$271.32: THE PRICE FOR CHANGE:
One night, on an indignant whim, Dana Briggs decided to run for Bellingham’s city council at-large seat.
Written by Jon Foster
Dana Briggs lives by himself in a nondescript motel room. Staying there wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to do, but living paycheck to paycheck means he cannot afford an apartment. Last May, he was in his room looking at who had filed to run for office. He only saw one person had filed their declaration of candidacy for the city council at-large position.
“One of the things that has annoyed me for decades is unopposed political races,” Briggs said. While looking at the only candidate running, he says he either had a moment of irrationality, indignation or both. He took some money from his meager savings and paid the $271.32 filing fee to run for Bellingham’s city council at-large seat the day before final declarations were due.
The person elected to be the at-large city council member after the November 5 elections serves the entirety of Bellingham, not just one particular ward. Briggs is tactful but doesn’t mince his words when he speaks; he is clear and confident. He often sits with his arms crossed over his chest, looking off into the distance while he recalls stories of his past. His mind is sharp and he has an uncanny ability to remember most of what he has heard and read.
Dana said he’s been reading since he was three years old and once read an entire encyclopedia volume in one summer. Now 64, he has been a cook at Peace Health St. Joseph Hospital since February 2018.
“It is a unionized position. It does make better than the wage for most people in the cooking business, but it’s still not enough money to get a place on your own,” Briggs said.
Although he works full-time, Briggs has been living in a motel since December 2017. “I do not make enough money to afford a place anywhere in the county, let alone Bellingham,” he said. He is unable to save up enough money to pay first, last month’s rent and security deposit for an apartment. Briggs considers himself homeless.
Briggs believes he can bring a new perspective to the city council because of his experience with being homeless and a low-wage worker. He has been an advocate for the homeless and has gone in front of city council many times, pushing for new ordinances to help them.
“Most of the council members tend to be individuals that are fairly well-off, not rich, but comfortable economically,” Briggs said. “They probably own their own homes, are maybe even landlords themselves, but there has never been, to the best of my knowledge, anybody that has been low wage, let alone homeless on the council.”
If he gets elected, Briggs said the most important thing he wants to do is have Bellingham declare a climate emergency. He says he will use the recommendations of the climate action plan to implement changes to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Briggs’ stance on affordable housing reflects his experience with homelessness. “We need extraordinarily high density buildings within the city and I know it’s going to upset a lot of people,” he said. “If people are going to continue to move here, then they have to have a place to live and it’s got to be affordable.”
Without creating additional affordable housing, Briggs said Bellingham is creating a de facto gated community. “We’re either going to have a community that is inclusive of all socio-economic classes or we’re not. But let’s be honest about it. Quit beating around the bush.”
Krista Rome, the clean water organizer for RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, said Briggs is one of the most dedicated people doing community service. RE Sources is a nonprofit that promotes sustainable communities and works to protect the health of people and the environment.
“He’s somebody that I see almost more than anybody else,” Rome said. “He can be working really hard on one issue like providing service for unhoused people in the homeless crisis and still make time in his brain and his life to do everything else also, which is pretty admirable.”
In 2003, unable to find work in Whatcom County, Briggs became homeless after short-selling his home. He packed his belongings into his truck and drove down to Seattle where he moved from shelter to shelter in Eastside Seattle for four months.
By 2005, Briggs received a certificate for nonprofit management and fundraising from the University of Washington. He was employed most of the time up until he moved back to Bellingham in 2016. By December 2017, Briggs was homeless again. Two months later, he was laid off from his restaurant job.
Briggs holds a master’s in management and a bachelor’s in geography. He says he has worked in the software and technology industries and, at one point, was making close to six figures.
After his divorce, Briggs realized he had been doing all the things people expected him to do. “A lot of that expectation all revolved around money,” he said. “I finally thought to myself, you know, I’m going to start doing what I want to do regardless of the money.”
Briggs is continuing to live by that. Between his full time job and homeless activism, he is finally doing something people have told him to do for a while, on his own terms.
“Over the decades, there were a lot of people, no matter where I lived, that had made comments like ‘Dana, you got to run for political offices at some point,’” Briggs said. “So I thought well, I’m on the downside of this particular existence. Why not?”