From Stark

A New York ferry now being used on Lake Champlain would not be a practical alternative for Whatcom County’s Lummi Island run, county officials say.

A few weeks ago, island resident Jim Dickinson proposed county acquisition of the Plattsburgh, now being offered for sale by the Lake Champlain ferry system. While the Plattsburgh, built in 1984, no longer has that new ferry smell, it would presumably have a lot more nautical miles left in it than the Whatcom Chief, which has been on the Lummi Island run since 1962.

Dickinson’s thoughts on the subject are well worth some attention because he’s done a lot of research on the ferry issue. As his report indicates, there is some degree of  concern that the Whatcom Chief could near the end of its useful life a lot sooner than anyone is expecting.

Dickinson notes that a fresh-water vessel like the Plattsburgh would have less corrosion than a ferry that has served on the salt water.

But it turns out that acquiring the Plattsburgh is not a new idea. County Executive Jack Louws, in an email forwarded to me by Public Works Director Frank Abart, notes that the county took a hard look at the Plattsburgh in 2008 and found that minuses outweighed the pluses. An excerpt, apparently prepared for county administrators by an unnamed county staffer:

1)  Transporting the Plattsburgh to Bellingham:  I discussed this issue

today with a marine transport contractor out of Seattle, and they put an

order of magnitude cost on transporting the Plattsburgh to Bellingham at

$2.8 million.  The cost could be reduced if we found a heavy transport ship

moving a load to the west coast that we could add on to.  We would

obviously need to refine this estimate if we decide to pursue this issue

further.

The Plattsburgh would most likely have to be moved out through the Great

Lakes and onto a heavy transport ship, then around the Atlantic seaboard,

through the Panama Canal, and up the west coast.  My understanding is that

low bridge clearances in Chicago would likely prevent the Plattsburgh from

going down the Mississippi to New Orleans.  You would not try to move the

Plattsburgh under its own power the entire distance.

2)  The Plattsburgh’s passenger cabin is on the second deck.  It is very

likely that the Coast Guard will require an additional deck hand on the

second deck.  This would bring the required number of crew to 4.

3)  It does not appear that there are any ADA passenger accommodations on

the Plattsburgh since the passenger cabin is on the second deck.  The first

deck appears to house the two heads and the stairwell going up to the

passenger deck and wheelhouse.  If we were to reconstruct the first deck to

accommodate passengers, we would lose car capacity.

3)  The Plattsburgh weighs approximately three times as much as the

Whatcom Chief.  The associated berthing energy of the Plattsburgh would

likely require reconstruction of the wingwalls at both terminals.

4)   The Plattsburgh is almost twice the length of the Whatcom Chief.  We

would have to evaluate the location of the breasting dolphins relative to

the geometry of the boat.  This may require additional dolphins and/or

relocation of the existing dolphins.

5)  The Plattsburgh’s draft is 8.5 feet, compared to the Whatcom Chief’s

draft (and that of the previously designed 35-car replacement ferry) of 6.0

feet.  You’ll recall that draft and compatibility with our ferry slips was

a major issue during design of the replacement ferry.  We would need to

evaluate the effect of this on docking restrictions during certain low

tides.

6)  Our ferry crew is not licensed to pilot a ship larger than 100 gross

tons.  They would have to take the additional classes, test, etc. from the

Coast Guard in order to pilot the Plattsburgh.

From Stark

The recent partial rebound of sales tax revenue has helped increase the Bellingham-Whatcom Public Facilities District’s comfort level on the repayment of bonds that helped finance the Whatcom Museum and improvements to the Mount Baker Theatre.

But at a Feb. 2 meeting of the PFD board, City Finance Director John Carter reminded board members that in about 2020, there’s a chance that the revenue from the district’s state sales tax rebate will fall short of what is needed to cover the payments on the $19 million in bonds that paid for the PFD’s projects.

That’s because the district’s borrowing was based on the assumption of slow but steady growth in sales tax revenue–an assumption that seemed conservative at the time, based on what had been happening for many years. Then the real estate bust triggered a Great Recession and blew a big hole in that revenue. That makes it likely that the revenue levels that had been expected in future years won’t be reached.

On the board’s agenda was a resolution to ask the state legislature to extend the sales tax rebate for all public facilities districts in the state for an additional 15 years. Extending the rebate would allow the districts to refinance their bonds at longer terms, reducing the amount of money needed to service those bonds each year. Under current law, a public facilities district can collect the sales tax rebate of 0.033 percent for 25 years. That means the local district will cease getting the state revenue in 2027. (note: This rebate comes from sales tax the state would be collecting here anyhow. It does not increase the local sales tax.)

City Planning Department staffer Tara Sundin said the Spokane district had drafted the resolution and was circulating it across the state.

Board member Dean Brett said he didn’t like the idea. He noted that the state is struggling to cover basic costs of public education, highways and social services. He argued that those needs were more important than the financial woes of some public facilities districts. The rest of the board quickly agreed, and no vote was taken on the resolution.

Brett also noted that the financial condition of public facilities districts varies widely. Worst case: Wenatchee, where a district with a smaller tax base than Whatcom County took on a far bigger debt burden ($42 million)  that was supposed to cover both the construction costs and the operating costs of an ice arena and events center. The Wenatchee bonds are headed for default, and the arena may be headed for bankruptcy.

The Wenatchee World reports.

Here, the district is responsible for about $19 million in bond debt, but is not on the hook for operating costs of the theater or the museum.

If the district’s revenues ever do fall short of what is needed to service the bonds, the city of Bellingham is responsible to make up the shortfall. That probably means a hit to general fund revenues that pay for police, fire, parks, library etc.

Will that ever happen? Probably not. But the last few years have taught us how hard it is to predict things like tax revenues–especially in the future.

The current uptick in sales tax revenue is partly driven by an upsurge in Canadian shopping. That shopping is sensitive to uncontrollable factors like the exchange rate, Canadian taxation policies, and border security measures.

From Stark

State Rep. Jason Overstreet, R-42nd, has introduced a bill that would prevent any local or state official from assisting in the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens and legal residents in Washington state in most circumstances.

Overstreet’s bill, HB 2759, is entitled the Washington State Preservation of Liberty Act.

It was motivated by the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 31. Overstreet argues that section 1021 of the act makes no specific exclusion for United States citizens and lawful resident aliens for conduct occurring within the United States. Even though President Obama acknowledged he had the authority to indefinitely detain citizens and legal aliens, and said he would not exercise that authority, many people believe it remains incredible that he would be given such unconstitutional powers in the first place, Overstreet said.

“Winning the war against terror cannot come at the great expense of eviscerating the unalienable rights recognized by and protected in the United States Constitution and the Washington State Constitution,” Overstreet said in a press release. “Undermining these constitutional rights serves only to concede to the terrorists’ demands of changing the fabric of what has made the United States a republic, granting the greatest number of people the greatest amount of freedom.”

Perhaps some people who were attacking Overstreet’s gold legislation will give him some applause for this one.

From Paben

The state growth board has decided that development regulations on more than 1,000 acres throughout the county are invalid because they don’t comply with state law.

This land is inside specially designated areas that the county decided are neither urban nor rural under state law. The county in May 2011 approved drawing boundaries around these areas, rezoning land immediately outside the boundaries to allow only rural levels of growth.

Under state law, development rules for land inside the boundaries is supposed to allow development of the same size, scale, use and intensity as development that was there in 1990. The state growth board on Jan. 9 decided the county’s zoning inside some of these areas allowed more growth than what was there in 1990.

It decided to invalidate the zoning, a tough sanction that the board rarely uses. That means until the county gets zoning for those areas that’s considered compliant with state law, landowners will be severely restricted with what they can build in them; in fact, under state law, because of the ‘invalid’ designation, landowners can only do the following:

• Build a single-family residence for themselves to live in on an existing lot
• Remodel and do expansions of an existing structure
• A boundary line adjustment or division of land that doesn’t increase the number of buildable lots

Following is the is the total acreage of zones that were invalidated: Read the rest of this entry »

From Paben

A new study from the American Farmland Trust says Whatcom County has lost lots of farmland, largely due to development pressure, but that it’s programs for protecting farmland are better than others in the Puget Sound region.

Overall, the organization gave Whatcom County a 84 out of 130 points. Click here to see the scorecard for Whatcom County.

From the full report, called “Losing Ground: Farmland Protection in the Puget Sound Region”:

On the loss of farmland:

Four counties—Pierce, King, Snohomish, and Whatcom—each lost more than 100,000 acres of farmland between 1950 and 2007, accounting for more than half the farmland loss in the region. According to the data compiled in this study, all four counties have above-average farmland protection programs. However, they also have some of the highest growth rates in the region. It appears that development pressure has simply overwhelmed their farmland protection programs.

On percentage of farmland actually zoned agricultural: Read the rest of this entry »

From Paben

The bill that would suspend changes in the minimum wage during times of high unemployment failed to make it out of a state House of Representatives committee.

The same goes for the bill that would allow restaurants to pay servers less than Washington’s minimum wage if they would make that amount counting their tips.

Both bills were sponsored by Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, who proposed them because he said they would allow employers to hire more employees.

Click here to see my last post about this.

From Paben

State budget cuts will hurt stormwater projects planned by Bellingham and Whatcom County.

The following state Department of Ecology grants were provided in the state’s capital budget but would be eliminated under Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed supplemental budget:

• Lake Whatcom right-of-way retrofits ($375,000): Bellingham plans to retrofit three areas of public right of way to clean stormwater running into the lake. This involved reforestation and having stormwater go into the ground, rather than running across it, as well as using sand filters to clean stormwater.

• Bellingham’s Toward Net Zero Water project ($134,250): This project would have involved retrofitting the Public Works operations center off of Pacific Street in Bellingham to catch rainwater. It would manage 500,000 gallons of rainwater for irrigation and other non-potable uses. It would serve as a model for commercial development to follow stormwater management and water conservation techniques, according to Ecology.

• Water quality project for the Padden Creek Estuary ($843,750): This Bellingham project would involve building water-cleaning facilities to treat water coming from a 30-inch-diameter pipe into the estuary. The pipe drains 90 acres directly into the estuary.

The following project will receive less funding under the governor’s proposal than was already approved in the state’s 2011-13 capital budget: Read the rest of this entry »

From Stark

The race for the open Congressional seat in the 1st District, which includes most of Whatcom County outside Bellingham, is heating up fast.

Earlier this week, Democrat Darcy Burner released poll results showing her with a commanding lead among voters in her party.

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, rival Democrat Suzan DelBene issued a press release saying she has raised more than $122,000 in campaign contributions since she announced her candidacy Jan. 12. The press release suggests that this compares favorably with the slightly larger $127,875 sum that Burner has raised in the two months she has been campaigning.

Fun fact: Both Burner and DelBene are former Microsoft executives.

At this point, I am aware of only two visits to Whatcom County by 1st District Democratic hopefuls: Burner and Laura Ruderman, who is also a former Microsoft executive.

If anyone else slipped across the county line without checking in with the Bellingham Herald politics blog, let me know.

CORRECTED AT 11:25 A.M. ON FEB. 1: Natalie McClendon just called with corrections and clarifications in the post below. I used strikethroughs to denote the incorrect information and italics to show the newly added correct info. I also added some more information that is helpful. Two things you shouldn’t do when you’re tired: driving and blogging. - JP

From Paben

I reported about how the Republicans conduct their caucuses here. I’m sure you studied it thoroughly and got a good grade.

Now you’ve been enrolled in the Democratic Caucuses 101 course.

McClendon

While there’s no real mystery who they’ll select as their candidate for president, Barack Obama, many people here may want to get involved in the nomination process.

This year, the state cancelled the presidential primary election to save money. So the Democratic caucuses, which start Sunday, April 15, will be the only opportunity to get involved in the nomination process. I got the chance to sit down and talk with Whatcom Democrats Chairwoman Natalie McClendon the other day, and she walked me through how it works for her party. It’s very different from how the Republicans conduct their caucuses.

Throughout the Democratic caucuses, there is no charge to participate in the caucuses, but McClendon notes delegates will have to pay for their own expenses including transportation and hotel. They’ll also be asked for donations.

“We consider it like an election. There is no poll tax,” McClendon said. “If somebody can’t pay, they can’t pay, and they don’t lose their vote.”

