Initiative 522: Potential Impact on Sehome Neighborhood Grocery Shopping

Initiative 522 will be voted on in Washington State on November 5.Whether the initiative passes or fails, the Sehome neighborhood and it’s only grocery store, Haggen Northwest Fresh, will be impacted by the outcome, said Clement Stevens, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Haggen Northwest Fresh. 

If Initiative 522 is approved, all genetically modified organisms will have to be labeled on food that is sold through a retailer, according to the sos.wa.gov pdf on Initiative Measure No. 522.

“This is a huge issue; it’s not something that just impacts Haggen and our local vendors. It’s something that as the people speak to labeling, or not labeling these products, we will work with our vendors and again, listen to our customers and try to deliver the products that they want,” Stevens said.

Charlie Parks, a 21-year-old checker at Haggen said “If I-522 passes it will affect every grocery store in the same manner, so I don’t think Haggen will carry any more of a burden than any other store, or lose any of our customer-base to a different store. The only way I could see it affecting Haggen, is in the products we decide to carry.”

While Parks believes Haggen could only be affected by the products they carry, Russ Connary, a 32-year-old community member, said “I think it will force us all to look at food differently. Whether we want to or not, we’re all going to see the label, so we’ll all start shopping based on what is on that label.”

“The information about GMO’s is in people’s minds due to the initiative no matter what, so people could be influenced by the mere thought of modified organisms in their food. Somewhere like Wal-mart, Safeway, or Albertsons will have labels popping up on stuff they’ve bought before and they’re going to realize it’s not good for them now. This could in turn cause them to stray towards natural foods, no matter what the I-522 outcome is, and Haggen carries those natural products,” Connary said.

The Sehome neighborhood, which is a nature-based neighborhood according to the City of Bellingham’s Sehome Neighborhood Plan, can be seen through the products Haggen offers. These offers include local and natural food, as well as their effort to persuade customers to use reusable bags as seen on the Haggen Northwest Fresh Website. Also on the Haggen website under Holiday Specialty Foods, Haggen carries more than 500 natural and gluten-free food choices.

According to Stevens, Haggen has always prided itself in dealing with local, natural vendors throughout the years, allowing them to connect with the community better. Stevens said that it’s not a new thing for the stores to deal with local vendors, but something they’ve always done well. According to Stevens, these local vendors try to stay away from adding GMO’s to their products.

 “As a company, GMO products are inherent in a lot of products we sell. We have taken a position lately to label the things that are non-GMO in our stores,” Stevens said. Some of these products are the local and organic foods in the store, according to Stevens.

Haggen always tries to be transparent with the customers about what is actually in the food they are purchasing, according to Stevens. Stevens feels that it’s a good policy for people to know what is in their food, especially since I-522 is determined by voters, and not the Haggen stores.

“Our stand is that whatever we do, we want to be an advocate for our guests. If they’re concerned about something in their food, we listen carefully and try to react to it accordingly,” Stevens said. “We’re following I-522 very closely, obviously. It’s not something that we take lightly.”

Not only could the I-522 ruling affect Haggen, but possibly the community as well due to where people want to shop, said Connary. “People may decide to shop for more local and organic foods which Haggen sells. This could boost the population of people who shop there, let alone other neighborhoods coming to Haggen to shop. That could in-turn cause more traffic in the Sehome Village area, which would impact the immediate neighborhood.”

Pros's and Con's of GMO's

A GMO is a modified organism found in food products. The organism is modified by genetic engineering, according the free dictionary definition.

There are a list of pros and cons to GMO's though. Some, but not all, pros and cons are:

PROS:
-Higher quality and taste than non-GMO foods
-Higher yields on crops (some GMO's make them disease resistant, or pesticide resistant.)
-Increase food supply
-Assist farmers
-Help underfed nations

CONS:
-Not enough testing on GMO's to show long term results
-Allergic reactions can occur due to added proteins that weren't indigenous to the plant.
-Antibiotics medications may have less effect on GMO products (According to Iowa State University.)
-GMO's can create "super" weeds or bacteria, according to Newport Natural Health.

Initiative 522, which deals with GMO's and whether or not they will have to be label on food products, will be voted on in Washington State on Tuesday, November 5.

