Represents: 6th Ward
Term: Jan 2006 - Dec 2009
Bellingham City Council member Barbara Ryan chairs the Parks and Recreation Committee and serves on the Lake Whatcom Reservoir, Planning and Community Development, Transportation, and Waterfront Development Committees for the 2009 legislative term. Council member Ryan was also elected by the Council as the Mayor Pro Tempore for 2009, responsible for acting in place of Mayor Dan Pike in his absence. Council member Ryan has other council assignments including liaison to the Museum Society Board, Sister Cities Association, Council of Governments, and the Whatcom Transportation Authority Board.
Council member Ryan was born in Tacoma, Washington and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She moved to the East Coast where she studied and worked for several years. She graduated with a degree in Public Communication from Boston University and worked as Communication Director for Boston University's Institute for Responsive Education, the Lake Washington School District, and later Planned Parenthood of Delaware. Council member Ryan has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to keeping the public informed and a part of government and education decision making. After receiving her Masters in Administration, Council member Ryan and her husband moved to Bellingham. Like many who choose Bellingham, she enjoys the cultural opportunities of living in a college town as well as proximity to larger cities to the north and south, mountains to the east and the sea to the west.
Council member Ryan became concerned about the city's growth policies, which she believed encouraged sprawl into agricultural and open space lands in the County and did not adequately protect the City's water supply and environmental assets. In 1997 she ran for City Council. Elected in 1998, she will have completed three four-year terms at the end of 2009.
Her Priorities as a Council member Include:
Some of the projects of which Council member Ryan is most proud include chairing the Task Force on Communication in 1990, resulting in an ongoing, coordinated communication program. She also chaired the Growth Forum in 2004, a citywide planning effort which identified 28 potential Urban Village areas and became the basis for the 2006 Comprehensive Plan.
She co-chaired the Northsound Connecting Communities Project, a four-county transportation planning effort, for several years. NCCP (also known as the Farmhouse Gang), created information kiosks for travelers to identify public and private transportation choices. It advocated for additional Amtrak service between Everett and Vancouver, B.C., and helped establish, with local transit agencies, transit service across county lines between Bellingham and Everett. The Farmhouse Gang promotes transportation choices such as rail, transit, and ferry to connect our region together. Ryan also served as President of the Board of the Whatcom Transportation Authority for several years.
Council member Ryan has found a permanent home in Bellingham, enjoying painting, music, hiking, creative and committed people, and the use of off-leash dog parks. She is a founding Board Member of the Bellingham Festival of Music and sang with the Festival Chorus for several years. Council member Ryan's current term ends in 2009.
Home
621 Canyon View Drive
Bellingham, WA 98225
Phone: (360) 671-8376
Work
Waycross Investment Mgmt. Co.
1326 Commercial Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Phone: (360) 671-0148
Fax: (360) 671-8936
Email Council Member:
Barbara Ryan
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