Bellingham closes downtown alley, citing need to curb drug-related crime
Bellingham officials began closing a downtown alley on Wednesday morning, a little more than two weeks after the City Council unanimously authorized the measure as part of an effort to deter drug-related crime in the city center.
Fencing was installed first at the Holly Street opening of the alley west of Railroad Avenue, closing the area behind businesses to everyone except owners, tenants, employees, city workers and police and firefighters for an undetermined length of time. A city worker told The Bellingham Herald that the crew intended to close the alley north to Champion Street on Wednesday.
City officials did not issue a public comment before taking action Wednesday morning.
About a dozen Public Works Department workers in several trucks were installing an accordion-style metal gate across the Holly Street entrance to the alley early Wednesday as passers-by watched. A man began screaming at the workers and he was detained by police. Details of the incident weren’t immediately known and no one appeared injured.
Authorities have been planning for the closure since before the council voted unanimously on an ordinance allowing such temporary actions March 23, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
Since the measure passed, city workers had marked the alley with paint indicating utility lines and installed metal fence posts into the asphalt.
Mayor Kim Lund told council members that her administration was looking to provide a “respite from predatory drug-dealing” in the downtown core.
“What we’re seeing is that we’re at a tipping point that is not sustainable. This is really about the epidemic of illegal and criminal drug-dealing in our community,” Lund told the council’s Public Health, Safety, and Justice Committee.
Some Bellingham residents opposed the closures, saying that it would hurt people who live on the street, during public comment sessions at recent City Council meetings. Others, such as Railroad Avenue business owner Peggy Platter, said they supported the closure.
“There’s not, like, families living there, there’s just people really down and out using a lot of illegal drugs that need a lot of help, and that are in a desperate situation. If anyone has ever come to the 1300 block of Railroad Avenue’s alley, it is a really ugly place. It is not somewhere where people want to hang out. They are there because the drugs are there, because the dealers are there, and it’s sad,” Platter told council members on March 23.
Under the new measure, the police chief can request a temporary alley closure using a fence. The closure request would need to cite a reason and include data that shows why a closure is needed.
The length of time for a closure isn’t defined in the ordinance, senior assistant city attorney Matthew Stamps told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
“The closure ordinance does not specify the duration of the closure. Rather, it directs the public works director to periodically review the closure in consultation with the chief of police to determine whether the closure should remain to protect public safety. The project team plans to check in on a biweekly basis to review data and feedback from the community, including service providers and business owners, and will relay that information to the public works director and police chief to inform the decision on reopening the alley. Before we reopen the alley, we plan to do a deep clean and a series of space and safety improvements, such as improved lighting,” Stamps said.
More than $500,000 is spent every year among various city departments on cleaning, litter, human waste removal, private security and the police bicycle patrol, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
Online Police Department data shows a sharp decline in overdose calls to locations in the city center last year, from 61 in 2024 to 24 in 2025.
Drugs and narcotics calls increased sharply last year in the city center, however, from 148 in 2024 to 342 in 2025.
Incidents regarding behavioral health concerns stayed about the same, with 189 such calls in 2024 and 182 in 2025. Other serious crimes against people, including robberies and felony assaults, remained about the same from 2024 to 2025. There were two homicides reported downtown in 2024. None were reported in 2025.
