities that the city’s development could bring. He added living in Blaine will move him closer to family and friends in Canada. Per his contract, Gandhi will earn nearly (See Director, page 3)
shop. Roy said it had been a dream of his for almost 30 years to open a bike shop. Once that was decided, the plan was for Roy and his wife, Carolyn, to run the shop together. But Roy said Carolyn, who has 30 years of experience working with people experiencing homelessness, was needed at her job with the Lighthouse Mission Ministries, a homeless shelter in Bellingham. “We moved out here in December of ’20 and wanted to be part of the community, and looked at several different ways of do(See Bikes, page 5)
INSIDE
Blaine City Council unanimously voted 7-0 during its April 10 meeting to give another $50,000 of federal Covid-19 stimulus funds for Blaine Food Bank to purchase milk. The funds will support the food bank as it’s faced with feeding more families as food prices rise. “Hunger in our community is very real,” Blaine Food Bank operations manager Sally Church told councilmembers. “Unless you drive by our location and see the people queued up to receive food in the rain, wind, snow and heat, it is virtually invisible.” This is only the second time the food bank has asked the city for money since it started 51 years ago, Church said. In August, city council approved giving $50,000 of its $1.6 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the food bank for purchasing milk. Church said the $50,000 received last year will be depleted by May, and would have been gone sooner if it weren’t for Edaleen Dairy’s “Give a Gallon” program. The food bank’s annual matching funds campaign used to pay for milk and eggs, but now only covers eggs, she said. In 2022, the food bank received $289,000 from city, county, state and federal governments. Other cities such as Ferndale, Lynden and Bellingham typically provide regular funding to their food banks, Church said. The Bellingham Food Bank, on behalf of all Whatcom County food banks, requested $1 million in ARPA funds from Whatcom County. If approved, Blaine would receive about $120,000 of those funds, Church said. The food bank is seeing increased demand due to a combination of economic fallout from the pandemic, suspended government programs, inflation, Blaine’s increasing population and the
TheNorthernLight
Coming Up . . . . . 14 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
@TNLreporter
@TheNorthernLightNews
TheNorthernLight.com
ThisFLYERS Week’s
FSI SAVE