Olympia Time

History, politics, people of Oly WA

Author: Emmett O'Connell (Page 62 of 176)

The website Thurston County doesn’t have

September 30, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Recently I was part of a group that met twice to discuss redesigning Thurston County’s currently horrible website. To put it shortly, the website is a reflection of a lack of technical progress (the pages are still manually built from an html editor) and the disjointed governance of the county.

The website being in the technical backwoods is less troubling to me because the website is actually very informative. The county’s technology manager attended our second meeting and said that getting everything possible on the website had been their first concern. To me, that puts them on good footing for where they need to go next.

And, despite the casual framing of the project as “redesigning” the county’s website, that is the last thing they need to do. Yes, its ugly right and it should be prettier, but not prettier in terms of a slick design. Drastically simple designs like craigslist.org’s or wikipedia’s would get the county where they need to go.

So, I wouldn’t call it a redesign, but rather a restructuring. The first step should be scrapping their current method of updating the website and implementing a Content Management System. Easier, open source solutions are available, but it sidesteps the concept of a “redesign,” which would seem to focus on the aesthetic and drive you toward the usable.

And, just one more thought:

I like RSS feeds a lot. If I could subscribe to a portion or an entire government website, that would be great. I’ve created some Pag2RSS feeds for some parts of the city of Olympia’s website (like city council agendas and planning commission), but an entire government website with RSS tied to it would be great.

Good old R. Scott, still not being able to read and such

September 29, 2009 / / 0 Comments

R. Scott, chair of the local loyal minor party, is mad at Karen Valenzuela and a copy editor at the Olympian because he can’t read. He’s mad because he thinks the commissioner’s campaign used incorrect language in a fundraising notice to the Olympian.

In the top part of a notice in the Olympian (also in R. Scott’s own complaint in pdf here), not paid for or written by Commissioner Valenzuela’s campaign, the word “re-elect” is used.
Late in the same notice, the words “Valenzuela, an appointee…” are also used. Can R. Scott read? Does he care?

Sounders vs. Colorado back in June (soccer gameday report #2)

September 29, 2009 / / 0 Comments

This summer I had a handful of equally unique soccer watching experiences. From Colorado to Bremerton, PDL, U.S. Open Cup and MLS, they made me think about soccer clubs. Like how they succeed, how they promote the sport and how they work as sporting organizations.


The first delibertaly written report (the first is actually here and here) is from our family trip to Colorado which included a nice trip up to Dicks Sporting Goods Stadium.

All of these posts will be organized under this category.

I’m not sure about formatting these posts, so I’ll just start with random, numbered observations.

1. Wow, Sounders fans travel. There were at least 20 organized Sounders fans who came to the game. In addition, I ran into at least a half dozen other folks from Washington coming to the game.

2. About sixty percent of the people I saw at the game were wearing some sort of soccer related gear, which seems low. About just less than half were wearing something Rapids related, and a good portion of those were wearing old style Rapids stuff. The rest were split between youth team jersies and jersies of worldwide clubs (Chivas of G, Barca, Manchester United, etc.).

I think it might have been a youth soccer night, so those jersey observations might be thrown of by that. But, it makes me think that Colorado suffers from the typical MLS problem in attracting fans. There are plenty of people that are involved in soccer (youth organizations or by following soccer worldwide), but have a hard time attracting them into following the local pro club.

3. Colorado had a very nice stadium, but it was in the middle of nowhere. There’s something to be said for having a soccer stadium near other stuff. Makes walking into the stadium a bit more meaningful. I don’t know, its just a feeling I have.

4. I understand there is an actual local connection to the term “Arsenal” for the Rapids, but the use of the UK’s Arsenal brand in the stadium, the firing of the cannon and the youth program is just ripping off the authentic British soccer experience, not trying to create your own. Just saying.

Why I haven’t been blogging (why I haven’t been feeling it)

September 29, 2009 / / 0 Comments

For at least the last eight years or so, in various forms, I’ve blogged pretty regularly. There have been times I’ve closed old blogs, stopped blogging at other people’s blogs and consolidated posts on this blog. Anyway, there have also been times I haven’t blogged for awhile, but since about January of this year, my blogging here has been stalling (and for the past few weeks) grinding to a halt.

Some reasons for that include the obvious attention suck that Facebook and Twitter have become. But, there has also been the time I’ve spent thinking about the entire isthmus debate here in Olympia, and the stress I’ve felt of various groups of people I respect falling on different sides of the issue. While I respect everyone’s opinion, it has become a issue I have a hard time getting a hold of the issue, and I have gotten tired of the debate and the sides those got chosen up.

Either way, I’m going to make a concerted effort to keep on blogging. I realize that the above was a horrible reason why I have held off blogging, but here I am.

Lacey residents don’t go out at night, don’t travel beyond city limits

August 24, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Ken of Lacey has a problem with a political forum being held at night in a neighboring city by a countywide organization.

Much better for residents to take a long lunch to hear another forum in the middle of the day.

So, let me get this right. Lacey residents can’t drive three miles out of town to attend a forum in Olympia, but they have time to take off in the middle of the day to attend a forum that is marginally close? O.k.

Precincts that vote low in primaries

August 21, 2009 / / 0 Comments

One of the most interesting parts of the primary election cycle in Olympia for me is the difference between the folks that vote in the primary and those that vote in the general a few months later.

