Howard and the gang will kick around the possibility that the old Safeway could be the new city hall, among other topics, including the new edition of Works in Progress. Give them a comment over there, because they're turned off here. Or, give them a call around 5p on Sunday so your friends can hear you on 89.3 fm, KAOS.

My first blog here, and it wasn't even a big one, and it dumped!

Carefully I hit the submit button...

In the Daily Zip's "Breaking News" section Friday afternoon.

Layoffs announced today at Capital Medical Center

Jim Szymanski
The Olympian

OLYMPIA — Capital Medical Center announced a layoff today but declined to say how many employees were affected. Hospital spokeswoman Renee Crotty said the 110-bed hospital employs about 435 employees.

Eleven members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Local 21, lost their jobs today, said union representative Paula White.

Rick Carter, chief executive of the hospital, declined comment when contacted by The Olympian. But he released a four-sentence statement through Crotty.

“This action is being taken as a result of our need to reallocate our resources to meet shifting demands for various programs,” the statement said.

White said employees affected in today’s layoff were not taking care of patients directly, but did a variety of jobs from patient registration to helping in the kitchen. She said hospital employees have tried unsuccessfully to meet with Carter about staffing levels the union believes make it difficult to adequately care for patients.

“Absolutely none of the employees involved in direct patient care have been affected,” Carter’s statement said.

Capella Healthcare of Brentwood, Tenn. bought the hospital formerly owned by Nashville’s Hospital Corporation of America last year.

I have plans this weekend and I may not be able to get to a PC and check olyblog. I might but there's no guarantee. If you would like to bust my balls while I'm gone please leave me a message after the beep, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

*BEEP*

Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

I haven't been slacking for the past month and a half, there really just hasn't been anything that tickled my fancy enough to write about. There were two weeks in there with no council meetings, so it was actually just a month of boring stuff.

Even this week is kind of boring, so I'm going to force myself to write about a $50,000 donation towards the Woodland Trail. The Eastside street entrance is opening this next Tuesday by the way.

The Woodland Trail Greenway Association is going to help the city greatly by donating a large chunk of money to spruce up a section of the trail:

Olympia Woodland Trail Phase II is from Dayton Street to the Chehalis Western Trail. The majority of the Phase II trail corridor is impacted by past railroad usage and adjacent commercial and industrial properties. In order to make this section more in keeping with the Woodland Trail name and desired values for the trail, WTGA applied for and received a grant for landscape enhancements along this segment. Funds received from this grant are being donated to the City so that the City may contract with the Washington Department of Transportation Landscape Restoration Crew to help restore this trail segment. In addition to the cash donation, WTGA will be contracting for the delivery of compost and mulch to the corridor. WTGA volunteers will help plant and maintain the plantings.

From today's Olympian:

Graffiti a problem not only in Olympia

Olympia isn’t the only community struggling with graffiti.

Salem, Oregon’s capital city, has seen a spike in spray-painted signs and symbols. Graffiti complaints there are up more than 25 percent, police said, and people have painted over or cleaned 40,418 square feet of graffiti — a 20 percent jump from the year before.

Salem police attribute the increase to a rise in gang activity and a resurgence by individual taggers. The two sources each account for about half of the tags and markings throughout the city, according to officers.

Police everywhere say it’s important for residents to keep an eye out for graffiti vandals, and to call police. Left unchecked, graffiti can ruin a neighborhood’s property values and open the door to other crime.

Those who see graffiti as individual artistic expression are misguided. To them it’s all about having their so-called “artwork” seen — having an audience.

Baloney.

Let them buy a canvas. It’s wrong to use public or private property for their scrawlings.

Ridding this area of ugly graffiti is a community responsibility. It takes police, passers-by, merchants and property owners working together to send the message that graffiti is unwelcome here.

I have to agree with our fine Daily that tagging isn't pretty. It lacks thought and substance. The challenge is that graffiti is as old as the cavemen (my apologies to the Geico characters).

[Another message from an anonymous St. Peter Nurse to share:]

First, an update on negotiations: According to members of the negotiation team I've spoken with, there is a pretty serious impasse at this point, so future pickets should be expected. I will make a point of posting announcements here, via the kindness of Rob W, to keep you all updated.

Second, I'd like to extend my gratitude to Rob R and the Poor People's Union for their ongoing vigils and general support. Because of their efforts, there are posters and literature all over town. They've done as well or better at advocating for St. Peter nurses than we are currently doing for ourselves, and I can honestly say that it has had a positive affect on my morale. Thank you so much!

Third, I have noticed that there is some confusion in the community regarding the problem of low staffing levels at St. Peter. At least a couple people have indicated the impression that the reason we are not adequately staffed at St. Peter is a direct result of the overall nursing shortage. There is indeed a very serious worldwide shortage of nurses, and the current nurse population is aging, so the problem is going to get worse before it gets better. (The average age for an RN at St. Peter is 48!) But the low staffing levels are a result of a very conscious and very open downsizing policy implemented by the Administration and are totally unrelated to the nursing shortage. These are two separate issues.

Finally, since another person who identified as a St. Peter employee offered his “subjective” view of life at St. Peter in reply to my previous post, I thought I would offer some subjectivity of my own.