Kingsbury revives city nuke issue

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published March 21, 2009

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OLYMPIA – Councilman Jeff Kingsbury has resurrected the issue of declaring Olympia's opposition to nuclear weapons, six months after he led an effort that repealed the city's Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance.

Kingsbury proposes that the city pass a resolution declaring it a city practice not to do business with vendors that support nuclear weapons. The resolution, unlike the previous ordinance, would be nonbinding — more of a statement of best practices than enforceable legislation.

"These are value statements only," he said.

He has said he opposed the previous ordinance because it was ineffective and consumed city staff members' time. But a resolution is "something we can do. It doesn't require our staff to do anything different from what they're doing today."

Kingsbury said the resolution will be scheduled for a vote April 14. He posted the text of the resolution on Councilwoman Rhenda Strub's blog, at http://rhenda.com. In an interview, Strub said she favors the resolution.

"I want to leave enforcement (of nuclear weapons) to the feds but still make a statement of community values," she said.

Kingsbury said he brought the resolution up now because the council couldn't get to it last year.

The Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance, which was adopted in 2005 and repealed by a 5-2 vote last year, required the mayor to write letters to known nuclear powers and other entities, informing them of the city's opposition to nuclear weapons. It also said weapons can't be developed, stored or transported through Olympia, but it left significant loopholes; federal highways such as Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 101 were exempted.

It also required contractors to certify that they weren't associated with nuclear weapons, unless the city manager determined that there was no alternative.

The resolution doesn't require letters to nuclear powers, doesn't require contractors to declare they're not associated with nuclear weapons and doesn't prohibit transportation of nuclear weapons in the city.

It says the city shouldn't award contracts to entities that are knowingly involved with nuclear weapons or their components, but it gives the city manager the discretion to disregard that if he or she determines that "no reasonable alternative exists." There is no enforcement if the resolution is not followed.

Both supporters and opponents to the Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance spoke favorably of the resolution.

"I think it's the right thing to do," said Peter Stroble, a member of Olympia 2012 who was against the ordinance.

Alice Zillah, one of a group of people called Beyond Hiroshima that pushed for the Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance, was upbeat about the resolution in a statement.

"While I do regret last year's repeal of Olympia's Nuclear Free Zone, I am glad that the City Council is keeping the conversation open about the danger posed by our immense stockpiles of nuclear weapons," he said. "It's especially important to have this conversation in Washington State, because what may be the world's largest active depot of nuclear bombs is located just over an hour from here at the Bangor Sub Base."

Matt Batcheldor covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869 or mbatcheldor@theolympian.com.