Hooray for Bellingham. Development of Barkley Village continues to meet its promised goal of being a destination place for theaters, restaurants, shops and all sorts of mixed-use property. Finally, a local village that truly lives up to the hype, a place where folks can walk for many of life's wants or needs; walk to the theater, a restaurant, walk to the grocery store, the bank, the dentist, or even the pharmacy. And they will be safely walking along beautiful Barkley Boulevard. Wait, safely? Well, maybe! If the posted 35 mph speed limit between Orleans Street east to Woburn Street were reduced to 25 mph, the village folks could continue to enjoy the walk without fearing drivers using the boulevard as a speed lane as I believe is already occurring.

Coming soon to the village, more apartments and condos will increase traffic on Barkley Boulevard. There is therefore now no better time to lower the speed limit on Barkley Boulevard. And if the city were to encourage the owners of all property adjacent to Barkley Boulevard to clear their sidewalks of all vegetation and ground growth, then the folks could walk even more safely along the boulevard.

The village, in a sense, belongs to the people. Let's keep it people friendly. By the way, the village folks I talk to continue to thank city planning and public works employees for listening to our concerns.

Thomas R. McGrath

Bellingham