Don’t penalize Fred Meyer for leaving; fix crime problem

Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 19, 2025

The whole idea of “penalize property owners who don’t rent to a new business after a store closes” is just wrong (“Closure of Fred Meyer leads Everett to consider solutions for vacant retail properties,” The Herald, Oct. 12).

I have followed this story and the City of Everett comes first with “crime has gone down,” and now wants to tax the owner if they choose to leave the land vacant. So for the city council and mayor, if the crime is not that bad around Fred Meyer, why is it that down the street at Home Depot, they hire law enforcement to sit in the parking lot and Dick’s Drive-in has security walking around the facility.

How about making the system work? If you steal, you get in trouble. Maybe you would not have to come up with taxing the landowner and the business might want to stick around.

Gary Eisenman

Marysville