During a recent vacation, I found myself in some small communities in Eastern Washington on an economic fact-finding tour.
OK, that’s a big fib.
The facts I was searching for were pretty much limited to whether steelhead in the local rivers were interested in a Green Butt Skunk or whether I had to get more serious and tie on an Egg-sucking Leech.
But a guy’s gotta eat, so I couldn’t help noticing that a lot of downtowns east of the Cascades are in hard times. That was certainly the case in Klickitat, a tiny community with a river of the same name in southcentral Washington.
Klickitat, founded as a sawmill town in 1909, hasn’t had a mill in several years. The rows of tiny mill workers’ homes across the street from the former mill site are still clean and well-tended. But there isn’t much of a downtown business district.
I’m guessing most of the residents work in nearby Goldendale, although that community has gone through rough times with the shutdown of its aluminum smelter.
The best restaurant in Klickitat is in a tavern, although you can also buy packaged food at the gas station.
In Pateros in the apple country of northcentral Washington, things aren’t much different, although in this case the best restaurant is in the gas station. There’s another restaurant in the tavern, but you don’t want to explore the menu too deeply beyond a burger or a steak and fries.
The building that once housed a restaurant in Pateros, located where the Methow River drains into the Columbia, is empty these days. There’s a real restaurant in nearby Methow, but it’s only open a few days a week.
I mention all this because Snohomish County is similar to the state as a whole. Bigger communities on the west side along the I-5 corridor are emerging from the recession. Smaller communities based on timber or agriculture on the eastern side of the county and to the north are still struggling.
Most of our communities have real restaurants, thank goodness, but they don’t have businesses or industries that can lead them into a solid economic future.
I haven’t weighed in yet on the NASCAR track proposed for the Marysville area, and I don’t plan to take a side today.
There are some important community issues to be determined first:
* What effect will it have on the environment?
* How would we deal with all the traffic?
* What sort of jobs and how many will the track produce?
* How will it affect the economy in other ways?
More information is needed on those topics before we can decide whether to spend $200 million of our tax dollars on helping make the track a reality.
And that’s a good thing.
We have a project that could provide a major economic stimulus in the county. It’s important that we consider it carefully.
After having seen the downtown areas of Klickitat and Pateros, I think the communities in north Snohomish County are very lucky that we have options such as the NASCAR track.
Speaking of choices, if you’re heading over to fish the Methow, pick the Egg-sucking Leech.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com
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