Holding Blaine Accountable

My June 10, 2024, letter to Blaine City Council:

It was difficult to listen to Community Development Services director Alex Wenger lie to you and us at this evening's meeting. He has been lying about the Central Business District (CBD) planning process for over a year, since Community Development Services (CDS) conspired to break state and federal laws and even its own CBD Project Charter in order to prevent public participation. CDS did the same thing, with your support, in the department's unlawful designation of DNS rather than an EIS for the Planned Unit Developments above our aquifer. 

As Wenger introduced the parking amendments options for downtown, he observed that his department decided how they wanted downtown to develop and moved their vision through the planning commission on behalf of developers without public input. And you did not question this. In fact, despite knowing it was corrupt, you happily went along with the law breaking.

By intentionally violating the Clean Water Act and Growth Management Act, Mr. Wenger and you have also violated the Civil Rights Act by denying us a means of participating and holding you accountable without taking you to court. This undermines democracy, public health, and our economic prosperity. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter to County Prosecutor

To Mr. Eric J. Richey, Whatcom Prosecuting Attorney, 311 Grand, Ste. 201, Bellingham WA 98225 I write to you as Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney in hope you will protect the rights of the people of Blaine from a city government that--due to embedded corruption--is unable to effectively govern and is putting our health and prosperity at risk by their unlawful acts. Your reply requested.  I am told you have the authority to empanel a grand jury to investigate official misconduct and encourage you to do so. I copy my most recent letter to the City of Blaine below. This is the tip of the iceberg, and we have abundant evidence of widespread intentional wrongdoing.   To Blaine City Council, Planning Commission, and Community Development Services As you proceed with the downtown rezone/development regulation items of parking and building heights this month, I remind you that this process was corrupted at the outset when on 3/24/2023 Blaine City Council ordered the Blaine City Manager to in
Read more

Reckless Bigotry

In his Northern Light candidate interview , Cliff Freeman said the following:  "Stop the woke agenda that is poisoning the minds of our kids. Be it diversity training, CRT, social and emotional learning, inappropriate sex education, reducing parent’s rights, this transgender contagion, the list goes on. I will take a hard look at the curriculum. I need to understand the state requirements that promote this craziness as well as any district policies, if any, that contribute to it. And make adjustments if needed. The curriculum needs to reflect the values of the community." It is shameful that Blaine School District voters elected someone who openly opposes diversity and learning about the history of American racism that led to slavery and genocide. Putting the lives of transgender and other LGBTQ+ students at risk is not leadership; it is reckless bigotry.  [related articles: Whatcom Hate Groups  and Duties of Citizenship ] [note: I am using Freeman's own words to facilita
Read more

Culture of Exclusion

BLAINE COMMUNITY FORUM Ending the Culture of Exclusion at Blaine City Hall As the city of Blaine experienced unprecedented growth over the last couple of years, citizens from Semiahmoo, Salishan and East Blaine contributed ideas on how to protect critical areas (city aquifer, Cain Creek, Drayton Harbor), how to kickstart prosperity at our civic center (new library, art center), and how to facilitate meaningful public participation in planning our future. As these citizens soon discovered, corruption by Blaine officials of the planning process required under the Washington State Growth Management Act put critical areas, prosperity, and public participation at risk. When these citizens asked questions concerning conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and the city conspiring to violate the Growth Management Act, the city council retaliated. Now that the City of Blaine has closed public comment at their meetings—making Blaine the only city in Whatcom County that excludes public participation
Read more