Council, mayor show good vision

We applaud the Everett City Council’s and mayor’s wisdom and vision for children, open space and the arts.

As a long-time board member of the Imagine Children’s Museum, I have appreciated the City Council’s and mayor’s support of the museum.

The museum has become an asset for downtown and Snohomish County. The council’s decision to lease the Key Bank Building to The Village Theatre’s KidStage to make a children’s theater reflects the same vision for our children as they used for the Imagine Children’s Museum. Families choose to live in communities that provide for their children.

This lease will allow for the creation of open space downtown. My wife, Hap, served on the Committee to Establish Open Space in Downtown Everett and knows that our city needs more open space, not more parking garages. She knows that Everett commissioned a parking analysis which concluded that the Port Gardner parking lot across the street from the Key Bank building and the Everpark Parking Garage one block away are under-utilized. The council again showed good vision by supporting a plaza at the Key Bank building.

We both serve on the Capital Campaign to Build a Regional Arts Center in downtown Everett and we appreciate that the council has authorized the mayor to facilitate a long-term lease of its property at 2919 Hoyt Ave. for this purpose. Artspace Projects Inc., a private, nonprofit developer, in partnership with the Arts Council of Snohomish County, will build a facility that will provide affordable housing for working artists and their families and a regional center for art classes, exhibits and production for children and adults. A downtown filled with arts and culture will help make the Everett economy thrive.

The city’s support for the Imagine Children’s Museum, The Village Theatre’s KidStage and the Artspace project reflect commendable wisdom and vision for children, open space and the arts.

Clay Wertheimer

Everett