Many people are tired of hearing about launching a university in Snohomish County.
And for good reason: There’s been no lift-off.
In the past four years, elected leaders spent $2 million in taxpayer dollars on preparations and wound up with little more than discarded studies.
Mostly it’s been them talking, talking, talking and fighting, fighting, fighting.
Had these pursuers united and stayed on course, I’d be writing on the joys and tribulations of year one at a new UW campus somewhere.
They didn’t.
They divided and collided and the carcass of their efforts are 31 words spelling out the state’s “intent” — a pledge more than a promise — to put its next public college in Snohomish County.
The sentence’s mere existence keeps the door from slamming shut on the idea. For optimists, it’s the proverbial silver lining on a dark cloud of missed opportunity; for pessimists, it’s simply the last gasp.
At this point, does anyone care?
So what if city, county and state elected officials who’ve been in the thick of this thing say they’re not giving up, they’ve got ideas and they’re working on them? As long as they continue to finger others with blame and refuse responsibility for what’s happened — and not happened — this college doesn’t get started.
Few subjects consume my interest as much as this one, and I found myself wrung out by the intensely political process. I can only imagine many in the community feel just as beat down.
Sharon Hart is not among them.
In 2005 she served on the task force that declared a college is needed and an independent polytechnic university would be best. A University of Washington branch campus was the task force’s second choice.
She plugged in then and hasn’t unplugged since.
“I wish the lawmakers could move faster. I wish we were on track, but we’re not. I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Hart, executive director of the Island County Economic Development Council.
Disappointment in the current derailing should not be misread as disinterest in the future goal, she counseled me. Many folks are watching closely and waiting anxiously. This is a big deal for Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties, Hart said.
It’s potentially big money too.
Everett and Marysville fought hard to land the UW branch campus in their city. That battle forced the community to give back a couple million dollars originally set aside for the first classes, which were to start in the fall of 2008.
To my pleasant surprise Hart is more confident than most that detente will be achieved. It happened in Tacoma and Vancouver, and branch campuses in those cities are thriving.
“I’m not whistling in the dark. They always take awhile,” she said, referring to establishing new colleges. “They’re always political. There is always a city that looks at it as a thing they don’t want to lose.”
Patience among the public and perseverance of those same politicians are the ingredients for success, she said.
“Certainly it’s off-track now. But we in the community aren’t forgetting about this college,” she said. “All they have to do is tell us where to show up to give our support and we’ll be right back out there in force.”
That’s one person who’s not stopped counting down toward lift-off.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623, cornfield@heraldnet.com.
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