Local Columnists

  • Washington Center, SPSCC are key to local quality of life

    posted 08:41 AM 06/28
    Permanent Link.

    Olympia is celebrating its recognition by a personal finance magazine as one of the 10 best cities in America. The magazine based its acknowledgments on “cities with stable employment, even in tough times … independent of the national trends.”

    Both the magazine and the community leaders celebrating the award missed a couple of noteworthy contributors to, in their words, both the economic and cultural vitality that makes Olympia a vibrant place to live.

    The magazine said, “Olympia is a cultural diamond in the rough of the Pacific Northwest.” But during a lunchtime ceremony announcing the award, during which a speaker read a list of the 50 things that makes Olympia great, no one mentioned The Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

    Yet the Washington Center is arguably Olympia’s greatest cultural asset. National touring companies seek out our stage, along with A-list performers and, of course, scores of community groups.

    Another regional magazine recently named the Washington Center as the “Best Place For Culture” in the South Sound and gave its second-place award to the Broadway Center in Tacoma.

    The Washington Center draws its audiences from all over the Puget Sound area, including Seattle, where patrons seem particularly fond of our ballet and other dance productions. You need only to ask restaurant owners to appreciate the center’s impact on downtown businesses.

    South Puget Sound Community College was also missing from the magazine’s article about Olympia. It said The Evergreen State College and Saint Martin’s University are drivers of the area’s growth and character, but neglected to mention one of the region’s largest two-year institutions – and one of the main feeders of students to Evergreen and Saint Martin’s.

    The presence of SPSCC fills a critical gap in post-secondary education by offering attainable and affordable one- and two-year degrees in both academic and vocational disciplines. Its importance to our community cannot be overstated.

    Now, in the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I am a new member of the Washington Center’s board and of SPSCC’s foundation board. I may have been in Olympia only two months, but I accepted these appointments precisely because I understand their importance to the community.

    George Le Masurier, publisher of The Olympian, can be reached at 360-357-0206 or glemasurier@theolympian.com.


    Comments

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    posted 06:54 AM 06/22

    It is unsettling to see the degree to which many in the business community are coming out in support of health care reforms that further centralize control in the federal government.

  • Community mediators resolve disputes, improve quality of life

    posted 08:09 AM 06/14

    In every community, you’ll find about 200 or so people engaged in the most visible organizations. They are the ones you see at the chambers of commerce, city government meetings, the United Way, the service clubs, the colleges and universities, the business associations and so on. Attend any of those events or meetings and you’ll encounter some of these same people over and over again.

  • Governor right to show leadership on climate change

    posted 06:56 AM 06/04

    Protecting the people is a fundamental charge of our Washington state Department of Ecology. In fact, protecting the people is the fundamental charge of government, including the governor and the agencies she directs.

  • LOTT, museum projects will spark redevelopment of East Bay site

    posted 07:36 AM 05/31

    Seeing the first signs of spring - or is this summer? - reminds me that every living thing flows through its own unique series of seasons.

  • Politicians, not artist, responsible for City Hall fiasco

    posted 11:34 PM 05/24

    Thanks to continuous efforts over many years by our local arts commission, public art as we know it has steadily been circling the toilet bowl. Instead of creative and inspirational artwork, we are seeing artisan crafters and modern pseudo artists take taxpayer money and splatter their art all over our cities public buildings.

  • Open government laws are designed to build public trust

    posted 03:14 AM 05/11

    A fundamental tenet of the Washington state Public Records Act, the federal Freedom of Information Act and all other open government laws, is that a government does not discriminate based on the identity of the requester.

  • Are we a nation of cowards when it comes to race?

    posted 06:57 AM 04/17

    "Post racial." I hear this phrase more and more since the election of President Obama. But what is a post-racial period, and how do we judge race relation progress to ensure that we are indeed in this post racial period?

  • What values are we instilling in our children?

    posted 06:28 AM 04/15

    When this article is published, I will be at 15,000 feet on a trek in Nepal - something I have dreamed of doing since I was 16. It took me until near 60 to get there.

  • Now is the time to register to become an organ donor

    posted 09:08 AM 04/11

    With the ushering in of spring across the nation, I honor April as National Donate Life Month.

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