My favorite post so far is this one on the possible impact of a Republican governor on Olympia:
This is a story that — at least in Thurston County — should not wait until the election season heats up next fall. Part of McKenna’s platform is governmental reform. The candidate is fairly vague on what that means, but at the very least one can anticipate that an entire generation of managers who have gotten comfortable working for a succession of Democratic governors may worry about finding themselves out of a job.
You also have to love a blogger that puts so much thought picking up my thread on a new library in Olympia.
On the other hand, its sad to see local blogging great Jim Anderson of decrobilia bow out. In addition to decrobilia, Jim also wrote the great 5/17 blog, probably the best education blog I’ve ever read.
There are a few other newish blogs worth mentioning: OlyEats and Purehunger (a local food blogs that are actually updated every so often) and Bibliosnack (a local librarian vlogs and blogs book reviews).
Here's to Crosscut and local blogs that attempt to reinvigorate local journalism (Bill Moyer interview): http://tinyurl.com/3gdhhdw
"Stop and think of how little reality we see even in our local news. It’s a travesty how local reporting is dwindling because advertising no longer supports newspapers with the means to pay to do the hard digging required for civic honesty. And of course local television news is a hall of mirrors in a freak show. So local government is at the mercy of rogues, scoundrels, and incompetents who don’t have to look over their shoulders for watchdogs on their trail."
Thank you for your vote of confidence, Emmett. I'm glad you highlighted that story because I think it is the most under-discussed yet important local topic of the year.
I consider Olympia Views to be still in beta testing so have been using my commentator's name. It probably has better "branding" than my real one.
Since Olympia Views went live, one thing I've realized is that as soon as I start using my real name I'll likely feel compelled to do original reporting — which you know can become quite time consuming.
The dirty little secret about citizen journalism is that it can put a real strain on one's family life. That would be a valuable topic of discussion among bloggers, both present and past.