I am writing to express my deep concern and alarm regarding the proposed site of the hockey arena on Hewitt Avenue.
I am a fairly new (June ‘01) resident in Everett, after 15 years living in the Seattle-Bellevue areas. When I decided to buy my first home last spring, I looked all over the Puget Sound area from Marysville in the north to Auburn in the south and to Bremerton in the west. After months of deliberating, I finally decided on Everett specifically because of the history of the town and its lovely architecture.
The downtown core was a major selling point for me; all the beautiful, old buildings lining Hewitt Avenue are historical treasures and are what give the town its personality. They should be preserved and promoted as the perfect backdrop for a soon-to-be thriving business district, full of appealing shops, restaurants and theatres – not a big, modern arena that will completely destroy the historical integrity of the area. This proposed construction project would destroy two city blocks of 100-year-old buildings and result in immeasurable traffic problems on Hewitt and in the surrounding residential neighborhoods. And a precious piece of Everett’s history would be irretrievably lost.
I feel that Everett is on the brink of becoming the next “in place” to live and work, if the right decisions are made to guide the town to greatness. And building an arena may be an asset to the town, as long as we don’t destroy an even greater asset in the process.
Everett leaders had the foresight to move forward with the state-of-the-art transit station, which is near completion. It would make much more sense to build the arena near the station so that visitors can take advantage of the transit station. Those that choose to drive to arena events would have plenty of parking available that would not detrimentally impact residential neighborhoods. A win-win situation! Everett has a rich and colorful history that should be celebrated. Please preserve that history for all of us.
Everett
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