Bob Shirley resigns a few days ago and then Russ Lehman.

Via email:

I resign from the OSD Board of Directors effective 9:00 am. June 30 2008.

If you are interested please see attached resignation memo explaining my reasons.

My ideas, and a budget proposal, which I originally sent on June 19 is also attached. This memo, it became clear last Tuesday night, was moot as the board was informed then that it’s already too late to make any substantive changes (with regard to anyone in the OEA and any administrative staff) to the superintendent’s proposed “budget”. It turns out that we had to act BEFORE we even got the superintendents budget.

Please feel free to distribute widely

Thank you very much to all the great people who I have worked with and come to know through this experience.

Russ Lehman

His resignation letter lays out his reasons, which seem to be a combination of health and his relationship with the rest of the board:

It has become clear to me now, that my recovery would be best served by resigning my position on the board. The stresses inherent in serving on a board that continues to suffer severe leadership and organizational problems are at this time, simply too disadvantageous to my health. I believe that my final responsibility as a resigning board member is to identify the specific leadership/organizational issues that, from my perspective, are rendering the board ineffective. The most critical of these issues is the lack of understanding or conflicting views about the role of a school board member.

Read the entire thing here. 

Here's the entire meeting for your viewing pleasure.

Have a problem neighbor this week who is setting off fireworks at all hours while your trying to put your little one down? Maybe they'll respond to the the Olympia Muni Code:

The city restricts the discharge of consumer fireworks within the city each year to July 3 and July 4 only. Time of discharge allowed on said dates shall be from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

The Olympia PD has a non-emergency line (704-2740) for such situations as well. Happy 4th of July week everyone.

Also, here's an annotated text of the Declaration of Independence to really celebrate up right.

The public hearing for Larida Passage is tonight and the city is expecting a lot of people to show up. But, like a lot of folks, I'm not going to be able to attend and just emailed in my comments to the council and planning commission.

Rules for this thread: Share what you're going to say tonight or are emailing in. But, don't respond to anyone's comments. There are plenty of other threads here for back and forth, this is just internet public comment time.

Email for the city council (citycouncil [at] ci.olympia.wa.us) and planning commission (cpdinfo [at] ci.olympia.wa.us).

Ken Balsley, who I'm pretty sure used to write for the Lacey weekly newspaper when there was a weekly Lacey newspaper, reflects on the recent happenings at the Olympian:

Layoffs at The Olympian means that effective control of the local newspaper has been transfered to Tacoma and will operate out of the The (Tacoma) News Tribune offices.

Not only have 17 Olympian staffers been layed off but several others have been transfered to Tacoma where they will operate out of that sister publication.  Those transfered from Olympia to Tacoma include the Advertising Manager and the Classified Advertising Manager, thus moving those operations out of town.

...

Since its acqusition of those newspapers in April 06, the company has been consolidating its operations.  A significant piece of the action is controlled by The (Tacoma) News Tribune which staffers at The Olympian refer to as “the mother ship."

Read the entire post, its pretty good.

Since Ken doesn't enable comments of at his blog, I'll leave them open here. 

Part of the package uploaded this morning for the Planning Commission meeting next Tuesday includes five pdfs of public comment on the Larida Landing rezone for the downtown isthmus.

My quick tally of the comments came up with 82 folks against and 53 for. This was just a quick talley and I tried not to county the folks that emailed more than once (you know who you are). And, some of the emailers were pretty vague, so I couldn't come up with whether they were for or against.

Here are some nuggets. 

The Olympia Historic Commission against the rezone:

Well, not likely, but it is weird to see it mentioned in two places in the last week or so.

Yelm Community Blog: Trader Joe's Wants to Hear From You -- About Potential Olympia Store

Olympia Real Estate Blog: Trader Joe's in Olympia?

How walkable is your neighborhood?

Mine, not so great. Over at Walk Score, my house just off of Boulevard Road scores a 25 our of 100, and that's with a few places that don't even exist (Johnson County Park?) boosting my neighborhood's apparent score.

The site takes into consideration the number of parks, schools, grocery stores and other places you would probably drive to within walking distance of you. The more places, the better your neighborhood scores.

So, go over there, and let us know how your neighborhood score. 

On a sidenote, I'm not all that surprised my neighborhood didnt' do well. Its actually one of the least community friendly neighborhoods in the city. I'm glad at least one city councilmember (recently appointed) wants to do something about that.

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.

How bad is the situation down in the South Capitol Neighborhood? The council's land use committee will find out early next week.

Residents of the area south of the capitol campus have been complaining for years that their neighborhood is slowly being bought up by lobbyists, turning old historic homes into offices and event/party locations.

Even still, houses that should be houses for people to live in are apparently used for other uses:

Among others, the primary problems identified include residences being used as offices, houses being used for large public/private gatherings, and commercial off-street parking tied to the legislative session. The Planning Commission received a briefing, conducted a public hearing and forwarded recommendations to the Council in October 2006.

Here is a summary of the 2008 investigation of the South Capitol Neighborhood by city staff:

• 3 were determined to have no violations
• 5 were in violation of the Residential Parking program
• 4 were in violation of “commercial lots” leasing of on-site parking spaces
• 1 had non-permitted dwelling unit that requires permit
• 2 were in violation of Home occupation permit ordinance

Here is a more complete run-down of the anti-lobbyist dragnet.

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.

Pretty light schedule for the city council, so the most interesting thing I could find was a proposed $4,000 project by the East Bay Neighborhood Association to improve shoreline habitat along East Bay Drive (where else?).

The assocation requested a $4,000 grant, but the city had just over $2,500 in that particular grant account. Good project, so the city wants to help out, but first the council's finance committee has to find out what particular cookie jar to pull the money out of.

From the staff report:

The East Bay Neighborhood Association submitted a Sustainability Grant Application requesting $4,000.00 for a project, which is the maximum amount awarded. Staff recommended awarding the balance of grant funds to the Association, which totaled $2,547.00. At the May 20th meeting, the Council awarded full funding of the application and directed the Finance Committee to find the appropriate monies.

Here's some fun reading from the neighborhood association's application:

The goal of this project is to replace the invasive Scot's broom and Himalayan blackberry on the shoreline near the East Bay Drive View with healthy native shrubs in accordance with existing City of Olympia planning.

...