by Janet Blanding

“It ain’t over until it’s paved over,” declared Bonnie Jacobs of Friends of the Waterfront at a recent citizens forum to save the isthmus. Thought it was a warm, sunny Saturday morning, the Columbia room in the Capitol basement was filled to capacity, standing room only. Event organizers made several trips to the cafeteria to retrieve more chairs to accommodate the nearly 180 people who wanted to know what could be done to stop the unpopular proposed rezone of the isthmus. Among the crowd was newly re-elected Senator Karen Fraser. Sponsored by the Friends of the Waterfront, . . .

by Janet Blanding

On November 5, Jim Ingersoll of the Friends of the Artesians (FOA) wrote a letter to Olympia Mayor Doug Mah and the City Council, announcing that the group would be disbanding, abandoning its dream of creating a park where a permanent, publicly owned well would be available for community use. After years of frustration, with repeated failed attempts to broker an agreement between the FOA, the Port of Olympia, and the City of Olympia, it seems unlikely that such a dream will ever be realized. Worse yet, the well in the Diamond Parking lot on 4th Avenue (near the former Manium) . . .

As the well goes, so goes Olympia : When the time comes will they defend their source of water with civil disobedience? Or will the community dry up?

As the well goes, so goes Olympia : When the time comes will they defend their source of water with civil disobedience? Or will the community dry up?

by Janet Blanding

As the folly of unwise overextension in the housing market is becoming alarmingly apparent to the rest of the world, the City Council of Olympia is blithely moving ahead with its plan to gentrify downtown Olympia. With its customary disregard for the will of the public, on Sept. 30, the Council voted five to two to proceed with a rezone that would enable Triway Enterprises to construct high-end condominiums on the isthmus between Budd Bay and Capitol Lake.

by Janet Blanding

Jerry Reilly is the temporary chair of the Olympia Capitol Park Foundation. This newly organized group has begun to gather signatures on an Initiative Petition that may eventually lead to the creation of a new park on the isthmus between Capitol Lake and Budd Inlet. If established, this park would require the demolition of the Capitol Center building, sometimes referred to as the “mistake by the lake.” The Initiative petition requires the City Council to undertake a feasibility analysis to investigate the acquisition and development of a part of the Capitol Lake-Budd Inlet . . .

by Janet Blanding

Who needs to hear from the public when you already have a "mandate"?

If you want to tell the Olympia City Council about how Mt. Rainier is about to erupt and we had all better put on our lava-proof hats, you will be given three minutes at the beginning of the meeting. If you want to plug your upcoming pie-eating contest or say you like the new trees on Legion Way, they’re happy to hear about it. But if you want to address important community issues being decided by the city council, you may find yourself gagged.

by Janet Blanding

Hard times are upon us. Gas and food prices are skyrocketing. The consumer price index in June 2008 was 5.6% higher than in June 2007. Retail sales are down, foreclosures are up, rents are on the rise, and some of Olympia’s largest employers have laid off employees or cut back on hours. More layoffs are mostly like in the works. People are finding it difficult to make ends meet, to find affordable housing, to keep the gas tank filled and the refrigerator stocked. The middle class is being impacted, and the poor, as usual, are being hit even harder.

Seeing in ‘City Council vision’: An RV strategically positions itself outside Acme Fuel to siphon money from Olympia Downtown Association members.

by Janet Blanding

The controversy over development on the isthmus is heating up, with battle lines being drawn and opponents facing off at public forums, in the Letters to the Editor section of the Olympian, on the internet, and with signs, stickers and pamphlets distributed around town. In one corner is the developer, Triway Enterprises, along with his allies the current City Council, the Olympian, and the “grass roots citizens group,” Oly2012. In the other corner is Friends of the Waterfront, led by former Olympia Mayor Bob Jacobs, the Washington State Capitol Campus Design Advisory . . .

Bonnie Jacobs presents the waterfront view she’d prefer to see at a public forum.

TJ Johnson interviewed by Janet Blanding

TJ Johnson leaves the Olympia City Council at the end of 2007 after having served a four year term. He is also a founding member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance. Shortly after the protests at the Port of Olympia in November 2007, he was interviewed by Janet Blanding.

Janet Blanding: When the news hit that a military shipment would be coming through Olympia again, the rumor was that Thurston County Sheriffs would be providing security for the Port. Why was it that OPD (Olympia Police Department) ended up filling that role?

by Janet Blanding

Janet Blanding interviews Pat Tassoni, local activist and cofounder of Olympia CopWatch, and the plaintiff in the wrongful arrest suit, as detailed in the article above.

