Features

February 1st Marks 14 Year Anniversary of Camp Quixote

01

Feb

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Contributors, Features, Rob Richards

February 1st Marks 14 Year Anniversary of Camp Quixote

On February 1st, 2007 a group of members of the street community, along with advocates, formed a tent city in Downtown Olympia. We not only changed the course of dozens of lives, but we changed the conversation around homelessness and our community's response to it. In the fall of 2006, I had been on staff at Bread & Roses (B&R) in Olympia for about three years. Founded in the early 80s, B&R was a Catholic Worker house, inspired by Dorothy Day's work with the poor and marginalized in our society. In Olympia, the organization had grown to encompass the original…

“There cannot be daily Democracy without daily citizenship.” -Ralph Nader

27

Jan

By Russ Lehman

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Contributors, Features, Russ Lehman

“There cannot be daily Democracy without daily citizenship.” -Ralph Nader

It is a truism that a real measure of a country is how it treats its least fortunate. It also reveals a Democracy's real commitment to staying one by its measures to protect and nurture its foundation. Notwithstanding two recent crisis-induced changes, real democratic reforms have generally only happened when the public either initiates them or forces its elected leaders to increase transparency, disclosure, and access - despite their inherent reluctance. As a result of the recent insurrection in our nation's capital, a number of large corporate funders have said they won't donate to those in Congress (for now) who…

Future Uncertain For ‘Safe Parking Site’

14

Jan

By Mindy Chambers

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Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Future Uncertain For ‘Safe Parking Site’

The City of Olympia and Thurston County have put the brakes on a plan to create a single safe-parking site for people who live in their vehicles. Directed at finding a place to move people whose households are vehicles along Ensign Road, the plan was set in motion when the city held off on forcing them to move after the State Attorney General’s Office raised concerns about the sweep’s potential non-compliance with the state’s eviction moratorium and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Keith Stahley, an Assistant City Manager, said today, “we realized that the site (the city’s firing range at…

“For this Country to truly “move on” from its inglorious past there needs to first be truth, and then reconciliation.”

13

Jan

By Russ Lehman

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Contributors, Features, Russ Lehman

“For this Country to truly “move on” from its inglorious past there needs to first be truth, and then reconciliation.”

There has already been much written about least Wednesday’s failed insurrection at the Capitol in D.C., and the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, and they will likely comprise whole sections of history books. But, because this is 2021 and social media is the omnipresent font of all (instant) reflection, kvetching and pontificating, we can already (unsurprisingly) read/hear what apologists (minus the actual apology) for the coup-attempt think. The “whataboutism” of modern political discourse, practiced primarily by those who support Donald Trump and most often deployed to distract and divert with false equivalencies away from his plethora of unethical, likely criminal,…

Text CAMPUSALERT to 888-777 to Receive Security Alerts Related to the State Capitol Campus

13

Jan

By Mindy Chambers

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Columns, Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers, This and That

Text CAMPUSALERT to 888-777 to Receive Security Alerts Related to the State Capitol Campus

However, be aware that even when accurate security information is most needed, the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) isn’t getting it right. On Sunday, for example, DES sent an alert that fencing on the state Capitol Campus would come down by Tuesday morning. Tuesday night, the fencing was still up. And DES announced it would stay up through at least Inauguration Day (Jan. 20). The Sunday alert came many hours after the fencing was installed and was contrary to information provided by the Washington State Patrol. It also made no mention of the fortress-like conditions that would greet campus visitors…

Despite Accuracy Concerns, ‘Homeless Census’ Makes Changes Amid COVID-19 Crisis

10

Jan

By Mindy Chambers

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Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Despite Accuracy Concerns, ‘Homeless Census’ Makes Changes Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Thurston County's annual tally of people experiencing homelessness will be quite different this year. Since 2005, when the point-in-time homeless census, or PIT, began counting people experiencing homelessness and the reasons why, hundreds of volunteers have fanned out across the county to survey people living in encampments, vehicles, and on the street. Due to COVID-19 precautions, the county plans an "observation-based" count on January 28 (Thursday night into early Friday morning). This technique, rather than the survey-based census of previous years, is needed to limit direct contact between people to protect against the virus's spread. "Surveys would require an unsafe…

Yen Huynh is the Newest Member of the Olympia City Council.

06

Jan

By Rob Richards

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City of Olympia, Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Yen Huynh is the Newest Member of the Olympia City Council.

Olympia Planning Commissioner Yen Huynh was chosen last night to fill the seat left vacant by Jessica Bateman who was elected to the WA State Legislature last November. Olympia City Councilwoman Yen Huynh Six council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to name her to the seat after a rigorous four-hour meeting, in which they interviewed all seven finalists and used a new ranked-choice voting system to select the winner. On her application, Huynh listed her top priorities as: Public health and safety, citing “concerns raised about police accountability; the wellbeing of our houseless community; and the current COVID-19 pandemic with…

05

Jan

By Mindy Chambers

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City of Olympia, Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Olympia City Council Sets Annual Legislative Priorities

Meeting with 22nd Legislative District Caucus set for January 7th. Topping the city of Olympia’s list of 2021 legislative priorities are three very visible issues in our community: people experiencing homelessness, housing affordability, and the open carrying of weapons during rallies and protests. Council members will be discussing them with 22nd District legislators beginning at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, January 7. You can see the meeting via Zoom, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85701101554 The city is asking: For state support in addressing homelessness and assistance in providing affordable housing, mental health, and chemical dependency services. The city says it has the highest percentage of rent-burdened…

04

Jan

By Mindy Chambers

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City of Olympia, Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Olympia City Council To Choose New Member Tomorrow

Olympia will have a new City Council member this week. On Tuesday, January 5, the councilwill choose from seven finalists for the position, likely using a system that will be new to them – ranked-choice voting – as proposed by member Lisa Parshley. “It can be very difficult if you can only vote for just one,” Parshley said. In past appointments, council members would interview the candidates, discuss them, and then vote for their favorite. In the ranked-choice system, the council members will rank each applicant as first choice, second choice, etc. The process will be administered by Thurston County…

02

Jan

By Russ Lehman

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Contributors, Features, Russ Lehman

Kicking The Can Down The Road

It's time to get serious about gun laws. Russ Lehman Well, it’s been about two weeks of relative quiet in Olympia since the city has been the equivalent of the treehouse where the “he-man people haters club” gang meets to rant against, well…civilized society. They are easy to identify – they are the ones with the dangled weaponry, calling themselves “patriots” and waving the signs calling for … a coup. Yea, that’s the price we pay living in a capital city. Surely there have been many more protests and demonstrations by people representing the “other side” of the political spectrum…