Here’s new Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu’s to-do list for the next four years
Recently elected Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu set an ambitious agenda for the next four years at his first County Council meeting as executive.
Sidhu, who defeated Bellingham businessman Tony Larson by 51-49 percent in November, addressed the council Tuesday, Jan. 14, for the first time since he was sworn in the previous Saturday.
In prepared remarks, Sidhu thanked his supporters and said the county faces two primary challenges.
“The first is getting Whatcom County working together,” said Sidhu, whose term as a County Council member expired at the end of 2019.
Previously, he was dean of the college of engineering at Bellingham Technical College.
“We all know that we are better than our current politics. Our land, water, housing, environment, climate change, jobs, criminal justice and most other local issues are not liberal or conservative issues. We as a local community are paralyzed to solve our common issues because of our inability to have civil and meaningful conversation. We must lower the temperature,” he said.
He said the second challenge is forging consensus on such divisive issues as Cherry Point rezoning, water rights and climate change.
.jpg "200111-SatpalSidhu-SwearingIn-PEC-0724 (1).jpg")
“Consensus does not mean we agree on everything,” Sidhu said. “It means we can all live with the solutions we propose collectively. We have more in common than what divides us. Let’s not deprive our kids and grandkids from a bright and joyful future because of our empty and meaningless rhetoric of labels.”
Whatcom County residents must “have the courage to disagree and still love each other,” he said.
He also offered several topics he plans to address in the years ahead.
Sidhu said these seven issues deserve attention, but he set no specific priority and offered no details.
▪ A “civic plaza” for both Bellingham and Whatcom County administrative offices. Such a plan could save both the city and county millions of dollars, he said.
▪ Address the high cost of housing and concurrent land-use measures to expand the availability of residential lots.
▪ Continue with criminal justice reforms and expand behavioral health and addiction services and “new alternatives to incarceration before any brick and mortar investments.”
▪ Increased cooperation with the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe on “projects of mutual importance like water, salmon habitat enhancement, cultural heritage preservation, creating new jobs, economic expansion and other projects in the best interest of all residents.”
.jpg "200111-SatpalSidhu-SwearingIn-PEC-0570 (1).jpg")
▪ Address climate change, starting with a simple plan to plant 1 million trees in five years and working toward local solutions.
“For the sake of our future generations, we must continue to protect our critical environmental areas, salmon and wildlife habitat, and the Salish Sea. I will be starting conversations with Cherry Point industry leaders, tribal leaders, environmental groups, major businesses, Western Washington University and other interested organizations to develop a common platform for sharing ideas and projects to work cooperatively to address the ways of mitigating impacts of climate change and enhance our environment for our future generations.”
▪ Finding consensus on water for farms, fish and forests.
▪ Work toward inclusion, diversity and end racial hatred. Several hate crimes have been reported locally over the past six months and a white supremacist group has been posting racist messages in public places from Bellingham to Lynden.
“We know that today’s immigrants are tomorrow’s county executives, or university presidents, or government leaders, farmers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, entrepreneurs, activists, and pillars of our communities,” said Sidhu, who was born in India and immigrated to the U.S. from Canada.
Sidhu himself was the target of racist vandalism during the election campaign.
The Council’s next meeting is Jan. 28 at 311 Grand Ave.
