Does the Port have a role in addressing homelessness? Here’s what Evans, Hansen say
Gateway Rotary’s candidate forum series continued Wednesday with members quizzing the Port of Olympia’s District 3 candidates Amy Evans and Joel Hansen, who are running to replace commissioner E.J. Zita.
Evans is a commercial real estate broker and Hansen is a developer of solar energy systems. Both dispensed with some quick questions, both saying they are vaccinated, and that they support expanding the port commission to five members from three.
After that, club members asked questions. Here’s what the candidates had to say:
Does the port have a role in addressing homelessness?
Evans: “I believe we all play a role in addressing homelessness. It impacts us all. It impacts us as a community, it impacts us as individuals and it impacts the economy, which is what the port is chartered to address. The hotel being looked at for low-income housing, using port land to build containers and tiny homes ... I think there are lot of opportunities that the port has already done and will continue to do to have a collaborative seat at that table.”
Hansen: “Some of the things I think the port could do: It has land that could be used to develop affordable housing and workforce housing. Another thing the port could do is attract more internship programs and apprenticeship programs to train more carpenters, more plumbers and pipe fitters, more people in the trades so that we can continue to build more housing faster. One of the bottlenecks we have right now is that we don’t have enough skilled people, which is a legacy of the 2008 financial crisis.”
Do you support cruise ships at the port?
Hansen: “I believe we should explore it, but I don’t know enough about the ramifications of that to say one way or another. But I would certainly be willing to explore it with other commissioners and see if there are types of cruise ships that would be a good fit for Olympia.”
Evans: “Yes, as long as we are continuing to work collaboratively on environmental stewardship. I think bringing additional jobs to longshoremen and bringing tourism to our community is a great way to use the marine terminal asset that we have invested in, and that we are going to continue investing in based on our obligations to the Army Corps (of Engineers) and our tenant there. I would love to explore it with other commissioners.”
Do you support military shipments through the port?
Evans: Before she answered, she referenced Mike Reid, Olympia’s economic development director and a former port employee, who once told her the port is like the post office: as long as it’s safe and legal, it’s the port’s job is to move things from Point A to Point B. “That would probably be my philosophy, but I think we always have to consider the social contract and the impact on our community,” Evans said. “Being that we are the backup port for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, we will continue to have that obligation at the federal level, so we need to figure out how to navigate that.”
Hansen: “The short answer is yes, and here’s why: If we talk to the people of Thurston County about the types of shipments the military is doing, most of those are humanitarian missions. If we asked them, do you support our military shipping goods to humanitarian missions? The vast majority would say yes. A minority of people were protesting military shipments. If we have that dialogue with the community, I think we will find most people are in support of it.”
Each candidate also got to ask their own question.
Evans asked the following of Hansen: If you keep the port’s real estate assets as open space, how will you fulfill your role as a port commissioner to (encourage) economic development and job creation?
Hansen’s answer: “I don’t propose to keep it as open space. In fact, I would like to see the port build some more buildings and own more physical buildings to attract tenants because not every tenant is willing to do land leases and build their own buildings. I’m excited about building around the airport, but I would like to really see if we can create the kind of projects that create jobs, good paying jobs, and I think about jobs per acre and wages and the likelihood of those jobs beings replaced by automation. Lacey has warehouses, Winlock in Lewis County has warehouses, but I think we can do other things and create better jobs.”
Hansen asked Evans the following: Throughout the campaign, I have heard you say, “With collaboration, we can do more,” but I haven’t heard a lot more than that. My question is: What are your specific plans at the port to impact positively the lives of all people in Thurston County?
In response, Evans chose to specifically talk about the Deschutes Estuary and Capitol Lake. The future of the man-made lake and estuary were recently the focus of a draft environmental report released by the state Department of Enterprise Services.
This is what she had to say:
“Again, I think the campaign has been a learning experience. The Deschutes Estuary is a great example of where collaboration makes more possible. Talking to people, whether it’s the Squaxin Island Tribe or Olympia Yacht Club members, there are a lot of shared goals. So often, we can get stuck on one side or the other and think that we don’t have a lot in common when in reality we do. By listening to those stakeholders and bringing those people to the table, which I have been doing during this campaign — really hearing where we can thread the needle as far as commonality (goes), which, in this case, is dredging and sediment disposal — we can create more certainty as far as a working waterfront (is concerned) and improve water quality and environmental stewardship.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Does the Port have a role in addressing homelessness? Here’s what Evans, Hansen say."
