Letters to the Editor, Week of Feb. 28, 2024

Editor,

This letter is not just to the Editor of the Cascadia Daily, but to Nathan Tableman of Bellingham who took the time to write a thoughtful biography of Mark di Suvero and his many accomplishments (CDN, Feb. 21, 2024). We wanted to note that Mark is still alive and working, having most recently completed a show at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York around the time of his 90th birthday in 2023. 

As well, if you visit Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens, you can spot his East Coast studio from our shoreline. 

All the best, 

Sarah Frazier

Long Island City, New York

Editor,

I appreciate the background that Nathan Tableman provided on the artist Mark di Suvero in the Feb. 23 letters section. One correction is needed, though. Tableman reports that di Suvero “died a few years ago.” He is still alive and is 90 years old.

Hafthor Yngvason

Director, Western Gallery & Public Art Collection

Bellingham

Editor’s note: Thanks for the corrections, and apologies to Mr. Suvero.

Editor,

Once again, Washington taxpayers are asked to subsidize the two corporate parties (or should I say the one Wall Street and War Party). If you’re like me, you just got your ballot for the presidential primary in the mail. Primaries aren’t actually elections. They are party affairs whereby parties choose the candidates who will run in the November general election. Washington state chooses to subsidize the two fat-cat party primaries by paying for the cost of the proceeding. We voters get no choice about which parties to subsidize. Nor do we have a choice about which candidates other than the ones put before us by the two corporate parties.

Surely with all the money that’s afloat in politics these days, the two big parties don’t need an additional handout from us taxpayers.

Stoney Bird

Bellingham

Editor,

Let me get this straight. ABC Recycling is on a “learning curve” to quit polluting Bellingham Bay? “The exceedances [of lead, copper and zinc] have gone down from the first ship to the latest ship,” which was loaded in September 2023, Riley Sweeney said. “We’ve gotten better. This is a learning curve” (CDN, Feb. 23, 2024).

Here’s a thought, people: When you make your first mortgage payment, don’t pay the full amount and only increase the second payment by a couple of dollars. After all, you’re on a learning curve. Blow past the speed limit by 30 mph, but the next time you speed, cut that down to 25 mph over the limit. Learning curve!

Does Mr. Sweeney not understand that signing a contract means meeting its terms immediately, not in some unspecified future when the learning curve tops out? If ABC is still learning how to meet their obligation not to pollute Bellingham Bay, they’re very slow learners. Let’s throw them out of here.

Deborah Wessell

Bellingham

Editor,

During a Feb. 17 town hall at Horizon Middle School that I attended (CDN, Feb. 17, 2024), state Rep. Alicia Rule highlighted her support of HB 2114, which would limit rent increases to 7% annually. This legislation, also supported by state Rep. Joe Timmons and state Sen. Sharon Shewmake, would foster greater housing security for Whatcom County families.

As a public school teacher, I have routinely witnessed sudden behavioral volatility, increased absences and decreased engagement when students’ families lose their housing. Just one student facing housing insecurity can disrupt the learning for an entire classroom of students. When students’ families are forced to move in search of cheaper housing, these children lose relationships with other trusted adults in their lives, their academic trajectory is permanently altered and they are ultimately less likely to graduate from high school. The unsustainable rise in housing costs is the primary driver of displacement and homelessness in our community. According to the Washington State Report Card, 6% of students in Bellingham Public Schools are homeless in the 2023–24 school year; in a district-wide average-sized class of 17.5, one child is homeless. 

The Legislature has appropriately responded to this housing affordability crisis with a raft of bills aimed at increasing the supply of housing — including permanently affordable homes. But our community won’t feel these effects for years and vulnerable renters need relief now. I am grateful they are simultaneously working to provide a measure of predictability and stability for the majority of residents who rent their homes.

Eamonn Collins

Bellingham

Editor,

Only one candidate listed in the Primary Election Voters’ Pamphlet is worthy of the citizenry’s vote:  Marianne Williamson. She is a return to a Democrat leader. She espouses every policy needed to change the forever war and billionaire capitalist dictatorship now ruling our nation.

A majority vote for Marianne would send a clear message to current elected officials that change is demanded by the people. Marianne is the only candidate truly for the people. Use the sole individual power of the citizenry to begin to end this current tyranny of two-party leaders too old and too stupid to hold elected office. Time for a revolution!

Richard L. Morgan

Bellingham

Editor,

Please join us in petitioning our city council to join 80 other U.S. local governments to denounce, divest and oppose nuclear weapons. Recent successes in Olympia and Spokane helped this movement grow.

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and Washington Against Nuclear Weapons are the sponsors for this local, national and international group of actions. Divest from war — break all contracts with companies that manufacture nuclear arms. Abolish nuclear weapons — call on the U.S. government to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Three existential threats loom: climate change, economic inequity and nuclear weapons. We will never make the necessary investments to address the former without abolishing the latter.

The U.S. government will spend $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years modernizing its nuclear weapons.  Dangerous weapons bring devastating damage to the planet. Better use to use the funds for societal needs and to work in the world order to dismantle the nuclear weaponry of all nations as the presidencies of G.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter promoted with success.

In the 1970s, there were 60,000 nuclear weapons; now there are 14,000. Let’s step back to find the wisdom.

Barbara Sardarov

Bellingham

Editor,

The Republican Party has provided excellence in high drama for half a century, beginning with the impeachment of President Nixon for hiring burglars to break into the Democratic National Headquarters to steal information on his opponent, and culminating in his resignation when he said, “I am not a crook.”

Then there were the televised congressional hearings a decade later investigating President Reagan for trading Tomahawk missiles and a set of pearl-handled pistols to the Ayatollah of Iran for delaying the release of American hostages until after he was elected in order to destroy the candidacy of the incumbent Jimmy Carter.

And finally, the unsuccessful candidate for reelection, President Trump, leading an insurrection against the duly elected President Biden, which ended with the arrests of a mob in the halls of Congress intent on lynching the speaker of the House.

Jay Taber

Blaine

Letters to the Editor are published online Wednesdays; a selection is published in print Fridays. Send to letters@cascadiadaily.com by 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Rules: Maximum 250 words, be civil, have a point and make it clearly. Preference is given to letters about local subjects. CDN reserves the right to reject letters or edit for length, clarity, grammar and style, or removal of personal attacks or offensive content. Letters must include an address/phone number to verify the writer's identity (not for publication).