I am just now listening to the adjournment of the City Council Meeting. I went to the meeting earlier tonight hoping to speak to the Council and City Staff about my bad experience being harassed by a member of the OPD a couple weeks ago. I didn't get to speak because there were 19 people signed up to speak, and I left the meeting early because I needed to run a couple errands. First off, let me say that I am a little bit ticked off, because it took me some finagling convincing to even be able to get signed up to speak. I arrived at about 7:15 or 7:30, and the public comment registration sheet had already been pulled. The City Clerk, who is a very nice person, told me that the sheet was pulled at 7:05. I don't know why registration wouldn't be kept open until the end of the meeting. I hope the new City Council changes this policy. Because closing it so early seems to demonstrate an attitude of disregard for the public comment process.

But anyway, at the end of the meeting, Mayor Mah mentioned that there were still 5 people who wished to speak, all of whom were signed up to speak on behalf of Shelly Bell, regarding the City lay-off decision. But I should also have been mentioned, and I was not there to speak about Shelly Bell. Maybe there was some confusion. I was there to speak about Public Safety. And I wish the Mayor would have recognized me.

From Seattle Solidarity Network:
Thanks to everyone who made it out to this Olympia action last week. We've just found out that the mayor of Olympia is trying to rush the City of Olympia's decision about choosing a developer for the downtown municipal parking garage. The mayor wants to skip the Request For Proposals and have the city use a developer chosen by his staff only.

Our favorite discriminating property developers, Lorig Associates (www.seasol.net for more info), are hoping the Olympia City Council will choose to award them this contract. It looks like the City Council will be voting next Tuesday on whether to short-circuit the decision-making process, and we want to be there to urge the city council to make the right choice: anyone but Lorig!

WHEN/WHERE: This Tuesday, November 17th. Those coming from Seattle are meeting up at LELO (3700 S Hudson St) at 4pm and then carpooling down to Olympia. We're starting so early because travel time on I-5 can be unpredictable, and we can't risk missing this action opportunity due to traffic jams. If we get to Olympia early, we'll start picketing early. Those who are already in or near Olympia should meet us at 6:15pm in front of the City of Olympia building at 900 Plum Street SE, Olympia, WA.

WHAT: We'll be picketing outside, and flyering inside, the Olympia City Council meeting, letting everyone know the truth about Lorig. As usual, this council meeting will be televised live. Let's see if we can reduce Lorig's chances of scoring a contract from the city of Olympia!

See you there!