I read Taimi Dunn Gorman’s piece on parking requirements and I think the framing gets it backward.
In the 1970s, Amsterdam was headed in the same direction as every American city: wider streets, more parking, more traffic. After a wave of children were killed by cars, residents pushed back hard, and the city redesigned around people instead of vehicles. Today Amsterdam is one of the most livable cities in Europe, the result of a deliberate choice.
The concern about seniors and families is real, but it actually makes the case for the other side. My mom is a senior. She walks to the grocery store and the doctor. She’s renting in Fairhaven because there’s nothing affordable for her to buy in town. Being able to get places without a car is not a small thing; it’s independence. For families, living close to schools and shops means kids can eventually get somewhere on their own, which is something that’s mostly disappeared from American life. It also means fewer car trips, because what you need is actually nearby. Locals love Sunnyland for exactly that reason. You can walk to Trader Joe’s, something my friends in other cities are so jealous of.
More housing in Bellingham where people can live without a car if they want to is a good thing. Done consistently, that eventually eases the clogged neighborhood streets too, because fewer people need to drive somewhere they could walk.
Of all the places I’ve lived, Bellingham comes closest to this vision. I am lucky to commute by bike myself. I follow the work of Kat Vellos, a friendship coach who writes about neighborhood design and hyperlocal community at Better Places Studio. She coined the word “viciniamicus” for the constellation of local friendships that make a place feel like home, and a point she emphasizes is that walkable design isn’t just more convenient, it’s the actual infrastructure for those connections. The walkable neighborhoods, the mix of shops and homes, the chance that you might actually run into a neighbor on foot. It’s already here in places. The question is whether we build on it or design it away like everywhere else has.
—Sara Gould, Bellingham; Aug. 14, 2026