Council Work, early June
Council work has included our dinner on Monday with members of the Squaxin Tribal Council. We work on several projects with the Squaxin, especially related to Budd Inlet. We talked about plans for West Bay Park and Percival Landing. We also started conversations about the possibility that Olympia could host the final destination of a huge canoe journey in 2012.
I attended the Business Showcase luncheon for Enterprise for Equity on Monday. As always it was a wonderful event, with over a dozen of new business graduates of the program telling their story. When you are looking for a local micro enterprise for any variety of goods or services, check out Enterprise for Equity’s business directory. Enterprise for Equity is expanding to offer services to Squaxin Tribal members, and small farmers and have completed their first transaction in collaboration with Tulip Credit Union.
A group from council, staff and community were at the second meeting of the ad hoc committee formed to discuss the possibilities of a bond issue for parks downtown, including more public space on the Isthmus. The next meeting will include various stakeholders who will have a chance to see if there is consensus on a plan to move forward with more outreach and surveying of the community.
I’m also continuing to work on how to reduce the costs and barriers to in-fill housing. It’s something we want and need for compact communities but there are some problems translating storm water and sidewalk requirements (among other issues) to small projects. Impact fees might also need to be reevaluated when you consider the true costs of bringing services to outlying areas.
I’ll be meeting this week to discuss the possibility of extending shuttle service between the west side and downtown, especially for the holidays.
Council is dealing with the recommendation that, for budget reasons, we can no longer continue to staff after school programs for middle school kids. I will be serving on a group that will look at possible community partners who can help ensure that kids will continue to have safe and productive places to go after school. Testimony indicates that single parents and families especially value this program where both parents work.
And, I’ll be reviewing the responses to our RFQ for economic development work in the downtown. This is an initiative I introduced to help ensure that our public investments have the most impact in bringing in private dollars to achieve our community goals.
Lots of work on the city budget and impact fees and then Friday is the monthly meeting of Thurston Regional Planning Council. I love this “interjurisdictional” since it is the forum where we get to talk about issues regionally. Some things like smart transportation systems, comprehensive planning and growth management can only begin with the regional perspective.
As an aside, this Saturday is Day of the Beds for GRuB. My Rotary club will be building 2 garden beds and helping with the potluck. This day will complete the 100 beds GRuB is building for low-income households in our community.
