On taxes, museums and newspapers

Tumwater voters are deciding this week whether or not to raise their local sales tax to fund transportation projects in their city.  What the voters decide will go a long way to determining what the City of Lacey does in regards to its street programs.  If Tumwater voters approve the sales tax increase the Lacey City Council will be under pressure to put a similar measure on the city’s ballot.    If voters turn it down, Lacey will probably opt for a car tab tax of $20 like the City of Olympia has done.   Tumwater voters hold the future of Lacey tax increases in their hands.

It’s a crying shame that the City of Olympia doesn’t have a city history museum.  The capitol city has loads of history that is going unrecognized or unrecorded because it lacks the facilities to manage data collection.   What history material it has,  currently sits in the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma.   With the closure of the Capitol Museum it has become apparent that Olympia needs its own museum.  The Olympia Historical Society has joined with the Bigelow House Museum to act as the unofficial repository of the city’s history but that’s just temporary.   What Olympia needs is some group  willing to step up and create pressure on the Olympia City Council.   The council needs to understand that history is just as important as some of the projects it currently funds.

Have you notice a change in “The Olympian’s” editorial bent?   When George LeMasurier was working as the editorial page editor, the paper had a significant number of editorials on downtown Olympia.   Since Brad Shannon has taken over as editorial page editor, a significant number of editorials concerning the state legislature or legislative action has graced the pages of the paper.   That seems to follow, since Shannon covered the statehouse and state issues for the paper for many years.   I actually like the paper’s emphasis on state government.   The former bent towards downtown Olympia was becoming a little too predictable.

Speaking of “The Olympian”, a replacement for LeMasurier as publisher has still not been announced.   I’m certain that the paper will never again have its own publisher, but will share publishers with “The Tacoma News Tribune” its sister paper.  “The Olympian” has however, received a new executive editor.   Actually, she’s a retread.   It’s Dusti Demarest, who served as editor of the paper in the 90’s.    Titles, positions and job duties continue to morph and change at the newspaper in the last decade.   I’m not certain who does what – or what someone does – and titles don’t seem to mean much.  But I’m certain Demarest won’t change things much.