Town Hall

originally posted by emmettoconnell on Better South Sound

Have you missed me downloading the city of Olympia council packet and telling you what I find interesting? Might not, but I've missed doing it. So, for next week's meetings, here are the highlights.

1. The general government committee met last week to start planning the next Town Hall meeting, it will be September 28 and they're trying to come up with some stuff for us townies to talk about. Here are their suggestions:

• Olympia as the Capital City - Olympia’s proposed 2007 State Legislative Agenda
• Put Sustainability into Action - Solid Waste Master Plan (How to Achieve a Zero Waste Goal by 2025)
• Improve the Effectiveness of Government - New City Hall
• Invest in Downtown Olympia - Staff will provide an update at the meeting of possible topics

Huh, not exactly the burning topics of the day, are they? The only one that sounds interesting is the New City Hall, to me though. Last time they had a packet (sorry, didn't write about this one), I noticed they mentioned the 2007 city budget as a possible topic. While this part of the city process should have a "town hall" or participatory flavor to it, it shouldn't be part of the Town Hall meetings process.

In terms of your comments below, feel free to say what you think the city council should talk with you about on Sept. 28.

By the way, why are we only having one of these this year? In an non-election year, we should have at least three of these. Then we wouldn't have to worry about picking a topic, we'd have enough time to cover everything.

2. Speaking of town hall meetings, in the matrix for the upcoming Neighborhoods (associations) Town Hall meeting next week, there is a spot for "libraries," and a mention that the general government committee will be meeting with Timberland folks in July, maybe to talk about a new library. I have to get me to that meeting.

3. Speaking of neighborhoods, it looks like the city is planning to change the way they do neighborhood planning. In the document in the packet, there aren't many specifics, but there is a mention of formal neighborhood plans and seeking to streamline how people interact with the city government. Sounds pretty cool, I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

4. For the folks in Northeast Olympia, specifically at the corner of 8th and Pattison out by the Hospital, looks like the city is buying you a new park out there. Or at least some land for a park. How nice for you. The four acre park will cost the city about $500,000. Not bad.

There it is, what I found important in this week's packet. If you feel like you missed something, feel free to spend a few minutes and download the entire thing yourself. Its 30 MB of fun this week.

In terms of your comments below, feel free to say what you think the city council should talk with you about on Sept. 28.