Your comments are needed at the BOCC public hearing on Tuesday February 7th at 5:30 pm, either by Zoom or in-person at the Atrium Facility, 3000 Pacific Ave
Posts published in “Issue: December 2022”
We, the undersigned, are residents of the Westside of Olympia. We intend to be part of the “robust analysis and public engagement” that Mayor Selby indicated will be part of the City of Olympia’s Subarea planning effort. The City is scheduled to begin this effort in March, 2022.
Cougar Theater ♦ String & Shadow Puppet Theater ♦ Center for Responsible Forestry ♦ Rosie’s Place ♦ LOTT Treatment Plant ♦ Traditions Fair Trade ♦ South Sound Progressive Alliance ♦ Olympia Lamplighters ♦ Orca Books ♦ Brotherhood Lounge ♦ TOGETHER ...
We can’t escape our future. The sum of our collective actions as humans acts as another force of nature, influencing the big physical systems that underpin the small blue, watery planet we’ve all come to know. We are in the process of making our own collective future. Our collective status…
…police accountability took a hit . …the City of Olympia posted an opening for an entry-level police officer …one year after it was filed, a citizen petition denied...
REFLECTION: The vistas are stunning. The Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east, blue sky reflected in waters of the Sound, houses dotting evergreen-filled hills. The air is crisp, hints of salt water mixed with musk of western hemlock, Douglas fir, red cedar. Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier stand regally as reminders of roiling powers deep below rich farmland.
The Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan: Framework for Climate Mitigation Action for Thurston County and the Cities of Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater was finished in December 2020. It starts out by listing several years of previous city and county resolutions, strategies, and plans – all concerned with slowing global warming.
When Thurston County’s Board of County Commissioners created a stakeholder committee to provide additional input on zoning changes to rural wireless facilities, hopes were high among the private citizens in the group that the safest and most conservative decisions would be made to protect public health and property values.
Olympia Community Solar and South Sound Solar just completed installation of a solar array at Quixote Village as part of their work to leverage solar energy as both a powerful tool for equity and a contribution to Thurston County’s renewable energy transition.
Home in Tacoma for All and Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America announced an important victory for residents of Meridian Mobile Estates, who faced mass eviction from the mobile home park in Puyallup slated to close October 1st. Following protests, the owners of Timberlane Holdings, a large developer, agreed to negotiate with tenants.
The most dangerous times on an airplane are take-off and landing. These are transitional times between two conditions that are not clearly defined. In the first case, the mass of the plane is yet to be airborne, and in the second case, a mass that is elevated in the atmosphere needs to come down.
Come to the Estuarium on December 17 to discover the orcas that share the waters of the Puget Sound. You will learn the history of southern resident orcas in this area and the survival challenges they face.
PERSPECTIVE: The Olympia School Board’s unanimous decision to appoint Talauna Reed to the board has sparked vocal ire cloaked in concern. Ms. Reed is the first African American board member and has criticized the police in the past.
Reader Review Grant is back…but with a difference. Each issue we will suggest a book to review. If you’re interested in reviewing the book, email us and put BOOK REVIEW in the subject line. We will buy the book (or reimburse you if you buy it) and pay $50 if…
After almost three years of stymied contract negotiations, rail workers voted 99% this summer in favor of a strike. That threat was averted when the Biden administration stepped in. By September there was a tentative proposal agreed to by the companies and submitted to the unions. But it’s not over.
A new Washington state report highlights the stark reality that black and indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC) would need to buy more than 140,000 houses in the state to achieve parity with white homeownership on a percentage basis. The housing gap is even more significant today than in the 1960s, when housing discrimination and redlining were legal.
To the WA state legislature, Governor Inslee, WSDOT, Thurston county local leaders, stakeholders and members of the community: We the undersigned strongly oppose creation of a new major commercial airport in Thurston County.
Indigenous peoples have been among the most vocal proponents of solutions to climate change effects, but their advocacy has often been marginalized. A recent conference titled Evergreen Tribes and Climate Change Conference at the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Little Creek Hotel (November 8-9) made that advocacy more visible. One hundred faculty…
Another Co-Opportunity! Blue Heron Bakery, which has successfully served the South Sound community and beyond for over 45 years, will become a community-owned cooperative in 2023. The bakery joins an increasing number of successful businesses operating as co-ops, to the benefit of both workers and consumers. “Our intention is to…
The Haki Farmers Collective was founded by Mercy Kakutani-McGee and her daughter Elisa as a continuation of the work started by elders who called the valleys of Kandara, Kenya home.
On October 7, several “Olympia Hidden Histories” self-guided walking tours were introduced to the public. The multimedia walking tours are a collaboration of student authors and faculty at The Evergreen State College, with the “Walls Tell Stories, Olympia” project of Art Forces and Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.
Instead of seeing a legacy forest while driving north on Cooper Point Road in Olympia, you now see a devastated clearcut landscape and a large sign for OlyEcosystems, the new owner. They have already begun stabilization and restoration of the property with two community work parties that began planting trees…
Partnering with the Nisqually tribe, the North Thurston School District plans to develop a course in the traditional Lushootseed language with the goal of offering it at River Ridge High School starting in the 2023-2024 school year. Works in Progress correspondent Margaret Thomas met with Nisqually Tribal Chairman Willie Frank III in his office this fall to talk about Lushootseed in the schools. Excerpts from their 40-minute conversation appear below.
BOOK REVIEW: One of the pleasures of reading detective novels is getting to know the setting. Sara Paretsky’s detective series, which features V.I. Warshawski, exposes new sides of Chicago. The same is true with Cara Black‘s series, featuring Aimee Leduc, which is set in Paris...
The new economy shows up in proposals to expand airports, or build new ones, as cargo planes crowd out passenger flights. It has also created a seemingly insatiable demand for more and more rural and agricultural land to be rezoned for industry and warehousing. This race for space looms over the whole country and Thurston County is no exception.