Blaine Confidential

2/28/25 letter to City of Blaine : On February 14, 2025, Blaine Water Coalition spokesman Otto Pointer submitted public comments regarding mandatory use of the 2024 Washington Department of Ecology Stormwater Management Manual to the City of Blaine by the February 14, 2025, 4:30 pm deadline as  evidenced by a screenshot  of a reply acknowledging receipt from Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger  with a time stamp of 4:30 pm . Subsequently, when Mr. Pointer checked the public record,  Mr. Wenger had redacted the time stamp from both Otto's submission and Wenger's reply.  Mr. Wenger then informed Mr. Pointer that his submission was not received on time and was now  omitted from the public record.

2/28/25 letter to City of Blaine : In her February 26, 2025 article about the February 24, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting,  The Northern Light  editor  Grace McCarthy continues telling half-truths to protect crooked developers  in bed with Community Development Services director Alex Wenger and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon.  McCarthy said, " Councilmember Sonia Hurt asked [Blaine City Attorney] Ruffatto if there was any problem of a developer making a donation to the city, to which Ruffato said that was allowed by state law. A small group of residents had voiced concern after Skip and Katie Jansen, the developers of The Ridge at Harbor Hills, had donated rocks to the city in December 2022, prior to city council’s approval of a zoning text amendment that allowed large manufactured home parks in east Blaine."  What is obvious to anyone not  biased by real estate ad money  is that asking the City of Blaine to approve an  illegal residential...

2/28/25 letter to City of Blaine : Whether Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon and Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger are  fired for malfeasance , or decide to  resign in disgrace  along with Councilman Mike Hill for  corruption in the form of self-dealing and fraud , you will need to replace them sooner rather than later. Regardless of how they are removed, you need to begin preparing for  municipal bankruptcy  as lawsuits by developers against the City of Blaine for  unlawfully permitted Planned Unit Developments  they've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in that will be stymied by the forthcoming enforcement of the Growth Management Act, Shoreline Management Act, and Clean Water Act by state and federal agencies and the courts.  

2/28/25 letter to Whatcom County Planning Commissioners : Dear Ms. Kogut-Aguon, Following up on my 2/27/25 letter 'Blaine Water Coalition' in which I described the current destruction of the Drayton Harbor watershed by the City of Blaine, I want to draw the Whatcom County Planning Commissioners' attention to the  Growth Management Act (GMA) requirement to harmonize the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan with that of the City of Blaine . Absent enforcement of this GMA requirement by Whatcom County, the county comp plan will be invalid and subject to challenge.  Leaving that task to the citizenry is unlawful and unfair. I know because in 1994 I led a litigation consortium to victory at the Washington Supreme Court establishing legal precedent for  Critical Areas protection  statewide. Our victories before the Growth Management Hearings Board, Shorelines Hearings Board, and Washington Court of Appeals 1994-1996 forced me into bankruptcy.  Asking citizens to bear the...

2/27/25 letter to Whatcom County Planning Commission: Dear Ms. Kogut-Aguon, I was unable to attend the Whatcom County Planning Commission this evening but I have written 10 letters to the 2025 comp plan update and county council email addresses since October about such items as the  deficient shoreline setbacks for the entire Drayton Harbor watershed , including salmon streams, wetlands, shorelines of statewide significance, waters of the United States, and the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) that supplies our city's drinking water.  BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP  is my overview of the corruption by the City of Blaine that is destroying our environment and public trust in government. Whatcom County has invested a lot over the last thirty years through the Drayton Harbor Shellfish Protection District, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association volunteers in the California Creek and Dakota Creek watersheds, and Whatcom Conservation District work with farmers. Now the City of Blai...

