Letters to the editor for July 2

Amanda Park Library distortions

I felt like I was reading political commentary needing fact checking in the article on potentially closing the Amanda Park Timberland library.

Timberland officials said that 89 people is all the library serves. But the K-12 school alone has 200 students. The library serves over 800 residents.

Timberland’s website says the library earned Washington state and national awards for its unique design. However there were two major constructions flaws.

The article states $2 million has been spent since 2016. Most of that was to correct the two construction flaws. Treated lumber was not used for the posts supporting the elevated building and the entire rotting post foundation had to be replaced. The sole 50-foot ramp entrance was too steep and didn’t meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards and had to be rebuilt.

To move the building to Randle as proposed, it will need to be separated into four pieces. Operations director Brenda Lane “estimated that cost at between $200,000 and $250,000.” Remember that poor estimate.

Numbers were reported saying book checkouts were down and downloadable checkouts have increased. But the Timberland system has a home library for each book. The AP library reopened after COVID with half the number of books it used to have, but the same books you’ve seen for years.

Libraries are pillars of a community. Base your decision on true facts, not misleading sound bites.

Charles McDonnell, Quinault

Breaking down employment barriers

A recent Olympian article reminds us that voters have no shortage of choice when it comes to local elections in 2023. But don’t let long lists of candidates deter you from taking a chance on a candidate you may not know.

Jess Tourtellotte-Palumbo is an experienced employment counselor and trustee of the Olympia Education Foundation who has spent her career expanding opportunities for people with disabilities. She’s running for a seat on the Olympia School Board because she knows we need to do a better job bridging the gap between resources offered by K-12 and those offered by colleges like Evergreen, where she currently works.

Across the country, colleges and universities are starting to wake up to the fact that students who have been shut out of the workforce urgently need basic life skills training. Jess’s platform is built around making equity a reality by providing these kinds of tangible, transformative benefits.

One of the reasons we are failing to provide those benefits is because the key players haven’t figured out how to work together. Jess has a road map for building the necessary coalition and is committed to turning that vision into reality.

Let’s stop complaining about how “no one wants to work anymore” and figure out how to eliminate the barriers that prevent those who want and need to work from contributing to our economy.

Elizabeth Williamson, Olympia

Thurston Community Media is an important resource

In a partnership that has lasted more than 30 years, the League of Women Voters of Thurston County (LWVTC) just completed non-partisan primary election candidate forums with critical support from Thurston Community Media (TCMedia). Come fall, we’ll go through the same process with general election forums, with the goal of providing voters with the information they need to be well informed when they fill out their ballots.

Thurston’s non-profit local access television station, TCMedia, partners with LWVTC at every step of the forum process, from studio set-up and sound checks to producing, recording, and broadcasting the programs. Hit with COVID pandemic lock-down, TCMedia pivoted quickly, making it possible for the Thurston League to do candidate forums electronically.

There’s more, much more. TCMedia also manages public, educational, and governmental access resources and develops educational and governmental access programming for Thurston County. It also provides video production workshops and summer camps through its “Young Producers Network” program and training scholarships. For the general election, TCMedia offers all candidates an opportunity to be in its “Video Voter’s Guide.”

A recent study by the LWV of Washington found that without local news sources, fewer candidates ran for office, voter turnout decreased, there was an increase in mis- and dis-information, and government costs were higher. Please join us in our appreciation for TCMedia for the role it plays in protecting precious democratic processes in Thurston County.

Darlene Hein, President, LWVTC