June 28, 2023 Dena Jensen
So far, I have made it through watching the first three hours of Whatcom County Council Members’ 10:30 a.m., June 26, 2023 workshop on the draft copy of an ordinance for a sales tax that will potentially fund a new Whatcom County Jail and behavioral health services. I still have a couple hours left of their full workshop that day to finish watching.
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June 25, 2023 Dena Jensen
It will be good to pay attention to this special meeting for the Whatcom County Council on MONDAY 6/26/23 at 10:30 a.m, (same day as Bellingham City Council meetings for this week,) as it relates to conditions surrounding a new jail and also to people campaigning to fill Whatcom County government positions during the 2023 elections (Meeting details are here: https://whatcom.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1109912&GUID=E6B2D3F9-57C3-4CA0-BAF2-CA77423B70D0&Options=info|&Search= )
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June 23, 2023 Dena Jensen
The 2023 election season is underway and candidates are busy making themselves known to the community. Liz Darrow is one of those candidates, and is also a person who has been making herself known to the community through her acts of showing up for many years to support and learn from those who live and grapple with challenges in Bellingham and Whatcom County. So much so, that a more home-body type like me, who lives in north Whatcom, has met her in person and is happy to keep getting to know this individual who I am lucky to be able to call a friend.
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June 15, 2023 Dena Jensen
During a June 13, 2023 Whatcom County Council Special Committee of the Whole meeting, committee members participated in a work session focused on the June 9, 2023 draft Justice Project Implementation Plan and a ballot measure to be approved by voters in November. The ballot measure would be for a tax which is currently referred to in that latest amended draft implementation plan as a “proposed new sales tax” which is, among other things, “the only feasible funding mechanism to generate the revenue needed to pay for a capital project the size of the jail and behavioral health treatment center.”
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June 12, 2023 Dena Jensen
The Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF)/Law and Justice Council approved a motion today to “endorse the Justice Project Implementation Plan as ultimately approved by the County Executive and County Council.” The vote was 17 yes with 4 opposed. (Link to the meeting recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywj7BNTQJqw&t=3927s )
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June 7, 2023 Dena Jensen
Bellingham City Council Member Dan Hammill made remarks at the Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday this week that included information about two different funding sources Whatcom County has that offer the potential to invest in behavioral health efforts up to around ten million dollars a year.
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June 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
This week the Whatcom County Council put out a news flash announcement requesting that community members provide feedback to the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force about the draft version of the Justice Project Implementation Plan. I sent an email in today that will be included in this blog post.
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May 21, 2023 Dena Jensen
In this post you will find the content of the meeting summaries of the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force that are currently available so far for 2023. This is a period when the focus of the Task Force has more prominently centered on the intersection of their work with Whatcom County’s Justice Project.
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May 4, 2023 Dena Jensen
The quote on this post was part of a brief comment given by our current Whatcom County Executive near the end of a March 15, 2023 discussion about adopting public comment guidelines for the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) a couple of months ago.
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May 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
Over the next few months, our community will have a more intensive opportunity to review and speak out about the process (and outcome of that process) by which Whatcom County Council has come to accept recommendations, and potentially propose funding, for a new jail along with mental and behavioral health services related to incarceration and reducing and preventing incarceration.
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noisy waters northwest 
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