Also on tonight's Olympia City Council agenda is an oral report by Keith Stahley. It's titled "Key Barriers to Development." The report will precede the Council Meeting. It will be delivered to the Council's Committee of the Chairs at 5:30, and this is a public meeting.

Listed as a barrier to development in the advisory packet are view corridor protections. What's the staff recommendation? —To eliminate them (view corridor protections that is.)

The Committee of the Chairs will meet at 5:30 PM tonight in the Executive Conference room.

Link to week of January 5, 2009 Agenda packet PDF: Agenda, January 5, 2009

Link to PDF of "Key Barriers to Development" packet: Barriers to Development

Without further ado:

Olympia council e-mails violated spirit of law

THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Rhenda Strub is not going to like this editorial.

She’s the Olympia city councilwoman who’s miffed that a guy named Steven Segall had the gall to question the City Council’s practice of conducting private meetings via e-mail from the council dais.

Segall, you see, lives in Thurston County, but not in Olympia – a fact that apparently disqualifies him from the right to question the council’s practices.

Strub told The Olympian newspaper, “He’s just meddling in something that, frankly, is none of his business.”

... link to original

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.

This Tuesday the City Council will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to a property tax exemption for parts of the city (including downtown) where more growth is intended. In addition to some housekeeping changes, the new tax exemption could include cutting out the blocks that would house the proposed Larida Passage development.

Here's what I wrote a few months ago on the same topic.

The logic is that the recent zoning changes by the city council to allow for taller buildings on those blocks make up for the tax exemption.

Jeanette Hawkins, a Triway (the Larida Passage developer) representative, countered in a late November email:

...the existing public investing adjacent to the isthmus makes the exemption unnecessary. The city has no data upon which to base that assertion. Presently, some of the near-by amenities are either unfinished or in disrepair. All the public investments downtown ... struggles (sic) to find money to meeting necessary capital, maintenance and expansion needs. Projects such as Larida Passage would help the city meet those needs by revitalizing downtown business and attracting additional investment...

Its interesting to plug into the debate so far. Back in October, one of the city council's committees kicked the issue around, getting some differing opinions on the topic.

Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation President Brian Johnston appeared on the September 13th installment of the Seattle talk radio program, Cop Talk. You can find an mp3 recording of the 9.13.08 program on the website (scroll down). Johnston is the first guest.

In a short interview with Cop Talk host Ron Conlin, Memorial Foundation President Brian Johnston expressed opposition to the isthmus rezone proposal.

September 13th, 2008 Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial Overlook

Brian Johnston, President of the Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation, expressed explicit opposition to the isthmus rezone based on the situation of the Memorial overlooking Capitol Lake, Heritage Park, and the Puget Sound Budd Inlet.

The Memorial is intended to be a place where visitors and survivors can experience a degree of serenity and peace. That sense of serenity is furthered by views that are unobstructed and unfettered by massive commercial developments.

Another view:

Capitol Lake Panorama from the Law Enforcement Memorial

This is response to an interesting idea brought up by Berd (and quickly backpedaled away from) in the Triway vandalism thread. He suggested that Larida Passage would itself constitute an act of vandalism, and that the rezone proposal represents an act of violence against the public process.

Now, as I said on that thread, I'm of the view that property destruction is NOT 'violence' in the same way that harming a living creature is. But if people are going to use words broadly like that, then the only logical conclusion is that Berd is absolutely right.

Vandalism: willful destruction or defacement of any object of beauty or value

Violence: injury done to that which is entitled to respect, reverence, or observance

Do I need to spell this out?

Eight weeks ago, on September 23, the ordinance was passed.

The new requirements ensure venue owners keep doors closed to prevent sound from reaching inside neighboring residences at 65db between 11PM-7AM on Friday & Saturday; 60db on weekday evenings.

And let me tell ya, I've been waiting on that whole mass exodus of bar and venue owners and the death of our music scene we were promised... and the whole you know, collapse of downtown that was supposed to happen. It's eight weeks into this thing and downtown is still going strong! What gives!

Ah, the sound of silence.

[Correction: Ralph Munro's name is spelled without an e.]

According to Friends of the Waterfront, a message from former Washington State Secretary of State Ralph Munro will air for several weeks on at least one local radio station (MIXX 96). During his time in office, former Secretary of State Munro served on both the Capitol Committee, and the Capitol Campus Design Committee.

