Everett has to look to its future. The city must move ahead with construction of an events center that will strengthen its historic core.
Then, local leaders must turn their attention to further plans for adequately revitalizing the downtown of a vibrant county’s largest city.
On Wednesday, the city council must face facts. There is no reason to spend one more second considering critics’ attempts to put the question before the public. The question was decided — repeatedly and openly — last year. Any attempt to change course now will lead to a waste of millions of dollars.
The anti-center initiative before the council is invalid, both legally and politically. Under state law, it was started much too late. And the petition has fatal legal problems with its form.
The city council should decide — unanimously — that the initiative is invalid and too late. The case is too clear for any council member to hesitate. And the council should instruct its legal staff to proceed with defending the city’s actions.
Initiatives can be valued as the public’s opportunity to get officials’ attention on an issue that isn’t being addressed. But that’s ridiculous here. The events center was a key issue in the November elections. And Mayor Ed Hansen was re-elected.
It was a landslide in favor of the mayor.
Yet the mayor’s opponents decided to continue the fight over the events center. After earlier self-imposed deadlines were missed, their initiative petition drive finally limped past the minimum number of signatures.
The initiative is so far after the fact that, were it to improbably succeed legally or with voters, millions of city dollars already spent on the site would be out the window. Opponents claim that they simply want the center moved elsewhere. If they have the slightest familiarity with the issue they have raised, though, they realize that deadlines under state law could never be met for construction at another site. And, no, the state Legislature is not going to stand on its head to accommodate a delayed Everett project. Opponents should drop any legal action on the issue.
The events center is a well-planned undertaking. The city proceeded with its decisions in orderly, proper fashion. Sadly, many well-intended critics might have had a more effective say if they had become involved earlier.
For the city council, though, now is the time to say the matter is decided. The events center will help Everett.
The city must now focus on other improvement projects, some of which are already underway or being planned. There is not enough high-quality office and retail space downtown. There has been a start toward historically sensitive redevelopment, but a larger vision can be articulated. The city has much to do on its waterfronts, where it can apply lessons from the center controversy to make sure that citizens’ desires for trails are considered just as fully as economic development opportunities.
Move forward, Everett.
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