Bringing Back the Nukes

author : TJ Johnson topic : Olympia City Council

by TJ Johnson

On Aug. 26, the Olympia City Council General Government Committee (Jeff Kingsbury, Rhenda Strub, Craig Ottavelli) voted unanimously to repeal the city’s Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance. The recommendation to repeal will come before the Olympia City Council at 7pm September 9.

The vote came after city staff told the committee that out of all of the correspondence the city has received on the issue since January 1, 2004 through today, 216 people favored the ordinance, 38 opposed it, and 28 had no opinion. Despite the fact that 76% of the people who weighed in on the issue favored the ordinance, the committee voted to repeal it.

City staff also reported that they had done research to determine whether the contracting provisions of the ordinance were a burden for city staff, and whether any potential contractors had refused to sign contracts because of the nuclear free provision. They found that the contract language was NOT a burden on city staff, and that only one potential contractor (a local carpenter) had refused to sign and decided he did not want to work for the city. In other words, the ordinance has no significant administrative burden, yet the committee voted to repeal it.

Responding to question from Ottavelli, City Attorney Tom Morrill said that he does NOT believe the ordinance poses any additional risk or liability to the City. Yet the committee voted to repeal it.

In other words, there is no legitimate reason to repeal the ordinance. Yet the committee voted to repeal it anyway.

While there were numerous ludicrous comments offered by the committee as they made the case for repeal (“all vets oppose the ordinance,” and “we don’t live in a democracy”) one of the most outlandish came from Rhenda Strub, who said that taking stands on important issues reduces the council’s moral authority. Huh? What good is moral authority if it’s not used to advance important issues?

It’s very clear that the decision to overturn the ordinance is pure politics and is designed to appease a small minority -- especially the cabal that runs The Olympian, who seem to be setting the city’s agenda these days. Meanwhile it’s a slap in the face to the hundreds of Olympians that educated the community, attended the public hearings, and voiced support for the ordinance.

So, where do we go from here?

There will be a meeting at Traditions next Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 8:30 pm to consider our options. Ideas being considered include a massive turnout at the City Council meeting on Sept. 9, a citizen’s initiative for a tough, enforceable ordinance, and various creative means of free “expression.”

In the meantime, there are several things you can do:

1) Contact the city council at citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us and tell them how you feel

2) Send a letter to the editor of The Olympian expressing your support

3) Send information to your friends and sympathetic organizations locally, statewide, nationally and internationally and ask them to contact the city council

Basic math indicates that we have an uphill fight. At least 5 of the 7 council members will probably vote to repeal the ordinance unless we can change their minds. But we must try. To let this slide through without opposition will be yet another blow to Olympia’s rapidly eroding reputation as a community that embraces civic participation, democracy, sustainability and peace.