Due to the record breaking major flooding of the rivers, most notably the Chehalis River, there are many farmers who are looking to Olympia for Help. Some of the affected farmers are the local farms that supply the Olympia Farmer's Market, Olympia Co-op and other local business, have lost everything. They have lost their storage food, tractors, houses, etc."

Maybe it's my imagination or wishful thinking, but I'm getting the definite impression that there are more productive, respectful, and edifying conversations taking place on the blog of late (like this one). People with really different viewpoints were able to say what they thought, back away when it became too intense, point out insensitive language, and move the ball forward. Good work!

I think there is something that I'm realizing about what blogging can actually achieve. It doesn't change people's minds that often, but just the ability to put out the information, a court ruling in the example above, allowing people to look at it carefully, and then move forward. Too often we get stuck, thinking the goal is to change minds. We change our own minds -- no one else can really do that.

Northwest Designer Craftsmen have a new show at South Puget Sound Community College’s Minnaert Center for the Arts Gallery: High Tech/Low Tech.

Opening party tonight, 7 pm -9 pm.

Ruby Re-Usable, Bil Fleming, and other Olympians, as well as artists from WA, OR, AK, ID and MT, will have their work on exhbit through December 31.

There is so much happening on OlyBlog that it can be easy to miss out on some of the treasures. The first treasure I want to make sure everyone knows about is Evergroove Trivia.

Read these great stories and you'll learn much more about Olympia and The Evergreen State College. Yes, there is much more than meets the eye.

Introduction:

The Evergroove trivia series was produced as a result of conversations with Rick regarding the fact that my educational experience in Olympia spanned the years of Kindergarten through college. TESC opened in 1971 when I was in high school. Before I was enrolled at Evergroove (1974-1979) I liked to go to the campus and hang out and attend events. The 100 installments mostly focus on the early development of Evergreen and the relationship between town and gown. It is more a personal narrative than a history, but as a local and an early Geoduck grad, I think I can offer a different kind of perspective on the rise and fall of the Evergreen I knew and loved. And also how Olympia changed with the college.

Omnia Extares,

stevenl.

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.

1. City manager Steve Hall might be getting a raise. All city employees got a cost of living increase this year, so Hall's COLA should be $4,126.72. His performance bonus, if the council goes with the staff report, will be $3,250. Here's the staff report (pdf file) on that.

2. The city also might release some parts of the Chambers Basin moratorium area to allow development. Apparently, though the exchanges of some technical reports between the proponents of the development, city consultants and city staff, it came to light that this development won't have an impact on the storm water issues surrounding the rest of the basin.

This is important because: remember earlier this week, when we were all looking at pictures of the west side under water? And earlier today, looking at pictures of the Chehalis over I-5? That's storm water.

Chambers Basin is a flood prone area of Olympia, and some would question whether building there is a good idea.

From the staff report (pdf file):

City staff has received revised information, including a memorandum from GeoEngineers (Attachment 4). Staff now expects that development risks related to storm and groundwater can be reasonably minimized through site grading and stormwater design.