Given the recent url issues at Olyblog, thought it would be a good idea to link to my stuff over there, just in case you were wondering where it was. This is a post about new art in a nearby (to me) roundabout.
Category: Olympia City Council (Page 6 of 9)
Great post from Joan, let’s hope she keeps it up beyond the campaign.
Not to take credit away from Joan and Karen Rogers (mentioned earlier here), but if anything Mathias said got them going in this direction, good for you man.
First off, I think Janine Gates if a very worthy council candidate. I happen to support one of her opponents (Jeff Kingsbury), but this post isn’t meant as an attack to dissuade anyone from supporting Janine. Actually, it is a credit to Janine that she is so involved in her community (and writes a very good blog) that she has so many roles to balance.
But, how does Janine balance her roles as candidate, journalist and president of a non-profit that publishes Green Pages, a locally focused environmental journal that covers local government? I’d say the lines are too blurred for comfort.
For example, Janine has been using her journalism blog to post press releases from her campaign. She calls her Little Hollywood blog an “independent journalism” effort, but it isn’t independent if she posts campaign literature there, at least not independent of her own political ambitions. I have to question the rest of her coverage, if its actually independent or if it is colored by her biases and political views.
And, while she serves as president of Green Pages, she is afforded a editorial bully pulpit there that neither of her opponents can claim. Her columns have not shied away from local politics, and her column from the March/April Green Pages could almost be campaign rhetoric. Certainly not table pounding stuff, but still something you might hear during election season from a candidate:
For many, the isthmus issue is indicative of how we will treat each other in the future. Senator Karen Fraser’s bill, the undaunted efforts of community members and Mayor Mah’s new interest in exploring alternatives with the community may mark a new beginning in how we actively discuss such issues.
This issue is a test, perhaps, of how well we can work together on our city’s list of priorities and proceed through complicated conversations about urban density, the continued loss of farmland, our relationship with the county, and the proper collection of impact fees so growth pays for growth.
We must work toward a common vision and ensure that everyone’s concerns and ideas are not only heard, but acknowledged and used by city leaders in creating new and better solutions. There are trust issues, to be sure. It’s a small town and we all wear several hats. We are intertwined in so many ways. Democracy can get kind of messy sometimes, but when common ground is found, we can all feel pretty good about ourselves and move forward.
Let me be clear here. I’ve been thinking about this issue for over a month now and I’m not putting this up lightly.
If not for Jeff Kingsbury, I’d have a hard time choosing between Steve Buxbaum and Janine Gates, and honestly I’d probably be supporting Janine because of her blogging. But, I am troubled by the lines blurring.
Also, this is not a concern troll sort of post. I come to these thoughts honestly.
If she wants to distribute campaign stuff online, there are other venues than polluting her own journalism blog. Olyblog is always a good option, as is OlyForums, and the local twitter community. Janine could also add a specific campaign blog to her current website and avoid all conflict.
In the end, I hope Janine continues her good work, just with stonger fences between her roles.
On the Friday and Saturday before the August 18 primary, Steve Buxbaum is teaching a class on “doing the public’s business out at Evergreen.” Now, that is weird scheduling.
Just in case you were wondering if I was picking on Pat Beehler for being creepy just because I don’t like him, here’s what he should have done. There might be a few too many items in this particular post from Karen Rogers (for Olympia City Council), but this is exactly how this sort of campaigny updatey thing should be done.
I especially like her writing about doorbelling:
Some of the things that I heard this week:
* Like the new parks and want them built as soon as possible.
* Slow traffic down.
* Do something about the traffic congestion.
* Having trouble finding a job.
* We must bring in new industry and new jobs.
* Want someone in office who has the time and energy to do the job.
* We must revitalize downtown.
* Olympia needs a new, integrated plan for downtown.
* The Isthmus rezone is horrible.
* The Isthmus rezone is necessary.
I know Karen has been getting some pretty good advice on her web stuff, and its good to see that she’s not only paying attention but putting it to work.
How many steps does it take to get from the 1995 Mariners run still etched deep inside my mind to the political battle being waged right now in Olympia over building heights? Not far enough. It is actually scary close.
Step 1. One of my favorite afterglow memories of the 1995 run was this article from Sports Illustrated (my earlier reference here). The scene is basically a bunch of guys waiting to go into a wedding until the Mariners game (part of the heroic stretch run) is over. This inappropriate line (you’ll see in a bit) is included: “Gayle’s wedding? It’s her second.”
Step 2. Who is Gayle Fink-Shulz, is she still in Washington State? I wonder how she feels to be immortalized in a classic article about the Mariners. Well, she’s already pretty famous, and not because of a game or a set of games.
At the funeral for her husband, a state trooper killed in the line of duty, Gayle Frink-Schulz realized that many of the more than 3,000 officers in attendance saw in her their wives and mothers.
