State Capitol and Heritage Fountain, and Shipping at the Port of Olympia:

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Thad Curtz submitted a meeting report in the comment thread of an earlier post of the port's discussion about what to do at North Point. Very much worth reading the the entire thing, but here's a part:

Most of the meeting was spent on what to do about developing a 2.4 acre site at the end of the Port peninsula, just east of the new Anthony's restaurant, directly back of the shore from the KGY station, and immediately north of the Cascade Pole cleanup site. (In fact, roughly the south-east half of the area is within the slurry wall of the clean-up, and according to some comments of Commissioner Telford's can apparently not actually be built on because of that, but only used for parking or a bus turn-around.)

Plan A, supported by Commissioners Telford and MacGregor, called for issuing an already prepared RFQ to developers immediately, giving them ten working days to apply, picking a short list of developers, giving the ones chosen six weeks to submit a response to a Request for Proposals, and then negotiating a final agreement exclusively with one of those developers.

Plan B, supported by Commissioner Barner, called for a lengthy public process to decide what the public and the Port wanted there (including hiring a consultant for $150,000), and then looking for developers who were interested in doing what the Port wanted done. (There wasn't any discussion of why a public process would have to be this long and this expensive.)

The following link is to an article written by council candidate Tony Sermonti.

http://www.everydayolympia.com/2009/07/capitol-lake-the-environment-economy-taxpayers/

Global Wisdom MV seen from Percival Landing, at dusk, Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Global Wisdom; that's an interesting name for an ocean going vessel. It begs me to question the wisdom of shipping logs, the carcasses of clear-cut trees, to overseas markets. Is clearcutting sound ecological practice? Does clearcutting harm wilderness? Does the practice of clearcutting fit in with sustainability? Does clearcutting constitute correct stewardship practices?

More recent photos from around Olympia below:

Currently resting at the Port of Olympia is a shipment of windmill blades. They arrived on the Industrial Cape and the Industrial Eagle and have been here since early May. They'll probably remain for most of the summer, according to Jim Knight, the Port's Business Development Manager.

The windblades are on a journey from Santos, Brazil to sites in Wyoming and Washington. The Wyoming shipment has already left the Port.

The rest will be shipped to Vantage, near Ellensburg, as construction sites become ready for their installation. Knight said their customer is General Electric. If my internet research is correct, they’ll be part of the Vantage Wind Energy Project, under development by Invenergy Wind North America, LLC. When completed it will be capable of generating 103 megawatts, and Puget Sound Energy may buy power from the project.

I am feeling slightly under the weather. So I will not be attending tonight's City Council meeting to use my three minutes of public comment. Instead, I just sent this letter to the Council and to City Hall:

From:     Robert Whitlock
             [address redacted]

To:         Olympia City Council; City Staff; and Everyone

4th and Water Street - Downtown Olympia

At the "Women’s Action" on Nov 13th, 39 women and 4 men were arrested at the Port of Olympia for trying to end the use of our port to support the Iraq War. 26 of these people are now facing charges by Thurston County District Court; 25 of them are women.

These women, and the men who supported them, took a courageous nonviolent stand to end the war in Iraq in solidarity with Iraqi women. Please bring signs supporting them and join the vigil with Fellowship of Reconciliation and other community organizations.

Endorsed by LBC, Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, Women of Color Coalition, Women’s Resource Center, Students Educating Students About the Middle East, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and others. For more info visit www.olypmr.org or email info@olypmr.org.

After the public hearing at the Washington Center Yesterday I went on a photographic odyssey. It was a gorgeous day, much like today, except there were more clouds and there was less of a gusty breeze. First I went to the port plaza. There were a few other people there also enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon.

After that I went to Watershed Park. It was a great day for a walk around the loop trail. The Old Growth Forest smelled great. I saw 7 other people while walking the loop.

Citizens for the Future

Check below the fold for a slideshow.