Author: Emmett O'Connell (Page 49 of 179)

Why don’t we worry about the South Sound Mall as much as we do downtown (and I want a soccer stadium!)

July 3, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

This is a post born out of this question at Mark’s Notes on the State of Olympia blog on what places in Olympia (and I assume broader urban North Thurston) are too empty for my tastes.

The almost empty parking lot in the north west corner of the mall is a forgotten little pocket of Lacey. It used be to where the Woolworth’s backed up into that side of the mall. I also remember Olympic Comics starting on that side.

Anyway, its empty now, except for maybe people learning to ride motorcycles on Sunday, the parking lot is a waste of impervious surface, reflecting the dead commercial nature of that part of Lacey.

It is also now left without its only lasting civic contribution, as the host of Lacey’s July 3rd Fireworks.

The owners of the mall seems to realize the lost potential back there. Coincidentally, they also own a few properties in the residential neighborhood right next door in Olympia. And, in 2008 CDC proposed to the city to redevelop that neighborhood into a south Tumwater-like collection of state office buildings.

The proposal didn’t get picked up by the city, but I’m sure the need is still there. It wasn’t that solid of a proposal, not even a project. Just a request for a designation that could mean state office buildings would be built there at some point.

But, for me, obviously, the best and highest use of the space would be a soccer stadium. Nothing fancy, 2,000 seats would make me more than happy.

But, what gets me about the empty back corner of west Lacey, is that while it remains very paved and very empty, no one seems to care. We wring our hands over anything relating to downtown, but this part of Lacey is all but ignored.

PCO Wars! (also update on PCO history project)

July 1, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

I haven’t gotten very far on my PCO history project, only up through the 1940s with 2010 as a bookend. If I was to come up with a conclusion so far, I’d say compared to today, there have been decades of high participation in the PCO process, much higher than today. But, you can find years when our average now wasn’t out of the ball park.

What I do find striking is the years when every single PCO slot had at least one candidate. Competitive races were somewhat rare (though sometimes as high as almost 70 percent), but the full ballot implied a desire on the parties’ behalf to have as many PCOs as possible.

Anyway, seems like this year on the Republican side, the PCO races are of high interest across the Northwest again. Here are some links noting the PCO battles that are going on between Ron Paul supporters and long time Republicans.

Ridenbaugh Press: The Precinct Wars.

In Twin Falls County, the Republican Liberty Caucus ran a slew of challenges to often-veteran precinct officers, and won almost a third of the seats. The mainstream party leaders expressed relief that the challengers hadn’t won a majority, but they’d better not count on the fermet to ease off soon. Many races were competitive; one was decided by a coin flip.

Spin Control: County awash in PCO candidates

In theory, Democrats and Republicans should each elect a PCO for each of Spokane County’s 314 precincts every two years, although in many years the parties often go begging for willing candidates, and when they find one, there’s no contest for the job.

Not this year. In 105 precincts, about a third of the county’s total, there will be contested elections. Almost all, 101 races, will be for Republican positions. In one precinct, a South Hill precinct near Roosevelt Elementary School, both parties have contested PCO races with two Democrats and three Republicans.

Clark County Politics: My Mistake: a FOUR way race in the 620 precinct.

$4+ million for the arts, not for sports

June 30, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

Let’s quickly forget about the meaningless distinction between someone that dances and receives academic credit and someone that swings a bat and does not.

Let’s also forget that our schools maintain facilities for both artistic and athletic pursuits.

Starting from here then, how do you think the public would react if the city of Olympia announced it was spending $4.4 million to upgrade a field at Yauger Park to a 1,500 seat capacity soccer stadium? Or, baseball stadium, I suppose (even though we’d never get a real minor league team here).

Under certain circumstances, a 4,000 seat baseball stadium could be had for around $4.3 million.

You think the public reaction would be supportive? Actually, I think the public reaction to a larger (much larger) athletic facility would be overall negative. Possibly very negative.

As opposed to $4.4 million spent on reburbing an existing arts center? Granted, we already own the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

But, I think this imaginary distinction might tell you something about the nature of Olympia. Ken Balsley calls this elitism.

But, I wouldn’t go that far. We have plenty of people around here that spend a lot of their time dedicated to sports. There are plenty examples of this sort of dedication, families at Black Hills FC, hundreds of kids turning out for Olympia Bears football.

The question is, in Olympia given $4 million in public funds, the most likely end result is something for the arts, not sports. And why is that?

I’ve been pondering it for days now, and I can’t really give you a good answer.

Why Dan Bigelow would’ve campaigned against Costco edition (Olyblogosphere links for June 29, 2012)

June 30, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. From Mojourner Truth, a dern good blog post about how own of our town’s earliest settlers fought the same fight that some of us still fight today:

Replace “groceries” with “CostCo,” or for that matter, jsut keep “groceries,” and you have one of the most recent election’s main issues encapsulated. It makes me want to start a Bigelow Community Garden, where we can grow food free of the impure grocery influence. Not that I’m against liquor, mind you, but more the influence of a particular capitalist enterprise putting itself above the public good of, for example, having state store which employed a thousand or so people at a living wage, and which did not sell liquor late in the evening, when people are more likely to get in trouble with it, and which had no accounting tricks to keep the state revenue from flowing to other public goods.

