Ten years ago my wife and I moved to
Bellingham, WA for many typical "ex-urban" reasons: safer neighborhoods, less crowding, more park access, less traffic. I couldn't envision owning a home and raising children in an ever crowded and expensive Bay Area. Ultimately, the verdict on our decision to emigrate will always be mixed; debate over some decisions never quite leaves you.
I probably spend $40 or so dollars each week while I stroll my children or walk downtown. Most of this is food, coffee, bread, bagels, etc. Some significant additional amount goes to museum memberships, violin rentals,
the farmer's market, evenings at
Mt. Baker Theater or
The Pickford (or
The Limelight), eating lunch and dinner out with friends and family at places like
Avenue Bread,
Boundary Bay,
Taco Lobo,
Mt. Bakery,
La Fiamma,
The Table etc.
So figure $200 - $300 each month gets spent in downtown locations from our family. Multiply this by some few ten thousand families and you've got an economy that is truly sustainable and worth while. But when you travel downtown with your stroller early mornings in Bellingham, a parent still perceives many of the characteristics of small town urban decay that can be seen in too many of WA rural towns: