First-Term Action Plan
If elected Mayor of the City of Bellingham, Kristina will use this plan as the basis for the work she will help spearhead and facilitate during her first term. This plan will also serve as a tool for the community to use to encourage and push Kristina to accomplish the tasks. This plan includes specific initiatives Kristina will be pushing for at the City level in addition to her expected day-to-day work as Mayor.
Create Local Jobs in a Robust, Diverse Economy
The City of Bellingham has a high cost of living, especially housing costs. We must take steps to help bring those costs down and support local living-wage jobs. Supporting local businesses and organizations that invest in our community is key. Businesses and organizations that are connected with the community tend to provide higher-wage jobs and keep those jobs local.
As Bellingham’s community is 54% renters and while there are regulations on the books already, the city has yet to hold predatory landlords and property management companies accountable. Bellingham needs to:
Protect Renters
Housing Barrier Task Force: Establish a task force to identify barriers to housing, including:
Bring together city staff, citizens’ groups, and business groups to assess said barriers and issues. Make a Housing Action Plan for the next three years.
Renter Commission/Advocates: Establish Office of Tenants Protection. Renter commission or renter advocate program to provide support and protection for renters.
Know Your Rights Campaign.
Draft rent increase restrictions policy and present it to city council.
Rental Registration/Inspections Budget Increase: Increase the budget and staffing of the rental registration/inspection program to ensure rentals are fair and safe.
Vacation Rentals:
Establish a registry.
Ensure all rentals pay the hotel tax.
Consider capping the total number in a given area.
Look into ways to provide incentives for long-term/permanent rentals over vacation rentals.
Vacancy Fee: Establish a vacancy fee for properties that remain vacant the majority of the year, to discourage our housing stock from being used as investments/vacation properties.
Permit Education: Provide better education for non-professional people seeking permits.
Housing cooperative program: Encourage local resident landowners to invest in community housing security within a cooperative ownership structure.
Aging-In-Place/Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Support: Create education and develop code revisions to provide better opportunities to our seniors who want to age in place and to those with disabilities.
Housing Subsidies: Research and apply for ethical funding sources to help fund safe and legal subsidized housing in the City of Bellingham.
Housing First: Adopt a housing first-type approach for housing people without steady housing.
Housing Land Trust: Work with partners to establish more low-income properties where the land is held in a trust and units can be sold only to low-income individuals in perpetuity.
Housing Authority Purchase of Existing Building:
Work with the Bellingham/Whatcom Housing Authority to purchase properties that already exist in the city that can be used for housing.
Partner with Kulshan Land Trust to install manufactured homes for tenants within the first year of the term to alleviate housing needs.
Green Building Working Group: Develop a working group on incorporating and encouraging green building techniques, including:
Construction and demolition recycling.
Updates to energy building code to include cost-effective green construction techniques. (e.g. requiring stub outs for electric vehicle charging stations for all new construction).
Setting a minimum standard for all city buildings, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), BuiltGreen, etc.
Housing Development
Local Port Cooperation: Work with the Bellingham Port Authority to increase economic opportunities for citizens.
Worker’s Cooperative: Support the creation of workers’ cooperatives and make it easier for conversions for businesses that are going out of business to convert.
Incubator Spaces: Work with local partners to develop incubator spaces and create more public/private partnerships.
Research areas that could be possible locations.
Develop a report to encourage investment in those areas.
Develop grant programs to help local groups start businesses.
Establish programs that provide support for people who tend to have more difficulty starting businesses (such as veterans and people of color).
This could include incubator spaces dedicated to specific groups such as spaces and programs just for veterans and spaces and programs just for people of color.
Apprenticeship Programs: Work with our local schools, businesses, and unions to develop robust apprenticeship programs, including for trades jobs (e.g. plumbing, electrician, etc.) and high-tech jobs (e.g. robotics, computer science, etc.).
Hiring Local Programs: Incentivize businesses to hire local people.
Private Sector Unionization: Identify ways to encourage the unionization of private sector employees locally.
Local Economy
Invest in Sound Infastructure
Infrastructure is the backbone of a well-functioning and vibrant society, yet infrastructure is often taken for granted and underfunded throughout the US. Infrastructure includes most of our human-built systems including roads, water systems, sewage treatment, energy systems, telecommunication (including cyber security), food systems, and even public health. Most infrastructure is not built or maintained by the city, but the city plays a large role in many of the systems. Supporting farmers, ensuring clean water systems, and having adequate emergency plans in place all depend on competent city leadership. We must adequately invest in our infrastructure for the City of Bellingham to be successful and thrive for many generations to come.
