City has kept firms well informed

The Saturday article, “Everett business owner unwilling to move for UW,” is very disappointing for at least two reasons. First, the owner said, “Everyone was equally shocked as (he) that this could land in our backyard.” It is disappointing the reporter didn’t talk to other affected property owners who would have said the city has done a great job keeping us informed about the potential of a UW campus at that site.

Also, the idea of a four-year university coming to Everett has been in the works for several years. I thought it was obvious that the train station area was a perfect place to consider for locating the campus.

Second, it is disappointing that the reporter didn’t explore the possibility that the owner might be taking this adversarial posture to place himself at an advantage if and when the UW begins to acquire land in the area. After all, he did admit in the article that, “We’re just looking after (his) business interests.”

Perhaps if he really was looking after his business interests he would wait to see the outcome of the decision to locate the campus, and whether his property is impacted. Then, if it is, consider carefully the proposal for acquiring his property. He likely will get a proposal that will pay fair market value for his land and building and give him plenty of relocation assistance. In addition, the city will likely offer him a fair price on a choice piece of land in the Kimberly-Clark riverfront site the city has already indicated it would like to use to relocate businesses potentially displaced by the UW. However, if he did all this there wouldn’t be much of a story to report since this is the typical thing that good business people do.

Roger Pawley