“But there are areas that are not that clean. There are homeless in front of buildings"

This statement implies that homeless people are dirt. Notice how people like Misko Maynard don't say "homeless people", just "homeless". S/He is depersonalizing homeless people. And that is a dangerous trend toward fascism.

I like downtown Olympia, and I don't think it looks that dirty. It looks like a small city. Graffiti and tagging are part of the urban landscape now, they are a form of artistic expression. The presence of homeless people should be a constant reminder about problems in our our economic system, mental health system, and other institutions. If we sweep homeless people under the rug (and into jail) like so much dirt, we are ignoring the problems that contribute to poverty and homelessness. I don't want to live in a community like that. Kudos to EGYHOP, Bread and Roses and other organizations for reaching out to homeless people. As for the youth of the region congregating on the Transit Mall, they have to have somewhere to go. Its much safer if they are downtown, in sight, in the light, than if they forced into the shadows where the community cannot monitor them and respond to problems that might erupt when lots of youth are hanging out together, such as fights, drug overdoses, and sexual assault. Parents should be in favor of letting their kids hang out on the Transit Mall or somewhere else downtown. I have used the IT buses for years, even late at night, and have never had a problem with people hanging out there.

What's wrong with loitering anyway? Do we want to pass a law that you can't be downtown unless you are in a business spending money? That's bullshit. If I want to hang out on the sidewalk, I should be able to do so, as should anyone else who is not harming or threatening anyone.

As a Bread & Roses staff person who worked at the Advocacy Center on State Avenue for a year, and now as the director and editor-in-chief of The Voice of Olympia, I obviously have a biased opinion on this issue. All the same, I want to express major thanks to Rick for doing these interviews. If you plan to keep this going, I would love to be a part of it, and could introduce you to many more people worth interviewing. The things that Jeremy said are an excellent summation of the most common complaints I hear about temp labor. At the Voice, we have a vendor program, which allows people to make some money selling the paper. A vendor buys the paper for thirty cents, and sells it for a dollar, or whatever amount the buyer is willing to give, and keeps all of the profits. So at the least they make 70 cents per paper. Now this of course does not solve a lot of major issues with money and finding work, but we do have vendors who make enough to cover rent and bills, or at least the portion that their benefits won't cover. So this is at least one option for folks, and has been very successful in many other cities. Again, I want to applaud your efforts to get to every side of this issue, hopefully in the interview with Mark Foutch, we can ask him to address it as well. If you need any help with this, I'm willing.