The Olympia Capitol Park Foundation delivered the Isthmus Park Feasibility Analysis Petition to City Hall yesterday. Over 4,500 signatures were attached to the initiative petition. Petition signature gatherers will continue to work over the weekend in order to create a larger buffer for validation purposes, and to spread the message about the vision for a great public park on the Isthmus. I don't know about you, but it's pretty exciting to me.

Mayor Mah says that the petition won't affect the process for the proposed zoning changes. However, if the petition is proved to be valid, then it will be more likely that the City won't be able to go forward with zoning changes, or approval of any plans or permits to build, until the called for park study has been completed.

If the city instead opts for a referendum vote, it would cost $100,000, and it is likely that people - considering the overwhelming opposition to the zoning changes and building on the Isthmus - would approve the park feasibility analysis.

Here are some photos from the delivery:

My testimony at the City Council meeting was polarizing – exactly what I have written out against publicly here in the blogosphere.  Clearly, and as the Olympian noted in their coverage of the hearing, people at the hearing in favor of the rezone did not like what I had to say.  A large number of people confronted me in the lobby to express that they took offense to my testimony, and I tried my best to listen to them.  I also pledged to post my testimony in a public place so that it could be scrutinized in an open and more democratizing way.  So, I am posting this not to direct more attention to my argument, but to clarify it, and ultimately, to try to reconcile it with the community.

I had no intention of offending anyone and I am sorry to those whom I did offend.  Perception and reality can be different things, particularly at a public hearing, and what came out of my mouth wasn’t necessarily what was heard by the attendees of the hearing.  Put another way, language is one thing, the interpretation of rhetoric by an impassioned audience is another.  Perhaps Thad Curtz was right when he questioned whether my “rhetorical enthusiasm” was getting the better of me.  You live and learn; I’ll chalk this one up to experience.

Aarrrgh mateys! Submit yer scurvy joke haaar.

Pirate eat at Aarrrrbys

Pirate buy toys at Toys Arrrrgh Us.

Pirates can't type because the have only one key: Rrrrrrrr.

A pirate's girlfriend has an Arrrrgasm.