Transportation:
Passenger-Only Ferries
Work with the Port to research the viability of passenger-only ferries between the city port and Point Roberts.
Alternative Transportation
Create a robust public transportation campaign to help community members feel more confident about using public transportation
Establish a task force to identify barriers preventing community members from accessing public transportation
Work with WTA and Whatcom County to identify ways to eliminate bus fares
Invest in secure bike parking across the city to further align with the goals of creating sustainable, healthy, and livable cities and promote cycling as a viable and safe transportation option, benefiting residents, visitors, the economy, and the environment
Local Food Systems
Community Kitchen Program: City Kitchens that provide free food to inhabitants through a meal card system.
City Facilitated Food Coop: Create and/or support existing food hubs. Spaces that farms can use to come together and get their product to people cheaply and easily.
Social Cohesion and Community Building
Community Centers serve as gathering places where people from diverse backgrounds can come together, fostering social cohesion and community building. They provide a space for residents to meet, interact, and engage in various activities, strengthening social bonds and promoting a sense of belonging and unity within the city. Community centers also play a crucial role in supporting and addressing the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations within a city. They may offer services such as counseling, support groups, job training, food assistance programs, childcare services, and senior citizen programs. Community centers serve as a vital resource for individuals and families facing challenges, helping to improve their well-being and overall quality of life
Utilities
Work with PSE and Whatcom Public Utility District to increase Wind and Solar Power production by allowing wind power to be in city limits.
Vulnerable Infrastructure Study
Conduct a comprehensive city-wide study to identify infrastructure that is vulnerable to disasters and climate change and identify ways to mitigate those impacts.
Modernize Our Government to Better Serve the Community and Support Workers
Because we are a smaller city, our budget is tighter. This means we can have a harder time buying adequate equipment and paying wages sufficient enough to hire and retain quality workers. Still, there are many dedicated employees in the City of Bellingham. We can work together to modernize our local government despite limited resources.
General Development Regulations/Code Revisions
Development Regulation Task Force: Start an internal regulation review task force to overhaul the codes, including consolidation, improved efficiency, modernization, and improved clarity/accessibility.
Establish a multi-departmental task force, managed by the Planning Department.
Establish a continual process improvement program and an annual audit of the city code to determine if we are meeting our goals.
Code Enforcement
Civil and Criminal penalties for illegal and predatory landlord practices:
Civil Asset Forfeiture: When landlords have been given notice that properties are not up to code.
Government Transparency/Accountability/Efficiency
Continuous Improvement Program: Establish a continuous improvement program:
Through Human Resources and the management staff, facilitate opportunities and encourage improvement.
Establish incentives for staff, sections, and departments to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability.
City Government Audit: Conduct a comprehensive audit of the City’s regulations, policies, budget, and procedures in order to streamline services and ensure we always follow best practices.
Identify what is working, what isn’t, where are we “wasting” money, where is funding inadequate, where are things unclear or confusing for the public, and where we have staff/management issues.
Clear Budget Presentations: Develop budgeting presentations that are published that show clearly where the money comes from and where the money goes.
Performance Measures/Annual Reporting: Create better reporting and performance measures, which will set annual goals and report back on the progress. Annually, the city will re-evaluate our targets and identify ways to hit the targets. These performance measures may include things like:
City Organization Structure Review: Review the city org chart and consider reorganization.
Possible examples:
Move the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) under planning or to an independent department with other critical areas/shoreline/science staff.
Clear Public Information: Develop a standard to proactively share information in a form that people can understand (eg. infographics, charts, bullet points, summaries).
Water quality
CO2 emissions
Sea level rise
Infrastructure status
Permitting
Budget targets
Affordable housing units
Building Resilience
to Strengthen
Our Communities
A community’s strength comes from its people. The City of Bellingham has many talented and dedicated citizens within its borders. Numerous hard-working, committed, and generous individuals have woven a strong local social fabric that we must continue to foster and support. In times of crisis, these social supports (non-profits, community organizations, and local governments) provide light in the darkness and are a place people know they can turn to for help. Well-maintained and thoughtfully designed community spaces and programs can be part of our social safety nets. They provide safe places for children to grow up, active places for families to thrive, and needed support for seniors and people with disabilities.
Community Support
Community Spaces: Work with partners to develop more community spaces for people, including building more:
Community gathering events: Plays, music festivals, and outdoor movies
Gathering places/town center
Community centers/ city childcare
Support Services One-Stop Shops: Work with partners in mental health, addiction and other support service areas to develop a one-stop shop for all information around support services.
