Letters praise the Procession, criticize Rainier School closure, oppose asset stripping the U.S.
Magical Luminary and Procession
What an absolutely incredible Arts Walk Olympia had last weekend. Thank you to the city organizers and all participants.
Besides the visual art and other performances, the Luminary Procession on Friday night was dazzling with color, beauty and live music. It was the largest I have ever seen.
And Saturday’s Procession of the Species was glorious; young and old and in between expressed their love of the natural world with amazing creativity. The thousands of spectators became swept up with the performers in joy, leaving far behind the world’s troubles for a precious time.
What a gift. It displayed the essence of Olympia where anyone can be a part of the magic. Olympia has long sponsored Arts Walk and I am a thankful.
I think it is now time for our city to support the two Processions by providing the basement of the Armory Arts building (Olympia Armory Creative Campus) as the permanent home for all residents to come and make their creations. Every year the sponsoring organization, Earthbound Productions, must search out a place for the community to do their art. Let this be the year that they have a forever home! I have visited the basement during their recent fundraiser and it is a very large undeveloped space with many rooms but all were filled and needed for the large and small three-dimensional art that the community made there.
Robin Ivey-Black, Olympia
The cruelty of closing Rainier School
Democrats rushed through legislation to close Rainier School, refusing to listen to those of us who will be hurt by the closure. We asked them to visit Rainier School, meet our families and the staff, and hear from us about how forcing our family members out of the place they know as their home will cause them to regress and withdraw, and some will die. It happens every time they close a facility.
We have asked the Governor to visit, but he’s still not responded to our invitation.
They are ignoring their obligations to maintain institutions for people who are developmentally disabled which is spelled out in the state constitution. Many of them are lawyers and community activists but they are silent when I point out that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Olmstead decision made it clear that people have a right to stay in an institution and some absolutely need the services of Rainier School.
And Rainier School is not some terrible place where people can’t leave. It’s a community in itself and an important state asset.
This is cruel and unfair when they are proposing new programs that will cost more money, but Rainier School has to close to save money. With the federal government slashing spending for healthcare, housing and home care, where will the residents kicked out of Rainier School live? How will they afford an apartment on the miniscule amount of financial assistance they get?
Shame on the legislature and the governor.
Robert Doyle, Sedro Woolley
Stop asset stripping America
When venture capitalists buy up established companies, run them into the ground and sell off the assets, the process is called asset stripping. The federal government is planning to asset strip the United States and its people.
The current administration has created a list of government buildings it wants to sell to well-connected bidders. The process goes like this:
• The buildings are sold to the investor class (oligarchs).
• The government then gives the money back to the oligarchs, in the form of tax cuts, which exceed what they paid for the buildings.
• Then, the government, which is now in need of office space, rents it back from the new owners.
This process simultaneously diminishes the assets of the United States while increasing the cost of operation. Higher costs raise the debt and deficit.
This same process has already begun with our national parks. The wealth transfer is not as obvious, but once again the people will be the losers, and the well-connected will be the beneficiaries. The rangers that protect and maintain our national treasures are being laid off. The parks are being closed to the public and will be vulnerable to the jeeps and motorcycles that cannot be kept out. Once ruined, the land will be sold off to mining and drilling companies, the owners of which will give a proportion of their gains to re-elect their benefactors.
Before we lose more precious or practical things, someone must stop selling off America.
Dave Little, Olympia