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

In the radio message, Munroe 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 Munroe 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

From the City website (http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/cityservices/par/parplan/):

Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan

2008-2009 Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan Update
During 2008-2009, the Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Department will be updating the Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan. There will be a public input workshop to gather input for the update on November 20, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm, at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, Olympia, WA 98501.

Public Input Workshop Flyer
Plan Update Schedule

If you are unable to attend the public input workshop, you may submit written comments by email until November 30, 2008.

Hey, let's be careful so that private interests aren't allowed to dominate public policy!

The Olympia Volunteers In Parks (VIP) program is sponsoring a work party at Mission Creek Park (Intersection of San Francisco Street and Marion Street NE) on Saturday, November 15, from 9 am to noon. We’ll be weeding, removing English Ivy, and doing a general cleanup of the park. Please dress for the weather and wear sturdy boots or shoes. Volunteers under the age of 18 are welcome, but must have signed parental permission. Volunteers under 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Tools and refreshments will be provided. No need to sign up in advance. See you there!

Oly Ost with the answer:

Ever wondered where your yard waste and now hopefully, your food waste goes after it's picked up? If not, stop reading.

It goes to Silver Springs Organics, LLC, near Rainier, Washington. I was inspired to write this post because I recently emailed a couple of questions via their website and not long thereafter, I received a call from the founder of Silver Springs, Greg Schoenbachler.

Greg let me pepper him with questions for about 10-15 minutes before I let him go. My questions began with, what is done with the compost? According to Greg, Silver Spring's currently sends much of their compost to soil remediation and flood mitigation for the I-5 projects in south Thurston, north Lewis counties.

Post includes this hopeful note:

Greg also mentioned that that the compost facility offers tours a couple of times a year for interested parties. I am a compost freak so I was eager to take him up on it.

Read the whole post here and give Rolandovich some comment love, as they're turned off here.

Moving Forward: Resources for Artists
Saturday, November 8, 2008, 2-4pm
Olympia City Council Chambers, 900 Plum Street SE

Miguel Guillen, Information Services Manager for Artist Trust, will discuss the essentials of presenting your work; how to get informed about the funding and exhibition possibilities available to Washington State artists; and information on professional resources, health care, insurance, emergency assistance, and legal services available to artists. Miguel will also present information about Artist Trust's grant programs, information services, and the EDGE Professional Development Training Program for visual artists. NOTE: this year’s workshop has an extended section on new trends on using the internet as a promotional tool. The workshop is free but pre-registration is required. Please contact Miguel Guillen at 206/467-8734 x11, 866/218-7878 x11 or miguel@artisttrust.org to register. Please include your discipline when registering.

Contact:
Stephanie Johnson
Arts & Events Manager
Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation
(360) 709-2678
sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us

The city of Olympia was part of a performance audit by the State Auditor on a handful of local governments and how they collect and use impact fees. I won't have time to read the entire report tonight (warning big pdf file), so if anyone else wants to take a crack at it before I get to, have at it.

Sorry for not posting the the entire report on scribd, but for some reason, the publicly paid for report is password protected and won't convert.

Here are some highlights though.

On fire fees:

Olympia’s fire impact fee schedule/calculation does not effectively demonstrate the connection between growth and system improvements. Olympia does not take into account the cost of public facilities necessitated by new development or the availability of other financing.

On park fees:

Olympia may not be spending park impact fees as effectively as it could, based on the results of a citizen survey and based on other cities’ use of multiple park zones.

• Olympia should consider removing the “one-half to one mile” and “10- to 20-minute walk” from its definition of a “Neighborhood Park.”
• Olympia should consider dividing the City into two park zones to demonstrate a clear relationship between where impact fees are collected and spent. Two zones for park impact fees would appear to be reasonable, as the City is approximately six miles across.

Here is the video from the September 30, 2008 Olympia City Council Meeting. The meeting included deliberation over a proposal to rezone an area of the "Isthmus" in downtown Olympia in order to allow the development of a mid-rise luxury condominium project. Original video (w/ better A/V synchronization) is available at the city website, City of Olympia. Video on the flipside.

Join Olympia Volunteers in Parks on Saturday, October 4th from 9-noon as we clip ivy from trees at Garfield Nature Trail. Meet at the top trailhead at 620 Rogers Street NW. Parking is extremely limited, so please consider walking, cycling or public transit. Tools, gloves and refreshments will be provided. Please dress for the weather.

All are welcome, but those 17 and under must have signed parental permission, 14 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Questions? Contact Olympia Volunteers in Parks (VIP) Coordinator Todd Smith at 753-8365.

In November of 2002, the City Council adopted the Parks, Arts & Recreation Plan, which established the goals and policies of implementing new parks and selecting park and open space properties. This plan also amended the Growth Management Act ordinance, originally passed in 1994.

The plan inventoried existing city owned park land, and outlined future projects and estimated costs. The document also included an implementation schedule up to 2025.

In all, the inventory indicated that the City owns just below 900 acres of park land, of which 590 acres are undeveloped. This does not include state or federal lands. (Chp 6 p2)

The Parks plan projected their expenditures up to the year 2025. They estimate to spend about 5 million a year on land acquisition or development of current lands, using grants, taxes and levies. (Table 9 - Final Implementation Plan)

The document includes a huge push for the City to acquire the waterfront lands on the west side of Budd Inlet. Currently, the city owns about 32% of Budd Inlet shorelines within the city. [PAR 8.6: With the Port of Olympia, jointly improve public recreation facilities on the East Bay, West Bay, and the Port peninsula. (Ord. #5971, 12/14/99) Also: POS 4.4 An area from the 5th Avenue Bridge to West Bay Marina, from the west shoreline of West Bay to West Bay Drive is an important scenic waterfront that needs to be planned in a coordinated manner. Creating a vision for this area will involve a variety of stakeholders including property owners. Port of Olympia and other local, state and federal agencies and the public. A plan for this area may include recreation facilities, proposed changes in land uses and multi-modal transportation improvements. A planned waterfront from Percival Landing to the West Bay Marina will allow for predictable and organized public and private investments.