Bellingham City Council candidate Dana Briggs speaks up for sanctuary ordinance at Council meeting / Noisy Waters Northwest

Click the graphic to access the recording on YouTube of Dana Briggs speaking at the 7/1/19 Bellingham City Council meeting

July 2, 2019 Dena Jensen

This election season I encourage residents of Whatcom County to call on 2019 candidates for office to use their visibility and amplified voices during their campaigns to spark critical changes for negatively impacted communities all around us who are experiencing crisis.

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‘26,000 bucks a door is just a hard pill to swallow’: delinquent renovations of the Whatcom County Jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

Click the graphic to access the YouTube video of the Whatcom County Council March 12, 2019 meeting.

March 20, 2019 Dena Jensen

County Council Member Rud Browne expressed the sentiment twice at the Whatcom County Council March 12, 2019 regular meeting during the Council committee reports segment near the end of the meeting. One exact quote was: “Yeah, so anyway, anyway, so, I just, 26,000 bucks a door is just a hard pill to swallow.”

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Sluggish and inadequate government response to local extreme weather threats to the unhoused / Facebook post, Sj Robson

City of Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville, left. Whatcom County Executive Jack Louws, right.

February 14, 2019 Sandy Robson

It is painful to witness the continued sluggish and inadequate response from the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County governments to the critical situation facing some unhoused/unsheltered people in Whatcom County during this current period of very cold weather and the accompanying build-up of snow.

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County Executive takes no immediate action to provide additional shelter space under extreme weather conditions / Facebook post, Sj Robson

February 14, 2019 Sandy Robson

For almost two weeks now, advocates for unhoused people have been asking Whatcom County and City of Bellingham officials to open up additional shelter during the severe winter conditions our county has been enduring.

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Community steps up, but people could still freeze in Bellingham and Whatcom County / Noisy Waters Northwest

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WinterHavenTentEncampment/permalink/316039602591758/

February 4, 2019 Dena Jensen

Accuweather said that it got down to 18 degrees last night in Bellingham and tonight the low forecast is for 16 degrees. Below freezing nighttime temperatures are expected for the next few days. In such extreme conditions, people who don’t have houses or other shelter which provide warmth and protection are in extreme peril. It just takes some sudden bad fortune, like slipping on ice unexpectedly, or having your car/sleeping quarters window smashed, to bring on deathly outcomes.

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Can we be accepting of the current pace of long-overdue jail renovations? / Facebook Post, Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the link to access the draft minutes for the 11/20/18 Whatcom County Council Finance and Administrative Services Committee meeting

November 23, 2018  Dena Jensen

Here’s a heads-up that at the November 20, 2018 Whatcom County Council Finance and Administrative Services Committee meeting there was a brief update on the state of the Whatcom County Jail renovations during the semi-annual report from Whatcom County Facilities Management Project & Operations Manager Rob Ney. Here is the link to the audio; Mr. Ney starts speaking about the jail at 26:30: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9q3a1p526pfpwvg/Finance%20Nov%2020%202018.mp3?dl=0

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Recap of the County Executive’s Report at the 10/9/18 Finance Committee Meeting / Facebook Post, Noisy Waters Northwest

jail improvement project memo

Click the graphic to access Agenda Bill 2018-271 that contains this memo from Rob Ney to the Whatcom County Council

October 14, 2018  Dena Jensen

Here’s a little recap of the County Executive’s Report at the 10/9/18 Whatcom County Council Finance and Administrative Services Committee meeting. It’s good to know about this because it gives us clues to questions and possible approaches the County Administration and Council Members may be thinking about regarding the Whatcom County Jail.  Continue reading

Whatcom County Sheriff receives Operation Stonegarden Grant funding in joint mission to secure U.S. borders / Noisy Waters Northwest

kbfw rosalinda stonegarden

Click the graphic to access this Keep Bellingham Families Working Facebook post on their Facebook page

September 19, 2018   Dena Jensen

In light of our heightened awareness of threats to Whatcom County residents through the initiation of  deportation proceedings against immigrant’s rights activist and Bellingham resident Maru Mora-Villalpando in December of 2017, and the August 29, 2018 ICE raid against employees of the Bellingham location of Granite Precasting, I am going to try to shed some light on this Operation Stonegarden Grant funding that the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office has been receiving for years now with the approval of the Whatcom County Council. Continue reading

Post Primary Parting Shots / Corky Nouveau

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Click the image to access the latest Whatcom County August 7, 2018 primary election results

August 11, 2018  Corky Nouveau

The primaries were more intense than any I can remember, but my involvement doesn’t go back very far, just to 2014, when I volunteered for that quixotic carpetbagger Seth Fleetwood. No doubt the Repubs have measured Pinky’s proximity to the 42nd line down to the inch. Kudos for Tim Ballew II’s rapid endorsement of his running partner.   Continue reading

Help us stop failing the jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

many existing system deficiencies strauss.jpg

January 24, 2018  Dena Jensen

On Tuesday, January 30, 2018, now that new Council Members are officially sworn in, the Whatcom County Council’s Finance and Administrative Services Committee (freshly composed of Council Members Rud Browne, Tyler Byrd, and Satpal Sidhu) and Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee (which now is served on by Council Members Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, and Satpal Sidhu) will be discussing some issues related to urgently needed renovations of the Whatcom County Jail in downtown Bellingham.  The Council will then revisit, and potentially vote on, results of the earlier committee discussions at their evening meeting at 7 p.m. that night. Continue reading