Letters to the editor for Aug. 16

Port Commission makes wrong call

I can’t believe, with all the protest and public comment, Allyn Roe, Kidder Matthews real estate firm, and Olympia Port Commissioners Joe Downing and Bill McGregor went ahead and brokered a deal to lease 200 acres of land to Panattoni with only 20 acres of trees saved. What is wrong with these people? We need the trees to breathe.

Furthermore, Downing and McGregor committed to spend $100,000 for environmental remediation. The environment will be badly damaged. What’s to remediate?

E.J. Zita is the only sane person on the Port Commission. The rest of them need to be fired. I hope litigation is immediate and successful.

Jeanne Thompson, Lacey

Kaiser Woods park should be for all, not a privileged few

Olympia apparently is moving forward with plans to convert Kaiser Woods into a dedicated mountain bike recreational facility, despite the growing need for multi-use parks. The city council’s first order of business after months of no public meetings was to make progress on the project. In light of COVID-19, economic depression, riots, vandalism, job loss and health impacts, the city council’s continuing accommodation of a small group of local bikers seems tone-deaf at best.

In a recent Thurston Talk puff piece, the author encourages Olympians to “stomp, jump and shred” some nature trails in Kaiser Woods, which bikers anticipate being given as their specialized playground.

Despite civil unrest over socioeconomic inequities and cultural privilege, mountain bikers — mostly white, male and affluent — want what they want and expect to get it, no matter the loss for everyone else.

Kaiser Woods was purchased with grants and Prop 1 taxes earmarked for hiking and biking trails — not a dedicated recreational facility for a high-risk, costly sport. In the parks department priority-setting process, Olympians prioritized open space and natural areas. The parkland became available after six years of efforts by Ken Lake and Westbrook Park neighbors to stop housing developments on the unique natural area.

The bike park plan, developed with input only from biking lobbyists, stalled last year after neighbors pointed out wetlands the design consultants had overlooked.

Mountain bikers have 166 miles of dedicated trails in Capitol Forest and more on Manke Timberlands. Olympia should deep-six their greedy desire for Kaiser Woods.

Evonne Hedgepeth, Olympia

Earth’s health is in our hands

Trump is using COVID-19 as an excuse to remove protections like the National Environmental Policy Act. I urge our lawmakers to oppose these rollbacks. This is a time to bolster the health of our communities, which depend upon clean air, land and water.

We need not sit idle while Trump rolls back environmental progress. These days, those of us who have extra time can voice support to our legislators for commonsense environmental laws.

Here are a few easy ecological practices for our current lives: compost our food scraps and use them to fertilize our garden, walk or bike instead of driving to run errands, and minimize our use of plastics. Reusable items win, environmentally and health-wise.

Over 125 health experts from 19 countries recently signed a statement confirming the safety of reusables during the pandemic. Recent studies have shown the virus can remain active on plastics from two to six days, and that household disinfectants have been proven effective at disinfecting hard surfaces, such as reusables.

Living gently on the earth is easy and satisfying while we’re staying at home.

Rebecca Canright, Olympia

What good is a face mask mandate?

For the first time in months, my husband and I made a shopping trip to Costco. I’d heard Costco now requires everyone to wear a mask. I figured we would be safe if everyone was wearing a mask.

We passed two women who did not have their noses covered. In an other aisle, there was a man who was wearing his mask on his chin. Is it really so hard to wear a properly placed mask? It has been all over the news that the nose and mouth should be covered by the mask.

I’m sure these customers had the masks on properly when they entered the store, but once you’re in the store, you can do whatever you please, so what is the point? Our population can’t do something as simple as wearing a mask, so is it any wonder that we can’t conquer this virus?

Karen Wygant, Lacey