Week of May 17, 2024: Port history, harassment, white-coat labor, intersection abomination

Editor,

For those of us who have been around this city long enough to remember trains on Railroad Avenue and when Teddy Bear Cove was a peaceful hippie nude beach, there was a time to recall when the Port of Bellingham was dominated by fisherman Pete Zuanich. And a main business of the port was to provide cheap moorage for commercial fishermen.

Pete’s reign was followed by a briefer stint led by Scott Walker, which brought us Bellwether on the Bay Hotel, Tom Glenn Spit and the Squalicum Boathouse — all nice enough facilities during agreeable weather (just ignore the fake lighthouse). Then came the new century with industrial demolition, cleanup(?) and the Titanic-affiliated redevelopers from Belfast.

To reach further back in history, early 20th-century progressives lobbied the Washington state Legislature to establish publicly owned port districts, to check the power of railroad companies — which, since the 1890s, had been gobbling up the waterfronts of cities blessed with deepwater harbors.

Fast-forward to the present in Bellingham: The railroad is still there, from which passing Amtrak passengers can gaze with bemusement at the Acid Ball and its accompanying Row of Rusty Rockets. The smoke-belching industries (making useful products such as finished lumber and toilet paper) are gone, unmourned — replaced by container clusters, a dirt “pump track,” scrap metal piles and a pair of unsightly, unfinished condos.

Results perhaps not fully foreseen by the well-intentioned reformists of the day — whether in 1910; or 2010.

Paul Kenna

Bellingham

Editor,

Murder is the third leading cause of death for Native American women; and Washington is the second leading state in the nation with cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Women and girls, from newborns to [those in their] 80s have been taken without a trace all over the country for decades.

According to a report by the Urban Indian Health Institute, cases often go unreported. In 2016, of the 5,712 found cases, only 116 of them had been logged into the official Department of Justice database. Even when cases are reported, there are many cases resolved by police as “no foul play,” while evidence in trends could suggest otherwise.  

While there are things being done around this issue, it isn’t enough. According to Native Hope, in 2022 alone, there were 5,487 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women nationwide. 

Let’s break the silence. For all the missing and murdered native women and girls who are gone, or still out there — somewhere.  

For further information, visit the Native hope page for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women or the MMIW website.  

Jonna Gillham

Eighth grader, Fairhaven Middle School

Editor,

The rusted metal sculpture recently installed at the Cordata/West Horton intersection is an abomination and does nothing to enhance or beautify the neighborhood. Complete waste of money.

Gwen McEwen

Cordata neighborhood, Bellingham

Editor,

Given recent media coverage of alleged mishandling of sexual harassment allegations within Whatcom County government, we find these reports deeply concerning. Behind these allegations are real people who deserve to have their issues addressed in a respectful manner. We commend the county council for unanimously voting to further investigate this matter.

The Whatcom County Republican Party (WCRP) believes that a thorough investigation is essential. However, our primary concern is that the outcome of this investigation is beneficial to the employees of Whatcom County and results in the establishment of a robust system to rectify workplace equality issues without fear of retribution or the creation of a political sideshow. We hope the council will give this matter the attention it deserves without turning it into a spectacle. The well-being of all employees is paramount, and it’s crucial that they feel safe and supported in reporting suspected wrongdoing.

Any instances of mishandling and policy shortcomings must be promptly and respectfully addressed, with a focus on transparency and accountability within our local government. All affected county employees deserve to be treated with dignity and respect throughout this process. If wrongdoing by those in charge is identified, those individuals will be held accountable based on their actions, or lack thereof, and not as a result of a politically driven witch hunt.

Our expectation of the Whatcom County Council in their investigation is that they will prioritize the well-being of their employees, address the allegations appropriately and come up with an outcome that will enhance a respectful workplace and reinforce to all employees that their concerns will be heard and acted upon without becoming front page news.

Daniel J. Johnson Sr.

Whatcom County Republican Party chair

Editor,

The white-coat labor movement is just beginning.

PeaceHealth clinicians’ push for union vote (CDN, May 9, 2024) is inevitable considering hospital administrators aren’t at the bedside to see problems and typically don’t respond suitably to medical providers’ concerns.

When physicians organize, things must be gerstunken (untenable) because unions have never been a part of their professional culture.

It’s not just a problem with PeaceHealth, it’s nationwide. Physicians, nurse practitioners and other medical professionals want to work with, not in opposition to executive management.

Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from federal, state and local taxes as charities under IRS regulations. Hospitals are expected to plow the money that would have gone to taxes into their communities by lowering health care costs, providing community health services and free care to those unable to afford it, and doing research. Those tax benefits aren’t intended to inflate executive compensation.

PeaceHealth outsources its emergency department staffing to TeamHealth and its hospitalist staffing to Sound Physicians. Both organizations are for-profit and owned by private equity entities. Again, this is a nationwide trend, not just PeaceHealth — one in four emergency departments is staffed by employees working for private equity firms.

These deals should be regulated and scrutinized, if not barred altogether in health care. The federal government is accepting public comment through June 5 and has set up a website healthycompetition.gov to make it easier to comment about experiences with health organizations. They encourage comments from physicians and the public.

Thanks to the bold folks who’ve decided to unionize. They want to preserve and provide safe, high-quality health care for the common good.

Micki Jackson

Bellingham

Editor,

I’m disappointed.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know the people who lead our city through inviting those running for office out to coffee, volunteering as vice chair on my neighborhood association, volunteering on the tourism commission or various arts commission projects. Though I don’t often agree with those leader’s positions or tactics, I have noticed some things in common. None of them are idiots and underneath it all, they have really good intentions — they want to make the lives of those around them better. 

Your paper is doing great journalism and I’ve really enjoyed it, but I‘m not a fan of the tone in [CDN Executive Editor Ron Judd’s columns] mocking those that lead Bellingham. I understand entertaining your readers helps to sell newspapers, but I doubt the effectiveness of bringing change through insults and questioning intentions. Your position has the power to help make Bellingham a more respectful place and I challenge you to use that power wisely. 

Nick Kelly

Bellingham

Editor,

Mr. [John] Lesow sings the praises of single-family zoning in his guest commentary (CDN, May 8, 2024).  He notes that allowing for more density in existing single-family zones “significantly alters character,” “shoehorn[s] and stack[s]” people, and creates the “consequences of crowding.” He states without explanation that increased density will also cost taxpayers more.

Single-family zoning uses 75% of all residential land across the country. Every house in a city, single-family or otherwise, needs to be served by roads, power, water, sewer and more. We all share the cost of this common infrastructure. Building, maintaining and, eventually, replacing all of this costs a lot. The further apart we all live, the more infrastructure there is and the more it ends up costing. The cost of providing infrastructure and services is less per resident when more people live on less land.

The key to increasing density in our cities is to focus on the details of what makes a livable neighborhood and to promote those details.  

While no one is going to force Mr. Lesow out of his single-family home, those that want should have the opportunity to be housed in a tiny house, a duplex, triplex, courtyard apartments and other housing forms that do not require us to build new roads, lay new pipe, and convert more forest and farmland to single-family neighborhoods.

Michael Isensee

Ferndale

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).