Blaine Confidential

March 24 letter to City of Blaine: The proposed  Creekside at the Ridge  PUD in East Blaine is part of the  Urban Growth Area  (UGA) recently rezoned for high density residential development, despite Washington Department of Ecology concerns for this  Critical Aquifer Recharge Area  (CARA), and the high cost of purifying drinking water contaminated by urban pollution.  I first brought this concern to the attention of the City of Blaine, Whatcom County, and the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board in 1994, as  designating the CARA a UGA could cost Blaine taxpayers  hundreds of millions of dollars, based on costs incurred by the City of Bellingham to remove urban pollution from its municipal water, supplied by Lake Whatcom. Seattle, in contrast, purchased its drinking watershed, which is what I proposed to Whatcom County in my November 24, 2025 letter  CARA PROTECTION DISTRICT PROPOSAL . The revelation by Water Planning Matt...

  To: Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Professional Standards / Certification Unit CC: City of Blaine City Clerk Re:  Limited supplemental submission regarding March 23, 2026 City action, retaliation, witness chilling, and pre-judgment in matters involving Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk Dear Commission: This supplement is limited and incorporates my prior submissions rather than restating them in full. I submit this supplemental letter to add new March 23, 2026 evidence that is materially relevant to the pending certification matters involving Chief of Police Rodger Funk, and to request that the Commission evaluate this new City action as evidence of retaliation, witness chilling, pre-judgment, and compromised neutrality toward complainants and witnesses. On March 23, 2026, the City of Blaine placed on its consent agenda a  Request for Council Action  prepared by City Manager Michael Harmon concerning Resolution 1996-26 and Resolution 1997-26...

My issues of concern are local, but reflect a statewide crisis caused by a betrayal of trust by local governments. Many citizens no longer trust public officials to tell the truth or follow the law, and for good reason.  This is not a partisan issue, but a constitutional crisis for our society. Democrats and Republicans have abandoned the public welfare for private wealth care. Low income seniors and young people paying off student loans can no longer survive in our society, and the real estate industry is partly driving this crisis. By asking nothing in return of developers who drive up rents and utility bills for low income people, local governments are causing the homeless crisis to worsen.

Blaine Anthropological Society (BAS) asks the perpetual question, "How did we get into this mess?"  The answer is that you won't find out by reading The Northern Light, the developers' voice.  Maybe we should start a real community newspaper that isn't in bed with the real estate industry at city hall.

In Blaine City Council lifts downtown building, design requirements for one year , Blaine Planning Director Alex Wenger said,  “I would look at it like an economic stimulus package that’s valid for up to one year." Interesting euphemism for looting public assets on behalf of a Canadian developer. Part of the municipal give-away by Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward and City Manager Mike Harmon approved by Blaine City Council on March 9, 2026 is all downtown on-street parking for the hundreds of condominium tenants coming soon. Those public parking spaces were built by Blaine taxpayers.

The A-1 above-the-fold story in The Northern Light this week is a home decor boutique for real estate staging service . Recent A-1 stories include BP Cherry Point celebrates the Seahawks . During this debut by Kari Mar as the new publisher, Blaine open government activists alleged criminal misconduct by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon, Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward, Blaine Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts, Blaine Chief of Police Rodger Funk, and Blaine City Councilwoman Sarbie Bains.  No mention of any of this in The Northern Light.