Whatcom jail campaign season is over, but what will be its legacy? / Letter to the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force

Posted on by
Click the image of the Wikipedia webpage on Dog whistle (politics) to access the information on the Wikipedia website

November 11, 2023 Dena Jensen

Below is the email I sent to the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force today:

Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 12:06:47 PM PST

Subject: Whatcom jail campaign season is over but what will be its legacy?

Dear Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force:

It seems apparent that a majority of voters have agreed to an increase in sales tax to fund a new Whatcom County Jail and the other projects noted in the ordinance for the tax associated with Proposition 2023-4. Now that Election Day has passed, I wanted to make sure you were aware of an action the YES! Safe Jail, Healthy Outcomes Political Action Committee took near the end of their campaign to support the sales tax. 

Continue reading →

People of under-represented communities and their advocates continue in struggle for services over jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Click the image containing pages from “No New Jail in Whatcom County” to access the complete September 2023 online zine.

October 28, 2023 Dena Jensen

It’s closing in on a year ago since Whatcom County’s Justice Project evaluated their needs assessment process according to a toolkit provided by the Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity.

Continue reading →

Whatcom jail locks up more unserved BIPOC people: Vote no on a 2023 tax for an unplanned new jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Click the screenshot of a section on page 14 of the 2023 Whatcom County Justice Project Needs Assessment to access the information in the full document.

October 18, 2023 Dena Jensen

[Editors Note: I submitted this commentary to Cascadia Daily News two weeks ago on October 4, 2023, after they had published a three-week string of guest commentaries praising the 2023 ballot measure sales tax to build a new Whatcom County jail. After 2 more weeks of pro-jail-tax commentaries and finally, two jail-tax related ones today, one for it and one that opposed the tax, I noticed on the two published this morning there was an editor’s note on both, saying CDN would not be publishing any more guest commentaries about the jail tax, “with most relevant issues seemingly covered.” So here’s mine right back here in my own publication with issues related to the tax that seem relevant to me.]

Continue reading →

Satpal Sidhu responds to PDC Complaint regarding 2023 ballot measure to fund Whatcom jail / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

October 13, 2023 Dena Jensen

A little further down in this post I am going to include images, links, and text related to the Public Disclosure complaint I filed against Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu on September 25, 2023, citing a potential violation of RCW 42.17A.555, for supporting or opposing a ballot proposition during a public meeting.

Continue reading →

Sales tax for new Whatcom jail requires working against incarceration reduction recommendation / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

October 11, 2023 Dena Jensen

This week there have been at least a couple of presentations of Washington State University’s independent review of progress on addressing the recommendations and strategies in the 2017 Vera Institute of Justice report. One was given to the Incarceration Prevention Task Force (IPRTF) at their special meeting held on Monday, October 09, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., and one to the Whatcom County Council Committee of the Whole at their meeting on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 2:15 p.m.

Continue reading →

Whatcom County’s 2023 pro-jail PAC lets their inaccurate allegations stand/ Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Click the 9/28/23 screenshot to access https://www.facebook.com/VoteYesSafeJailHealthyOutcomes where this 9/15/23 post can be found
Click this 9/28/23 annotated (red oval) screenshot to access the Local Media Coverage list near the bottom of the https://www.yeswhatcomjail.com home page

September 28, 2023 Dena Jensen

We can try, right? And keep trying. Because even when we fail, we learn.

If elected officials and those leading the charge in the political campaign to promote funds to prioritize building a new jail – and in a few years a few new services don’t make amends for inaccuracies in media assertions that can marginalize and discredit, not only people they have worked with on the Justice Project, but an array of voices promoting an end to injustice against themselves and/or their communities, then we discover a bad sign, on top of others, regarding at least some of those pro-new-jail political action committee (PAC) members and the project they are pushing. It helps offer another confirmation to our sense that there is some bad faith in the mix, and to an increasing degree.

Continue reading →

Comparison: sales-tax constant for Whatcom Executive is we may have too many funds for behavioral health services / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Image of a chart used by Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu’s remarks at the June 12, 2023 Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force

October 22, 2023 Dena Jensen

🟥🟩Comparison of our County Executive’s remarks, one month apart, related to the amount of funding from the 2023 ballot measure sales tax that was to be made available for non-jail projects.🟥🟩

Continue reading →

Injustice in Whatcom County: the push to marginalize continues / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

September 17, 2023 Dena Jensen

It’s unfortunate and disappointing that ballot measure sales tax proponents Peter Frazier and Stephen Gockley are making some misleading and inaccurate assertions such as the ones below from sections of their September 15, 2023 guest commentary, “Voters can have both: a safe jail and more treatment,” in Cascadia Daily News:  

Continue reading →

What percent of a new tax would go to a Whatcom jail?: officials don’t know yet / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

August 16, 2023 Dena Jensen

[Editor’s Note: The original blog post contained only two emails sent to and from myself and Jed Holmes on August 16, 2023. Below the copies of those emails included in this post, I have provided an update with two additional emails between myself and Mr. Holmes from August 17, 2023]

The following statement by Jed Holmes, Community Outreach Facilitatory for the Whatcom County Executive’s office, is something we have been missing regarding the 2023 Whatcom County ballot measure sales tax related to a new jail and other Justice Project projects that we will be voting on in November:

“The revenue scenario and allocation plan presented here should not be confused with a spending plan. Actual revenues received, recommendations of the advisory bodies contemplated in the ordinance, and decisions of future County Councils will ultimately determine how revenues from the new sales and use tax are spent.”

Continue reading →

Indefensible injustice in Whatcom County: no end in sight to public defender shortage / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Click the image of a YouTube video screen to access a portion of the recording of the July 6, 2023 Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force Steering Committee meeting discussion of the shortage of public defenders

July 16, 2023 Dena Jensen

In a Bellingham Herald article back in mid-May this year, Denver Pratt had reported on the local shortage of defense lawyers during that timing when Whatcom County was waiting for a public defender to be named.

Continue reading →