NFZ now official

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NFZ now official

Submitted by Rick on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 7:40am.

Oregon live has an AP blurb about Olympia's Nuclear Free Zone:

As expected, City Council members voted 5 to 2 Tuesday to adopt an ordinance barring anything related to nuclear weapons within town.

The ordinance, which takes effect in 30 days, also specifies that companies doing business with the city will be asked to affirm in writing that they are not involved in nuclear weapons production. Officials will then try to avoid doing business with those that don't provide such an affidavit unless there is no reasonable alternative.

The Olympian also has a piece. It seems the ordinance underwent some fine tuning:

A late change to the ordinance -- the result of an executive session held earlier that night -- will protect Olympia from the most significant legal threat, said Bob Sterbank, city attorney.

Under that change, the federal government and use of national roadways -- which locally means Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 101 -- for transporting nuclear weapons or their components is exempt from the law. That same exemption also might cover Plum Street, which officials say might be considered part of the national highway system. City staff was asked to check on the Plum Street's status.

how far does it go?

Submitted by khaos on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 10:49am.

kudos to the city council for taking this stand, and to the OMJP and all the activists and citizens that promoted it!

does this mean that the USS Olympia nuclear submarine is unwelcome?? what about all that depeleted uranium contaminated military hardware that passes thru the port?

oh, never mind, i just read the olympian article. the agreement does not cover depleted uranium, which is the only real WMD threat Olympia has had to contend with...

Way to be "Nuclear Free" Olympia!

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 9:17pm.

Yes, it's too bad that the ordinance wasn't more strict. But compromise is the name of the game when there is so much division in how people are approaching this issue.

I am proud to be an Olympia resident, and encouraged by this positive step.

Hopefully, the future will bring improvements and a tightening on the principles of the ordinance to further impact the nuclear weapons of mass destruction industry.

There's a battle outside raging It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changing --Bob Dylan, ``The Times They Are A-Changing''

Here are some comments from T

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 08/24/2005 - 10:31pm.

Here are some comments from The Olympian's website relating to their story about the NFZ:

Recommend the capital be moved to a town more in keeping with the state, an area which supports both our federal government and its military
Rick West
and
Did we somehow elect former Evergreen professors to our city council? Please don't send TJ Johnson to anything where he's got the chance to get emotional and fall in love with a pet project, stroke it along the way, and make it king (in this case a city ordinance). Diana Moore is proud of the council, why? This isn't anything to be proud of -- did you see the exemptions? Yeah, I-5 and 101 are on the list. But, only for federal employees -- not government contractors. Um, OK...contractors basically run this government. Be proud of completing a project under budget and on time. Be proud of new parks when there was no money. Don't be proud of a token law that isn't worth the space it will be printed. I'm going to guess this will end up costing a lot more $ and time than it is really worth. But at least I can tell all my friends that I live in a nuclear-free city that has no idea or means to enforce it. Nuclear fuel is what you make of it. Kendra, imagine all of the Naval vessels today (right this moment) that are Nuke, instead running conventional fuel -- it would cost millions more annually to run our Navy if it were not for Nuke. Your response would be: "Why do we need a Navy anyway?"
NUKE
Just did it!
Zachory Beers

There's a battle outside raging It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changing

--Bob Dylan, ``The Times They Are A-Changing''

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