Click here to see the party’s process for selecting delegates.

Here is my Democratic Caucuses 101: Read the rest of this entry »

From Paben

Example of earlier winner's work

For those you with 4th or 5th graders who like to draw, here is a very cool opportunity:

Secretary of State Sam Reed is inviting kids to enter in the art contest for the voters’ pamphlet for the 2012 general election. Kids should draw/paint a picture under the theme “If I could vote,” and if they win, it gets printed in the pamphlet. Last year, the office distributed 3.5 million copies of the pamphlet state wide (that’s way more than the largest papers in the country, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today).

The winning artist will also receive a visit at his or her school from Reed.

The deadline for entry is April 16. Click here to see the entry form.

From Stark

The Darcy Burner campaign has issued polling data that shows the Carnation Democrat with a big lead over her Democratic rivals in the newly-redrawn 1st Congressional District that includes most of Whatcom County outside Bellingham.

A survey conducted by Lake Research Partners shows Burner with 45 percent of the Democratic vote in the district.

Laura Ruderman is second, with 15 percent.

Burner, who ran close races in the old 8th District in 2006 and 2008 before the political maps got redrawn based on 2010 census data. That gave her a name-recognition edge over other candidates in the race. Can any of those candidates overcome that edge with an advertising blitz in the next few months? We will see.

From Stark

Every once in awhile, there is a news report that indicates there could be hope for the human race. Here is one, from the Associated Press.

From Stark

Seattle area home prices hit a new low in November 2011, according to the latest Case-Shiller home price data reported in the Seattle P-I.

That’s just one bit of news from that data. Home prices in most major U.S. real estate markets are still in the doldrums, and the story quotes one economist as saying that weak demand and foreclosure sales, among other things, could push prices down another five or 10 percent nationally.

Locally, online information from the Whatcom County Assessor shows that for 2011-12, Fannie Mae owned 46 Whatcom County homes and Freddie Mac had 26. That’s just a snapshot, because these two financial institutions are constantly unloading some homes while acquiring others through foreclosure. Still other homes are owned by banks or other lenders through foreclosure.

What’s all this doing on the politics blog? Well, to me it seems evident that the housing market and the new housing industry–key engines of job creation for the U.S. in past years–are not going to revive any time soon. The housing boom that lasted long enough to seem like “the new normal” was actually anything but. It was a bubble, based on unsound lending practices.

Here’s more on national home price data from Associated Press.

Efforts to revive the economy and return to pre-bust levels of employment are not going to enjoy quick success. That’s a political problem for Barack Obama. If voters decide to replace him in 2012, it will also be a problem for his successor, it seems to me.

What do you think?

From Stark

Although polls indicate a big win for Mitt Romney in the Tuesday, Jan. 31 Florida primary, it doesn’t appear likely to be a knockout blow to Romney’s rivals.

As the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake explains, that’s partly because of new rules on how delegates are allocated after primary results. Florida and the contests that preceded it are not winner-take-all events. At this point, even a big win in Florida would give Romney only  a small fraction of the delegates he needs for the nomination. GOP leaders cut Florida’s delegate total to 50 because the state defied their wishes and moved the state’s primary up to January.

Newt Gingerich appears to have plenty of cash left in his campaign warchest, –USA Today reports– and Ron Paul’s backers make up in zeal what they may lack in numbers. The Post report says the Paul faction hopes to head to the convention with enough committed delegates to have an impact on the GOP’s positions on key issues.

From Stark

In the topsy-turvey battle for the GOP presidential nomination, Mitt Romney is now poised for a big win in the Tuesday, Jan. 31 Florida primary, according to this report in the Miami Herald.

Besides the story itself, I was also interested by the reader comments that follow. Most of those comments come from anti-Obama Republicans who express their satisfaction at Romney’s resurgence after his South Carolina setback. Those comments seem to indicate that Newt Gingerich’s colorful marital history and his sharp attacks on Romney have stirred  up a lot of hostility among  Republicans.

If the poll proves accurate and Romney does win Florida by 20 points, will that tie up the nomination for him? It’s starting to look that way. But this year, who can be sure?