Sound Neighbors Episode 1: Two Sides, One Community

Tyler: Welcome to the Sound Neighbors Podcast, episode 1. This is our Sunday edition, for South Bay and Johnson Point. I'm Tyler.

Jean: And I'm Jean. This is our week-ahead show, so grab your calendar. Everything we mention is on the Town Square calendar at sound neighbors dot com.

Tyler: In this episode: a quick look back, a packed week of concerts, a salmon bar crawl and a haunted history walk, and two measures on your ballot, where Jean and I are going to take opposite sides. Let's get into it.

Jean: First, the week in about a minute. Ballots went out Thursday, more than two hundred five thousand of them across Thurston County.

Tyler: Near Johnson Point, deputies arrested two men after the same home was burglarized twice. The second time, security cameras the homeowner had just installed caught two vehicles and a suspect, and deputies recovered about thirty-three thousand dollars in stolen property.

Jean: Olympia approved a seventeen-point-seven-million-dollar contract to build the first phase of Jolene Unsoeld Community Park on Yelm Highway. And flu activity in the county is low right now.

Tyler: The thing that stuck with me all week is that burglary. The cameras only went up after the first break-in.

Jean: And that footage basically handed deputies the case. It doesn't have to be fancy, either. A doorbell camera, a motion light, and actually locking the shed.

Tyler: Out on the point, a lot of us still leave stuff open. I'm including myself in that.

Jean: Me too. Okay, this week I'm locking the shed. Now, the calendar.

Jean: Monday is Indigenous Peoples Day. Olympia and the Squaxin Island Tribe are hosting a free celebration at Squaxin Park on East Bay Drive, from eleven-thirty to two-thirty. Tribal members will dance, sing, speak, and share stories. Parking is limited, so there's a free shuttle every thirty minutes, starting at eleven, from the Farmers Market lot.

Tyler: That's a great one for kids. And honestly, the shuttle is the way to go. Squaxin Park parking on a nice day is rough.

Jean: Agreed. Organizers are also asking people to walk, bike, carpool, or take transit if they can.

Tyler: Monday night, the Timberline choir performs at seven at the Koval Center in Lacey, on Sixth Avenue Northeast. It's the first of three straight nights of school music there.

Jean: Love that. Drivers, one more Monday note. Concrete work on I-5 between Lacey and DuPont is expected to move to the southbound lanes. Ramp closures run about seven p.m. to five a.m. Monday through Wednesday, and longer Thursday and Friday nights. The Marvin Road on-ramp and both Martin Way East exits are on the list, and the speed limit drops to forty-five in the work zone.

Tyler: And speed cameras may be on. So if you're heading south late, give yourself time and ease off the gas.

Tyler: Tuesday, the North Thurston High orchestra plays at seven at the Koval Center. The North Thurston school board meets from six to eight at Evergreen Forest Elementary on Marvin Road, with public comment open. And the Port of Olympia Commission meets at four.

Jean: For the sports fans, Timberline volleyball is nine and oh, and they play at Peninsula on Tuesday. Last week they beat North Thurston for the first time since 2017, and Kinley Smith had thirty-nine kills.

Tyler: Okay, quick time-out for anyone who doesn't follow volleyball. What's a kill?

Jean: A kill is an attack, usually a hard spike, that the other team can't return. So it wins the point right there.

Tyler: So thirty-nine kills means she ended thirty-nine rallies by herself.

Jean: Pretty much. That's a big night by anyone's standard.

Tyler: Then I'll be watching Tuesday's score.

Jean: Wednesday night at seven, the Washington Center has ABRA Cadabra, an ABBA tribute show. Tickets run fifty-seven to seventy-seven dollars. If you'd rather stay close and free, the Aspire choir has an informance at the Koval Center, also at seven. And Saint Michael Parish holds its weekly Wednesdays at the Well series.

Tyler: I respect anyone who sings along to "Mamma Mia" with a few hundred strangers on a Wednesday.

Jean: Count me in.

Tyler: Wednesday is also an election date. The county's main voting center, at the Elections Division in Tumwater, opens October fourteenth. That's where you can vote in person, get a replacement ballot, or register. Weekday hours are eight to four-thirty.

Jean: And Thursday is the day to check your mailbox. If your ballot hasn't arrived by Thursday, October fifteenth, call Elections at three six oh, seven eight six, five four oh eight.

Tyler: That's three six oh, seven eight six, five four oh eight. Thursday also kicks off the weekend run of live music at the Farmers Market on Capitol Way, eleven to two, Thursday through Sunday.

Jean: Quick note before the ballot talk. Sound Neighbors is free, and it runs on Value for Value. If this calendar saves you some time, you can give back. Just email hello at sound neighbors dot com. More on that at the end.

Tyler: Okay, the ballot. Here's the first measure, straight. Lacey Fire District 3's Proposition 1 would let the district issue up to ninety-eight point three million dollars in bonds. The money would pay for a relocated Station 32, a new Station 36 in Hawks Prairie north of I-5, a regional live-fire training facility, and a logistics warehouse. The district estimates the cost at twenty-two to twenty-five cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. On a five-hundred-thousand-dollar home, that's about eight to eleven dollars a month.

Jean: So, we said we'd take sides. Tyler, you're for it?

Tyler: I'm leaning yes. Hawks Prairie has grown a lot, and a new station north of I-5 means a station where the people are. For roughly eight to eleven dollars a month on a typical home, that seems like a reasonable price for faster help on the worst day of someone's life.

Jean: That's a fair point, and I don't disagree about the station. My hesitation is the total. Ninety-eight million is a lot of money, and it's not just stations. It also covers a training facility and a warehouse, and I'd want to understand why those need to be in the same bond.

