Olympia CNA Meeting
August 13, 2023
6:00 p.m. to socialize
6:30 p.m. to start the meeting
Larry Dzieza’s Residence, with him providing snacks and shade
Attending: John Saunders and Gerard Apple, South Capitol NA; Michael Maile, Jill Ivie and Robert Vanderpool, SWONA; Lauren Thompson and Judy Bardin, NWONA; John Newman and Lisa Riener, Burbank/Elliot NA; Dave Marty, Indian Creek NA; Karen Sweeney, Eastside NA; Bob Jacobs, Gov. Stevens NA; Mike Ruth, Canterbury NA; Larry Dzieza, Nottingham NA; Charlotte Persons, Bigelow NA; Clark Gilman, Olympia City Council; Sam Costello, Deputy Chief Olympia Police Department
Icebreaker – What are three must-see places when you have first-time visitors to Olympia?
1. Neighborhood Reports
– Jerry Apple, South Capitol NA – The NA has 600 households. Their annual picnic will be August 27, 4–8 p.m.
– John Saunders, South Capitol NA – Today from 7 to 8:30 p.m. his group will be tracking car speeds on Capitol Way, which has a speed limit of 25 mph. In conjunction with the police, the group is tracking cars going over 10 mph over the posted limit for a baseline of data. The police will send a letter to those offenders as well. The city police were also an enormous help at the very crowded Halloween event.
– Jill Ivie, SWONA – Their block party was yesterday with generous help from the Trinity Lutheran Church, which supplied chairs and tables. Percival Street is being used as a shortcut, which increases traffic and traffic speed on this narrow residential street. The neighborhood is petitioning the city for one more stop sign.
–Lauren Thompson, NWONA – Their block party will be on Aug. 26th. They have had more activity at the Northwest Volunteer Park, a community garden, with restoration of park features and removal of invasive blackberry bushes.
– Lisa Riener, Burbank/Elliott NA—Burbank Park has become a drug hangout. Their neighborhood association meeting will be in September. There is construction at the roundabout and for a sidewalk.
Pause in Neighborhood Reports:
Sam Costello, Deputy Chief of Olympia Police Department – He dropped in because he saw the CNA Meeting sign and lives across the street from Larry Dzieza. To summarize, he acknowledged that citizens and neighborhood associations have many traffic violation complaints. However, because the department is low in staffing (down three police), they are not able to do traffic patrol. The police are focusing on foot and bicycle patrols downtown. It has been a rough three years for the police –Covid shutdown restrictions and staff absences, Capitol campus demonstrations, staff shortages and turnover, etc. Rebekah Ziesmemer is a good resource for neighborhood associations to contact.
Neighborhood Reports, continued:
– Bob Jones, Gov. Stephens NA—In the interest of getting us back on the agenda’s schedule, he gave no report.
– David Marty, Indian Creek NA—Their annual meeting/barbecue will be next month.
– Karen Sweeney, Eastside NA—Their annual picnic will be Saturday at Lions Park. They will have an apple press for cider making on September 30. People will have to sign up for time slots. The Eastside neighborhood’s talent show will be October 14. People should contact Roger Horn if they are interested in performing or helping with the performance.
– Charlotte Persons, Bigelow NA – The annual picnic was on August 8. On August 26, Bigelow House Museum will host an event with the LWVTC to celebrate Equality Day, the date in 1920 when the 19th Amendment was signed, giving the vote to most women in the United States. At 11:00 there is a neighborhood historic tour and later there will be a free tour of the museum.
– Larry Dzieza, Nottingham NA—Their annual picnic was on August 1, National Night Out. Police and city council members attended. They had a successful and fun best pie contest.
– Mike Ruth, Canterbury NA—He has been heading the project for statistical GIS for neighborhoods. Robert Vanderpool is also helping with this project.
– Dave Marty, ICNA—He has been working on a website for Recognized Neighborhood Associations. Neighborhoods will be able to post information there.
