AT A GLANCE

Average age: 44

Housing units: 1,260

Assessed median home value: $153,600

Median home size: 1,688 square feet

Schools: Happy Valley Elementary, Fairhaven/Kulshan Middle School, Sehome High School

Shopping: Sehome Village and Samish Way, across I-5, have numerous restaurants, hotels, shops and offices; Fred Meyer Shopping Center and Lakeway Center are to the north. A major grocer is Food Pavilion on Old Fairhaven Parkway

Parks: East Meadow Park, Ridgemont Park, Lake Padden Recreation Area, Padden Creek, Samish Crest Nature Area

Mayor's Advisory Committee member: Chris Barbo

City Council members: Terry Bornemann, Barbara Ryan

Police calls in 2003: 540

Residential burglaries: 19

Vehicle prowls: 42

Population of neighborhood: 2,728

NEIGHBORS PROFILE: 'The covenants here are pretty well adhered to'

GINNY DAVIDSON

Age: 55

Lives on: 40th Street

Lived here: 15 years

Lives with: Husband, dog, cat and koi

What she does: Former neighborhood association board member and current association member

Why do you like the neighborhood? "We liked the fact it was isolated, yet close to the grocery store and post office. We're in trouble because our density is only 1.2 people per acre, including the Lake Padden area. We have a small density, so (city officials) want us to do infilling."

What's special about your neighborhood or neighbors? "It's eclectic. It's one extreme to the other. We have tiny houses and giant houses. People seem to care about what's happening and they don't let stuff look tacky."

Is there a piece of neighborhood lore you know? "Someone is building a house where a Boy Scout camp used to be in the late '60s."

JON HUSTON

Age: 47

Lives on: Fielding Avenue

Lived here: 3 years

Lives with: Wife Rene

What he does: Real estate agent, owner of Zazen Salon Spa with his wife, and avid boater

What makes your neighborhood unique? "I think for a lot of people, there's a very unique view. It's a kind of looking down on Fairhaven as a little village at the edge of the water, and you see Bellingham Bay and you see the islands beyond that. On Samish Hill, you have a really interesting little view out over the valley."

What neighborhood amenities do you take advantage of? "Lake Padden would be No. 1. I walk around it all the time and swim there in summertime. And I'm probably at Haggens every day. And Starbucks."

TED PERRY

Age: 78

Lives on: Bennett Street

Lived here: 27 years, but spent his entire life in Bellingham

Lives with: Wife

What he does: Neighborhood Association board member

Why do you like the neighborhood? "We were one of the first houses up here during the housing build-up in the mid-'70s. It's close to shopping, a quiet area, we have good neighbors. The covenants here are pretty well adhered to. It keeps the value of the neighborhood up. It's one of the more desirable areas."

Is there anything special about your neighbors or your neighborhood? "The whole Samish Neighborhood Association has on the whole, I think, a high caliber of class of people. I think that the problems up here are more easily dealt with than some areas."