1. I got into a discussion this afternoon with a local, talking about the state of the Olympian and whether it would be worthy of support if it changed its corporate structure to a non-profit. Here’s the original argument: I don’t disagree about local news being produced by non-profits. Great idea. The Olympian is the…
How did our housing practices shape Olympia’s racial makeup?
Amanda Smith, the former mayor of Olympia, sat in a suddenly silent city council meeting in the spring of 1968. She had been mayor in the 1950s and had come back to city hall to speak out in favor of an ordinance to prevent housing discrimination. Duke Stockton had just stopped speaking against the ordinance…
Olympia housing post in two parts: Answering a question on Ron Rants and asking a question on Samuel Stein
Both of these came up at the same time, so I’m doing them in one post. 1. Answering Steve Salmi’s question here first: …Dan Leahy was right to “follow the money” regarding tax breaks for developers – including Ron Rants. Olympia would do well to display greater transparency in its decision making if it wishes…
How much did cutting the middle out of our housing stock cost Olympia in the last forty years?
Or, Olympia’s spreading tax-subsidized single-family neighborhoods. I’ve pointed to this chart oftentimes as an illustration of how we changed directions back in the 1980s. I’ve recently been rethinking this graph, mostly due to new perspectives on a fairly old policy tool to encourage apartment construction in downtown Olympia. Dan Leahy has been writing in Works…
The Indian Shaker Church and the Lewis Family totem pole
Surprisingly terrible people. And, by way of making this re-telling of these incongruent stories even weirder, they both originally were written about in the same edition of the Daily Olympian on July 5, 1970. The Indian Shaker Church on Mud Bay needed to be rebuilt. It had burned down in the winter before. And, in…
Ghettos and lost quadplexes at Nut Tree Loop: Our conversations 40 years ago around multifamily housing and how we got here
If you go up Eastside Street from downtown, it will eventually curve to the east and become 22nd Avenue. As 22nd Avenue approaches Boulevard, there is a small neighborhood on the left-hand side of the road called Nut Tree Loop. This area around 22nd, Cain Road and Boulevard was the neighborhood I grew up in….
What does a medical exemption from vaccination mean in the Olympia School District?
Measles can be prevented. Medical exemptions for vaccinations in the Olympia School District and Washington State might not be what they appear to be. On their face, these exemptions allow children who cannot be vaccinated (because of weakened immune systems, for example) to waive vaccination requirements and attend school. But, from what I’ve been able…
Where Olympia has lost population
When you think about population change in a growing region, you think of it as a constant. And, even though Olympia has been lagging behind Lacey in growth rate for the past few decades, Olympia is still on a gradual population climb. But, that population growth has not been consistently spread across the city. In fact,…
Your semi-regular update on what schools have low vaccination rates around Olympia
Usually, about when there is something in the news about an outbreak around here, I’ll go to the state Department of Health and find out what the vaccination rates are at our local schools (and here). This time around, there is a measles outbreak just about an hour south of us, so I thought it would…
The Timberland Library Capital Facility Proposal was a reflection of our current reality
Timberland counties have changed a lot since the 1960s. Thurston County used to be about the same size as the other four counties. Now, all four combined are smaller than Thurston County. So far, the dominant narrative about the now shelved Timberland Library capital facility proposal has been about the possible closures and consolidations of…