u/Post-Partisan

A Place to Go. A Place to Belong.
https://www.olympicpeninsulaymca.org/MS-Initiative

Research shows that Middle School is a critical time in a young person's life when exposure to risk factors greatly increases. Risk factors are conditions or influences that have been shown to increase the likelihood for unhealthy behaviors including substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school drop out and violence. It is also during the early teen years that youth begin to distance themselves from family and positive support. 

The Y will make accessible the support and opportunities that empower these youth to reach their personal potential. It will also provide youth with the knowledge, skills, character and passion to be more active in the community as adults.

https://results.votewa.gov/results/public/clallam-county-wa/elections/20260804

I complained to the city of PA about the trash/recycling/yard waste disposal and bins rates for alternate weeks service that cost 3 times what I paid before moving here for weekly service, plus the problem with no place in central PA to take glass items for those of us who can't get to the two recycling lots elsewhere. Bruce Dorcy, Solid Waste Superintendent, responded with courtesy and a clear and detailed explanation of the reasons for the rates:

RATES
"I know that garbage pickup rates are fairly high in the city of Port Angeles, and I wish that wasn’t the case. Those rates are set by City Council based on the costs that are incurred in handling and transporting that waste to either the landfill in the case of garbage, or to a recycler. There are no longer any landfills on the Olympic Peninsula, as they have all been shut down by the Washington Department of Ecology.

"So, all of our trash must be trucked clear to Centralia (approximately two and a half hours) and then put on a train and taken to a landfill in Roosevelt, Washington. Also, since there are no recyclers out here on the peninsula, all our recycling, including glass, must be trucked to Seattle to recyclers. These transportation costs are very high in comparison to other locations in the state. We do strive to keep our rates as low as we possibly can, and I am happy that the garbage pickup rates in Port Angeles are lower than the rates in Sequim."

 GLASS
"The decision to not have the additional drop boxes in town has come from the Director of Public Works. It is my understanding that this is a cost cutting measure to try to keep our rates as low as we can, again since recycling is such a huge net loss for the city since our transportation costs are so high since we must haul it so far.

"Glass is such an issue right now since the bottle maker in Seattle closed down. I recently learned that the recycler, which is right next door to the now closed bottle maker, is grinding the glass into cullet and having to send it to Portland by train just to get rid of it. Glass recycling is a struggle right now, but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep trying.

"As far as putting it in bags and putting it in the recycling [as some of my neighbors do], all that does is taint the whole recycling load. Please don’t do that because, as the container is dumped into the truck, the load is compacted and the glass breaks which mixes broken glass with the whole load. This can cause the whole load then to have to go in the garbage when it gets to the recycler and is a danger to the workers who have to handle it. Also, the plastic bags in the recycling get caught in the cogs of the sorting machines and cause shutdowns at times.

"I know it goes against our better nature to throw a recyclable material in the trash, sometimes it is the most practical thing to do. Glass is inert and it doesn’t give off any harmful gasses at the landfill because it decomposes so very, very slowly. It is made of sand, and it eventually just turns back into sand. And there are many counties in eastern Washington that don’t recycle glass at all because they have to haul it too far and it is so heavy."

Are you interested in attending an in-person discussion group in Port Angeles for this book? [book cover: Spiritual Ecology] 280 pages, 20 chapters.

If Yes, please REPLY to pa.earthchurch@gmail.com and state your preferences:
- Weekly, alternate weeks, or monthly?
- Location: library, cafe, park, homes.

DESCRIPTION:

"The first edition of this book fostered the emergence of the Spiritual Ecology movement, which recognizes the need for a spiritual response to our present ecological crisis. This second expanded edition offers new chapters, including two from younger authors who are putting the principles of spiritual ecology into action, working with their hands as well as their hearts.

"Updates by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee reference the publication of Pope Francis's encyclical, "On Care for Our Common Home," which brought into the mainstream the idea that the ecological crisis is essentially a spiritual problem.'"

"Essays represent perspectives from Buddhism, Sufism, Christianity, and Native American traditions, as well as from physics, deep psychology, and other environmental disciplines, this book calls on us to reassess our underlying attitudes and beliefs about the Earth and wake up to our spiritual as well as physical responsibilities toward the planet.

"Contributors include Oren Lyons, Thomas Berry, Thich Nhat Hanh, Chief Tamale Bwoya, Joanna Macy, Sandra Ingerman, Richard Rohr, Wendell Berry, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Sister Miriam MacGillis, Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Pir Zia Inayat-Kahn, Winona LaDuke, John Stanley, John Newall, Bill Plotkin, Geneen Marie Haugen, Jules Cashford, and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee."

https://preview.redd.it/ae1pkevctzfh1.png?width=379&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c34c8eefd8911130eda5646943f1bdbf45ba112

There's a new four-plex on E 6th St in PA: $1275 + utilities for 500 sq ft, billed as 1 BR.

City approved it as "affordable housing" and with no parking spaces nor outside sitting areas (except an iffy one).

I have nothing to do with it and am not promoting this (and do NOT consider it "affordable housing). I just live in the neighborhood. Maybe it will help someone. At least 1 of the 4 is already rented.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1016-E-6th-St-1-2-Pt-Angeles-WA-98362/463514645_zpid/

https://preview.redd.it/700qhv1mv9dh1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=227cfc837afcbf66d5fdd65ce4d22ac88cae3d1f

July 17th-September 13th, 2026
Entry: Free/By Donation

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center
1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd, Port Angeles
info@pafac.org

Kinship: A Collaboration With Nature invites viewers into the wonder of nature and time. Bringing together contemporary artists who work with living materials, ecological processes, and forms drawn from the natural world, this exhibition considers how nature itself becomes a collaborator in shaping artistic expression. Rather than fixed objects, the works here unfold through growth, decay, weather, and care—reminding us that living systems are always in motion.

Nature appears here as both medium and framework. Artists engage with organic structures, ecological cycles, and the quiet intelligence of living things to create works that evolve over time. Light, moisture, gravity, and growth become compositional tools, shaping forms that resist permanence and invite attention to subtle change.