The Olympia Standard

On this episode, we explored the structure of city government, the reason we have the system we have, and what a different system looks like in a neighboring city. Olympia has a council-manager system of government, with a city manager to run the day-to-day operations of the city and a mayor that doesn’t have much more authority than the rest of city council. Tumwater has a mayor-council sys...

The Port of Olympia has new leadership and is undergoing a long-term visioning process. We spoke with Sam Gibboney, the new executive director, about the current status and future of the port. We talked about the nature of ports as local government institutions, what our local port does for the county, and what we can expect to see future. There is a critical seat up for election this year on the...

Here is our annual legislative update! As we did last year, we sat down with Representative Beth Doglio to talk about what Olympia brought to the recent session, and how the outcomes of the session will impact people in Olympia. We dove into homelessness and housing, climate change and the environment, the new code of conduct around sexual harassment, vaccine exemptions, and more. Download this ep...

With all the talk about having a walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly city, what does it look like to get there? The city of Olympia is in the process of developing it’s very first Transportation Master Plan . To get a high level view of our local transportation system, the changing needs, and how we will be getting around in the future, we interviewed Thera Black. Thera is a former planner...

To wrap up our series on downtown Olympia, we invited two city employees who focus on downtown planning. Amy Buckler is the downtown programs manager and Max DeJarnatt is working on parking policy. We talked about how the city incorporates various perspectives into their planning efforts, the balancing act of addressing different needs, the vision for downtown, and what work remains. The city&#821...

EGYHOP (Emma Goldman Youth and Homeless Outreach Project) has been around for over 20 years providing services to homeless people in downtown Olympia. As part of our series of perspectives on downtown, we interviewed Cassie as a volunteer with this organization. We talked about why they provide the services they offer, how downtown has changed over the years, and how we could respond to conflictin...

Last year, the Olympia Standard broke the story on serious issues within the Thurston Conservation District ( check out episode 10 ). Since then, two board members have been removed by the State Conservation Commission. We interviewed TJ Johnson to get an update on the situation and the future of the TCD. TJ is a candidate for the board in the current election. More details on how to vote in this...

The main hub for the Thurston County Food Bank is located in an area downtown that has a high concentration of tents. We spoke with their executive director, Robert Coit, about his vision for providing food to anyone who needs it from a central location. We talk about how that area has changed over time, the experience of patrons and workers, and how the Food Bank is responding to changing needs....

Continuing our series on perspectives of downtown Olympia, we interviewed Brianne. She loves to come downtown, but lately doesn’t feel tha t it is a safe and welcoming environment based on some of her personal experiences. She has been encouraging people to engage positively with the city for change. Download this episode

This is the second episode on our series of perspectives on downtown Olympia. We interviewed two business owners, Jacob David of Nineveh Assyrian and Nathan Reilly of Three Magnets Brewi ng. They are both active in downtown business associations, PBIA and ODA. What do these acronyms mean?? And what is their experience owning a business downtown? Listen and learn! Download this episode RSS

This episode is the first of a series about perspectives of downtown Olympia. We recorded an interview with two residents, Kento Azegami and David Scherer Water, to learn their story of downtown as a neighborhood and home. Why did they choose to live there? What is their experience? How do they see the future of downtown? Download this episode RSS

For our last episode of 2018, we solicited topics and questions that our listeners would like to hear about in the next year. We reviewed the most intriguing questions to help set our agenda for 2019. Download this episode RSS

We interviewed Cheryl Heywood, director of Timberland Regional Libraries to talk about the past, present, and future of our library system. We discussed the value that the library brings to Olympia, the structure and funding of the five-county library system, and how the library will be moving forward with some tough decisions around budget shortfalls. Download this episode RSS

The city is close to finalizing their budget for 2019. We sat down with councilmember Jim Cooper, chair of the finance committee, to talk about the basics of the city budget, the process to put it together, and how people in the community can influence the priorities. Download this episode RSS

What happened in the 2018 election? We reviewed all the items that were on the ballot for the city of Olympia. How did voters in our county fall on the statewide initiatives? And how did the candidates do in different parts of the county? Who got the most write-in votes against them??? Listen and learn! Download the episode here

This episode is a complete review of everything that appears on the 2018 general election ballot for voters in the city of Olympia. We talk about each initiative and race to offer various perspectives that we have heard. All our podcast episodes for the 2018 election can be found here . Download this episode  

We interviewed Thurston County Commissioner candidates Bud Blake and Tye Menser. Other than three-letter folksy nicknames… what do these candidates have in common? Where do they diverge in their approaches to the budget, the environment, homelessness, and the structure of county government? Find out when this episode drops on Monday! Download this episode

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we sat down with the candidates for Thurston County prosecutor, Jon Tunheim and Victor Minjares. We asked about caseflow management, diversion programs, and other aspects of how they would serve as prosecutor. Download this episode

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we interview the candidates for Thurston County Auditor, Mary Hall and Stuart Holmes. Learn more about the role of this office, what each candidate has to offer, and what type of food they would choose to eat for any meal of the day. Download this episode  

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, Olympia voters will see one local tax proposal on their ballot for the general election, a sales tax for public transit. We interviewed Clark Gilman, a City Council member and advocate for the initiative, and Eric Phillips of Intercity Transit. Download this episode  

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we recorded an analysis of this year’s primary, what that means going into the general election, and what we will be doing to offer election season coverage for the next couple months. Also, The Olympia Standard started around this time last year with an episode on the primary election! Happy anniversary to us and all our listeners! Download this epis...

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we talk to Malika Lamont about the opioid crisis. Why are people becoming addicted and what impact does it have on their lives? What barriers exist for recovery? What is harm reduction? And how are local governments and service providers responding to the crisis? Tune in next week! Download this episode

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we talk about the rise of independent candidates in local elections. Our guests are Olympia City Councilmember Renata Rollins and Thurston County Commissioner John Hutchings, who approach independence from the major political parties in different ways. The big question: what do we ask independent candidates (and really, all candidates) to get a better sense...

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we interviewed Congressman Denny Heck. We talked about the nature of the 10th district, what people in Olympia can do when we see distressing policies from the federal government, and national issues that are of significance to our local community, including homelessness and housing. Download this episode  

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, we talk about sea level rise in downtown Olympia with Andy Haub, Water Resources Director for the city. What’s up with the current planning process for sea level rise? What is the tipping point where we ditch downtown and move uphill? And why are new buildings going up before the plan is in place? Download this episode