Rhenda dives into the Olympian comments, does a pretty good job

I'm always impressed by elected officials who not only participate in comment threads, but stick with it, approach it maturely and get something good out of it.

The entire thread is worth reading (start at the bottom), but here are some highlights.

Here is her eventual response to a line of questioning:

Yes, I have answers for Scott.

"Does this mean you are one of the ones who support the 50-100% tax increases on homes?"

No.

"Does this mean that you support keeping people from dividing their land as they see fit?"

Yes. I support community planning. Cities like Olympia don't just happen. They are built by people who put a lot of effort into deciding what sort of development belongs where. The alternative to planning is not just the sort of sprawl you see in LA--which many people here cite as their nightmare planning scenario--the alternative is chaos that endangers not just our quality of life but our health and safety.

"Does this mean that you support halting most construction on private lands if there is a stream nearby that theoretically could contain a salmon?"

No.

And, what her questioner had to say:

Rhenda

Thank you.
scott

Rhenda took advantage of the comment thread not to engage in a pointless back and forth, but to answer the questions that were posed to her quickly and clearly. Its a good thing to participate in comment threads, its a bad thing to get wrapped around the axle. By jumping in she was able to knock down an untruth (that she's a member of Futurewise) and get another commenter to thank her (bonus points)..

I set up Rhenda's website for her, and she's been writing on her blog semi-regularly since then. No one has come by to comment (as far as I know). This gives me hope that after she's elected, Rhenda might use her blog as a platform for conversation with Olympia citizens.