Letter writers push for regional solution to derelict brewery, object to July 4th explosives

Olympia Brewery – again

The Olympia Brewery mess makes the headlines again. This derelict group of structures, once a symbol of pride, that sits adjacent to the entrance to our community and to the Salish Sea beyond — think 75,000 plus vehicles per day — deserves better.

There are 300,000 folks living in the immediate community, those 300,000 folks are organized into seven cities, one county and one port district. Some how we all expect the 26,000 folks that call Tumwater home and their seven city council members to solve this problem for the rest of us.

The brewery site is a regional asset and hence a regional responsibility. The entire brewery site with its water rights, historical structures, river frontage, wildlife habitat, railroad access, industrial space, tourist attraction and recreational opportunities could have been purchased 21 years ago for about what was eventually paid for just the water rights. The lack of community leadership decided to instead rely on private developers to lead the way.

The track record for private development of this site includes financial scams, bankruptcies, chemical spills, fires, and continued deterioration with no hope for change.

It is time for the Thurston County Commissioners, the Port of Olympia Commissioners and the city councils of Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater to recognize that the responsibility for this regional asset requires us all to work together. Other communities across the nation have worked together to solve bigger problems. Our local communities are too intertwined for any one of us to go it alone.

Rob Kirkwood, Olympia, Old Brewhouse Foundation

A blind eye to blight

When I walk or drive by the ugly scene that was once the Olympia Brewery, I’m amazed anew. Here beside the lovely Deschutes River and bordered by the beautiful Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls sprawls breathtaking urban blight that just gets worse. Yet, year after year, nothing is done. Too expensive, too complicated, too hard, government inaction seems to say.

Here’s a thought. Might Tumwater, Olympia, and the state of Washington, all stakeholders in the problem, get together and see it as an opportunity? A government coalition formed to write and fund a plan to raze and renew this sensitive riparian land? Maybe extend the Tumwater falls park? Recently things only got worse when the shabby, shuttered South Pacific restaurant, which abuts the charred, broken-windowed acreage, burned.

Turning a blind eye is no way to govern. Take a lesson from Detroit. With the right leadership, we can banish urban blight here too.

Hal Spencer, Olympia

Fireworks overload

I have always loved fireworks.

Unfortunately, since moving to Grand Mound, I find the need to become an advocate for stricter enforcement of fireworks restrictions.

Here’s why: Somehow, my neighbors have access to bomb-like explosives that rattle and shake homes, damage ear drums, and terrify pets and livestock.

For three nights in July, then again on New Year’s Eve, my home is locked in what sounds and looks like a war zone, as discourteous neighbors light off round after round of these incendiary devices which are neither festive nor fun.

It would be easier to overlook if revelers limited the hours of explosions, or the number of them; unfortunately, these ear-splitting sounds go on for hours at a time.

As I said, I love firework displays, but excruciatingly loud explosives have no place in residential neighborhoods.

Virginia Schnabel, Grand Mound