Geographically, they’re neighbors. Yet over the years, Marysville and the Tulalip Tribes have often seemed worlds apart.
Now, competition and acrimony are being replaced by cooperation and friendship. An alliance signed this week by the tribe and the city formalizes a partnership that’s been coming together for the past two years. It recognizes that they share many of the same problems and opportunities, and that working together, these governments can accomplish much more for their people than they can separately.
It’s already happening. Improved communication between city and tribal leaders, and key staff members, has led to better local transportation planning. Much more work remains there, but success is already apparent. A northern extension to Quil Ceda Boulevard that opened this week will ease congestion at 116th Street off of I-5, and it’s just the beginning of a four-phase project being planned jointly by the tribe, city and state Department of Transportation.
The tribe and city joined forces to make sure that a new urban interchange at 116th and I-5 was included on the list of highway projects voters will be asked to fund in November, along with major improvements to the interchange at 88th Street.
Both sides also realize that their economic futures are tied together. New businesses, on or off the reservation, mean jobs for Marysville citizens and tribal members. Rather than fighting for economic development within their own borders, the city and tribe are working together to spur growth for both.
That’s harder than it may sound, because it requires clear communication and trust. But that’s at the foundation of this alliance, and both sides say it’s working. They’re meeting regularly, and both sides know they can pick up the phone and deal with each other openly and effectively as issues arise.
Keeping it that way in the years to come may be a bigger challenge. Mel Sheldon, chairman of the tribe’s Board of Directors, is realistic enough to know that good intentions are never enough. “These documents don’t live on their own,” he said. For example, communication and cooperation between the tribe and Snohomish County, who signed a similar alliance three years ago, has suffered from neglect on both sides, Sheldon said.
“We need to breathe life back into it,” he said.
The common interests of neighbors should give the Tulalip-Marysville alliance an advantage, and the clear commitment to it by Sheldon, Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall and their elected councils should help cement it.
Given the volatile history of the relationship, that’s remarkable. And worth celebrating.
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