2. Olympia City Councilmember Update—Clark Gilman—He appreciates the community speaking up on the need for sidewalks and traffic calming features. On September 30 the Intercity Transit bus system will be at 88% of the schedule prior to the Covid shutdown, with many buses arriving every 15 minutes and more evening service on bus routes.
3. Sidewalk Funding Update from Olympia City Council ‘s Finance Committee Meeting—Larry Dzieza–See handout appended to these minutes. In summary, in response to the staff presentation on July 19th on shortfall for all transportation projects, the city council voted to adopt a 1% sales tax increase (to total of 9.6%) as part of the 2024 budget process. However, only a small portion might go to sidewalks, and it is not clear how neighborhoods outside of downtown or major project areas such as Fones Road will benefit. It is encouraging that three council members spoke in favor of multimodal transportation.
4. Discussion: Maps with Facts and Feelings: Baseline GIS data sets and Walking Maps—Larry Dzieza. Mike Ruth and Robert Vanderpool were to present but had to leave as the meeting agenda time was running late. See the handout of suggested Base Level Data Elements for RNA-GIS, compiled by Larry Dzieza, John Saunders, Judy Bardin, Bob Jacobs and Terri Allen.
Two suggestions in the meeting discussion were to add wildlife habitat and racial distribution. Larry also distributed copies of Olympia Northeast Neighborhood Associations’ Walking Map, created by Tom Boucher. The latter map demonstrates places in neighborhoods about which residents have strong feelings, sometimes based on neighborhood history.
4. Tim’s Report on Development—Tim Smith was unable to attend but sent many handouts.
5. Updates:
- Website Grant Planning– see update earlier by Dave Marty during neighborhood reports.
- Candidate Questionnaire– We agreed at an earlier meeting to use the questions from the last election. Now that the primary elections are over, Larry will distribute the questionnaire to the candidates for the November election.
- Habitat for Humanity Project at 3600 Boulevard – Modifications have been made to the original proposal based on citizen and city staff input.
Upcoming Events
- 10/24 MOU Status – Full City Council study session
- 8/15 City Council – Rental Housing Registration Proposal
- 9/20 Finance Transportation Revenue continued
- 9/23 Land Use & Environment –Neighborhood Centers Report
- 10/26 Land Use & Environment—Comp Plan Update and Zoning Changes to address housing
- Sidewalk Quarterly Forum – Tim Smith is following up on this
–Judy Bardin, regarding the status of the Oly CNA MOU city council study session on October 24, the MOU should include that neighborhood will be informed ASAP of proposed development in neighborhoods.
–Bob Jacobs–Regarding the Capital Facilities Plan, the city budget needs to include more funding for the impact of development. Also, the southeast UGA annexation will not pay for itself and the budget needs to include ways to fund it.
New Topic and Handout –
Larry Dzieza—Distributed a handout to start a conversation about how the NMG program can be improved. See handout on City of Olympia Neighborhood Matching Grant Program; Current challenges and some opportunities for improvement were reviewed as part of the letter from Peter Gutchen.
— Lauren Thompson suggested one more improvement that is not mentioned in the handout. Currently neighborhoods must raise the money for projects, pay for them, and then be reimbursed by the NMG. This limits neighborhoods’ ability to imagine, plan, and fund projects. In other Olympia City programs and in other cities’ neighborhood programs, money is appropriated upfront and then used by neighborhood associations for projects approved by the city. The city “claws back” excess funds that are not used. Olympia CNA could hold the funds.
–Another improvement would be if the city publicized successful NMG projects. The Oly RNA website is one place to do this, but the city has other ways to publicize projects as well.
–Clark Gilman will follow up to see how the suggested improvements to the NMG can be implemented.
Announcement: The project at Division and Elliott was funded through many grants and has been in the works for a long time.
Announcement: Dave Marty added that he is using WordPress to create a neighborhood website and will be testing it.
