Here it is folks, in all its Glory! The World Premiere of ArtsWalkOlympia.com.
A fully interactive map and events listings of every artist, location and event at Fall Arts Walk 2010. Amazing, and only online, and brought to you by Brandon Rosage for einmaleins MEDIA. Amazing, thank you!!

You know einmaleins as a kitchen, a lifestyle store and perhaps that store from that crazy German dude. All is correct, but just like in those infomercials I never watch un Sunday mornings “there is more”.

This week einmaleins is launching a comprehensive, or at least that’s the goal, event calendar for downtown Olympia. Everyday Olympia is happening every day! This is exciting and desperately needed for our downtown neighborhood.

… and the One Eyed Crab in Westport, WA has restored my faith in it!

Here is the deal, folks. I grew up landlocked, far way from any serious watersource. Seafood was essentially fish-fingers and other previously frozen, cut into weird shaped, white pieces of flakey something. Then there was Nordsee, and I still dream about it, but this is for another column, because my wife makes fun of me for liking Nordsee.

So anyway. Seafood is something fairly new to me. Fresh, just-caught fish and shellfish is terrific, and the Pacific Northwest is a premier spot in the world to have some excellent seafood, or is it?

There sure are terrific places in the area for seafood. Expensive restaurants serving it the way it should be served. But seafood is so close, why should it be expensive? There are the vacation spots, Ocean Shores, Port Townsend, places we go to enjoy the weekend and eat out, overlooking the water, expecting spectacular seafood. But far from it. Deepfried sameness, oversized boredom. I rather take a picnic then eat out along any of the typical vacation spots along the Pacific Northwest Coast.

But! Yesterday we went to the One Eyed Crab in Westport, WA. Along the main stretch at the harbor where all the carter boats dock, is a newish, smaller place that is fantastic. Amazing chowders, great calamari, which I truly enjoyed after Paul predicted Spain over Germany in the semifinals, and other great seafood dishes. We got takeout, but the place looked upbeat and fun.

Definitely worth a trip and a destination when heading to the coast.

And it certainly restored my faith in good seafood on the Pacific Coast.

“When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there.”

Interesting notion. Especially in the context of my latest post on EDO. This obviously breaks with the basic idea of the saying but we live in a new world and the sayings of old might not apply anymore.

Wow, I hope every Olympian and especially every City Council member reads this amazing piece in the Seattle Times about Bothell, WA’s plan for the future.
I took liberty to paste the most of the article below, but want to make sure full credit goes to Lance Dickie writing for the Seattle Times. (Bolding by me with a little explaination below, check the numbers!)

For all of the creative urban planning, cautious financing and bold leadership behind Bothell’s $150 million redevelopment vision, the most amazing feature might be the community support it enjoys.

OK, the most stunning product of five years of work and review by City Hall and citizen panels is a shared goal and definable path. For process-paralyzed Puget Sound governance(1), that is the topper.

Bothell looks to reinvigorate itself by building on the strengths it already enjoys: a growing, economically stable population of 32,000, strong neighborhoods, an employment base grounded in biotechnology and telecommunications, and local higher-education ties to nurture.

The latest flurry came as the Bothell City Council voted to proceed with the sale of 5.41 acres in the heart of the city to McMenamins, an Oregon-based enterprise of brew pubs and hotels (2).

The family-owned business will turn the Anderson School Building into a 70-room hotel with abundant amenities to complement and inspire the city’s redevelopment vision (3).

…

…

The recent Tuesday evening the council voted to proceed with the McMenamins deal, the mood was almost giddy (4). Speaker after speaker representing the Chamber of Commerce, civic groups, historic-preservation advocates, the University of Washington-Bothell campus and area residents expressed their delight.

Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb and City Manager Robert Stowe have been in the middle of a revitalization effort that is energized by the commitment of a destination hotel and preservation triumph, but the plan is infinitely more ambitious (5).

…

A new civic campus will not only house a new City Hall, but also mix housing and retail. The Park at Bothell Landing will be remade, expanded and connected to the downtown. Playgrounds, bikes and boat rentals — all the fun stuff (6).

…

All the projects create an estimated 8,400 construction jobs and 1,367 permanent positions (7).

One lure for investors is that the environmental paperwork is done. Developers who share the city’s vision, such as McMenamins, can get started (8).

The depth of community support (9) was confirmed by a Monday walking tour of Main Street, and chats with Paul Desilet of Paul Richards Clothing Store, Jared Holman of Bothell Furniture, and Leida Kaskes of Hillcrest Bakery. Each acknowledged wisps of nervousness about the details; timing, traffic and such. But the big plan, and its pieces, delighted them. All welcome more people and more retail to downtown Bothell.

Desilet said that never in 41 years of business has he heard a majority of people so excited (10). Quibbles about a streetlight here or there, but the bigger vision stirs excitement.

…

Wow, people. This is amazing… can you really believe it? Sure, snarky as we all are, it’s now important to point out the flip side of the coin. But before you start gathering signatures read the whole article and take a deep breath.

Here are some thoughts:

(1) – And we thought we were all that unique.

(2) -What I am saying since years. We need someone to come to our downtown with some serious cash. Wonderful!

(3) – “inspire” “city” “vision” in one sentence. How about something like that, instead of “alcohol impact zones” and “goodbye free parking”. We’re not in Detroit.

(4) – “giddy” and about something positive. Not about arresting council members…

(5) – “ambitious” would love to add this word to our city’s vocabulary.

(6) – Public space considered and included! Developers are not all Evil.

(7) – “permanent positions” that are not State Jobs. How that would transform our City.

(8) – “can get started” instead of 5-10 year evaluation period. Sounds good to me.

(9) – “Depth of community support”. Heard that one before?

(10) – People being excited about the city moving forward – what a thought!

So, there you have it Olympia. Let’s get on it. I will send a link to this article to the City Council members and hope you will to.

Downtown Together meets every two weeks – let’s meet and get started! And be sure to sign up for our email newsletter.