On October 8, at the steps of City Hall, a gathering of local Olympia renters rallied, hoisted signs and shouted chants asking the city to address barriers that make renting unaffordable for many. Protestors were advocating for a fresh ordinance that regulates fees and security deposits, known as a move-in…
Posts published in “Issue: November 2019”
This month's theme is winners and losers. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions....
The crime of conscience. In June, WIP reported on the nine peace activists who commemorated the original anti-war intent of Mother’s Day by protesting against the nuclear-armed Trident subs parked in Kitsap County. One of the demonstrators James Manista, “crossed the blue line” and was charged under US Code #1382,…
“Treat the whole family.” This is one of the most important things Izzy Baldo learned in nursing school. It’s always at the front of her mind. But over the years, she’s realized it’s easier said than done. As a young nurse working in oncology, Izzy was struck by the struggles…
In 2015 commissioners at the Port of Olympia adopted a set of financial measures to set goals and track the performance to those goals. If ever the Port of Olympia is going to achieve fiscal soundness, this is sorely needed. The goals were aspirational in that they strove to improve…
In October, Olympia’s longtime restaurant and performance venue, Le Voyeur, became the latest business to transition from private ownership to the co-operative business model. The club joins a growing number of member and worker-owned co-operatives and collectives in Olympia. There are at least 10 cooperative businesses in Olympia with more…
The era of dam building is over and an era of fishery protection has begun. Yet the Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Zone District (FCZD) is proposing to construct a flood retention facility—a dam—near Pe Ell, Washington. This would put the Chehalis River and its fish in peril, and likely cause the Spring Chinook…
Firelands on the move for a healthy future grew up in the shadow of “timber wars,” hearing that city environmentalists were to blame for the loss of timber jobs and the growth of poverty. Since then, I have felt trapped between the fires of my own daily crises and the…
Olympia City Manager Steve Hall and his City Council are giving Walker John, perhaps the City’s biggest welfare recipient, another 8-year tax exemption on a new downtown building. This time it is for Mr. John’s 48 unit Annie’s Artists Flats at 322 5th Avenue. The Final Certificate of Tax Exemption…
Boardwalk is a 284-unit property is a vital source of affordable housing for seniors in our community. The project came via the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) funded by the federal government and allocated to states. The owner of Boardwalk is Capital Way Associates Limited Partnership. SHAG (now…
Anti-union ICE raids The callous cruelty of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was on full display when the agency rounded up 680 immigrant workers at seven chicken processing plants across Mississippi on August 7. The raids, possibly the largest ever, inflicted mayhem on families on the first day of the…
For a generation and more, the 9.4 acres of land in this photo on Olympia’s westside were covered with trees. This is a strip of land between an area developed in the late ‘90s and the tax-generating Auto Mall. This stand of mature trees ensured that heavy rains would be…
Dana Walker, who writes the blog Thunderbolt, spent 10 days in September on a ‘working vacation’ helping Rick Fellows drive his Crown Coach stuffed with what turned out to be 15 mostly young anarchists from Portland and Olympia to Detroit for the Congress of Municipal Movements, sponsored by Symbiosis. Symbiosis…
No doubt there will be free societies in the future as there have been in the past,” writes the philosopher John Gray in Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals. But they will be rare, and variations on anarchy and tyranny will be the norm. The needs that are…
Socialism is out of the closet and part of America’s everyday life Do you remember where you were on November 9th,1989? That’s the day it was announced the Berlin Wall had fallen. The day is etched in my memory like where I was on February 28 during the Nisqually earthquake…
Friday Stillness announces new hours Friday Stillness is sponsored by Brigid’s Well, a community devoted to contemplative practice, while being mindful of the needs of our Earth and those who are poor and marginalized. We meet every Friday from 10:00 am – 6:30 pm at 1604 Union Ave. SE. Olympia…
Every May, fifth graders in Waldorf schools around the state meet for a weekend event called the Pentathlon. Based on the original Greek games, students compete in archery, discus, long jump, high jump, javelin, relay races and the ever-popular Greek wrestling.* At 11 years old, children are approaching puberty but…
Veteran’s Day 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Centralia Tragedy, when citizens of Centralia did their best to drive the Industrial Workers of the World from town at a horrible cost. The secret of what happened that night at Hangman’s Bridge, where an IWW member was lynched,
Matt Crichton got his first tattoo as a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa from 2007 to 2009. During his two years there he formed a connection to the land, people and culture so when he decided on another tattoo, he looked for one from Samoa. Matt found Tricia Allen while researching Polynesian tattoos and interviewed her by phone about her work.
Durante once días, Ecuador ha vivido la más feroz dictadura étnico-clasista que recuerde su historia contemporánea. En el marco de un estado de sitio decretado al otro día de iniciadas las protestas (3-10-2019) que derivaron en una insurrección nacional-étnico-popular liderada por el movimiento indígena en contra de las medidas neoliberales…
For eleven days, Ecuador has lived the fiercest ethnic-class dictatorship in contemporary memory. Within the framework of a state of siege that was decreed the day after protests began, there emerged a national-ethnic-popular insurrection led by the indigenous movement against neoliberal measures. Violent repression by the Moreno government The Moreno government…
A perfect storm of suspended services may create additional challenges for Olympia’s homeless population this winter. Timberland Regional Library management announced in October that the downtown Olympia branch will be closed from late November to early February. The branch is widely known as a safe place for homeless people to…
The Thurston County Food Bank (TCFB), Community Kitchen, and Senior Services for South Sound are among 8 local organizations rescuing good food from agencies and to provide food for people in our community who are in need. The need can be especially serious in winter after the growing season is…
Support our houseless friends during the holidays by purchasing a wreath for $20! For each wreath sold, $5 goes to materials, $5 is given to the maker, and $5 goes to the seller. The last $5 is pooled for the community, who vote on how the money is used. While…
Life Magazine described it as “the largest expression of public dissent ever seen in this country. Newsweek pronounced it a day, destined to go down in history along with Coxey’s Army, the Bonus Marchers and the 1963 March on Washington. Yet fifty years later, the occasion has faded from view.…