Yelm Mayor Ron Harding
Photo from the City of Yelm website

1. MAYOR ASKS FOR WATER CONSERVATION – WHAT ABOUT THE CITY BEING AN EXAMPLE AND SLOWING DEVELOPMENT TO CONSERVE WATER?
Mayor Harding’s byline in this week’s edtiton of the NVN titled “Getting serious about conservation (water)”
is interesting since the City of Yelm has footed the bill for a water study for the Thurston Highlands developers
without a contract with the city for repayment, interest on the loaned money or any commitment on the part of the developers.
So, Mayor Harding places the water issues here clearly on the backs of city residents, beseeching them to conserve.

After all, the city has one of its well shut due to contamination.
And, the city has accepted an appllication for a development from the Thurston Highlands developers without proof of adequate water, all along requiring all others to prove water availability BEFORE aceepting an application.
Mr. Harding, City Administrator Shelly Badger’s explanation to the NVN in answer to questions on the city’s water issues was wholly inadequate and now you write about water conservation?
So, water is definitely the citizens’ problem.
And, that is true as long as no one gets involved to demand the City of Yelm be accountable on this issue.
Badger’s comments to my letter was printed in the NVN and on the Yelm Community Blog.
scroll down to February 3, 2007

The Mayor tells us “Use water wisely.”
I say let the developer prove water BEFORE acccepting their application and pay for the aquifer study on their own dime! This issue has been raised here on the Yelm Community Blog here previously. Scroll to February 5, 2007.

While conservation is to be lauded, isn’t this coming from the Mayor a bit over the top?
Mr. Harding, “get serious about Yelm’s water”!
What about the City of Yelm getting serious about water?

2. HAS ANYONE SEEN THE NVN POLL ON CITY OF YELM GROWTH PUBLISHED?
The Nisqually Valley News ran an informal poll on growth here last February asking,
“Do you think the City of Yelm is on the right path, or wrong track, when it comes to dealing with residential and commercial growth?”
Please select one:

0 -The city is doing a great job dealing with, and planning for, growth

0- The city is doing an OK job, but could do better

0- The city is keeping up, but isn’t doing much planning

0- There is no planning

0- The city is doing a flat out lousy job”

At the time of this writing, 53% of those respondents said, “The city is doing a flat out lousy job.”

Did anyone ever see the published results?
NVN, did you report on your poll?
This was listed on the Yelm Community Blog .
Scroll to February 13, 2007
HMMM!

3.STATE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RETIRING – HIS IDEA INSPIRED OFFER TO CITY OF YELM – CITY DECLINED
“Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald announced Friday he will resign, stepping down as the state gets ready for a pair of huge, politically touchy highway projects in the Seattle area,” quoting The Olympian

Sec. MacDonald came up with a unique offer to the State of Washington providing funds from his own pocket for a contest to garner “out-of-the-box” ideas from the public for fixing Washington State’s transportation issues:

“State Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald wants to move beyond bureaucratese … to fresh ideas for solving transportation problems and is putting up $1,000 of his own money to reach that goal. It’s called the $1,000 Doug MacDonald Challenge, sponsored by the national Transportation Research Board, an organization with the National Academy of Sciences. The idea of generating new transportation ideas from the public with a contest came to him while he was sitting around one day,” quoting the Seattle Times last September.

The exact same idea and dollar amount was offered to the Mayor and Yelm City Council on October 10th, 2006 by this writer and his wife to solicit ideas and public involvement in Yelm’s traffic issues. Not only was this idea not even considered by the Council, there was no reply from the Mayor or Council to our offer. So, this writer had to call the City Clerk to insure the contest offer was received and delivered to the Mayor and Council. It was.
See the Yelm Community Blog of October 10 & 14, 2006.

Congratulations and best wishes to Sec. MacDonald.

4. DR. BILL ELLEDGE RETIRING – YELM DOC FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS
Dr. Bill Elledge will retire from his post at Yelm Family Medicine after 28 years of service to this community. While he will still remain owner, he and his wife Cathy are moving to Olympia and Dr. Elledge will join the staff at Capital Medical Center as hospital physician.
Cathy & Bill were champions for slower growth in this town and Bill testified against the superstore at the Wal-Mart hearings in 2005. His voice of reason about the increased traffic, noise & light pollution, as well as the effect this store would have on the area’s quality of life, was noted as a highlight during those discussions by this writer.
The Elledge’s home is very near the Wal-Mart site and the soon-to be-opened store with all of these
factors he mentioned plus the ensuing development that will be approved around Yelm’s Wal-Mart are a few of the reasons contributing to their decision to leave now, I am sure.
CONGRATULATION CATHY & BILL AND BEST WISHES ON YOUR NEW ADVENTURES!
YOUR SWEET SMILES, WARM HEART & VOICES CHAMPIONING OUR TOWN WILL BE MISSED AROUND HERE.