The Olympia Standard

#132: Renee Fullerton and Rhyan Smith (Olympia School Board)

Erika Lari from OSD4All again takes the wheel to talk with Renee Fullerton and Rhyan Smith, who are facing off for the position in District 3 on the Olympia School Board.

#131: Gil Lamont and Emily Leddige (School Board)

Erika Lari from OSD4All rejoins the podcast to talk with Gil Lamont and Emily Leddige, who are facing off for the position in District 5 on the Olympia School Board.

#130: How cities grow and the podcast for the 2025 general election campaign

In this episode, I’m sharing a story from my blog about how neighboring cities shape each other and the surprising ways that history still affects us today. I dive into Lacey’s journey to cityhood, from its rivalry with Olympia in the 1960s over annexation and boundaries, to its push north in the 1980s to grow into undeveloped areas like Hawks Prairie. Along the way, I explore how city boundaries have never been neutral, they’ve historically shaped wealth, services, and political power, often in ways that entrench inequality. I also discuss modern implications, including Lacey’s recent studies on annexing older unincorporated neighborhoods and how financial and service considerations continue to drive decisions. And I touch on a broader idea: what if independent boards, rather than city governments themselves, managed city boundaries to focus on efficiency, equity, and community planning? Finally, I’m excited to share how the podcast is expanding to cover local school district and city council races, bringing in new voices, but the same policy-focused perspective to elections that shape our communities today.

#129: Reparations and Olympia

Olympia’s history is deep, rich and directly connected to the nation’s. We talked to Mayor Dontae Payne about this history and the city’s recent work to explore reparations for the descendants of enslaved people.

#128: Live with FC Olympia!

This week, we have the one segment we were able to get in at our live show last week! We welcomed FC Olympia (Ryan Perkins and Van Crisp) to talk about “Pro-Am” sports on the community scale, how it fits in Olympia and the future of community level clubs in our city. FC Olympia The Cooler Guild (Van’s podcast about Reign FC)