Letters to the editor -- July 13

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• Published July 13, 2008

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Can’t create neighborhood out of high rise condos

There are myths in this hype about taller buildings and market rate housing downtown: you can’t have a viable downtown without taller buildings and market-rate housing, and they will improve downtown.

My own experience says both are wrong.

We have been in Olympia for 11 years now. Before this, we lived on Queen Anne in Seattle and in Boulder, Colo. We have seen what happened in Bell Town and lower Queen as higher buildings brought more congestion and more problems than they fixed.

Drive down Western Avenue, north of Pike Place Market, for that claustrophobic experience between tall buildings with market rate housing. Notice that you don’t see anyone walking on the streets.

Upper Queen Anne doesn’t have tall buildings, but has a viable business district. For Queen Anne, it comes from the business district being part of the neighborhood. You won’t create a neighborhood out of high-rise, market rate condos.

Boulder, Colo., also doesn’t have high-rise, market rate housing in its downtown core, but it has two things we don’t have. It has a pedestrian mall lined with shops and it has five parking garages within one block of the pedestrian mall.

What this really comes down to is our vision of Olympia. Do we value a collection of small specialty shops and good parking that draw people to the business core or do we hope that those people who can afford market rate condos will actually walk down the street instead of driving off in their BMWs?

Michael Riley, Olympia

Stop pointing finger of blame

Why is The Olympian blaming the county commissioners for steps that they are taking to balance the county budget in these tough economic times?

The commissioners are asking for ideas for voluntary 5 percent cuts, and then they will prioritize.

You recently wrote that The Olympian will be reducing its work force by 9 percent in response to this ailing economy and changing markets. How is that any different?

No one expected this economic downturn or was prepared for it. Let’s all play fair and quit passing the buck and pointing the finger.