Tyler: That's reasonable. My take is, firefighters have to train somewhere, and equipment has to be stored somewhere. But I get wanting to see the case for each piece.

Jean: And it's not the only thing on the ballot asking for money. Eight to eleven a month adds up when you stack it with other measures.

Tyler: That's true. I think we both agree the new station makes sense, and we land in different places on the full package.

Jean: Exactly. And I'd say, read the district's project list and cost estimates, they're linked in our story, and decide for yourself.

Jean: The second measure, straight. Timberland Regional Library's Proposition 1 is a levy lid lift. If it passes, the library's property tax rate goes from twenty-two cents to thirty-five cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. The library estimates Thurston County homeowners would pay about sixty-nine dollars more a year, and the city says it would raise about fourteen million dollars in the first year. The money would restore staffing, extend hours, cut wait times on popular titles, and catch up on deferred maintenance. The twenty-nine-library system faces a three-point-eight-million-dollar shortfall. The Olympia City Council voted to support it.

Tyler: And this time, we flip. Jean, you're for this one.

Jean: I am. Sixty-nine dollars a year is less than six dollars a month. For that, you get libraries open more hours, more staff, and shorter wait lists. And with a three-point-eight-million-dollar gap, the alternative is probably fewer hours, not more.

Tyler: I hear that, and I love the library. My concern is the size of the jump. Going from twenty-two to thirty-five cents is a rate increase of almost sixty percent. That's a big step in one go.

Jean: That's a fair way to look at it. In dollars, it's modest. As a percentage, it's big. Both are true.

Tyler: Right. And it lands on the same ballot as the fire bond, so for some families it's the total that matters.

Jean: Which is the same point I made about the fire bond, so I can't really argue with you there.

Tyler: There you go. I'd say we both want the libraries healthy. We just weigh the cost a little differently.

Jean: And that's okay. That's what the ballot's for.

Tyler: Back to the fun stuff. Friday, you've got three options. The Puget Sound Estuarium is hosting a salmon-themed bar crawl called "Swim, Sip, Survive," starting at five-thirty at three oh nine State Avenue Northeast. There's an Olympia History and Haunted Walking Tour at six. And comedian Gary Gulman is at the Capitol Theater at eight.

Jean: Salmon, ghosts, or stand-up. I love that's an actual choice.

Tyler: I'd do the haunted walk. Bring a jacket.

Jean: Saturday night, the Washington Center has "The Happiest Concert on Earth," a Disney tribute benefit, at seven. And The Crypt on Fourth Avenue has Fern Spores with OK Tiger and Fox and Bones at eight. Tickets are twelve dollars.

Tyler: Harlequin Productions has Sanctuary City and Our Town running at the State Theater through the twenty-fifth. Showtimes vary. And next Sunday, the eighteenth, the Olympia Film Society Kids Club movie is at the Capitol Theater at one, free for kids twelve and under.

Jean: Movie, then a market lunch. That's a solid Sunday. And the bulletin board always says it: confirm with the organizer before you go.

Jean: One more item where you might hear two sides. City of Olympia staff are proposing utility rate increases: four and a half percent for drinking water, six and a half for waste, eight point seven for stormwater, and nine and a half for wastewater. That's about nineteen dollars and fifty-one cents more on the average bimonthly bill, or roughly five and a half percent overall. The public hearing is October twenty-seventh. This only applies to City of Olympia utility customers.

Tyler: I'll take the skeptical side on this one. Nineteen fifty every two months is real money for a lot of households, especially on top of everything else on the ballot.

Jean: That's fair. I'd push back a little, though. Water, sewer, and stormwater systems are expensive to keep running, and the overall increase is about five and a half percent. I'd want to hear the city's reasons at the hearing before saying no.

Tyler: That's reasonable. I'd want to hear them too. Maybe the takeaway is the same either way: show up on the twenty-seventh, or send a comment.

Jean: Agreed. And thanks for keeping it friendly, partner.

Tyler: Always.

Tyler: A few dates further out. On October twentieth, the county commissioners take public comment at three-thirty at the Courthouse Atrium on a proposed Thurston Conservation District rates and charges system. The same evening, Timberline High hosts a Military Family Game Night with crafts, five-thirty to seven.

Jean: The Chinook Middle School band plays on the twenty-second. The Nisqually Reach Nature Center has an illustrated nature journal workshop on the twenty-fifth. And there's no school in North Thurston on October twenty-ninth and thirtieth, for conferences.

Tyler: And music fans, the Olympia Symphony plays November eighth at Capital High, and Seattle Pro Musica has a free concert at Saint John's Episcopal on November twenty-second.

Jean: And that's your week. Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with us. This is Sound Neighbors Newsletter, South Bay and Johnson Point Edition. Hyperlocal news for the South Sound community.

Tyler: Now the full Value for Value details. The news is free, no paywall, ever. If you got value from it, give back in whatever way fits you.

Jean: Give your time: send us tips, events, yard sales, and block parties, and we'll put them on the calendar. Share your talent: photos, a story, or a helping hand.

Tyler: Or give your treasure. A donation of any size helps pay for the reporting, the podcast, and the website. Online giving is coming soon. For now, email hello at sound neighbors dot com, and we'll help you give.

Jean: And we especially want to hear from Johnson Point, Boston Harbor, and Hawks Prairie. There's a Post Your Event button on the bulletin board page, and it's free.

Tyler: The full calendar is at sound neighbors dot com. I'm Tyler.

Jean: And I'm Jean. Have a great week, neighbors, and be kind to each other, even when you disagree.