Just a few thoughts about this:

1. I know Debra Vinsel, Joe Hyer and Jeff Kingsbury (Kingsbury less so), but I was embarrassed by this video. It smacks of propaganda and boosterism. At certain points it was trying to be cute, but I was turned off by the "lets mention one more good thing" about downtown feel to it.

2. It would have been better to spend a few hours just talking to people about downtown, unscripted. Even if this video wasn't scripted, it sure felt like it. The blooper reel at the end reminded me that they had practiced their lines.

3. I know I harp about this alot, but the benefit of blogging and engaging in comment threads is that you avoid this kind of shmaltzy-staged stuff. Just talking on a blog (not this blog probably) in a direct way is more meaningful that this video.

While not technically an "antiquated plat," like I wrote about before (look at my earlier post for background), I found something very interesting in the maps prepared by TRPC for the city in their discussion of the old, planned neighborhoods.

At one point, the city had laid out block in what is now Capitol Lake. Here it is overlaid in Google Earth:

Probably the most interesting reading I've come across in the city council packets has been a discussion on antiquated plats and what to do about them. Basically, there are planned neighborhoods across Olympia that have never been developed.

Some of these neighborhoods were planned well before modern standards were in place, so there is a risk of some of these plats being developed with none of our modern standards enforced. We're not talking about plans that were laid out in the 1980s, this is more like the 1890s.

The city is going through the process now of finding these "antiquated plats" and scrubbing them from the books.

Pete Swenson from Thurston Regional Planning Council wrote a facinating memo on the topic. The entire piece is available here, but here's a bit:

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.

Now you see it:

If Councilmembers plan to bring up new information about issues on the table or new issues at Council meetings, they should provide their fellow Councilmembers and the City Manager no less than 48 hours notice. Information should be as inclusive as possible and address such issues as: Why are you bringing this issue forward? What outcome do you hope to accomplish?

In a few weeks, you may not. The city council is seriously considering doing away with the dripping with process rule that makes sure council members check with each other before discussing new information in a public forum.

While possibly being a violation of the open meetings act (in spirit, if not in fact) this is (in my opinion) a fairly lame rule that only protects people's feelings while stifling debate.

On Monday the general government committee will review changes to the "rules of procedure" that the council lives by. One of the changes is the deleition of this weird "keep everyone in the loop" rule.

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.

Water rights might not be exciting, but they're interesting. So, this week I'm going to blather about the city buying water rights out by Lake St. Clair. They're in the process of changing their pumping scheme out at the McCallister Creek site, moving from a spring to a well field, and that change might have some impact on surrounding water bodies. So (says the staff report):

The most recent model results predict that moving the water source from McAllister Springs to the McAllister Wellfield will result in significantly higher flows in McAllister Creek. At the same time, pumping at the wellfield may cause relatively small depletions of flow in other surface water bodies in the Nisqually and Deschutes Watersheds.

Here's something I missed writing about the last couple of weeks, there are new truck routes downtown. The conversation over on the downtown noise thread specifically mentioned trucks, so I thought this would be interesting.

Since 1997, when it was realized that the 4th Ave Bridge was a crumbling mess, there has been a move by the council to juggle truck routes across the two bridges. Here's a timeline from the council's staff report:

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.

Will we be voting for a new fire station and a new training center in August? The city council could decide on Tuesday at their regular session.

The council will consider whether to put a $16.5 million dollar, 20 year levy on the ballot. The levy will pay for a ~$11 million fire station and new training center plus the needed new equipment (you know, trucks). Here's a general rundown from the staff report on the finances:

Nancy over at the envirotalk list found a legal ad on the Olympian referring to a possible new downtown noise ordinance. Huh?

What new noise ordinance?

Well, the Olympia Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on improving (I guess) the city's noise ordinance on April 7. So, what this is all about is putting a ceiling on noise in downtown. Apparently there is no maximum allowed noise you can make right now.

From the staff report (btw, I know the staff report says 2007, but it is a mistake. It should be 2008):

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.

The city council will also consider the budget for the Parking and Business Improvement Area downtown. From the staff report:

Total PBIA Assessments available $174,324 (This includes a unspent balance from prior year appropriations totaling $62,474 and new 2008 assessments totaling $111,852). The Advisory Board is recommending continuing existing programs and services and new programs and services that total $163,500, leaving a balance of $10,824 for future programs.

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.

Usually I stick with the things that interest me when I do a city council packet rundown. But, this time I picked something out that I thought would be more interesting to all of you guys: Art at the new city hall.

Not my cup of tea, but here we go.

One percent of capital projects in Olympia are usually held back for some sort of public art project. Not going to be any different in the new city hall down at the old Safeway store. From the staff report: