By: Tip Johnson

Truth, Justice and the American Way
By Tip Johnson · Mon Jan 27, 2025
Who’s Superman when you need him? We are.
4 min read · 2 comments, most recent 6 weeks ago
Water Rights
By Tip Johnson · Thu May 2, 2024
Local presentations scheduled on a reasonable use framework for water resource management
1 min read
Three Wise Men?
By Tip Johnson · Tue Jan 9, 2024
The Port Commission has decreed that Bellingham’s waterfront will remain a toxic, festering sore
4 min read · 6 comments
No Third Jail Tax
By Tip Johnson · Tue Oct 31, 2023
Who benefits?
5 min read · 3 comments
Defund WHAT?
By Tip Johnson · Mon Oct 31, 2022
Vote for what you like. I like libraries.
2 min read · 6 comments
Dear Vlad…
By Tip Johnson · Fri Jul 8, 2022
Anon letters trying to intimidate us and our writers are non starters.
2 min read · 9 comments
Elevators, Smelevators
By Tip Johnson · Mon Feb 14, 2022
…Pants on Fire!
2 min read · 9 comments
Save the Trails Referendum Falls Short
By Tip Johnson · Thu Sep 9, 2021
A summary of the Douglas Avenue right-of-way petition effort.
2 min read
SAVE THE TRAILS! STAY SAFE. GET ONLINE. GET IT DONE!
By Tip Johnson · Fri Aug 27, 2021
The Save the Trails Referendum goes into Pandemic Mode
2 min read · 3 comments
Save the Trails Referendum - Petition Signing, Pickup and Delivery Station
By Tip Johnson · Thu Aug 19, 2021
The Push is on!
1 min read
The Scheme to Turn Green-Spaces into $Green
By Tip Johnson · Tue Aug 17, 2021
Neighborhoods beware: City Hall is selling our public rights. Your neighborhood could be next.
4 min read · 14 comments
A call for citizen action
By Tip Johnson · Fri Aug 13, 2021
This is the Save the Trails Referendum Page
3 min read · 3 comments
City Throws Down the Gauntlet
By Tip Johnson · Mon Aug 9, 2021
But ever so s_l_o_w_l_y
6 min read · 3 comments
Our Public Property Rights For Sale - Cheap!
By Tip Johnson · Tue Jul 27, 2021
Preserve public property rights & save the trail
3 min read · 14 comments
Massive Excavation in Archeological Zone Permitted by City Hall
By Tip Johnson · Thu Jul 15, 2021
The city granted building permits while the Planning Department knew this was a state historical Indian village site.
3 min read · 2 comments
Save the Whales - Bellingham’s $40mm Padden Creek Joke
By Tip Johnson · Sat Jun 19, 2021
What does a little stream matter? Spoiler alert! It’s not a joke and, if it were, it would not be a nice one.
4 min read · 5 comments
Will City Double-Down to Kill Public Trail?
By Tip Johnson · Sun Jan 24, 2021
Tip Johnson makes the case that the City’s cozy relations with developers and its neighborhoods-be-damned attitude is costing us all.
5 min read · 3 comments
“Culture of Fear” at Western
By Tip Johnson · Tue Dec 29, 2020
WWU, Western Washington University has a “Culture of Fear”. No, NW Citizen is not saying that - the Seattle Times is.
2 min read
Dirty Deal at Douglas and 21st
By Tip Johnson · Wed Dec 2, 2020
Proposed Elimination of the Douglas Avenue Trail
7 min read · 10 comments
Sitting on a Gold Mine?
By Tip Johnson · Sun Feb 9, 2020
The best kept secret in the west?
4 min read · 5 comments
Jail Tax: Third Time’s a Charm?
By Tip Johnson · Wed Jan 22, 2020
Council Rebukes Justice Advocates and Voters
6 min read · 1 comment
The Jail - Pentagon Hammers and Brick Walls
By Tip Johnson · Fri Oct 25, 2019
A million here and a million there, pretty soon you are talking real money
7 min read · 1 comment
Seth Fleetwood for Mayor
By Tip Johnson · Tue Oct 15, 2019
Electoral Perspective from a long-time neighborhood advocate
5 min read · 8 comments
Whatcom Justice Reform: The Big Fib
By Tip Johnson · Mon Sep 30, 2019
When voting for sheriff implies structural change
5 min read · 2 comments
Of Broken Roads and Re-invented Wheels
By Tip Johnson · Fri Jan 18, 2019
Re-imagining Bellingham’s Waterfront
6 min read · 14 comments
Breaking News: City Council Changes
By Tip Johnson · Sat Sep 1, 2018
City Council member Roxanne Murphy resigns…on Facebook
1 min read · 1 comment
MERCURY VICTIMS OF WHATCOM COUNTY
By Tip Johnson · Mon Apr 9, 2018
Toward a more comprehensive approach to human health and the environment
11 min read · 6 comments
Pig in a Poke - Budget Heist and Land Scam?
By Tip Johnson · Sat Nov 4, 2017
My final shot. Before you might vote YES, explore this site for more on the jail by Juliette Daniels, myself and others. Then vote REJECTED.
5 min read · 1 comment
Something Stinks at the Post Point Wastewater Treatment Plant
By Tip Johnson · Wed May 10, 2017
What’s the real story?
1 min read · 3 comments
Coming for your wallet - That persistent jail thing
By Tip Johnson · Thu Jan 5, 2017
Wherein citizens snooze, they lose
3 min read · 1 comment
That Big, Flat, Rural Jail or Regional Detention Center?
By Tip Johnson · Thu Dec 29, 2016
Wherein the serpent struggles to remain unnoticed
7 min read
Let the Tyranny Commence - The Revenge Against Chiara D’Angelo Bill
By Tip Johnson · Thu Dec 22, 2016
Wherein history begins to repeat itself
4 min read · 6 comments
The missing Link
By Tip Johnson · Thu Dec 15, 2016
Do we need more events, or more cool things to do?
3 min read · 3 comments
Serve and Protect
By Tip Johnson · Thu Nov 17, 2016
Fatal shootings by police are up in the 2016. “The year isn’t over yet, and police have already killed at least 896 people — many of whom were unarmed, mentally ill, and people of color.”
2 min read
A Silver Lining?
By Tip Johnson · Thu Nov 10, 2016
Could Trump end up an American hero? We shall see after the wailing, gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair is over. Why did he win? He had a platform. Hillary had baggage. No good deed goes
2 min read
The Council Packet
By Tip Johnson · Thu Nov 3, 2016
Last week I discussed looking into the city budget to better inform your civic missions. Today we’ll look at the council packet. These are generally available HERE well in advance of the meeting,
1 min read
Follow the Money
By Tip Johnson · Thu Oct 27, 2016
Everyone likes to know how their money is being spent. Right? Furthermore, informed citizens are essential to our democracy. The Council Agenda/Packet for 10/24/2016 includes a list of capital
2 min read
Deregulation
By Tip Johnson · Thu Oct 20, 2016
Following David Camp’s post about The Royal Bank of Scotland pillaging their own customers, it is worth revisiting the Wells Fargo debacle of faking 2 million accounts to pad their results. 
1 min read
Good News, Trekkies
By Tip Johnson · Thu Oct 13, 2016
The discovery of a watery planet circling Proxima Centauri only 25 trillion miles away is said to “give us hope to start anew on another planet”.  Of course, we can’t really get there yet,
1 min read
Batten Down the Hatches!
By Tip Johnson · Wed Oct 12, 2016
Warning: Major Storms Threaten the Pacific Northwest. Nuff said.            
1 min read
Tip Johnson