Janet Blanding: I understand that you were involved with the creation of Olympia CopWatch. When did you start CopWatch, and why?

Pat Tassoni: I think it was the fifth anniversary of the beating of Rodney King when we announced the formation of Copwatch in Olympia.

JB: So that would have been 1996?

PT: Yes.

JB: Who was “we”?

Here is a picture of Pat Tassoni operating a motor vehicle. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

Interview by Janet Blanding.

Janet Blanding: You have said that one of your top issues is making government more open. In what ways is the government of the City of Olympia currently “closed,” and what can be done to remedy that?

Meta Hogan: The yardstick that I use is whether people are able to get the information that they need, and to what extent citizens are invited to participate. The City of Olympia is very open in many ways, with public comment opportunities at council meetings and having the meetings televised.

(photo by Janet Blanding)

On July 26, 2006, the owners of local grocery store/pharmacy Ralph’s Thriftway filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington’s Board of Pharmacy and Human Rights Commission in federal court. The complaint, filed on behalf of Stormans, Inc. and two pharmacists who are not employees of Ralph’s, contends that newly adopted state administrative codes that require pharmacies to fill prescriptions without discrimination violate the “Plaintiffs’ unalienable right of conscience on matters of religious and moral conviction free of government coercion.”

After having been refused emergency contraception at Raph's, Sarah and Jen complete paperwork and file complaints with the Department of Health, (photo by Janet Blanding)

Photo taken at the picket on August 29.

Three pregnant boycotters, Rachel Smith, Debora Hughes and Keylee Marineau boycotting outside of Ralph's (photo by Janet Blanding)

Photo taken at the picket on August 29.

Veterans for Peace contingent at the Lakefair Parade, July 21, 2007. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

by Janet Blanding

War resisters Agustín Aguayo, Seth Manzel, and Aguayo's wife Helga spoke recently to a group of local peace activists gathered at Traditions Café on July 17. In defiance of the unspoken army policy of remaining silent after returning from war, they are speaking out about the injustices they have witnessed. Again and again the same themes emerged: a pattern of wartime abuses of civilians, tolerated and covered up by the military; deception and false promises used by recruiters to entice young people to enlist, followed by coercion and manipulation of enlisted men . . .

Ruth Lipow (with umbrella) marching in the Lakefair parade. Her son Gar Lipow is on the far left, holding a sign that says "We have public fire depts., why not public health care? (Photo by Jane Blanding)

Stonewall Youth in the Capital City Pride parade, June 17, 2007. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

Marco Rossaire Rossie marching with the Veterans for Peace in the Lakefair Parade. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

Oly 22 defendants, legal team, and supporters celebrate outside the Thurston County Courthouse following the dismissal of misdemeanor trespass charges and a year of court proceedings. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

by Janet Blanding

A recent Board of Pharmacy decision to adopt new rules requiring pharmacies to fill all prescriptions means a different kind of Judgment Day is looming for the owners of Ralph's Thriftway Pharmacy.

Soon, the Pharmacy Board will be deciding what disciplinary action is appropriate for Ralph's, based on its flagrant refusal to conform to state pharmacy regulations. Ralph's Thriftway (along with its sister store, Bayview Thriftway) has been the object of a community boycott since July 2006, due to its refusal to carry emergency contraception, supposedly "for moral reasons."

by Janet Blanding

Suzanne Swift, a victim of rape and sexual harassment by her superior officers, is being forced to continue military service against her will as the army drags its heels over investigating her complaints. A group of Olympians refuse to tolerate this institutionalized abuse. They have formed an organization called the Swift Action Network and are engaged in actions to bring this issue to public attention and force the military to deal with it swiftly and openly.

by Janet Blanding

Protecting the rights of medical consumers to have their prescriptions filled promptly is looking more promising at state level, but locally, Olympia women are still facing hurdles in having their legal prescriptions filled. The Washington State Board of Pharmacy, in an apparent response to intense negative public reaction, has decided to revise its proposed rule that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for any reason, including reasons of "conscience." The owners of Ralph's Thriftway and Bayview Thriftway, however, have proven less responsive to the . . .

by Janet Blanding

The Suppression of Women's Rights. Ralph's and Bayview shoppers are paying to support a backwards attitude towards women's, and everyone's, reproductive rights. Not content to merely keep the condoms under lock and key, Ralph's Thriftway is refusing to stock emergency contraception. Initially represented to several community members as a business decision, Kevin Stormans, vice president of Stormans Incorporated, changed his story for media interviews with The Olympian and Seattle television stations by calling this policy a "moral" decision. He characterizes it as an issue . . .