Whatcom County Severe Weather Shelters will open starting Sunday night, January 12, 2020 / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access Whatcom County’s Winter Emergency Shelter Options page

January 10, 2020  Dena Jensen

Emergency Winter Shelter Hotline: (360) 788-7983

The big storm that weather services have been predicting for the last couple weeks is here.  People without shelter will be getting soaked, with extremely chilling temperatures closing in during the weekend. Whatcom County has posted Severe Weather Shelter openings starting Sunday night when lows are predicted to be 18 degrees according to the National Weather Service forecast specifically for Bellingham.

At this point, Whatcom County has said shelters will be open until Wednesday and that,
“The need for severe weather shelters to operate after Wednesday night will be reevaluated as forecasts are updated next week.”

Note that two shelters will be open January 12, at Garden St. United Methodist Church, serving families with children, and at Christ the King Church serving adult men. Seventh Day Adventist Church will open their shelter on Monday January 13 and it is projected to remain open until January 15, serving adults. Fountain Community Church, serving adults, will open on Wednesday January 15.  Continue reading →

Letter to the Whatcom County Homeless Strategies Workgroup RE the scarcity of access to severe weather shelters / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access the Homeless Strategies Workgroup Meeting Information page on the Whatcom County website

January 8, 2020  Dena Jensen

To: Barry Buchanan <bbuchana@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Michael W. Lilliquist <mlilliquist@cob.org>; Daniel C. Hammill <dchammill@cob.org>; Ann Beck <abeck@co.whatcom.wa.us>; michael_parker@whatcomhsc.org <michael_parker@whatcomhsc.org>; Carol Frazey <cfrazey@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Michael Shepard <michaels@portofbellingham.com>; Mike Hilley <mhilley@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Cathy Halka <chalka@co.whatcom.wa.us>; Tyler Schroeder <tschroed@co.whatcom.wa.us>; rileysweeney@cityofferndale.org <rileysweeney@cityofferndale.org>

Cc: mayorsoffice@cob.org <mayorsoffice@cob.org>; Satpal Sidhu <ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us>; hahuthman@cob.org <hahuthman@cob.org>; laanderson@cob.org <laanderson@cob.org>; hestone@cob.org <hestone@cob.org>; Pinky T. Vargas <ptmvargas@cob.org>; Gene R. Knutson <gknutson@cob.org>

Continue reading →

Things not part of the Bellingham Climate Action Plan Task Force recommendations / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Screenshot of a slide from the December 9, 2019 presentation of the Climate Action Plan Task Force to the Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole. The slide has a dark blue back ground providing inforgraphics on 5 specific things not being required in Task Force recommendations

December 17, 2019  Dena Jensen

One of my favorite parts of the Climate Action Task Force presentation of their Climate Action Plan recommendations to the Bellingham City Council Committee of the Whole was the part where this infographic was shown in the slide show during the section presented by Erin McDade, one of the Task Force members. Continue reading →

Whatcom Business Alliance’s new ‘project’ to protect Cherry Point refineries’ ability to expand fossil fuel operations / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Screenshot of the ‘Whatcom Coalition for Economic Growth’ Facebook page

December 13, 2019  Dena Jensen

This month, folks may have been seeing sponsored Facebook ads for the Whatcom Coalition for Economic Growth. This is a fairly new “project” of the Whatcom Business Alliance that seems to be putting on a full court press during this time that the Whatcom County Planning Commission is reviewing the Cherry Point Amendments. This WBA effort is not unlike Cascade Natural Gas’s misinformation campaign regarding the Climate Action Plan Task Force.
Continue reading →

Farm Workforce Modernization Act poses setbacks for workers and growers / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Community members, along with representatives of Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia join in a 2019 People’s Tribunal addressing the mistreatment of H-2A farmworkers at Crystal View Raspberry Farm in Bellingham, WA

November 30, 2019  Dena Jensen

Update, December 14, 2019: On Thursday December 12, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, HR 5038, was passed out of the House in the Congress. It now moves to the United States Senate.

Local farmworker advocacy organizations, Community to Community Development,  and Familias Unidas por la Justicia have been of significant support to H-2A visa workers, locally in Whatcom County, and in other areas in the state, as they were in June of 2019 in Grant County, Washington, at the King Fuji Ranch in Mattewa. Continue reading →

Tony Larson and the Business and Commerce Committee campaign against Cherry Point amendments / Noisy Waters Northwest

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November 14, 2019  Dena Jensen

It is surely fitting for protectors of Native American treaty rights and the Salish Sea to be enjoying a collective sigh of relief due to the defeat of Tony Larson’s 2019 campaign to become Whatcom County Executive.  The particular disaster of a man becoming County Executive, who had championed a proposed coal terminal project at Xwe’chi’eXen that was in opposition to the wishes and treaty rights of Lummi Nation, was averted. Continue reading →

Turning out votes in Blue Bellingham / Corky Nouveau

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November 3, 2019  Corky Nouveau

Corky fired up the MiniVan for a tour of one of the city’s neighborhoods to check up on the Hamsters’ participation in the election cycle. Only a few were flagged as “Voted,” so it was turn-out-the-base time in Blue Bellingham to counteract the efforts by the tarred and feathered candidates to turn out their Tea Party/Trumper settler base.  Continue reading →

Primer on the forces behind negative campaign ads attacking Satpal Sidhu’s candidacy / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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Screen shot of the (C1 report) for the Coalition for a Better Northwest Washington filed with the Public Disclosure Commission. The C-1 report, originally filed on August 21, 2019, as shown in this screenshot, displays a submission date of October 22, 2019

November 2, 2019  Sandy Robson

Currently, Tony Larson is running for Whatcom County Executive against Satpal Sidhu. A political action committee (PAC) named the “Coalition For a Better Northwest Washington,” was recently formed to support Larson’s candidacy, and to oppose Satpal Sidhu’s candidacy. Continue reading →

Building industry political committee boosts underhanded tactics; Fleetwood returns check/ Noisy Waters Northwest

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October 25, 2019  Dena Jensen

Last month, the Whatcom County Affordable Housing Council (WCAHC) political committee got caught exerting effort to deny their affiliation to the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County (BIAWC), a trade and business advocacy organization, to the Public Disclosure Commission(PDC). Continue reading →