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This excellent result is partly due to the excellent coverage of this issue by the JOLT News.

Appreciation is also due to the League of Women Voters, Olympia Indivisible, Thurston County Democrats, Thurston County Republicans, and numerous civic and service clubs that invited both proponents and opponents to discuss their positions in more than a dozen major forums.

An educated public can make reasoned decisions. Voters in Olympia and Tumwater saw through the baseless rhetoric of the proponents. People were able to find the real facts by visiting the website created by local citizen Larry Dzieza, who put hundreds of hours into educating the public on the flaws of this proposal.

The Cities proceeded with this measure despite plenty of advance warning that it was flawed. They were told in no uncertain terms, before they voted to put it on the ballot, that if they did not remove the flawed "square root of the square feet" formula, and instead based the charges on the value of each property, that they would face stiff opposition. They proceeded in a bullheaded manner with a flawed proposal, and the voters gave it serious consideration.

This vote shows a very low level of citizen confidence in government. Both Cities need to do a better job involving their citizens BEFORE they take major actions, to prevent another complete blowout like this.

This "NO" vote does not solve the problems that brought this idea forward. It prevents them from getting worse by avoiding the big new fees for no new service. .

We still need to find a way to provide quality fire and emergency medical service at reasonable cost, we still need to address the fact that we are a growing and aging population with increasing medical response needs, and we still need to deal with the increasing number of people with serious drug dependence and mental health issues living on the street, in their cars, and in the woods.

Proposition 1 would not have solved any of these problems, but they are indeed problems, and we need to work together to identify solutions and find the means to implement those solutions.

I, for one, and ready to serve on a multidisciplinary committee to find solutions. I sure that others who worked on both campaigns feel the same way.

Let's move forward.