NEWS UPDATES
New Study Calls for More Market Rate Housing!
A new study commissioned in 2008 by a $75,000 CTED grant to review all past downtown studies and make recommendations for future downtown development was unveiled in early June. It concluded that downtown needs more market rate housing! In particular, it suggested that the city partner with the private sector on a mixed-use project with housing located at the corner of Fourth & Jefferson.
Council Likes Barney & Worth Development Study
The Olympian – June 1o, 2009
Barney & Worth Study Concludes 4th & Jefferson Ideal for Mixed-Use Housing
The Olympian – June 7, 2009
Port Chooses Terragon To Develop East Bay Property
In late May, The Port of Olympia publicly presented the three top proposals from its RFQ process relating to its East Bay development. Two of the three proposals were heaving on housing and mixed-use space, including one that envisioned a hotel & conference center, apartments, condos and townhomes surrounding the Hand’s On Children’s Museum. On June 22, the Port announced it would go with the developer Terragon.
Port picks East Bay developer
The Olympian – June 23, 2009
Port meeting will focus on East Bay redevelopment
The Olympian – May 20, 2009
Olympia Ranked 6th Best Place to Live by Kiplingers
Kiplingers, a national magazine about business and personal finance, ranked Olympia as the 6th best city in the U.S. to live. Other cities rounding out the top 10 included Washington D.C., Austin, TX and Raleigh, NC. The article described Olympia as “cultural diamond in the rough of the Pacific Northwest.”
Olympia Ranked 6th Best Place to Live by Kiplingers
Kiplinger’s – July 2009
Intercity Transit Named Best Transit System in Nation for Its Size
In 2006, Intercity Transit officially set its vision to be a leading transit system in the country, committed to enhancing the quality of life for all citizens of Thurston County. Three years later, that vision is realized. The American Public Transportation Association has named Intercity Transit the best transit system in the nation for its size.
Intercity Transit named best transit system in the nation for its size
Press release – June 2009
City Unveils New Downtown Parking Strategy
On May 13th, the city approved a new parking plan that should bring some much needed changes to the way our downtown accommodates the automobile. Chief among the changes will be the replacement of free 90 minute parking with paid parking accommodated by a credit-card enabled pay booth on each block. Revenue from the new system will help fund the eventual construction of the city’s first parking garage.
Council approves higher parking rates
The Olympian – May 13, 2009
EVENTS CALENDAR
| Upcoming Events | |||
| What | When | Where | Agenda |
| A Table For Olympia | Friday, July 10th, 5-9pm | Washington Street between 4th and State avenues | A community picnic open to all. For more information, visit: http://www.everydayolympia.com/2009/06/downtown-olympia-hosts-community-picnic/ |
| Regularly Scheduled Meetings | |||
| What | When | Where | Agenda |
| Downtown Together | Every Other Friday, 8am. Next meeting: June 26th | MIXX96 Conference Room at the corner of State Ave & Washington | The agenda is: there is no agenda! This is a free-forum to discuss anything related to downtown and is open to the public. For more information, visit: http://www.everydayolympia.com/downtown-together/ |
| Weekly City Council | Every Tues, 7:00 PM. Next meeting: July 7th | Council Chamber, 900 Plum St | Online at:
http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/citygovernment/council/agenda/#2 |
| Bi-Weekly Port Commission Meeting | Every Other Monday, 5:30pm. Next meeting: July 13th | LOTT Board Room 111 Market Street NW Olympia, WA 98501 |
Online at: http://www.portolympia.com/commission/agenda |
STEERING COMMITTEE NEWS
Since our last newsletter, the OLY 2012 Steering Committee has been busy participating in Mayor Mah’s Percival Landing/ Capitol Center Building ballot measure process and is hopeful the concept will go to ballot this year.
We’ve also been working hard on our 2009 Vision for Downtown Olympia – an update of our 2008 Vision paper. Please keep an eye out for that paper in the next week or two!
We have also been spending time studying the Capitol lake/Estuary issue, meeting with the Port to better understand its East Bay redevelopment process and working on Economic Development and Restructuring issues in cooperation with local downtown stakeholders like the Olympia Downtown Association.
CALL TO ACTION
We would like to know what you think are the important issues facing downtown. What are the issues that should be calling all of us to action? What are the remaining hurdles to making downtown better? What are your priorities? Where can we collectively make the most difference? Please write to us at oly2012@oly2012.org.
OPINION/EDITORIAL
OLY 2012’s 2008 Year In Review
By the OLY 2012 Steering Committee
When OLY2012 first formed in the fall of 2007, never could we have imagined how exciting and eventful our first year in operation would play out. Though our group took on several important issues, including The Capitol City District, The Hands On Children’s Museum, and House Bill 1016 (a bill which would have placed the Mayor of Olympia on the capitol campus design advisory committee), it was, of course, the The Isthmus Rezone that took by far the majority of our time.
On one hand, this highly public and polarizing issue allowed us to demonstrate our approach and establish credibility as a new voice in the community. On the other hand, the controversial nature of the rezone issue polarized citizens and, thus, undermined our initial objective of “building a broad-based and well-informed network of community support to realize the potential for a beautiful and unique downtown between now and 2012.”
As we move into a new year, we continue to embrace our mission of building a broad, grassroots coalition of people who want to move downtown in a positive direction. But we recognize that achieving that objective will take patience, persistence, and be accomplished only over time. We have confidence that as less polarizing issues and ideas come up, the value of our organization will appeal to an increasingly broad segment of our community. We will continue to recruit support for our organization and its mission as we move ahead on those issues.
In the meantime, our steering committee will continue to pursue issues the way we did in our inaugural year: by working closely with citizens, groups and officials throughout the community; by writing position papers and opinions on specific issues; and by taking direct action as a steering committee at hearings and other public forums.
We would like to thank all those in the community who supported us over the course of our first year. Here’s to working towards a better tomorrow for our wonderful downtown in the years ahead.
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Newsletter Purpose
OLY2012 is a volunteer organization dedicated to helping decision-makers significantly improve downtown Olympia before 2012 by mobilizing an active network of well-informed citizens. The Oly2012 Steering Committee distributes this periodic newsletter to Oly2012 mailing list subscribers in order to encourage people to get involved with downtown issues. If you do not want to receive these newsletters and want to unsubscribe to the Oly2012 mailing list, simply send an email with your request to: Oly2012@Oly2012.org.