2/27/25 letter to City of Blaine : The  Central Business District (CBD)  up-zoning amendments to the Blaine Municipal Code regarding  parking requirements and building heights  were both voted on by Councilman Hill, who was a very vocal supporter of the recommendations of the  conflicted Downtown Advisory Committee  (DAC) to reduce parking requirements and increase building heights.  DAC member  Gurdeep Bains voted for both despite him owning properties in the CBD, as does Councilman Hill.  The CBD properties owned by Councilman Hill include the Chevron station, Blaine Visitors Center, Bordertown Mexican Grill, Starbuck's, and the  vacant property  behind them that extends  all the way to 3rd Street  behind Whatcom Physical Therapy. This is where  Hill could build condos , and indeed at the  June 10, 2024 Blaine City Council  meeting, Community Development Services director Alex Wenger used an  aerial p...

2/27/25 letter to City of Blaine : A while back, Blaine City Councilman Richard May--responding to my exposure of the Central Business District  self-dealing by developers  (including Councilman Mike Hill and Downtown Advisory Committee member Gurdeep Bains)--said that he was not concerned about this fraud in downtown planning and that the city just needed better public relations.  On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, responding to my letter  Making Things Worse , Councilman May rationalized his eager support for  Mayor Steward's hijacking of Councilman Lewis' motion  to restore oral public comment at city council meetings, and replace it with a fraudulent 'town hall' pacifier because oral public comment would have been defeated.  May was unconcerned by the  Mayor's violation of the rules of procedure  putting forward her alternative unrelated motion to allow the public to use city hall to talk with each other once a month for 30 minutes with cou...

2/26/25 letter to City of Blaine : Having sworn an oath to uphold the law,  you have a duty under the law to hold city staff accountable for malfeasance . Asking the department heads Alex Wenger and Mr. Gandhi and the city manager Mike Harmon to report back to you on the DOE 2024 Stormwater Management Manual  scandal that they are responsible for  is asking the fox to guard the henhouse. All you have to do to confirm that this is  mandatory under state law  is make one phone call to Olympia. While Wenger, Gandhi, and Harmon each in turn lied to you about that at the February 24, 2025, Blaine City Council meeting, city attorney Peter Ruffato--who had just finished  educating you on the topic of ethics --sat idly by knowing that they were lying. While Mr. Ruffato can be   censured by the Washington State Bar Association , Mr. Wenger, Mr. Gandhi, and Mr. Harmon are your responsibility. As such, it is you who must   terminate the employment of these t...

2/25/25 letter from Norman Biggleston to City of Blaine: From: NormanBiggleston <NormanBiggleston@proton.me> Date: On Tuesday, February 25th, 2025 at 9:54 PM Subject: SITKIN URGENT - Demand for Nullification of Invalid Vote & Censure of Mayor Steward & Demand for Special City Council Meeting To: jsitkin@csdlaw.com <jsitkin@csdlaw.com>, pruffatto@csdlaw.com <pruffatto@csdlaw.com> CC: citycouncil@cityofblaine.com <citycouncil@cityofblaine.com>, rmay@cityofblaine.com <rmay@cityofblaine.com>, shurt@cityofblaine.com <shurt@cityofblaine.com>, elewis@cityofblaine.com <elewis@cityofblaine.com>, edavidson@cityofblaine.com <edavidson@cityofblaine.com>, rlopez@cityofblaine.com <rlopez@cityofblaine.com>, msteward@cityofblaine.com <msteward@cityofblaine.com>, cdscomments@cityofblaine.com <cdscomments@cityofblaine.com>, police@cityofblaine.com <police@cityofblaine.com>, rfunk@cityofblaine.com <rfunk@cityofblaine.com...

2/26/25 letter to City of Blaine : For her mastery of and persistence in perpetuating  dirty tricks  to undermine democracy and free speech in the City of Blaine, Mayor Mary Lou Steward is presented the  'Dirty Mary'  award.

2/26/25 letter to City of Blaine The February 24, 2025 Blaine City Council meeting was like a cross between a Shakespearean tragedy and a  Rocky & Bullwinkle  cartoon, with the mayor's minions dancing to her tune. Councilman May graciously lent his support to  Mayor Steward's hijacking  of Councilman Lewis' agenda item to restore  oral public comment  at city council meetings with her misnamed and pathetic 'town hall' motion aimed at pacifying citizen resistance to her tyrannical reign. The other   minions (council members Hurt, Hill, and Lopez) instinctively fell into line , after six years of playing the role of her puppets. Steward's game plan now that she's been cornered by the citizenry is to subvert democracy to the bitter end. Council members   Hill, Lopez, and Davidson--all of whom voted NO to restoring oral public comment   at the February 10, 2025, council meeting--are up for election in 2025.  

