Lack of places to which LEAD can lead: Task Force members / Letter to the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force

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August 7, 2023 Dena Jensen

Sent: Monday, August 7, 2023, 04:11:24 PM PDT

Subject: Regarding 2E2SSB 5536 and the LEAD program

Dear Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force:


I am writing related to the portion on your July 17, 2023 meeting where there was a brief discussion of the changes in state legislation – specifically 2E2SSB 5536, on controlled substances, possession, and treatment.

It is noteworthy to me that I am hearing a continued focus on the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program when some government bodies are speaking of services to address dangers posed by public drug use and possession. This has been the case at Bellingham City Council meetings surrounding both their own legislation outlawing public use of controlled substances in Bellingham that was passed back in April, and their more recent adoption of the state legislation. 

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‘What we’re trying to say is that there is a built-in exclusion’: Bellingham Immigration Advisory Board member / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access Community Voz podcasts, including the episode, “The Uses of Anger – IAB Update”

August 4, 2023 Dena Jensen

I listened to this great episode of the Community Voz podcast yesterday that brings up such valuable points related to oppressed and marginalized communities. Here is the link where you can find the episode “The Uses of Anger – IAB Update”: https://www.foodjustice.org/community-voz-radio

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What if long-term homeless solutions are increasingly too little too late? / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the image to access nightly Base Camp shelter numbers on the Lighthouse Mission Ministries website

July 28, 2023 Dena Jensen

After about a month of nights where beds were not quite filled up at Base Camp, numbers have been back up near capacity (and above) this week. 

I realize that people are working on putting things in place for services that may possibly emerge in the future, but severe weather season starts in three months and I want to point out a list of things that have been happening this year, some of them in the last few months, some in the last few weeks, and some loom ahead as possible in the future.  

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Seth Fleetwood: keeping up or falling behind with homeless services? / Noisy Waters Northwest

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https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/75702/2023-PIT-Count-Report?bidId=
https://noisywatersnw.com/2021/07/29/chapter-two-city-staff-and-the-mayor-whatcom-barriers-to-equity-a-review-for-2021-candidates-noisy-waters-northwest/

July 22, 2023 Dena Jensen

For folks who are receiving campaign literature with claims like this one of current Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood’s, “Sustaining and expanding shelters, with a threefold increase in facilities for our unhoused population.” >>>>>>> 

Be sure and do your homework to prevent yourself having illusions of grand services being provided without context for what terms like “threefold increase” really mean related to benefits to the community. In other words, does this mean are we actually getting ahead or falling behind in getting folks into stable living situations?

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Whatcom proposed sales tax revenue won’t fund crisis relief center first / Noisy Waters Northwest

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July 5, 2023 Dena Jensen

I am almost done listening to the Bellingham City Council’s 6/26/23 Committee of the Whole meeting. That’s the one where they were having discussions about adopting the state legislation making drug possession and public use a gross misdemeanor (which I’m going to talk about in a later post) and about the City Council’s “Resolution Affirming the City of Bellingham Values with Regard to the Proposed Ballot Measure for the Purpose of Providing Funds for Costs of Public Health, Safety and Justice Facilities and Services, Including Behavioral Health, Housing, Public Safety, and Criminal Justice Facilities and Programs.” 

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Community voice: Liz Darrow runs for Bellingham City Council Ward 3 / Q&A for Noisy Waters Northwest

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Image of community contributions made during a gathering organized by Liz Darrow for Healthy and Safe Neighborhoods. Darrow is running for Bellingham City Council Ward 3 in the November 2023 election

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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Bellingham Mayor Fleetwood calls for slowing down services, speeding up new jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access a copy of the full June 6, 2023 letter sent by Whatcom County mayors encouraging the County Council to delay funding for social services

June 8, 2023 Dena Jensen

Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood has signed on to each one of the Small City Caucus letters posted on the Justice Project comment webpage and sent to Whatcom County Council Members regarding their county’s Justice Project so far. All three letters have emphasized the building of a new jail over behavioral health services, but none so clearly as the one dated June 6, 2023, or with the amount of alarming and detailed proposals.  (As of the date of this post, there is not an active link to the letter on that comment webpage, but the letter is listed there and a link to the letter was found elsewhere on the Whatcom County website.)

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Law enforcement remains in the lead to re-criminalize drug use and possession / Noisy Waters Northwest

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April 20, 2023 Dena Jensen

April 20, 2023  Dena Jensen

On April 10, 2023, five out of seven members of the Bellingham City Council voted to approve an ordinance making it illegal to publicly use controlled substances in their city. Council Members took the action after amending the original ordinance which had been presented by Mayor Seth Fleetwood about a month earlier. Enforcement will guarantee that some people living outside will be exposed to increased scrutiny and pursuit by the Bellingham Police Department.

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New Bellingham drug use law looks to rely on diversion program with high barrier to entry / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access video and meeting materials for the 4/10/23 Bellingham City Council Public Health, Safety and Justice Committee

April 14, 2023 Dena Jensen

I’ll try to give a rough overview of the Bellingham City Council Members’ discussion on Monday, April 10, 2023 in their Public Health, Safety, and Justice Committee meeting about potentially proceeding forward to approve their ordinance to make public use of controlled substances a crime. (I haven’t gotten a chance yet to listen to the brief review of community courts which was the second item on their agenda).

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