They knew it could be them lying in the flag-draped coffin. They wondered if the people they held dearest could endure their sudden, violent death.
…
At graveside, a woman approached and embraced her. She whispered that her husband, also a motorcycle officer, had been killed two years earlier.
“At that point we just held each other and cried,” Frink-Schulz said.
As she struggled through her own grief, she decided that other families — and law enforcement officers — would benefit from an organized support system. In early 1994, she helped form the Washington chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors, or COPS, a group that helps the family, colleagues and community deal with the deaths of officers in the line of duty.
Yeah, dude. Its her second wedding because her police officer husband died in the line of duty two years earlier. I have a hard time weighing the gravity of the 1995 Mariners and Mrs. Frink-Schulz’s wedding, but I keep on coming back to Gayle on this one.
Step 3. The view from the Washington State Law Enforcement memorial has become a part of whether to allow tall buildings to be built in certain parts of downtown Olympia. From the Little Hollywood Blog:
Gayle Frink-Schultz of the Behind the Badge Foundation, gave perhaps the most compelling testimony of the day. As the widow of Washington State Patrol Trooper Steven Frink, Ms. Frink-Schultz explained how she came to be involved with the planning of the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial on the Capitol Campus which overlooks the debated isthmus region.
Frink-Schultz also explained the state’s heavy involvement in the project since 1999: site selection with the Capitol Campus Design Advisory Committee, stabilization of the hillside, landscaping and construction of a retaining wall as part of the Heritage Park hill and walking path – “all to create a place of serenity, honor and respect.”
“….I found a new mission in life after my husband’s death. Steve’s death taught me there are things in life that are irrevocable, things we cannot control. But, I also learned that there are things in life that are important and that we do have choice over….This is one of those times.”
If these candidates are any indication, Olympians are ok with being associated with the government for the entire state:
Or maybe its just the prettiest building in town and so is the most notable. Either way, it was another candidate that reflected recently that he didn’t like using the capitol dome as a symbol of Olympia because it was lazy. Or maybe I said that and he agreed with me.
Either way, I wish people wouldn’t. There is much more to this city than a dome that we can’t take much credit for.
Via email, from Bonnie (Jacobs?) (important parts in bold):
WHO ARE CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT?
Citizens for Responsive Local Government, CRLG, formed after the Council’s isthmus rezone vote, and after various public records requests revealed what Councilmember Kingsbury and some others were doing on their laptops during Council meetings.
CRLG’s endorsement committee included a variety of politically engaged and concerned people from around town, including four people who have been active with Friends of the Waterfront (Bob Jacobs, Emily Ray, Thad Curtz and Walt Jorgensen). Also included was Janet Blanding, a reporter who has been covering the Isthmus issues for Works in Progress, the local progressive monthly that’s distributed from sidewalk boxes downtown.CRLG spent four months asking people about possible good candidates, talking to a large number of people about20whether they’d be willing to run, interviewing a much smaller group of people who were willing to consider running, and eventually deciding to endorse three candidates –
Karen Veldheer (who is running for the open seat)
Stephen Buxbaum (who is running against Jeff Kingsbury)
Jeannine Roe (who is running against Joan Machlis)CRLG will make a public announcement about its three endorsements soon. Our next email will include more information on their endorsement process, the candidates they’ve endorsed, and what you can do to help elect some new members of the council this fall.
An email that gets forwarded around is a public announcement, FYI.
Jerry Reilly deploys hypothetical politics to defend the state legislature stepping into a local planning process (or Olympia telling Olympia what to do):
Opponents of this legislation should consider two questions:
If the state were just now deciding where to locate our capital city, would it be reasonable to ask the City Council of Olympia to agree to forgo intense development on the isthmus in order to protect the views from and to the Capitol Campus?
Would city leaders be likely to accept this limitation as a fair trade for the enormous benefit of being the capital city?
Here’s my consideration:
The last time there was a serious attempt to move the state capitol from Olympia was just about 100 years ago. Tacoma tried to step in and snatch the seat of government. There was a less serious attempt in the 1950s that involved quietly moving state agencies up to Seattle. We beat back that challenge, along with others.
So, I don’t really consider the threat to move the state capitol serious, even hypothetically.
And, for the “enormous benefit” we receive as being the capitol city, I wonder how many city’s our size would appreciate their largest industry not paying property taxes?
Also, since Lacey and Tumwater are now having nice new state buildings built in them, its high time the state legislature dip into their local planning processes as well.
Joe Hyer has a campaign spot on facebook and he’s using it to get some feedback on issues.
You can see the short conversation on the isthmus park here. You can join in if you sign up for facebook and join his group.
Emmett O'Connell
@emmettoconnell@olympiatime.com
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