Blaine Confidential

5/7/2024 You have a right and duty under the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) to refuse to recommend comprehensive plan text amendments for downtown zoning and development regulations due to the unlawful and unethical conduct of Community Development Services (CDS), the mayor and city council in bringing the parking and building height proposals before you. Under GMA, the process is everything, and the City of Blaine has intentionally violated the process. You have the opportunity to set a new standard of official conduct in Blaine despite the lack of a code of conduct. You can say that the highly manipulated process that began with two planning commissioners improperly voting on text amendments as members of the downtown advisory committee (DAC) that was unlawfully transformed into a quasi-official voting body is not acceptable.  That body was in turn manipulated by the mayor, city manager, and CDS director who told them what to do. Then, without any town hall meetings to

My May 5, 2024, letter to Blaine City Council: Mayor Steward should resign or be recalled from public office for misfeasance, malfeasance, and violation of her oath of office. Freedom of speech, public participation, and the rule of law have all been sacrificed under her foolish mission to hand the keys to the city to a handful of developers. This preoccupation has been accompanied by an intentional neglect to convene community meetings to define and implement an economic recovery plan consistent with the goal of tourism development. With the recent announcement of a 33% budget cut for 2024, one might think this is the overwhelming priority, but the last four years under Mayor Steward have been characterized by backroom deals, conflicts of interest, and officially facilitated self-dealing. Her fool's mission has brought Blaine to the brink of bankruptcy, putting our future at risk. It is time for her to go.

In his letter to the editor of The Northern Light , Ray Leone contrasts the behavior of the planning commission with that of the mayor and city council. Unlike the city council, he observes, " They appeared to be a group not guided by predetermined outcomes, were active listeners, exhibited open mindedness, and importantly were seeking perspective on what is best for this community – before they proceed to a vote."

What's up with the city selling public parking to downtown developers? Are they going to privatize 120 spaces of on-street parking? That's the whole downtown! Or is it a monetary contribution to go toward a municipal parking garage? If so, does that mean the new condo tenants use up all street parking leaving tourists with no parking until the municipal garage is built sometime in the distant future? Blaine is already on the brink of bankruptcy having recently announced a 33% budget cut for 2024. Killing downtown recovery for a couple of condo developers will be the final nail in the coffin. [This was published as a letter to the editor of The Northern Light on May 2, 2024.]

Code of Conduct Public Participation Rule of Law

My 4/20/2024 letter to Blaine City Council, planning commission and community development: You have got the comprehensive plan process all wrong. Instead of beginning with a backroom deal between city hall and developers to launch a campaign to build a 72' tall wall of view-blocking condos downtown, the comprehensive plan by law is to begin with a community vision. A community vision is arrived at by holding town halls to discuss in open two-way communication the many aspects of our once-in-a-century major makeover of Blaine.  This major makeover includes both downtown and civic center, which is where your focus should be for economic recovery. A wall of condos without parking--necessitating construction of a municipal parking garage so shoppers won't be displaced by condo residents on Peace Portal--is detrimental to our economy.  What would be a boon to our economy is a community art center on the old city hall site, which is consistent with the city economic recovery plan of