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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December 7, 2018 Dena Jensen
This is for folks who have a continuing interest in the evolution of the Business and Commerce Advisory Committee that was recently formed and appointed by the Whatcom County Council: Continue reading
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.
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
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
September 21, 2016 Wendy Harris
At the staff presentation to the county council on the Critical Area Ordinance, staff provided their goals and proposed changes (why are they making changes now?) without explaining how the CAO worked or how the new proposals fit into the CAO requirements. They skipped any mention of the Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas, and only mentioned farm plans with regard to an suggestion for an annual report. I felt this left the council and public uninformed. Continue reading
As a long-time subscriber to the Lynden Tribune and a concerned citizen, I continue to research the Tribune’s editorial/forum pages and “news” pages and the clear conclusion is that: Lynden “Tea Party” Tribune continues its long-standing policy of exclusively promoting Republican and Tea Party views. Calvin Bratt and Michael Lewis have no interest in publishing any Community Forum columns or letters to the editor that favor Democrats or progressives. Continue reading
