This is the second in a series of eight posts about the eight folks who want to take Doug Mah's old seat on the Olympia city council.

You might think that Jim Boyde is the business end of the list of eight people who want to be on the city council. But, he's not. It's Joan Machlis, the former owner of Wind-Up-Here, probably one of the top five business establishments downtown.

She sold the shop, and now wants to be more involved with the city and community.

In addition to owning the downtown toy store, she has also been:

• A project manager for a neighborhood rehabilitation program.
• Manager for an economic development loan program that handled over $10 million in loans.
• A founder of the business resource center

She's also turned her property into a federally recognized wildlife sanctuary. In addition to having a well rounded professional background, she sounds like a freaking saint.

A new commenter at Olyblog, groovyyaya, had this to say about Machlis:

...she is a truly diverse candidate in terms of experience - a small business owner, has worked at the state level, concerned/aware of the environment (even within city limits), has worked with youths and the houseless (and is aware of those concerns), etc. and it appears that Joan could sincerely look at the issues from many different angles. I personally appreciate a candidate that can "walk in several kinds of shoes" to modify the old cliche of walking in someone else's shoes. In the past, I have voted for candidates like her, where I might not agree on specific stands but can ALWAYS trust that my view is heard and respected, and that the candidate is honest and trustworthy.

An answer to one of the major questions the council asked in their packet (what would you want to accomplish) really impressed me. She wants to establish small neighborhood business centers.

This reminds of a portion of the conversation we had on neighborhoods in Olympia. SE Olympia is lacking, according to many, because it doesn't have businesses that contribute to the community. I couldn't agree more, but I figured it was a function of zoning as anything else. She seems to recognize this and wants to remedy it.

But, the bad thing is that she won't be in town the day the council makes their final interviews and decision. She'll be leaving to hike the Grand Canyon the morning of January 8. The council will conduct their final interviews and make their decision that night.

Which, pretty much sucks, because she should be among the candidates that the council seriously considers.