Olympia Bulletin

(Olympia, WA) – The Olympia Chamber of Commerce is a cheap and sleazy place. This is because they don’t believe working people deserve a living wage. As a nation, in 2010, we have come to realize that: low wages = shabby America.

Incentives are needed in the modern 21st century workplace. Things like good pay and worker health care. High wages puts more money out there for people to spend on stuff and can improve our overall quality of life.

Recognizing the blight of low wage work, some local municipalities have enacted their own progressive living wage laws, including Bellingham, WA and San Francisco, CA. Could Olympia, as well, take the lead in providing a local living wage?

Low Wages, corruption, cheap employers, and bad planning lead to a diminished quality of life for Thurston County residents.

Company officials called the year “disappointing.”

“The weak housing market continues to present challenges and affect our financial performance. 2009 has been another tough year and our financial results are disappointing,” said Dan Fulton, president and CEO, in a statement.

http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/02/01/daily44.html

(Olympia, WA) – New study shows stagnating and declining retail & food service wages in Olympia’s urban core. Olympia Families unable to depend on Downtown Olympia for stable employment have been forced to relocate to other places, encouraging sprawl and auto commutes. Thurston County Democrats and Thurston County Chamber of Commerce faulted for incompetence (and greed) on Family Wage Issue.

(Olympia, WA) – Illegal (and tasteless) political campaigning by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (D). Washington 3rd Congressional District (WA-3) residents say ‘no’ to illegal Dennis Heck (D) campaign, and await public apology from Governor Gregoire for embarrassing the People of Washington with Cheap Political Scandals.

The financial outlook for Q4 of 2009 and beyond is not looking so sharp as traditional media — especially newspapers — are expected to suffer from an economic downturn despite easing comparisons.

Standard & Poor’s latest media and entertainment scorecard forecasts newspapers may be nearing the bottom, but will likely stay there.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004061538

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8479404.stm

(Olympia, WA) – Public Meetings and Transparency in Olympia. New Olympia City Council approves enhanced public meetings policy, ushering in a new era of civic involvement (and direct democracy) in Olympia.

Rumors of bankruptcy by Thurston County developer Triway Enterprises doggedly persist, amid climbing local tax debt. Larida Passage put in doubt.

The Olympia City Council last year considered dismissing Triway’s local tax debt, but was forced to reconsider after allegations of “cronyism” between Olympia’s Mayor and Commercial Real Estate developers became public.