Lessons learned

Olympia Mayor Doug Mah was the keynote speaker Wednesday evening for the chartering of the new North Thurston County Gateway Rotary Club. Mah took the opportunity to review some of the lessons he had learned over his ten years on the Olympia City Council.

The Fourth Avenue bridge project, Mah said, taught him to think big and understand the impact you will make. Yauger Park’s new construction was a lesson in making a project multi-purpose for multi-success. The new Olympia City Hall lesson was a “Don’t Try, Just do it.”

The mayor continued by saying the Boulevard Road project was a lesson in setting priorities. The Artesian Well purchase was a lesson in helping others even when you don’t understand why. Percival Landing, the mayor said, was a reflection of the community and a need to pay attention to the details.

The Hands On Children’s Museum, funded with Public Facility District money, taught him to work together and build partnerships.

The mayor had a number of other lessons he learned from his decade serving Olympia, and they can be found on the website of the new Gateway Rotary Club.