Olympia Downtown Alliance collecting donations to help businesses fix broken windows
The Olympia Downtown Alliance is now collecting tax-deductible donations in a “Broken Window Fund” to help owners of downtown properties and businesses repair recently damaged windows.
Todd Cutts, executive director of the ODA, told The Olympian the non-profit had considered launching such a fund in the past, but recent events catalyzed its creation and brought it to fruition within 48 hours.
Windows of businesses occasionally have been broken during protests that have filled streets in Olympia regularly since George Floyd died in the custody of Minneapolis police May 25. In the last week or so, however, Olympia police and city officials report groups sweeping through the city that seem to have the sole intent of doing damage.
Late Saturday and early Sunday morning, windows were smashed at about a dozen downtown businesses, including Rumors Wine Bar and Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. On Tuesday night, more damage was done downtown and a group on the west side smashed upward of two dozen windows at Domino’s Pizza, Safeway, and Starbucks.
Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick said in a prepared statement the city issued Wednesday that the department is bringing on extra staff to “quickly address the criminal behavior.”
Anna Schlecht, who had been collecting pledges for the fund from friends and in the Facebook group Olympia Mutual Aid Collective, told The Olympian she was motivated to do so when she saw the damage at Rumors Wine Bar, saying she was outraged to see “midnight masked rock-throwers busted the windows of a Black-owned business.”
Schlecht said she believes the country has a lot of “baked-in racial injustice” and that police, housing, and school systems are in need of reform, but vandalizing a Black-owned business is off the mark.
“We need more accuracy if we’re going to change the policies that we need to change,” Schlecht said.
By Wednesday morning, Schlecht said she already had collected about $1,500 in pledges that would be directed to ODA’s fund.
The ODA introduced the fund Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning Cutts said it had already received donations, though he declined to give the total amount, simply saying he’s “really proud of how our community has stepped up so far.”
“We’re looking to support our downtown community, but we also know that the Olympia and Thurston County community, generally, loves their downtown,” Cutts said. “And we want to give them an avenue to support their downtown.”
Anecdotally, Cutts said downtown business and property owners have told him their repairs cost approximately $1,000 per window, on average, depending on size and treatment.
How the fund works
Donations to the fund can be made on the ODA’s website in amounts ranging from $5 to $5,000.
According to ODA, 100% of the funds will go to business or property owners who’ve had windows broken, to reimburse their costs. Reimbursement seekers need not be ODA members.
The damage and window repair must have occurred within the last month, and people seeking reimbursement are required to provide documents showing the cost of window repair or the insurance deductible paid, according to the ODA’s website.
Eligible businesses must fall within the ODA’s boundaries, which stretch from the Capitol Campus to the Puget Sound, and from Capitol Lake to Eastside Street.
More information about the fund is available online and questions about the program, from businesses and otherwise, should be directed to info@downtownolympia.org.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 10:36 AM.
.jpg)