Update city documentation, call lists, and the city website to include clear and accurate information for people to understand what programs exist and who to call for which issues.
Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
Emergency Call Boxes: Install emergency call boxes throughout the city, primarily in public places like parks and government facilities, and especially in locations where cell service is unreliable.
Hot/Cold Weather Preparedness: Work to have more public cooling/warming centers available. Include mobile temperature groups for those who are unable to move from their current location (i.e. disabilities, incapable).
Updated Citywide Emergency Management Plans: Update all the city’s emergency management plans to incorporate more robust planning around public health emergencies and climate change.
Risk Reduction through Better Land Use/Transportation/Public Health Planning: Identify areas where risks are higher for hazards, such as natural disasters (e.g. wildfires, earthquakes, floods), and revise regulations and policies to reduce development in those areas or to develop in such a way that minimizes risk.
Invest in Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness: Work with County Emergency Management to establish neighborhood emergency preparedness/response plans for all communities in the City of Bellingham, including identifying members to be on a Neighborhood Emergency Response Team for each area. Community Support
Community Spaces: Work with partners to develop more community spaces for people, including building more:
Community gathering events: Plays, music festivals, and outdoor movies
Gathering places/town center
Community centers/ city childcare
Support Services One-Stop Shops: Work with partners in mental health, addiction and other support service areas to develop a one-stop shop for all information around support services.
Update city documentation, call lists, and the city website to include clear and accurate information for people to understand what programs exist and who to call for which issues.
Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
Emergency Call Boxes: Install emergency call boxes throughout the city, primarily in public places like parks and government facilities, and especially in locations where cell service is unreliable.
Hot/Cold Weather Prepardness: Work to have more public cooling/warming centers available. Include mobile temperature groups for those who are unable to move from their current location (i.e. disabilities, incapable).
Updated Citywide Emergency Management Plans: Update all the city’s emergency management plans to incorporate more robust planning around public health emergencies and climate change.
Risk Reduction through Better Land Use/Transportation/Public Health Planning: Identify areas where risks are higher for hazards, such as natural disasters (e.g. wildfires, earthquakes, floods), and revise regulations and policies to reduce development in those areas or to develop in such a way that minimizes risk.
Invest in Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness: Work with County Emergency Management to establish neighborhood emergency preparedness/response plans for all communities in the City of Bellingham, including identifying members to be on a Neighborhood Emergency Response Team for each area.
Progressive Environmental
Conservation
In many ways, the City of Bellingham is already very proactive in how it handles environmental protection. This is primarily because we have a very active environmental community that recognizes our islands are particularly environmentally sensitive. Unfortunately, some regulations are ineffective where they are most needed, and difficult to understand where they shouldn't be. Improving and preserving our environment doesn’t have to come at a major cost to our economy and freedom. In fact, regulations done right can actually enhance our economy and make our communities more vibrant.
Climate Change
Climate Change Education: Conduct a series of educational workshops for staff, local organizations, and the public on climate change.
Energy-Efficient Fleet/Facilities: Set standards and make a plan to move the city's buildings and fleet to be more energy efficient.
Create a transition plan to move the city fleet to more fuel-efficient vehicles (e.g. hybrids, electric, etc.).
Set a minimum standard for all new city buildings. (e.g. LEED, BuiltGreen, etc.).
Identify ways to increase the efficiency of existing city buildings.
LEED Certified Planner: Fund at least one planner to become LEED certified.
Research/Pilot Programs
Academic Research/Pilot Program Coordinator: Create a new city coordinator position to manage local academic research.
Encourage PNW academic institutions to establish research studies and pilot studies in the city.
Coordinate research efforts by acting as a liaison between the different research groups and the city.
Encourage departments to seek out research and pilot programs to happen locally.
Consolidating and coordinating existing volunteer-based programs under DNR.
Find volunteers at WCC, WWU, and SVC.
Civic Engagement:
Civic Education: Work with the school districts and colleges to provide better education on civic matters, including:
Budgeting/finances
Engagement
Civic law
Social services
Diverse/Engaged Public Meetings/Committees: Incorporate ways to engage a wider range of members of the public into public meetings and committees, such as:
Continue to video record and live stream all elected officials and committee meetings.
Research better ways to have participants engage in meetings remotely.
Provide childcare for public meetings.
Alternate meeting schedules to catch people who work at different times.
Train staff on facilitation techniques and committee management to use volunteer time efficiently.
Identify barriers for younger people, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people from participating in public meetings and sitting on committees, and work to resolve those barriers to encourage diverse participation.
Establish guidance and general ground rules for how meetings will be run.