Minutes approval: Minutes for July 10 meeting (by Larry Dzieza) were approved.
Next month’s meeting agenda:
— Rebekah Ziesmemer will attend and answer questions.
– Olympia 2045 (the Comp Plan Update) – what is the role for Oly CNA? Also reminder to complete survey on vision and values on Engage Olympia website.
Adjourned at 8:38 p.m.
Attachment: Handout at meeting from Peter Gutchen
City of Olympia Neighborhood Matching Grant Program
Current challenges and some opportunities for improvement
August 2023
Olympia is a more beautiful, better connected, and safer place to live because of the investment the City has made in community projects through the Neighborhood Matching Grant (NMG) program.
The program has not been updated in any substantive ways to reflect changes in community challenges, priorities, and technology since it was first established in the early 1990s.
The program also represents an opportunity to more fully tap into our community’s deep reservoir of creativity, expertise, and spirit of civic engagement to address our growing list of complex and serious challenges.
To that end, below is a list of suggestions to start a conversation about how the program could be improved.
Adjust the NMG schedule to provide more time for community engagement.
The current NMG schedule provides neighborhood associations (NAs) with fewer than six months to complete their projects. For most outdoor projects, the time is even shorter. And for all projects, the time between Thanksgiving and the end of the year is usually a period during which not much can be accomplished. Neighborhoods can request extensions, but that may prevent them from applying for an NMG grant the following year. Projects in City ROW can be implemented over 1.5 year or so period. However, it can be difficult to see a project through what can be an extend period of inactivity in the late Fall and early Winter.
The current schedule also makes it difficult for neighborhoods to partner with schools on NMG projects. This is because NMG agreements are usually signed just as the school year is ending. For many projects, Spring is an ideal time to get started, and the current schedule prevents any work from being done during this period.
Here’s one possible alternative schedule to consider:
- Applications due by October 15.
- Project review and selection – by December 15.
- Agreements signed by the end of January/early February.
- Final reports due by the end of the year.
Streamline the application and reporting process
Bring the application reporting process into the digital age. The forms we are using today are almost identical to the ones being used in 2010. Developing a streamlined application and reporting process would make the program less administratively burdensome and save both the City and neighborhoods time and money. It would also allow for the collection of data to help measure the impact of the program including data on the types, costs and benefits of projects over time, among other things.
Evaluate the value of the insurance required for NMG grants
Consider alternatives to having NAs purchase their own insurance policies for projects in City ROW. NENA has been told by our insurance agent that the policy we purchase does not provide the City any meaningful protection either for neighborhoods or the City. Research how other neighborhood programs in other cities have addressed this issue.
Identify ways for youth to more easily volunteer, and for volunteers to use power tools.
The restrictions on how youth can participate in NMG projects and on the use of power equipment can significantly limit what can be accomplished on projects in City ROW. Consider alternatives to remove some of these restrictions using approaches used by the City’s Park Department and neighborhood programs in other cities.
Recognize and celebrate NMG projects
City Councilmembers and City staff have rarely visited NMG project sites or publicly recognized NMG projects. This could include posting project profiles on the City’s website, press releases, events at project sites, etc. This could promote more community engagement and interest in neighborhood associations and projects.
Expand the sources of funding and the types of eligible projects under the NMG programs
Projects that may have other City sources of funding are usually not eligible for NMG support. The City could instead use the NMG program as an opportunity to complement and increase the resources already appropriated to achieve priority community goals. This could include sidewalk repair, installation of curb cuts, pathway construction (even along city streets) funded in part through the in-lieu sidewalk monies paid in by builders,
Use the NMG program to launch a participatory budgeting project
The current NMG program already includes many of the elements of a successful participatory budgeting project. It is community-driven in some ways, and provides neighborhoods some voice in how City monies are spent to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. However, the restrictions on the types of projects that can be funded, and some of the other program constraints noted above have significantly limited the program’s effectiveness.
Council of Neighborhood Associations 