Letters to the editor for Sept. 29
Amendment could allow more warehouses along I-5, loss of farmland
The Up Castle Land Use and Rezone Amendment is a backdoor way to allow warehousing on farmland throughout Thurston County. The company’s rezone request would affect only 33 acres now zoned Rural Residential/Resource (RRR) next to Centralia on the Lewis County border. However, the proposed Comprehensive Plan and Zoning code amendment to allow this rezone would affect hundreds, maybe thousands, of acres.
The Up Castle location does not fit within the current RRI (Rural Resource Industrial) zoning code. The proposed changes to the code would allow any land that meets the criteria on the date the code is adopted to become “intensive industrial” (warehousing and manufacturing). The proposed criteria will include any farmland adjacent to industrial development and near an arterial road and railroad. One example is 300 acres of farmland near the Maytown I-5 exit, but many more parcels would fit these criteria.
Up Castle’s former farm has highly rated soils. Thurston County doesn’t need warehouses on good rural farmland. Let the current Community-Driven Review of Agricultural Policies and Programs help inform this issue. The 2021 Buildable Lands Report shows we have twice as many acres of industrial zoned land for warehousing as needed for the next 20 years —within our cities’ Urban Growth Boundaries.
At the Oct. 6 public hearing, urge the Thurston County Planning Commission NOT to recommend to the Board of County Commissioners approval of the Up Castle amendment. Provide pro or con comments on the county’s webpage.
Elizabeth Rodrick, Olympia
We still have time to heal the Earth
Most people, myself included, feel concerned about increasing natural disasters around our country and world. We must act collectively and know that the benefits will ripple beyond our lifetimes. I encourage our legislators to support robust funding for energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. These investments will be offset by appropriate cuts to fossil fuel subsidies and a fee on methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.
The Build Back Better Act is an urgently needed opportunity to mitigate climate change.
Let’s also invest in local ecosystem protection; healthy land is critical to easing climate change impacts. For instance, rainwater gardens, green spaces and forests will provide flood control and absorption during heavy rains. Having these in populated areas is especially crucial; these are natural, affordable measures to protect our communities against flooding.
We can absolutely surmount the climate challenges we’re facing, if we do all we can to reduce our collective and individual emissions and other environmental footprints (for example, by reducing plastic waste, food waste, etc.). Let’s show our legislators that climate change mitigation matters to us, and let’s also practice what we preach through ecological living. We can bring into being a kinder world with our thoughtful daily acts.
Rebecca Canright, Olympia
Challenge lies, don’t spread them
I’m a 69-year-old white guy who’s lived in Olympia for 42 years. I recently volunteered in Talauna Reed’s campaign for Olympia City Council. I suggested she feature her twins more prominently in her campaign material. I included family photos when I ran for the School Board, and people liked it.
She explained that she was reluctant to use photos of her children because she feared it would put them, away at college, in the crosshairs of alt-right / neo-Nazi groups operating throughout the United States.
Why would alt-right groups do such a thing, I thought?
Then I discovered that there has been an organized campaign to somehow link Talauna Reed to a well-known “Antifa” figure. Anyone who has seen the recent videos of Proud Boys chasing Antifas through downtown, an incident that ended in gunfire, can see why being linked to “Antifa” might be a bad thing for their children.
Even more troubling, the allegations, based on doctored video, were not only being circulated by neo-Nazis. They were being spread by respectable Olympia citizens.
We all take great pride in our community’s high standards of decency. You can agree or disagree with Talauna’s positions, but I’d like to think that in Olympia we can disagree without endangering her children. Beware of spreading misinformation on social media. Be vigilant and challenge deception when you see it.
I don’t know if you love Talauna, but I’m going to assume you love democracy. And democracy doesn’t thrive when we passively tolerate lies.
John McGee, Olympia