Letters to the editor -- July 5

• Published July 05, 2008

Traffic will only get worse

The biggest issue that I have not seen addressed is that the area proposed for the wall of building between Fourth and Fifth avenues, is a traffic bottleneck. That is why there are two bridges. The effect on the already jammed traffic area on normal days needs to be recognized. The celebrations that are staged in that area add even more traffic. There is no access to the freeway near that area.

There has never been much housing from Legion Way to the north because we used to have real stores downtown, not just specialty stores. Of course, that may not be a problem with the advent of businesses leaving due to downtown parking lots being filled with housing. To the south of Legion Way, the state condemned housing and replaced it with state offices and/or parking areas. The Olympia Planning Commission has a goal to encourage state office buildings in downtown. Where?

No amount of housing will change the people who populate the downtown sidewalks.

Anyone who will be able to afford to live in the proposed housing that walls off the bay, will not shop in Olympia for the same reason they do not shop there now — specialty stores do not attract daily or even weekly shopping. Bayview may benefit.

What I see is some housing, the possibility of flooding, traffic jams way beyond what we deal now, businesses leaving for lack of parking and the disdain of people who love Olympia.

Sandra Maki, Olympia

Buildings will spoil environment

Please don’t let Triway Enterprises ruin the great beauty of Olympia.

Just a short time ago I came to Olympia, looked out at the beauty and greatness of Budd Inlet, Mt. Rainier in the background, the capitol dome to the right, only to wish that the ugly building they call the Capitol Center Building was not there.

What glorious beauty and power. Who could ask for more?

So much so that I went back to California now an over-populated, illegal safe-haven hole and sold everything my wife and I had. We moved to Olympia and bought a home. We were hoping that Olympia would tear down that ugly Capitol Center Building and preserve the greatness of Olympia, not increase ugliness for the few greedy ones that will gain enormous profit at the cost of the environment.