Tip Johnson

Citizen Journalist and Editor · Writing Since Jan 11, 2008
Tip Johnson is a longtime citizen interest advocate with a record of public achievement projects for good government and the environment. A lifelong student of government, Tip served two terms on the Bellingham City Council and has worked on many community boards and committees. He travelled with the Federal Transit Administration and Department of Commerce on mass transit trade missions in SE Asia and Africa before settling down to focus on keeping public interests at the fore of local government and the course of growth and development.

Total lifetime comments: 619

Recent Comments by Tip Johnson

Sat Nov 16, 2024

We may see yet more loud tyrannical blowing of toxic air. 
Great article!

The Tyranny Of Leaf Blowers
Sat Nov 9, 2024

There is irony to the somewhat ubiquitous feeling voters had that things were economically better under the previous Trump administration. The economy and wages actually fared better under Biden, but under Trump they briefly enjoyed free pandemic money, rent protections and business support which quietly expired under Biden, post-pandemic.  That brief feeling of cash in the bank was due to the four trillion Trump added to the deficit - the main stimulant for the recent inflation, blamed on Biden, that turned folks back to Trump. 

The Election of Donald Trump
Thu Oct 17, 2024

I predict many will be happy with the website improvements as the city begins implementing the new state housing laws and abrogates four decades of planning promises to the neighborhoods…

...or as the ballot measure to increase the Port Commission emerges…

...or as the Charter Review proceeds.

The Big Ask

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