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine : At the February 24, 2025, Blaine City Council meeting,  they did not vote on Councilman Lewis' February 10, 2025, agenda item motion to reinstate oral public comment  at each city council meeting. They instead voted on Mayor Steward's new unrelated motion to provide city hall space for citizens to talk for thirty minutes per month with council attendance optional.  The February 10, 2025 motion by Lewis was not discussed, and as such must be voted on at the next meeting in March.  Mayor Steward's separate motion can be voted on at its second reading.

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine from Donna: The recent decision to restrict the return of public comments at city council meeting to a Town Hall format, held once a month for just 30 minutes, is not only inadequate – it is an insult to the citizens of Blaine. For 378 days, public participation in government discussions has been silenced, and now, instead of a meaningful reinstatement, the mayor has opted for an ineffective inaccessible solution that fails to serve the very people she represents.   The citizens heard you   VERY   clearly. We are not even important enough for it to be mandatory for the mayor or the council to attend. How is that a representative government? You don’t even have to show up to hear us talk. This is not civic participation – this is a mockery of it. By offering such a limited and inadequate forum, the mayor is not only silencing the voices of those she serves but reinforcing the perception that the government of Blaine cares little for the vie...

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine : If you investigate the ongoing  malfeasance  by Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon and Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger recounted in my letter BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP you might be able to avoid some penalties but certainly not all, as you have been provided abundant evidence over the past year with which I've attempted to educate and motivate you to abide by the rule of law--evidently a foreign concept to all but Councilman Lewis. Harmon and Wenger's malfeasance is grounds for immediately  terminating their employment  with the City of Blaine. Their (and your) crimes are bringing the judicial nemesis to your land use shell games in the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA), Central Business District, and Semiahmoo peninsula/spit, otherwise known as the Drayton Harbor watershed. Under Harmon and Wenger's guidance and your acquiescence 2022-2024 so many  laws were intentionally violated  that we now have ...

2/24/25 letter to City of Blaine : Mayor Steward's 'town hall' motion was unclear. It sounded like once a month rather than at every council meeting. Once a month is unacceptable, as that puts citizens at a disadvantage when department heads and the city manager are allowed to address you at every meeting. Timely comment is important for fact-checking lies told to council, such as was done by Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Harmon, and Mr. Wenger at tonight's meeting when they falsely told council that using the outdated 2019 Washington State Department of Ecology Stormwater Management Manual is OK despite its state mandated adoption by the city on August 1, 2024.  It is also not acceptable to ration speaker time according to how many speakers sign up with a total time limit of 30 minutes. The 3 minutes per person system worked well and was equitable. With Steward's motion, there is no consistency nor equity. If people come to speak, you can take the time to listen. If it goes long...

2/25/25 letter to City of Blaine : BLAINE TOXIC COVERUP A Town that Never Learns By  Jay Taber Blaine Water Coalition Blaine City Council member  Mike Hill --recently under investigation by the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department for accosting Blaine Water Coalition activist Otto Pointer at the November 12, 2024, city council meeting (Case #24A39027)--has a problem with his plan to develop condos across Peace Portal Drive from his  Chevron  station downtown. In a November 28, 2023,  Hazardous Materials Analysis Report  presented by GeoEngineers to the City of Blaine, Hill's Chevron is listed as a 'high-risk' Department of Ecology site (Cleanup Site ID # 9280) due to confirmed releases of petroleum products--including  Benzene --on and off the property,  contaminating the groundwater  that migrates from the Chevron station under Starbuck's toward  Cain Creek  and  Drayton Harbor . The  Drayton Harbor estuary  is home t...