Letters to the editor - May 20

Your views

• Published May 20, 2008

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This is a man held in high regard by Sen. John McCain, yet the media is silent on his many fanatical and hateful comments.

When are we going to get equal coverage of all candidates and not just one-sided political propaganda?

Laurie Davis, Olympia

Think of others after receipt of rebate check

The federal government is now issuing payment of the tax rebate that was approved by Congress and the president.

At the same time, families with lower incomes and those on fixed incomes are being forced to make difficult choices as the costs of food and energy increase.

Aid organizations, both local and international, can't help as many people. They also have to spend more on food and energy.

Whether or not you agree that the stimulus payments are good policy, it provides us a unique opportunity.

I urge Thurston County residents to think of others when they receive their rebates. Give all or a portion of your rebate to a food bank or other aid organization.

Garth Cowan, Olympia

Tri Vo should move his proposal east

As a land-use development attorney in the area for more that 25 years, I normally admire Tri Vo's work for aesthetics and environmental consciousness.

However, his proposal for buildings up to 90 feet in height on the isthmus between Budd Inlet and Capitol Lake is out of touch with land-use policy for that area. The greatest single land-use error in the city's history was permitting the nine-story Capitol Center building on the isthmus in the 1960s. We should not exacerbate that error by allowing more buildings of a similar height that would further impede views of the Capitol, mountains, and water.

When I was on the Olympia Planning Commission in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we drafted an award-winning urban waterfront plan and downtown housing plan that allowed for three-story mixed-use condos on the isthmus and up to nine-story mixed-use condos in other areas of downtown. The proposed Pearlwater at Larida Passage appears to be a beautiful building; it just needs to be moved two blocks to the east, where it can be permitted.