Cascadia today: Seattle mayor pushes housing + Spokane protesters seek dismissal of charges + Vancouver Dance Centre buys its building
Trump's attack on Forest Service includes 64% cut to trails
Yesterday at Cascadia Journal, I wrote about the Trump regime's destruction of the US Forest Service and argued Oregon and Washington need to shift management of federal lands in Cascadia to the states to prevent a return to the era of destructive clearcut logging. In related news, the Washington Trails Association noted yesterday that the massive Forest Service reorganization includes a 64% slash to trail maintenance funds nationwide.
That means the trails you love to hike in Cascadia this summer will be harder to log out and gain access to.
Andrew Engelson
Fed up with the US continuing to cut funds for things we love here in the Pacific Northwest and instead wasting our tax dollars on a proposed 43% increase in military spending for endless wars? It's time for conversations about Cascadia autonomy.
Seattle mayor pushes zoning changes and higher density
KUOW interviews Seattle mayor Katie Wilson about her plans to modify Seattle's comprehensive plan to include more zoning changes that allow apartments and transit-oriented development to be built in more areas of the city. In related news, Portland is bracing for new federal policies blocking housing funds being spent to assist immigrants without documentation. Also, the Portland city council voted this week to find uses for $56 million in unspent housing assistance funds. And the City of Roses also finally got the owners of a downtown luxury hotel to pay $8 million it owes to the city's affordable housing fund.
Want to see more housing built in Seattle to address skyrocketing rents? Share the Cities has a sign-on letter urging the city to build more apartments and affordable housing near transit, parks, and in quiet neighborhoods:
Action Network
Defendants of Spokane 9 protesters move to dismiss case
RANGE Media reports on the trial of nine people arrested for protesting outside an ICE enforcement office in Spokane last June, and efforts by the defendants' attorneys to get the case dismissed. The motion for dismissal asserts that the charges of conspiring to intimidate or threaten an officer are excessive:
"Acts of civil disobedience are intended to get the government’s attention and perhaps be a nuisance. But the act of lying, sitting, or standing in front of a government building does not, by any stretch of the imagination, meet the definitions of force, threat or intimidation.”
In related news, despite court rulings, Washington state health inspectors have been continually denied access to ICE's Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, the South Seattle Emerald reports.
WA state rule change puts co-op preschools at risk
Washington State Standard reports that Washington governor Bob Ferguson line item vetoed a small but effective program that brings families together to read and learn about empathy and compassion. Meanwhile, parents, child advocacy groups, and Seattle mayor Katie Wilson are drawing attention to a decision by Washington state's community college board to exclude parent education from state funding. The change is suddenly putting many co-op preschools in the state at risk of closure, Seattle's Child magazine reports.
Why is most salmon sold in BC stores from Alaska?
The Narwhal looks at the issue of why most salmon sold in British Columbia grocery stores is fished in Alaska. The answer revolves around Alaska having a much bigger commercial catch and that sustainable certification not readily available in BC.
Vancouver Dance Centre buys its performance building
As the arts continue to face uncertainty throughout Cascadia, the Georgia Straight has some good news: Vancouver BC's Dance Centre, which opened in 2001, and has hosted more than 1 million audience members, bought their dance performance facility for $6 million.
Thanks for reading. --Andrew
