Cascadia today: Another storm on the way + Newport resists ICE + making Fremont bridge car-free

Powerful Cascadia wind storm expected Xmas eve

What's the saying? When it rains it pours? A wind storm is expected to hit Cascadia on Christmas Eve, with gusts of 50 to 70 mph expected in Oregon and Washington, OPB reports. CBC reports that Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, greater Vancouver and Haida Gwaii can all expect winds up to 90 kmph, and heavy snowfall. This, as people continue to dig out of the last atmospheric river, which hit the region hard, including the remote settlement of Stehekin at the north end of Washington's Lake Chelan.

For a list of storm-related resources in Washington, check out KUOW's list, and Cascadia Daily News has info for Whatcom and Skagit County. If you have the resources, please donate your time or money to those affected:

How to help those affected by floods

Good afternoon. It’s been a bonkers week of weather here in Cascadia, with flooding, windstorms, road washouts, and blizzards in the mountains. The good news is that the feds agreed to a disaster declaration. And governor Ferguson is going to put a request for $50 million in housing rebuilding and

Cascadia JournalAndrew Engelson

Newport fights planned ICE facility

The coastal town of Newport, Oregon is at the center of resistance to the feds' war on immigrants Oregon Capital Chronicle reports, as residents get behind a state lawsuit against immigration officials secretly working to build a long-term detention facility there. Oregon has no long-term immigrant detention center, and it shouldn't.

“Now we have a tool to do something. When all we have are rumors, we can’t plan and we can’t have a real dialogue that helps us convey our community’s concerns,” he wrote. “I hate that it took a lawsuit to get our government to simply talk to us.”
--Rep. David Gomberg, state legislator representing Newport

Meanwhile, the Stranger reports that Zahid Chaudhry, a Pakistani immigrant, US Army veteran, and husband of Seattle congressional candidate Melissa Chaudhry, has been released after three months of detention at NWIPC in Tacoma. Sadly, Chaudhry lost his vision during those three months, while his thyroid condition wasn't treated by the detention center.

Should Seattle's Fremont bridge become car-free?

A post at Seattle Transit Blog proposes banning car traffic on the the 100+ year old Fremont Bridge in Seattle and that the bridge should be converted to bicycle, pedestrian, and transit use. The piece notes that car traffic can use the adjacent Aurora Bridge without losing much travel time. This is a great idea! Meanwhile, the South Seattle Emerald reports that neighbors and the biking community are mourning a cyclist killed in Beacon Hill last week. In related news an 81-year-old women pedestrian was killed in a Vancouver hit-and-run. Keep pressuring your city leaders to take Vision Zero street planning seriously.

A wordless performance of an animal menagerie

The Portland Mercury has a review of ZooZoo, a wordless dance performance with vignettes of various masked performers representing a menagerie of animals at Portland's Imago Theater. It sounds delightful and runs through January 4 – more info here.

Thanks for reading! --Andrew