October 11 - 17, 2018
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Blaine City Council appoints planning commissioner, page 3
Get to know your general Great Washington Shakeelection candidates, page 6 Out is October 18, page 13
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
A closer look General election candidates field questions at forum at campaign finance in District 42 B y P at G r u bb
(See Money, page 10)
s Moderator Terry Terry posed a series of questions to general election candidates who are running for federal, state and county positions at a forum on October 9 at Birch Bay Bible Community Church. More than 100 people attended the forum. To read more, see page 7. Photo by Stefanie Donahue
Downtown revitalization group looking for public input By Oliver Lazenby Want to help Blaine’s business district reach its potential? The Blaine Downtown Alliance (BDA) is looking for new board members and volunteers to work towards its goal of revitalizing the economy and appearance of downtown Blaine. The group is looking for volunteers with a variety of skills and interests. “Diversity is key to making this work, so we want everybody to be a part of this. We’re finding we have a community with
a diverse background and diverse professional experience and it gives us this rich tapestry of skills and ideas to work with,” said Alicia Rule, outgoing BDA board president. Rule resigned this month to focus on her work on Blaine City Council. She plans to support the alliance while it recruits new board members and selects a new president, she said. The alliance, which formed in late 2017, currently has seven board members. The board positions require about 4-10 hours a month, Rule said. The group currently has about 50 volunteers,
Residents closer to getting public park on California Creek B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e The Whatcom Land Trust will begin restoration work on 11.5 acres of land it purchased on California Creek last year in preparation for transferring it to the BlaineBirch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 (BBBPRD) to turn into a public park. The land trust purchased the land at 4656 Drayton Harbor Road next to California Creek, in June 2017 for $405,000 using a bridge loan from The Conservation Fund, as well as a generous contribution
from the park district and other donors. At the time, it contained a three-bedroom home and two dilapidated sheds. Since then, the Whatcom Land Trust was awarded a $25,000 grant from the California-based Rose Foundation in fall 2017 to remove the two aging sheds on the site and approximately $73,000 from the National Resources Conservation Service in June 2018 for restoration work. BBBPRD is also vying for two grants totaling approximately $700,000 from the Washington State Recreation Con-
servation Office to pay off The Conservation Fund bridge loan, which must be done within the next two years, and for additional park improvements, said Whatcom Land Trust conservation director Gabe Epperson in an email. “Our proposal scored well (6 out of 16) for both grant programs and should get funded if the capital budget is funded at levels previous to past cycles,” he said. This is the first land purchase the What(See Park, page 15)
according to recent press release. “We have collectively volunteered approximately 4,000 hours so far and things are ramping up, not slowing down,” the press release said. Volunteers work in four different committees – an executive committee, a design committee, an economic vitality committee and a promotional committee. A history subcommittee works with all the committees to ensure that Blaine’s history is incorporated in all aspects of the project. (See Downtown, page 13)
INSIDE
The general election will take place on Tuesday, November 6 and for a midterm non-presidential election, interest is running at a fevered pitch. Anti- and pro-Trump fervor is driving interest down the ballot and even local elections are getting people excited. This being America, there’s significant money in the election process. On page 10, graphs show total contributions and expenditures for the 42nd legislative district races for state senator and the two state representative positions 1 and 2. Each week, candidates are required to file contribution and expenditure reports with the Washington state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC). According to the PDC, “The origin of Washington’s disclosure law can be traced to the efforts of concerned citizens who came together in 1970 believing that the public had the right to know about the financing of political activity in this state.” Following an unsuccessful attempt to generate legislative action, those concerned citizens who now call themselves the Coalition for Open Government, turned to the people. Their goal was to place Initiative 276 on the November 1972 ballot. In record-breaking time, it gathered nearly 163,000 signatures. Seventy-two percent of voters approved I-276 and the law took effect January 1, 1973. More than 300 exemptions have since been added to the original public records law; in 1992, over 72 percent of reform-minded voters enacted contribution limits and other campaign restrictions after approving Initiative 134. The graphs show the total contributions and expenditures for 42nd legislative district candidates recorded during the 2018 primary and general election campaigns as of October 10. For incumbent candidates, the figures can also include surplus funds raised from earlier campaigns for the same position. Surplus funds are defined by the PDC as
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Classifieds . . . . . 11
Coming Up . . . . . 14
Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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