Community Issues — Evergreen Growing

Community Iceberg Canvas

See the system beneath the surface

Most of what is broken in Washington is not visible on the surface. The iceberg canvas helps us see deeper — from the events we witness, down to the patterns beneath them, and the root causes below that. Add your observations. Every column is an issue category. Every layer goes deeper. New notes appear for everyone.

🏠 Affordability

⚖️ Accountability

🚑 Public Safety

🏫 Education

🗳️ Other

Surface — Events we can see What is visibly happening right now?

First-time homebuyers in Washington average 40 years old.

Young people telling parents there's no path to staying here.

Judges retire early; governor appoints replacements who run as incumbents.

People dying on Olympia's streets.

Downtown businesses report feeling unsafe.

Evergreen pool closed June 2026 — the only Olympic-size pool south of Federal Way.

Theatre department cut. Box office now directs to parking payments.

Patterns — What keeps happening Why does this repeat? What are the recurring dynamics?

Budget discussions favour new taxes over hard efficiency choices when one party controls the room.

Boards and commissions stacked with one worldview — dissent treated as obstruction, not information.

Response shaped by ideology rather than evidence of what works.

630+ pages of public records show unverifiable cost figures used to justify decisions already made.

Root causes — What is driving this What structures, incentives, or assumptions make this happen?

When power concentrates, accountability depends on the goodwill of those being overseen.

What Can Be — Community Wall

What would balance look like?

This is the third chapter. Not just what is wrong, but what you want instead. What does a balanced Washington look and feel like on this issue? Pin your vision to the wall.

🏠 AffordabilityWashington where a 25-year-old can afford to rent near where they grew up and still have money left over.

⚖️ AccountabilityBoards that reflect the community they serve, not just whoever was in power when the seats were filled.

🚑 Public SafetyA homelessness response built on what the evidence says works, not what fits a political story.

🏫 EducationEvergreen restored to its founding purpose — a campus that is alive, that trains the next generation of leaders.

🏠 AffordabilityA budget process where hard choices are actually made, not just deferred to the next tax.

🗳️ Something ElseA Washington where the people asking hard questions get real answers.

Add your vision to the wall

Share Your Voice

Tell us what you are seeing

The iceberg notes and wall are for quick observations. This form is for your full story — what you are experiencing, what patterns you see, what you want Washington to hear. Every submission is reviewed. The issues raised most often shape what Evergreen Growing focuses on next.

Issue category (required)

Your name (optional)

Neighborhood / area (optional)

Your connection to this issue (optional)

Your voice (required)

I would like my submission to remain anonymous. My identity will never be shared without my explicit consent.

Your email (optional — so we can reply)

All submissions are reviewed before publishing. Anonymous submissions are treated with the same care as named ones. This is not a campaign form — it is a community listening tool.

What happens with your submission

Submissions are reviewed regularly. As patterns emerge across the community, the issues raised most often will shape what Evergreen Growing investigates next — following the same method that produced two published op-eds and 630+ pages of forensic analysis on the Evergreen State College. Nothing you add here disappears into a void: see What We're Hearing for the current summary of themes, and You Said → We Did for feedback that has already led to action — because the point of all of this is proving that what neighbors do together changes things. Read the Evergreen story →