Everett has worthy bid for All-America award

Goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come

They got some crazy lil’ award there

And we’re gonna get us one

Goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come

They got some crazy lil’ award there

And we’re gonna get us one

One of Everett’s biggest weekends is coming up June 13 to 15 but it’s not happening here. In fact, it’s not even happening in Snohomish County. And few Everett residents will be there.

But it’s entirely possible that when city officials and representatives return from the national All-America City Award competition in Kansas City, Missouri, they’ll bring the coveted title with them. Win or lose this year, Everett certainly deserves to be an All-America City.

If only the judges in Kansas City could see how far we’ve come — from a rough and tumble logging town with high hopes for evolving into a major port, to a milltown dotted with smokestacks and later known for its hotrod Colby cruising. Then a virtually abandoned downtown with boarded up storefronts, to reinventing ourselves and shedding that nagging little inferiority complex.

No more stepchild image here. Those notions are based on outdated ideas, as Ted Wenta, Everett YMCA director, said at an April 10 Everett All-America City meeting.

"Everett is not what it was 20 years ago," Wenta told the group. "It is a regional center."

Everett has proven it can cooperate with surrounding communities and organizations or take charge on major projects, as is evidenced by the Everett Station, one of three projects the city will be emphasizing in its presentation. Much of that is due to the mayoral and city council leadership, but there are countless others who deserve equal credit for the quiet work they do to improve life here. The other two projects showcased in the competition are proof of the value of volunteers and dedicated professionals who serve this city.

Cocoon House is a natural choice to highlight the innovative ways people in our community work together. Many already know the story of Sarri Gilman, the woman who started the shelter for homeless teens in 1991 on a budget of $40. Since then, Cocoon House has provided shelter and services for more than 1,000 teens and has a budget of $1.2 million. Gilman has since moved on, but her successor, Lee Trevithick, is well equipped to carry on the tradition.

And who could overlook the wonder of Wiggums Hollow? A city with a park named Wiggums Hollow just has to be an All-America City. The story behind the time and effort that went into researching the diverse neighborhood, and the businesses and organizations that stepped forward should catch any judge’s attention.

The controversy over the downtown events center caused at least one citizen to suggest that the city, for all its accomplishments, didn’t meet the award’s standard of collaborating with citizens. The courting of Mayor Ed Hansen to move to the PUD puts a little more perspective on that criticism’s relevance, or lack thereof. One of the leaders of a group opposed to the center’s location came out with praise for Hansen. And Citizens for a Better Arena recently held a celebration to mark — appropriately — the influence it had in obtaining changes to the center’s design.

Everett, of course, doesn’t need a title to know how far it has come, but we’d happily take it just the same.