Thursday, August 22, 2019

Street Festival

The annual Ferndale Street Festival is coming up this weekend!  Come down and say hello on Saturday between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM, and check out the variety of local vendors, children's activities, and more!  Let me know about your thoughts, ideas, and priorities for Ferndale's future.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Find out more about the Street Festival on their website at https://ferndalestreetfestival.com/ and at My Ferndale News!



While you're there, be sure to say hello to my friends with the Ferndale Auxilliary Communications Service at the FPD Communications Van and my friends with the Whatcom County Community Emergency Response Team trailer! 

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Getting from here to there

On Wednesday evening, August 7th, I attended the North Whatcom Poverty Task Force meeting.  If you aren't familiar with the task force, it is a seven-member temporary advisory committee formed by the City Council in February.  The topic of this month's meeting was transportation, with two guest presenters from the Whatcom Transit Authority.  They shared information about the metrics used by the WTA to evaluate and update service.  Among their top considerations are the number of rides taken and rider hours on a particular route.  They also shared that the majority of riders from Ferndale head to Bellingham.

During discussion about reducing barriers and improving ridership, I asked about whether or not they evaluate overall trip length when evaluating their routes and noted that it takes over an hour to reach the downtown core of Bellingham from the furthest part of the route through Ferndale.  The time it takes to get to and from Bellingham by bus, makes it an extremely cumbersome, and downright inaccessible, mode of transportation for Ferndale residents.

I would like to see active conversations like these continue between the City and the WTA so we can improve how public transit serves our community.  Improving transit services will improve accessibility to services for those who live in our city and will make it easier for visitors from around the county to come to Ferndale to see all of the great things we have to offer!

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Primary Results

The results are in and we've made it to the general election in November! Thank you so much for the support along the way. We really can achieve great things when we work together!

Monday, August 5, 2019

Old Main

I attended the City Council meeting this evening and shared my thoughts about the City's proposal for acquiring Old Main.  I do not support it, and ultimately the Council voted unanimously to abandon any further consideration of Old Main as the site for a future City Hall and municipal court.  Read the comments I shared below. 


Meet Maralise