That is a truly wonderful vision.  It would transform the park. The SPI has always been my favorite building in Oly.

I can hear that song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" with new lyrics......."I'm dreaming of a new library"........

there's nothing "nasty" about the old capitol, it was refurbished about 10-15 years ago and looks as good inside as it does outside.  As for it being a library, there are structural considerations.  Libraries, because of the book stacks, need to be purpose built to handle the heavy floor loads.  When the State Library got booted from the campus, one of the sites under consideration was the old Sunset Life building at Carlyon Ave. and Capitol Way.  Beside being woefully undesized it wasn't strong enough.

So yesterday I wandered around the SPI building and it is huger than I remembered it being.  The part fronting Sylvester Park would make for a remarkable library and the anchor of a true civic center.  The back part of the building would make some very remarkable housing and office space.  I realize I was pretty delirious yesterday, but in the light of day today it seems like a darn good idea.  Downtown needs more residents.  We need to have the library downtown. We need to have a true civic center, or town center, or commons, or what ever you want to call it. 

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^

I was reading in the Sitting Duck today that the mayor of Lacey does not believe in downtowns.  He said they were a thing of the past.  He is envisioning a couple of business districts, I guess he means some bigger strip malls or something.  What a wonderful civic center the Home Depot/Costco make in Hawks Prarie. I fully understand the the tax grubbing some of these cities engage in.  For sure these mega shopping areas produce lots of tax money for the cities.  What they do not produce is living wages, a reduction in air pollution, a decrease in traffic congestion, money that is reinvested in the community.  Most cities will go for the quickie buck from these strip mall developers, but in the end they always end up screwed.  Shopping opportunities are  good things for a city, but you can't build a city around shopping opportunities, and shopping opportunities provided by national businesses are parasitical and give nothing back to the city. There is more to a city than fast food, home improvement products, and mega pet food stores.  Lacey is well on its way to becoming just another blighted spot on our landscape.

Tumwater's mayor seemed to have an approach that Tumwater does need a civic center, especially since they lost their civic center to the freeway.  I think they lost a lot when Costco and Fred Meyer and Home Depot went in.  I hope they find their civic center, they deserve one.  I'm not sure if they will actually get one.

The Olympia mayor seemed to understand the importance of downtown but I'm wondering if he actually knows what comprises a downtown.  I think that the downtown businesses have a certain notion of what a downtown must be but I get the feeling it does not involve diversity, inclusion, and empowerment.  I'm afraid that without our voices we will have a Disneyland version of downtown.

I am proud of Olympia for not supporting the downtown Quiznos.  I feel bad for the investors, but it was an investment, albeit a foolish one.  Maybe they could reinvest in Lacey.  While I'm at it, I"m not so crazy about the Subway by Meconi's up by the Capitol.  But that might have more to do with that creepy Jarrad guy that shills for them more than anything else.

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^