2. Coolerman4u made a home made forge. Cooler, indeed.

3. Stevenl starts up a new contest on Olyblog. Where are these places?

4. Mathias (thank goodness) is back doing RSVP, the podcast. I love podcasts. Love them a lot. I also like local things. So, listen to Mathias’ podcast, especially because he’s going to be down for the next few days. This one is especially good, featuring Faith Trimble.

Olyblogosphere links for June 18 (best video about Olympia railroads ever)

June 19, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. This video left me speachless. Basically, its a story about an old timber railroad through what is now the South Puget Sound Community College campus on the westside.

But, its also a story of cross discipline and real world learning at SPSCC. Great, great stuff.

2. Sarah at the Snazzy Bouquet has the sort of post that describes This Town. Nice.

Really, though. I feel compelled to blockquote at least this passage:

Last night’s scene in downtown Oly. All-ages punk action, just like it was 21 years ago, when I (by some miraculous twist of fate) poked my head in the side door at the Capitol Theater.

3. Funwater Awesome (though not technically Olympia) put up a post for the first time in almost a year, then promptly let his domain expire. Boo. You can get his the Funwater zine at the library though.

4. Over at r/olympia on reddit, people are getting phone calls for a survey about whether they’d “support or oppose a 0.1¢ sales tax measure to support local PD, Fire, and neighborhood watch programs, and if I would support or oppose a $12 million bond measure to build a park on the isthmus.” Boy, what a time for Olympiaviews to call it a day, huh?

5. Speaking of local politics, I tweeted something Rhenda Strub pointed to about who someone thinks was behind those horrible fliers from last fall.

6. Don’t you love what Mark Derricott is doing with his blog lately? The meeting updates bum me out, but I love these project specific posts (Olympia Hilton Gardens and Downtown Olympia Mixed Use at Quince and Fourth Ave).

Olyblogosphere links for June 9, 2012 (basking in the glow of Oly Love edition)

June 9, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. Lots of video from the explosion of Oly Love this week. Here are just three:

2. Bees, Birds and Buttlerflies blog brings us (what else?) The Bumble Bees of Thurston County (which has nothing to do with WSB).

3. Flummel, Flummer, Flummo is on the WSB beat with The haters are now hating in Seattle and Dirt Dumb Rebels.

4. Remember last time when I linked to a blog about Calvin Johnson’s walking tour of Olympia? Well, here’s the video.

Olyblogosphere links for June 4, 2012 (no theme edition)

June 5, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. In Judith Baumann probably loves you blog, Calvin Johnson leads a walking tour of downtown Olympia. This event deserves a blog post of its own, but in this case, its crammed with other stuff.

2. I’ve had nightmares about when local grocery stores one by one stop carrying Olympia beer. Cosmo has news of a real-life tragedy. Brewery City Pizza no longer carries the beer of the historic and self referential beer.

3. Tenalquot has an amazing map of historic schools in Thurston County.

4. It would be worth heading over to Morty the Dog to read more about the Olympia Comics Festival

Westboro Baptist Church bothering to picket both Olympias

June 1, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

Westboro Baptist Church (yes, those guys) are coming to Olympia next week.

There is going to be a response, seemingly especially to their second day protest at Olympia High School on Thursday (sorry, you have to log in to FB).

The reason they’re coming is pretty simple, the passing of the marriage bill last year in the legislature. It also makes sense that their first protest will be up at the capitol campus. But, what is surprising to me, is that they’re also bothering to protest at Olympia High School (and the auditors office).

They not only protesting Olympia as a name for the entire state government, but they’re also protesting Olympia as a home.

I’m not sure I’m going to bother to show them any attention, but I’ve heard through FB that some local churches will respond in person. Which, I feel is great. Its much better for actual people of faith to stand up to emotional haters like Westboro.

Olyblogosphere links for May 22, 2012 (Special web video edition)

May 23, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. This is the video that made this update happen. I just could not wait. Jim Foley running for judge in the city of Oly. I kid you not.

2. Then two updates from Your Daily Hour With Me. First, just to nod of appreciation that they’ve made it to 600 episodes.

Then, their epic interview with the 10 Minute Show’s David Scherer Water.

3. And, I suppose to round out this web video themed update, Evergeen is 40 years old. And, they’re adding “Greener Stories.” This is a pretty interesting one, if also pretty quiet.

Olyblogosphere links for May 18, 2012 (Nature! Nature! Nature!)

May 19, 2012 / Emmett O'Connell / 0 Comments

1. Protect Nature (or an empty lot with trees) with the new Save LBA Woods blog.

My first impression is that they could’ve thought of a different name. LBA stinks as a park name to begin with (Little Baseball Association), but LBA Woods implies the area they’re trying to save has anything to do with the park, other than being next door.

2. Starhill Farm has Seedings!!

3. A sort of old update from the Bees, Birds and Butterflies blog on some infosheets they posted. Its a good blog, so worth the almost month old link.

4. Super cool post from Nick Strite on Capitol Lake:

What I think is just another example of we self-centered humans is the concern for the aesthetic values of the lake. People who are for the lake staying a lake value it for its appearance.

The lake is aesthetically pleasing and people firmly believe that it does bring in business and boost Olympia’s appeal. The strongest argument for the “keep the lake” side is that if an estuary were developed that it might destroy business downtown because of the loss of this attractive body of water. That is something no one can predict. It is moderately plausible that business would be affected but it is not possible to predict unless it were actually made into an estuary.

5. And the Accidental Naturalist on Vaux’s Swifts in Olympia.