In the radio message, Munro commends the Olympia City Council for responding to the Citizens' Initiative for an Isthmus Park Feasibility Study. He urges the City Council to delay voting on the proposal to increase isthmus building height limits until all the facts from the study are in. He then urges Olympia Residents who want the facts (and want the Council to consider the facts) from a completed study before a Concil decision about the rezone (which would have such drastic impacts on park feasibility), to then contact the members of the City Council and let them know.

Here's the radio message: Ralph Munro on the Isthmus [mp3 audio]

Again, the message is to contact members of the City Council to thank them for pursuing the Park Feasibility Analysis and urge them to wait to vote on the proposal to rezone the isthmus building height limits until all of the facts from the park study are in: until the Park Feasibility Analysis has been thoroughly and faithfully completed.

Olympia City Council

Also try these email addresses:
councilmembers@ci.olympia.wa.us
cityhall@ci.olympia.wa.us
and
citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us

Even if the funding for a park doesn't currently exist, that is no reason to deny the eventual opportunity to build a park. I believe that a park on the Isthmus is feasible. Why? Well, most importantly, I think that the residents and future residents of Olympia need a park. Why do we need a park?

We need a park on the Isthmus because

[Forwarding ...]

Citizen Forum on the Isthmus Rezone

Saturday, Nov. 15th, from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Hello Friends of the Waterfront, It is with gratitude for all that has been done and with a sense of urgency that this notice is being sent. We need to continue our efforts. Please DO NOT take down your yard signs.

Please, attend the ISTHMUS PARK UPDATE and ACTION meeting on Nov. 15th.

Time is short and events are moving very quickly! Let’s not waste all the time, effort and money we have put into stopping this very unpopular rezone request! Attend and bring a friend or family member!

IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SAVE THE ISTHMUS: UPDATE and ACTION

WHERE: Saturday, November 15, 2008 from 10:00AM to 12:30 PM

WHEN: Columbia Room, State Capitol Building (east door), under the Dome (former Legislators’ cafeteria) watch for signs, easy parking SPONSORS: Friends of the Waterfront, Isthmus Park Association, 2020 Vision Olympia, and the League of Women Voters.

AGENDA:

10 - 10:15 -- Registration, Coffee & Refreshments RECORD your ideas for possible uses for the future park. All Ideas will be presented to the City Council!

10:15 – 12:30 -- FORUM: UPDATE & ACTION RECOGNITION of all the hard work done by so many. (short & sweet) REPORTS on the current status of the Citizen’s Initiative, The Feasibility Study, The Legal Ramifications, the Foundation and the city’s timeline for the rezone request. State and local elected officials to be invited. Time for Q&A, new ideas and small group discussion regarding the Action needed individually and collectively.

For additional information: http://www.friendsofthewaterfront.org

As a side conversation to the illuminating occurrence of Councilmember Kingsbury's Public Comment Facebooking session, I have thought about my own handling of such racist, derogatory and hurtful comments as the ones Moses brings to the Council.

First, instead of gaveling - interrupt him at first mention. As politely as possible, again (importantly) - at first mention of a racist or derogatory term - interrupt him and ask him whether or not he knows that the term in question, for example, "mulatto," is offensive, derogatory and hurtful.

If he says no - that is - that he did not know the term is derogatory, then ask him to refrain from using it.

If he says yes - that he is aware of the racist and derogatory nature of the term, then ask him if he knows that the use of such a term is hurtful and harmful. Then inform, clearly, him of the hurtful nature of his commentary.

Ask him if he intends to put others down. If no, ask for an apology, and that he refrain from doing it anymore. If yes, then ask him why. Show him that someone, at least, cares about him. - That may be what he really needs. Maybe he is just horribly lonely, and sick, and doesn't know positive ways to reach out to people.

I am not a psychologist, but maybe I'll even venture to make a diagnosis.

Maybe Moses is sick - maybe he is wounded. Maybe he is injured, hurt by society. It's obvious that he needs attention. Maybe people can help him to find a positive, mutually beneficial, way to get that attention. As humans, we (almost all of us) need attention.

This society could benefit from a heaping dose of nonviolent communication. City Council would be a great place to start.

So that's a sort of an along the lines picture of how I would intend to handle a situation as it presented itself.