Planning To Fail Or Failing To Plan - Whatcom County's Economy And Growth Management "Planning"

Well, finally, after a few months of research, concepting, and writing, a new book, co-written with Clayton Petree, is in print and available at Amazon or, with a donation, from Common Threads, a citizen activist group dedicated to educating the public about what's being done in the public's name by their representatives at the County and City level. commonthreadsnw.org 

The purpose of the work is to give citizens of Whatcom County an easy to read and understand resource enabling them to effectively participate in the Comprehensive Planning underway today at both the city and the county levels.  The decisions made in the next couple of months will establish "law" for eight more years so participation in this process should be a paramount duty of the citizens of the county.

The book is small (about 40 pages) but contains some big news about the Whatcom County economy and how it appears to have been influenced by a series of poorly concepted Comprehensive Plan updates over the nearly 20 years since our first compliant plan developed to meet the requirements of Washington State's Growth Management Act.

In brief, planning approaches in Whatcom County have devastated the county's economy.  Today our rental homes are the least affordable in all of Washington State; 39th out of 39 counties.  Our workers only make about 77% of the average for the state and even less when measured against our peer counties.  Our total employment growth by decade levels is at a five decade low.

To round up, the message of the tract is, "Participate now or put up with it for another eight years."