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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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
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
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
September 8, 2018 Dena Jensen
Yesterday, I received my first response to a September 6, 2018 email I sent to the Whatcom County Council requesting an update on renovations to our Whatcom County Jail. So far, other Council Members have yet to reply. Continue reading
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
October 27, 2017 Dena Jensen
#RejectTheJailTax #GetFiredUpForJustice
It is infuriating that small city Mayors Mutchler and Korthuis are using mental health services and diversion programs to sell the jail sales tax to voters in this op-ed in the Bellingham Herald, when they were supporting the Jail Facility Finance and Use Agreement with no assurances of monies for these. Continue reading
