Olympia council leaves early Christmas present

The old, outgoing Olympia City Council left its new incoming Council an early Christmas present – – worth about $9 million.

The Council decided not to pursue any further the construction of a downtown parking garage.  The vote was close – – 4-3, but in the end, the Council backed away from the costly white elephant.

For decades, the City of Olympia has been talking about the construction of a downtown parking garage, but only in the last couple of years had they become focused on the garage as a solution to the city’s parking problems.

The vote this week stopped the hiring of a private developer to partner with the city and build the garage that was estimated to cost around $9 million.   The city had even identified locations for the gray monolith to city ignorance of the private marketplace.

But while the vote has stopped the construction of a parking garage, no doubt in the near future this monstrosity will again raise its head.  Because city staff have no real solutions to the perceived parking problems in downtown Olympia.

So, they place their faith and trust in a parking garage, which will never pencil out and will never pay for itself.

The new incoming city council has received a nice Christmas present.  Lets hope they don’t blow it.