Letter writers oppose camps in Tumwater parks, suggest better upkeep on Capitol Blvd.

Homeless ordinance in Tumwater may change

The Tumwater City Council is still considering whether or not to amend the Tumwater Parks and City Facilities Ordinance 02023-014, Section 12.32. If amended, this ordinance will allow the homeless to stay in our public parks and on public property during the evening hours. This means homeless tents and makeshift homes will be in our neighborhoods.

If this ordinance is changed, it will diminish the authority of our police and place a heavy burden upon our other emergency services. It will allow the parks and public lands, which our tax dollars pay for, to become what every other city is fighting to eliminate: homeless encampments. Our parks will no longer be available for our families and children.

If the City of Tumwater wants to help the homeless, we should do so in a responsible manner. Allowing encampments is not the answer. I support shelters for the homeless; however, I believe these shelters should be operated like any other business. The tenants should be required to sign a Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct must be enforced. Tenants should be required to participate in whatever programs are indicated after assessment — i.e., alcohol and/or drug treatment — and be required to follow the rules of society, like all other citizens of our city.

Our tax dollars are better spent in this manner, rather than cleaning up and supervising homeless encampments. We need your voice. Please contact your City Council members and attend the upcoming City Council meetings.

Julie Hatcher, Tumwater

Tumwater Falls Park sets standard

The Tumwater Falls Park — now called Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls — looks fantastic since its restoration.

May I suggest another Tumwater restoration project? The road on Capital Boulevard Southwest between Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls and the Tumwater Brewery. The totems and the lights are in much need of restoration!

Who is responsible for maintaining the Gateway to the Puget Sound?

Colleen Carlson, Centralia

We must work toward peace with justice

An open letter to our Jewish and Muslim friends:

As retired Christian clergy from the Olympia area, we wish to express our solidarity with both the Jewish and Muslim communities. While we cannot feel the depths of the anger and grief occasioned by current events in Israel-Palestine, we share your commitment to a durable resolution of the underlying causes.

We have called on our government to do everything possible within its power to resolve the conflict in Gaza and bring the remaining hostages home. We do not believe these to be mutually exclusive goals.

We call upon members of the Christian community to personally renounce and publicly protest any and every expression of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Our faith and the common commitment to human dignity mandate calling out and condemning any prejudicial words or actions against both Islamic and Jewish communities that further inflame the current situation. Now, more than ever, all parties need to identify and support policies and actions that leads to a just peace for all.

We are aware of the fact that our own traditions have been tarnished by anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but it is not sufficient to simply distance ourselves from the grievous errors of the past. What is incumbent is to proactively root out any and all traces of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that appear in our own lives and in the life of the community.

That is our commitment.

The Rev. D. Randall Faro for the Olympia Retired Clergy Association (ORCA)