While I was really wrong about my original assumption about low turnout during this primary, its still interesting to look at what precincts will provide more votes in November.

The primary two years ago had a classic example of this shifting primary/general electorate. Rhenda Strub got through the primary with 3,000 votes (39 percent) but won the general with over 6,000 votes (55 percent). Her opponent barely improved here vote total in the primary, picking up less than 1,000 of the more than 4,000 available new votes.

So, there are a handful of precincts in Olympia that compared to the general in 2007 (the only comparable primary because it was the only one also held in August) voted in low numbers during the 2009 primary. The map below shows the 10 precincts that had less than 65 percent of the votes they had in 2007.


View under vote precincts in a larger map

Just a few thoughts about these precincts:

1. Most are on the edges of town. You could assume that these, then, are people who spend less time downtown and might shop in Lacey as much as they shop in Olympia.

2. 4 of the 10 are in SE Olympia. These are newer, probably more conservative (by Olympia standards) areas.

3. If you care about downtown, you voted in this election. I haven’t mapped the anti-Larida Passage candidates by precinct, so I don’t know if they did particularly well in one part of town. But from the low turnout in the non-downtown focused areas, I feel safe to say that Larida Passage brought people out for this one.

4. On the other hand, there will be people voting in November that don’t care much about Larida Passage. Turnout is going up in November, especially in these precincts. The question is who is going to speak to these folks who stayed out of the primary?

Shocked! Shocked! Lewis County Republicans would never call anyone a Nazi!

August 7, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Unless it was like last year.

In response to Rep. Brian Baird’s unfortunate, yet seemingly accurate, “brown shirt” comment, Lewis County GOPer gets all huffy:

The reference to Nazism and the equating of his constituents to Brown Shirts is very offensive, not only to the brave veterans in our state who have fought in wars from Europe to Iraq and Afghanistan, but to all freedom-loving citizens who value their right to express their personal opinions about the actions being taken by their elected representatives – whether or not they agree with them.

Of course, its certainly not offensive when the Lewis County Republicans call you a Nazi.

R. Scott, ILLITERATE

August 4, 2009 / / 0 Comments

R. Scott (birther and Thurston County Republican chair) can’t read. Or, when reading, can’t process information.

When he reads this:

Mah also urged the audience to consider the timing of his proposal and said that because of the slower economy, “property (for purchase) will never be cheaper.”

Thurston County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela disputed that.

Valenzuela, who attended the forum with other elected officials such as Olympia City Council members Joan Machlis, Rhenda Strub and Karen Messmer, said there might be no need to rush because the Port of Tacoma, for example, is having difficulty selling a $22 million parcel in south Thurston County’s Maytown.

Conjures up this:

…then why is Karen Valenzuela trying to purchase more parks? And why in the hell does she want to purchase them for the City of Olympia [read about it here]? She thinks they can get it cheaper, but wants to participate in the purchase.

Saying that anyone who is interested in developing an isthmus park should take their time means she wants the county to participate?

Seems more likely that she’s attended the forum because she’s a local political leader, not because she wants the county to dive into a park purchase.

On the other hand, if R. Scott had bothered to link anywhere else than the Olympian (other blogs?!?), he would have come up with something far more convincing, but still vague enough for him to twist. From Janine Gates’s Litle Hollywood:

Audience member Marie Cameron spoke next, saying she has been a resident for over 30 years and served on the Olympia Planning Commission for six years in the 1970’s and served in a variety of planning positions until her retirement. She now lives in the county, outside the city limits, and feels disenfranchised from the process, and urged the county to step up and be a partner in the portion of property tax it collects.

Thurston County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela thanked Cameron for her productive suggestion. “The problem with Mah’s proposal is that there’s only one player at the table.”

Now, you’d have to assume that Valenzuela meant the county as another player, but I’d safely assume she meant the state. But, R. Scott can believe anything he wants, especially since he can just make most of it up.

I agree with Karen Veldheer, homosexuality is not a sin

August 4, 2009 / / 0 Comments

A much better answer to the question Rob and I raised earlier:

WIP: There’s been some discussion on the local blogs regarding your faith, and the possibility that it will affect your position on equal benefits for city employees with same sex domestic partners. Could you put this in perspective for WIP readers? What is your religious affiliation, and what influence will it have on your policy positions? And specifically, what is your position on same sex partner benefits?

KV: I support the city policy for equal benefits for same sex domestic partners. I am a member of the orthodox Presbyterian church and my religious faith will have no bearing on the decisions I will make as a civic leader on the Olympia city council. I believe in a separation of Church and State. Further, the state of Washington provides over 200 civil rights, many of which are very important to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered communities, and I support these laws as well.

Which, of course, she never says that being gay isn’t a sin, just that her faith doesn’t inform her political beliefs.

Just to be clear, I disagree with my church (up until recent months I was receiving communion at St. Mike’s Catholic Church and have been raised Catholic) on their position regarding homosexuality. Karen may very well believe being gay is a sin, but still support gay rights.

Accoustic Olympia WA

August 3, 2009 / / 0 Comments

This is one of several acoustic versions (mostly guys in front of cameras, not concert footage) of Olympia, WA. There’s something about them, something closer to what I think is the real meaning of the song, in these versions. Probably closer to get to that sad-to-be-in-this-shitty-life-I-had-a-good-time-in-Oly feeling without electricity.

The way this guy plays it, it makes me think that Olympia WA could almost be an old-timey blues song.

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