CITIZENS ARE FEARFUL

May 28 letter to Whatcom Community Foundation:

Dear Whatcom Community Foundation,

Thank you for soliciting feedback on how you can help build community in Whatcom County. In Blaine, community has been destroyed, and citizens are fearful of sharing their opinions and ideas. Our local newspaper demonized open government activists opposing municipal corruption, so fear is to be expected.

From 2023-26, the communities of Blaine and Birch Bay have been beset by major developers, who along with the real estate industry, have taken over Blaine's government and begun dismantling the Blaine Municipal Code to favor developers at the expense of public health and safety. Two five hundred unit developments were recently approved that threaten Birch Bay Village with flooding, as well as the viability of the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area and Blaine's public water system that serves Blaine and Birch Bay. On March 9, 2026, Blaine City Council handed over all community visioning and decision making to downtown developers, and on June 8, proposes to eliminate public participation, government transparency, and accountability.

Electric, water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure expenses to accommodate doubling our population in three years is proposed to be paid for by significantly raising utility rates in January 2027. Public hearings are proposed to be curtailed in order to expedite development for home sales taxes the city is pursuing without regard for the law. Open government activists in Blaine have been targeted for harassment by the mayor's allies, and on November 4, 2025, Whatcom District Court Judge Angela Anderson issued civil protection orders for four individuals who received death threats. On March 6, 2026, the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission opened an investigation of retaliatory policing by Blaine Police Department against critics of the mayor and city manager.

The U.S. Department of Justice public integrity unit needs to investigate the City of Blaine for racketeering, where three public officials engaged in self-dealing from 2024-26 and were joined by two others committing perjury and fraud on SEPA decisions, Critical Area Determinations, and Stormwater Reports affecting Blaine's municipal aquifer and the aquifer at Birch Point. I have an active complaint with the U.S. EPA Civil Rights Division against the City of Blaine. The Washington State Auditor Office has opened a file on Blaine Municipal Corruption. The Washington State Chief Health Law Judge has set a hearing for June regarding contamination of Blaine's public water system

In the May issue of Whatcom Watch is a Water Planning Matters article about the Blaine hearing examiner removing climate science evidence from the public record. Altering the public record is a felony. 

At WaterPlanningMatters.org you can read about arsenic contamination of Blaine’s public water system.