While downtown earlier today I talked with a friend who works downtown. After exchanging greetings, and during a brief ensuing conversation, I asked my friend, so what are you up to.

My friend replied in a discernibly disconsolate tone, "work."

Our conversation ended, and I went away. And I thought about my friend's statement and position some more. After a while, I returned and asked my friend what it would take to make work enjoyable.

My friend's response was that it would take a living wage, and health care benefits. That seemed reasonable enough to me. It seems reasonable that a person should be able make enough to support a family (if they should choose to have one) and to have health care in exchange for their work - no matter what kind of work they're engaged in. What do you think?

I told my friend not to feel too bad, because I think the truth is that there are a lot of people working in our economy today who have similar complaints. (After all, our economy is set up to serve the interests of capital, rather than the interests of life and of a healthy society.)

On another hand, I was also treated to an awesome visual and auditory experience when someone walked past me while playing an electric guitar. The guitar was hooked up to an amplifier, which went unseen. It was hidden underneath a jacket. This was totally awesome. Hooray for downtown Olympia.

View a larger version of the above photo: Miraculous Mud

Here's a prime site...

On public land, owned by the Port, and cleaned up to make it buildable with public funds. The Port is spending $3.9 million in tax dollars to develop new streets, sewers, sidewalks and lights for the new development. It's directly across the street from a public plaza, to be paid for and maintained with public funds (by LOTT). On the other side of the plaza is the Hand's On Children's museum, to which $9 million in public funds has been committed by the city. It has a waterfront view of East Bay and the marina across the plaza and the lawn of the Children's Museum, which will never be built on. There's a publicly maintained waterfront park and trail along the bay across the street. If there are any people with kids who are willing to live downtown, I don't think there's a better site for housing for them than this.

The developer just applied for and then postponed a pre-submission conference with the city about putting a hotel on 2.5 acres at this site, although The Olympian quoted one of their representatives the other day saying, "A hotel is just one idea for the 6.8 acres that Tarragon plans to develop for the port .... Other ideas for the site include office space, a multifamily development and potentially a 'higher-education' use..." People who want housing downtown should be working hard to see that this site gets used for that.

(From my inbox today - personally, I'd like to see housing there in the long run...)

We are hopeful the Olympia Port Commission will decide on Monday night to reverse the November 23, 2009 decision to give "exclusive redevelopment rights" at NorthPoint (end of the Port Peninsula) to MJR Development.  Along with this we hope the Port will agree to reopen the public process and work directly with the citizens of Thurston County to develop a comprehensive vision for our shoreline.

You can help make this happen.  Please attend Monday's Olympia Port Commissioners' meeting.  You can speak during the public comment period or show community interest with your presence.  The meeting is this Monday, February 8th at 5:30 in the LOTT Boardroom, 111 Market Street NE, Olympia.  This is on the 2nd floor of the Market Centre building, across from the Olympia Farmer's Market.

Now is also a good time to contact the commissioners.
 
You can reach them by e-mail or phone at:
 
George Barner - georgeb@portolympia.com       360-528-8006
Bill McGregor -  billm@portolympia.com            360-491-6350 
Jeff Davis -        jeffd@portolympia.com             360-789-0235

Well, at least what it looks like from MyNorthwest.com...the newest addition is "my neighborhoods"

Here is Olympia:

I looked for the Eastside (my neighborhood), but KIRO just doesn't have the resolution.

*it will be interesting to see where this goes*

Hi ya all,

The PBIA bought a new website recently, but not did buy local here in Olympia.

I heard through "the grapevine" that we are talking a $30K purchase.

Trail with Trees
McLane Creek, May 2008

So Judge John Erlick ruled that he had no doubt that the state is failing in its constitutional duty to fully fund a basic education for the state's schoolchildren, in McCleary v. State of Washington, the school funding case brought by parents, some school districts and others.

While this might seem as obvious as a legislator accepting tickets to a husky football game from a lobbyist seeking a tax break from Olympia, this decision is a remarkable judicial affirmation of our broken school financing system. To those who have worked inside our education financing structure and have supported this legal action as an undesirable, yet inevitable, attempt to change the system this is an unsurprising vindication.

No doubt there will be a lot of "yea, me too's" from people in education as they attempt to now have the public believe that they supported this action from the beginning. In 2006 I, as an Olympia school board member withstood the ire of my colleagues, the superintendent and the local teacher's union president - yes the teacher's union president- when I tried to get Olympia to join the suit. We "don't want to anger the legislature" was the best reason put forward not to join. Bob Shirley also became an advocate for joining the suit (i.e., a small contribution from the district and the ability for the plaintiffs to show solidarity). Two members of the board wouldn't support our involvement because, believe it or not, the local union president wasn't supportive. The statewide WEA was actually the legal, economic and spiritual force behind the suit.