‘I just wanna make sure it’s people who are legal’ – 3 minutes of the Whatcom County Council 11/07/18 Public Works and Health Committee meeting / Noisy Waters Northwest

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November 8, 2018  Dena Jensen

[Correction, November 10, 2018: There is a corrected sentence in the second to the last paragraph of this blog post with a footnote to describe the correction to the information that was made.]

It unfortunately became true that my heart actually could be heavier than from hearing the news that it’s very likely we will be stuck with Senator Doug Ericksen again for awhile longer (until he predictably does something that will be worthy of a successful recall.) Continue reading →

Overseeing the fight for civilian oversight to protect immigrants and people of color in Bellingham / Noisy Waters Northwest

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postcards to mayor redacted aqua

Graphics show one postcard front side (top), and multiple reverse/message sides of postcards sent to Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville by community members in June of 2017

May 23, 2018  Dena Jensen

The following report offers information gained through a public records request I made of the City of Bellingham on January 18, 2018.

Protecting vulnerable members of our community is a shared responsibility that none of us should take lightly. As much as government agencies may strive for and purport transparency, it is generally human nature to not be able to recognize our own flaws and, if others point them out, to do our best to excuse them or deny that this flaw, which another person sees, is really there.

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You did NOT “Stand Down” – Rejection of the Jail Sales Tax / Letter to the Editor, Irene Morgan

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justice innovation to go with Irene Morgan LTE

November 12, 2017  Irene Morgan, Founder, Restorative Community Coalition

Acknowledgement

A hardy THANK YOU to everyone who stood tall in opposition to the now defunct jail tax – Proposition 2017- 6.  You did NOT “Stand Down”, it was NOT a “Done Deal”, the “Ship had NOT Sailed”, the “Train is STILL in the Station” and it was NOT “a waste of our time”!  The voters said NO, with an even greater margin – again! Continue reading →

Stay on top of actions that will help reduce further injustice at the Whatcom County Jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Scope of services being proposed incremental jail renovations

November 7, 2017  Dena Jensen

To try to stay on top of actions that will help reduce further injustice being perpetrated on incarcerated individuals at our downtown Bellingham jail I sent a letter today to Whatcom County Council and Deputy Executive Schroeder today about the consent agenda item on the Council’s Finance and Adminstrative Services Committee agenda tomorrow (11/8) about renovations on the downtown Bellingham jail. You can send one too! : council@co.whatcom.wa.us.

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Both Councils Ignore Jail Studies / NorthwestCitizen, Juliette Davis

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Jul 15, 2017  Juliette Daniels

On Monday, July 10, The Vera Institute presented its preliminary data findings on the Whatcom County justice system at a special meeting of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF). It took months for the Vera Institute to obtain the necessary data on the County Jail population in 2016, but the results confirmed stunning racial disparities in the jailed population, as well as a sizable pre-trial population that could be significantly reduced with the use of evidence-based methods of incarceration prevention. Continue reading →

County Council is uninformed on community concerns about immigration policies at 6/27/17 Whatcom County Council Meeting / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

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Council Member Todd Donovan brings forward concerns of community members regarding immigration policies at the June 27, 2017 Whatcom County Council Meeting

1:08pm  July 4, 2017  Dena Jensen

I am posting this link to a portion of last week’s [June 27 2017, Whatcom] County Council meeting where Council Member Donovan says he is trying to figure out how to procedurally approach addressing an ordinance and concerns people have expressed having to do with how our law enforcement agencies might be interacting with people of the immigrant community. He says that a group of people have brought this to the attention of himself and Council Member Weimer. Continue reading →

Accounting of the 6/27/17 afternoon Whatcom County Council Special Committee of the Whole RE: the jail agreement / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to  access the complete 6/20/2017 letter from the Bellingham City Council to the Whatcom County Council

July 1. 2017  Dena Jensen

On June 27, 2017 the Whatcom County Council’s Special Committee of the Whole (made up of all seven council members) met for an afternoon session to discuss the letter they had been sent by the Bellingham City Council regarding the currently proposed Jail Facility Finance and Use Agreement.  I listened to the audio of the meeting and wrote up fairly detailed summaries of the comments and discussions during the meeting that I had posted in the comment section to a Facebook post. I thought I would share that material here to give more people access to the information, since it might come in handy over the next few weeks while the JFFUA is under consideration and the potential looms of a .2% tax to finance a new Whatcom County Jail going on the November 2017 ballot.  Here is the link to the audio for that meeting: Special Committee of the Whole PM June 27 2017.mp3

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Senator Ericksen flees accountability in his representative role / Noisy Waters Northwest, Sandy Robson

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Screenshot photo of Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale), from a January 2015 legislative video update, published on YouTube, on January 23, 2015

February 20, 2017  Sandy Robson

Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale), has been in hot water with constituents in the 42nd Legislative District he represents in Whatcom County, Washington, since late January. The lawmaker has drawn an outpouring of criticism from his constituents who feel Ericksen is under-representing them because of his current dual role as state senator, while also having recently accepted a position as Communications Director with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Continue reading →

January 26, 2016: the date citizens were stopped from participating at an acceptable level in the Whatcom County Comp Plan Update regarding the Cherry Point UGA / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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jan 26 council meeting youtube

23 mins  July 25, 2016  Sandy Robson

January 26, 2016. Remember that date because that is the day that the general public, the Lummi Nation, the Suquamish Indian Tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Tulalip Tribes (which submitted Comp Plan Update comments on Cherry Point UGA), and our County Council, were stopped from fully participating, or even participating at any acceptable level, in the County Comp Plan Update process as it relates to Cherry Point UGA.  Continue reading →

Did you know that County Council finalized the County Comprehensive Plan Update on Thursday, July 14th? / Facebook post, Sj Robson

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mark personius ch 2 language

Memorandum from Mark Personius, Assistant Director County Planning & Development Services with suggested policy language “in-lieu of the proposed Cherry Point UGA narrative and policies included in the July 5th Council agenda packet.”

40 mins  July 16, 2016  Sandy Robson

At the July 12 evening Whatcom County Council Meeting, which I attended, Council Chair Barry Buchanan made an announcement at the beginning of the meeting. Continue reading →