Are parks really first priority for Olympia?

Envision Olympia’s most pressing needs: Vagrants, graffiti, artesian well park, Capitol Lake. I’m sure you can come up with your own list. What’s surprising to me is that a very vocal special interest group has the answer to all Olympia’s problems: parks. And on top of that, buying huge tracts of land and “reserving” them forever, knowing full well these tracts could never be turned into parks.

Proposition 1 supporters assure that your tax increase could never be diverted to other needs. It’s already untrue.

The City Council voted to put this on the November ballot. It barely passed, 4 to 3. Mayor Buxbaum and two other council members voted against it, because of the lack of oversight and public input. Of the four in favor, Councilman Cooper said the ballot box was all that the public needed for input. Councilwoman Roe said this needed to be rushed to the voters, so it would not compete with the school levy vote in February. She’s afraid you’ll chose schools over parks.

Is the answer to Olympia’s ills more parks?

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Are parks really first priority for Olympia?."