What do you love about Olympia?
Roxanne ran a feature “What’s to love” here for awhile which  highlighted many areas of Olympia life that make it great to live, work, and spend time here. What’s peculiar though, is that in most conversations with Olympians, you find that the thing they love most is not their view, hahaha, but the potential that this amazing city offers. Olympia has so much potential! – Is it true? [more]

I spent last weekend in a bunk house in the Quinault National Forest with some friends. It made me realize all over again how lucky I feel to live in a city that is so ridiculously close to so much ocean and so many old growth forests, as well as a short drive from two huge and crazy cities… Let’s face it- We’ve got it made! If for some reason we choose to leave Olympia… we don’t have far to go before we find something outrageously beautiful. I appreciate where I live and I hope that you all do, too. If you need further convincing, keep reading this silly article… [more]

With this week’s council decision being discussed, argued, and heatedly debated on every forum, comment section, and on the streets I am revisiting some thoughts I’ve been having since this whole thing started… ahhh, the isthmus will never leave this town… Hello sea-level rise, perhaps that will solve all the problem (just like the Earthquake solved the 4th Ave bridge debate… remember that one?). [more]

Perhaps it’s homesickness. Perhaps I’m dreaming again. Here is another picture of a downtown shopping street in Germany decorated with Holiday lights. Kirchheim is a smaller city in the Southwest of Germany, about the same population size of Olympia (wikipedia entry)… hmmm… Merry Christmas to you!

A picture, send by my friend Werner from Germany of the newly remodelled town square in the small City, Rutesheim (pop. ~10,000) just 20 minutes West of Stuttgart in Baden-Würtemberg makes me smile. Have I told you why we called our store einmaleins? Sure, it means “one times one” but it’s a term celebrating greatness in simplicity. [more]

In the last couple of weeks the City Council made two decision on parking in downtown I am very happy about… Yes, I had to start this article off this way, since usually when the City Council makes any decision other then to delay a decision, everyone in the city is up in arms… [more]

Just took a stroll around town to take in the wonderful feeling of Halloween and am feeling inspired and excited by all the holiday spirit downtown right now. I can see the happiness on everyone’s faces and that, together with the sounds of children laughing and candy bags shuffling, has really made my day. Such outstanding costumes, everyone! I saw pirates, gypsies, a lady bug, a lion… [more]

At our Downtown Together meetings one of our most discussed issues is “Downtown Housing”. In fact, housing for our downtown was one of the main reasons we started meeting more than a year ago. And although the big housing bubble burst and developers aren’t building their cardboard boxes anymore, the desire and the need for housing is still apparent. [more]

In 2004 when I joined the City Council, we were struggling to finance several large transportation projects. Urban levels of traffic were using 18th Avenue, from Fones Road to Boulevard, but the roadway itself was still at rural standards with open ditches, no sidewalks or bike lanes, and no room for transit stops. [more]

We share a mutual vision and a passion in Olympia. We want a strong and active economy, a vibrant sense of community, and a healthy environment. Each of these conditions is attainable, but each requires investment of time, dedication, planning, and of course dollars. [more]