Blaine Confidential

 I sent the following to Blaine City Council this morning: "There is no more important task for you at present than to regain the public trust you lost by allowing city employees to intentionally deceive us over the last couple of years on downtown planning. The first step is to acknowledge your failure to establish and enforce ethical standards, the second step is to investigate the affair, and the third step is to terminate the employment of those involved. At this juncture, public exposure and discussion of this scandal is the only way we can start to repair the damage done by Community Development Services under your supervision and direction. Once you have cleaned house, we can begin anew—this time by complying with the public participation requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act you pay lip service to."

Corruption in Blaine City Hall is disturbing for two primary reasons: it keeps us from moving forward as a community, and it drives away community members who want to help our community thrive. The downtown development scandal--detailed in the Pentland report to Blaine City Council--illustrates the lengths to which Community Development Services (CDS) will go to concoct a plan that ignores vital public concerns over their corrupt, unethical and illegal behavior in service to a handful of developers.   As the report's author observes, The DAC [Downtown Advisory Committee] was positioned to play a major role in the development and revitalization of the downtown, fulfilling an important “advisory” responsibility to City Council. Given this public positioning, there was an expectation from the Blaine community that the community’s interests would be fairly represented. According to Pentland, a member of DAC who attended all meetings, "The primary focus of the DAC became one of v...

It occurs to me that what is needed to get the public involved in planning Blaine's future is a Growth Management orientation with Q&A and facilitated discussion by a professional services contractor. This is the logical way to begin our 2024 comprehensive plan update, so citizens understand the process, the elements of a plan, and the steps leading to a plan.  This coming together should be done in a series of discussions at the community center that include objectives such as a Civic Center Master Plan for the public holdings around the library which are inevitably linked to a Downtown Revitalization Plan since public investment in cultural art centers—including museums and galleries—is what drives private investment seeking to capitalize on increased foot traffic and visitors drawn by these amenities. All part of creating a new, inclusive vision for Blaine. A GMA orientation could include creating a framework for the citizens of Blaine to participate, including working group...

My January 13 letter to Blaine City Council on public participation and January 14 letter about Community Development Services corruption and suggesting they start over on downtown planning.

My January 11, 2024  Letter to the Editor at The Northern Light addresses the City of Blaine's failure to abide by the Washington State Growth Management Act. Over the last six months, I have written twelve letters to Blaine City Council and Community Development Services on Growth Management issues, with an emphasis on encouraging public participation--to no avail.  In my August 10, 2023  Letter to the Editor at The Northern Light I discussed the implosion of Blaine Community Development Services in the aftermath of the downtown zoning fiasco and the need for public participation as required under Growth Management to get the city on track. My July 20, 2023 Letter to the Editor at The Northern Light focuses on the notorious zoning oversight by Community Development Services in downtown Blaine. 

As an observer of Growth Management in Washington state since it was passed into law thirty-three years ago, I cannot recall a more egregious example of the intentional subversion of both the letter and spirit of the law by a city than what has transpired in Blaine. Not only did Community Development Services (CDS) fail to convene public participation--as required by law--in deciding how to go about creating a new plan for downtown, but they also predetermined the desired outcome in cahoots with developers. Over the last six months, I have written twelve letters to Blaine City Council and CDS on Growth Management issues, with an emphasis on encouraging public participation--to no avail. In my August 10, 2023 Letter to the Editor at The Northern Light, I discussed the implosion of CDS in the aftermath of the downtown zoning fiasco and the need for public participation as required under Growth Management to get the city on track. Having read the January 15, 2024, Key Recommendations to...

 I wrote Life as Festival twenty years ago.  

Effective, inclusive leadership in city government can make a huge difference in a community. Achievements such as reshaping downtown and reforming city hall culture are possible. Embracing the theatre arts can revitalize a community's economy , but it takes leadership, something absent in Blaine.

It is possible that the only way to change the exclusive culture at city hall is by suing the city under the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). When the Growth Management Hearings Board comes to town to take testimony pursuant to a ruling, it is an opportunity to educate and inspire the citizens of our community to become involved in planning their city's future. In order to appeal any decision regarding land use by the city council under Growth Management —especially during the 2024 ten-year update of Blaine's comprehensive plan--citizens of Blaine filing an appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board must have standing. To have standing, one must have participated in the discussion leading to that decision. Written or oral testimony to Blaine Planning Commission, Blaine City Council, or Blaine Community Development Services should suffice.  As always, competent legal counsel is advised.   

The  Washington State Growth Management Act  ( GMA ) is a  law that requires state and local governments to manage Washington's growth by identifying and protecting critical areas and natural resource lands, designating urban growth areas, preparing comprehensive plans  and implementing them through capital investments and development regulations.  The GMA was adopted because the Washington State Legislature  found that uncoordinated and unplanned growth posed a threat to the environment, sustainable economic development and the quality of life in Washington.  The GMA establishes state goals, sets deadlines for compliance, offers direction on how to prepare local comprehensive plans and regulations and sets forth requirements for early and continuous public participation. GMA requires "early, continuous, and inclusive public involvement throughout the planning process." Every eight to ten years, depending on how quickly a community grows, comprehensive...