Open Letter to the Olympia City Council

author : Olympia Community Association topic : Olympia City Council

From the Olympia Community Association

I am writing to the council on behalf of the Olympia Community Association, a group of progressively minded citizens who have been meeting on a regular basis to better coordinate our work to make Olympia a livable city that supports and nurtures economic, social and environmental justice for all its citizens.

Many of us attended the town hall meeting held January 4th, 2005. The event was designed to solicit citizen input for priority setting in the coming year. We also read with interest the tabulated results of the community conversation, as well as the council's conclusions as reflected in the minutes from the council's planning retreat. While we laud the council for asking for community input, we question whether the council's chosen priorities truly reflect the community's desires.

According to the Olympian, the council's priorities for 2005 include "transforming downtown into a place where more people will live, work and play" and that the council intends to achieve this goal by "removing barriers -- both real and perceived -- such as inadequate parking and public safety concerns." The article goes on to say that the council "will work with merchants on a downtown ambassador program, in which citizens provide a police presence downtown."

While we agree that the community was united in wanting to make downtown even more attractive than it already is; we question how these specific goals and methods identified by the council reflect the citizen input garnered in the community conversation. In reviewing the notes from the event we found that parking was only mentioned 3 times in two of the seven focus groups and that a downtown ambassador program was not recorded in any of the seven groups as a priority. The issue of homelessness, however, was identified 63 times in all seven groups with an emphasis on the provision of shelter and the need for a day-use drop in center. Moreover, downtown restrooms were mentioned 14 times in 5 of the seven groups and the development of a shower/hygiene Center was mentioned 7 times in three of the seven groups.

Clearly the community has spoken. Homelessness and access to basic services is the primary concern as voiced by a majority of our citizens. Moreover, the community did not talk about homelessness in the context of public safety; but rather in the context of public values. We do not want to live in a community that fails to provide a safety net for the poorest amongst us. There needs to be adequate shelter and services to protect those that have fallen on hard times. We in Olympia care; and we ask that our elected officials listen and act to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

Nor is this solely an altruistic goal. Since the closure of the Bread & Roses drop-in center we have seen a steady increase in tension as the homeless are forced to live in the streets each day. It has brought undue pressure on the library, our parks and the sidewalks of our city. By providing a day shelter and bathrooms we would take the pressure off of the private and public facilities that are currently providing these services.

In our estimation, the provision of a day shelter should be the city of Olympia's top priority for 2005. We believe that a careful review of the documentary evidence from the community conversation supports this finding. We encourage the council to act on this citizen mandate.

Olympia Community Association

P.O. Box 1294

Olympia, WA 98507

For more information about the Olympia Community Association and its membership please contact Vince Brown at (360)352-9647.