Letters to the editor for Jan. 11

Another view of package delivery

In response to Mr. Slate’s letter about stating “delivery workers should ring the bell.”

Thank you for taking the time to bring this issue to our community’s attention. Mail theft is an ongoing problem that is being addressed on many levels.

In order to deliver the high volume of parcels around the holidays, we were delivering parcels to doorsteps even before 6:30 a.m. this year. You may be hard pressed to find someone (other than yourself) that wants their doorbell rung before 8 a.m.

Delivery notifications are at the carriers’ discretion. When I leave a parcel at the doorstep, my customers get two crisp knocks. Doorbells unsettle dogs, wake children and disturb day sleepers. In 15 years I’ve never been asked by a customer to “ring the bell.” Would be happy to if that is what a customer desires, however.

Informed delivery is a free service that lets you know via email what you can expect that day. Getting delivery updates via text is another free service your delivery services offer. Signature confirmation and certified deliveries are definitely a more secure way to send and receive mail. Or just have parcels sent to your place of business.

We would all be better served by talking to our carriers for more customized delivery options. Have a great year and may all your parcels be well received in 2020.

The fires are coming

The fires are coming. Dry conditions of the forests in California are moving north. Deserts found along the earth’s mid-latitudes are expanding. That extends to include the mountainous regions. California’s high voltage wires, supplying electricity to the grid, sparked during high-wind events, resulting in devastating fires.

If wires from the regional grids can cause fires, and the dry conditions that fuel forest fires are expanding, the vast natural areas of the Northwest are in harm’s way. The time is ripe for small community power stations.

Olympia has a group working on supplying such stations, the non-profit Olympia Community Solar. Their mission is to help the residents of our city, county, and region provide sustainable power for themselves and their neighbors. Grassroots efforts like this at Oly Community Solar, the Thurston County Action Team, and Citizens Climate Lobby are needed to go where bureaucrats hesitate to go and provide clean power solutions to our neighborhoods.

With that political will and citizen support, we can get shared solar implemented right here.