Your April 16 story, (“Everett invites college to town”) on the possibility of Bastyr University relocating to the old Simpson site is great news, and, as a resident of the Lowell neighborhood for more than 30 years, I support the sentiments of your editorial on the topic (“Bastyr, Everett would make perfect partners,” April 18). The Snohomish River shoreline has great promise and I salute Mayor Stephanson and the City Council for once again recognizing it.
Back in the late 1970s and early ’80s, a few of us in Lowell neighborhood joined Simpson’s property manager for a trip to the John’s Landing project in Portland. That area, once populated by lumber and saw mills and nestled between the Willamette River and I-5, was historically very similar to Lowell’s. Portland had already made a commitment to redevelop the land as a thriving new area along its riverfront.
I find it paradoxical that former Mayor Pete Kinch was beat up over being a spendthrift and for purchasing the Simpson property, which in hindsight was a real steal.
Everett needs to move on the chance that Bastyr University could present. I understand that Bastyr is looking for a site with adjacent farmland, where it could experiment with growing natural foods. Everett has the property along the riverfront to fit Bastyr’s needs, while the new transit station to the north (or better yet, a campus station along the way), is close enough to mitigate some of the university’s transportation demands.
Bastyr University could be the exciting, new thing that this old mill town needs. The Lowell neighborhood needs to welcome it, and the city needs to do all it can to welcome it also. Let’s not miss this great opportunity.
Everett
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