Blog #1: Reported Incidents Surrounding Sehome Neighborhood

In response to the recent Sehome riot and concerned voices from the Sehome community about crime, above is a table of the reported incidents of neighborhoods bordering Sehome neighborhood. The data was taken from the Bellingham Police Department crime statistics seen on the the city of Bellingham website. The findings of the data show that the Central Business District neighborhood has the highest amount of reported incidents surrounding Sehome neighborhood. The second highest reported incidents come from the Sehome neighborhood itself. Since this data was taken over a course of five years, it shows that the concerns of the Sehome community have validity. 

Community Response to the Sehome Riot

On Saturday, October 13^th, a riot erupted on Indian Street near Laurel Park after the Bellingham Police Department broke up a large house party in Bellingham, according to the city of Bellingham website. The riot, which occurred in the Sehome Neighborhood, was made up of hundreds of people of the younger generation.

 A Sehome Neighborhood Association board member, 66-year-old Charles R. Dyer, said, “We’ve certainly had large parties that have gotten out of hand, but I don’t recall a time where there has been anything of this magnitude.” Dyer has lived in the Sehome area since 2005.

According to the city of Bellingham, the crowd threw glass bottles, lawn chairs, and dishes at the police, cars and other rioters.

 “I didn’t know what was going on and then I heard a big boom and I thought there were fireworks, because they happen a lot here, but they were evidently the smoke bombs.” a 65-year-old woman named Bert Monroe said. Monroe has also been a part of the Sehome community since 2005.

Sehome Neighborhood Association President 64-year-old Jean Hamilton said, “I was dismayed that a party had gotten so far out of hand. Then when I saw the damage that was done to the police cars, I was even more dismayed.”

“Given the publicity the riot has gotten, it’s probably not very good for the interest of the community,” Monroe said.

Hamilton mentioned that even from California, her children had heard about the riot and called her to make sure she was safe.

Dyer said, “Generally my wife and I are quite fond of the student population here; they’re a vital portion of the community and we appreciate their presence, so it’s sad that the riot happened.”

According to Hamilton, the riot was composed of the younger generation, school-aged citizens ranging from college students, high school students, and citizens from Ferndale. Hamilton was overjoyed that students were being responsible the next morning by filling garbage bags with the trash left on Indian Street.

 “We want to show support and appreciation to the students who came out and cleaned up the next morning,” Hamilton said. Hamilton also said that along with supporting the students who picked up trash in the morning, the community is supporting the rioters.

“We are going to show our support to the students and make it clear to the local kids that we know very well that this isn’t what they came to Western to do and this isn’t typical behavior,” Hamilton said.

“These things happen,” Monroe said, “When you get large amounts of people together and they are enthusiastic and maybe inexperienced, it can cause problems.”

 To get a handle on these problems, Dyer said there is a plan to hold a community forum about the riot.

Along with a riot forum, Dyer said there was a community meeting on Monday, October 21 about the Sehome riot. At the meeting, Dyer remarked, “There were quite a number of very useful suggestions, especially about educating students, both college level and high school level, about their responsibilities as citizens and about the troubles they can get into.”

Hamilton also added that the community members have started pushing for more street lights in and around the parks, especially Laurel Park, and for more activities for students to do in the community.

According to Hamilton, all of the suggestions that came from the Monday night board meeting will be looked over and the best two are three will be brought to the attention of the general meeting in December. From there, Hamilton said they will put the plans into action.

Overall, the Hamilton feels that the Sehome community knows the rioting behavior was out of the ordinary, and is saddened by the event, but will continue to support students. “Thank the Lord no one was carrying guns and that it never got to the point where anyone was seriously injured or killed,” Hamilton said. “We really regret what happened to the police and the property damage that took place as well as the people who were afraid to leave their homes, but we are so grateful no one got really hurt.”

What's the Sehome Section all about?

The Sehome Section won't be your average-Joe news post/blog. Through The Sehome Section, I will report on the most relevant information on the Sehome neighborhood in a very timely fashion, while taking in the communities concerns. My goal is to be the voice of the Sehome Neighborhood and create a space where viewers can read the most up-to-date information about their own community in a friendly manner. If you are curious about the neighborhood, here is a link to the Sehome Neighborhood Plan from the city of Bellingham. COB Sehome Neighborhood Plan