By Ken Estes
Just suppose, you are driving to the beach, in your fully loaded RV, from Seattle. The kids are calling for a pit stop. Ah, you see the sign — rest area — and pull off. Next you navigate a small roundabout and wait for the traffic to clear the railroad crossing. Finally the traffic clears and you pull into a small, nearly full parking lot; ahead you see two small rest rooms. After waiting out the line, it is the kids (and your) turn. Done — you are ready to get on the way, but now the exit seems to point you into the small downtown. Traffic is snarled as you try to navigate the busy narrow streets. Finally you turn at the only signal light in town and head back to the highway, cursing the moment you decided to make the stop rather than using your own facilities. With kids munching on the snacks brought from home, you are headed out of this obvious attempt to force you to visit the merchants. Never again at this stop, you mumble to yourself.
Suppositions over, several of us have attended many council meetings in Montesano for one purpose: to request the council call for a public meeting to find out if the residents really want a roundabout and a rest area in our city. It would be a major change in our small town. We have been firm but polite and due to the room’s acoustics, have had to raise our voices to be heard. We are not against our mayor, there is no “sour grapes” discourse, just a simple request to the council — find out if the community wants either. At a recent nongovernment-sponsored meeting of concerned citizens, one person wanted both, two persons wanted to hear more about the roundabout (but were against the rest area) and 24 people wanted neither. It tells us one thing — most folks are not interested in either proposal. Just among a few friends over 200 signatures were collected from people not wanting the rest area or roundabout.
On April 18, in a Daily World and The Vidette in a letter to the editor, more information about the roundabout was given by a non-resident of Montesano than most residents have heard to date. Although the state budget has not been passed, we were informed $500,000 was appropriated for engineering studies and that the idea of a rest stop would bring a portion of a million tourists in to town; an economic development. No facts to prove this could happen, just an idea. And no true idea the city could afford it.
Communities survive by building within, by encouraging businesses that tourist (or even locals) would shop at; encouraging use of our city’s RV parks; truly find a niche that the city would fit in — not just hope it would occur after using supposedly hard to get “state” taxpayers money to build a rest area and roundabout. The mayor told us to bring other ideas — How about cleaning up under the highway overpass and putting a nice welcome sign, surrounded by beds of flowers and shrubs. Request the railroad remove the tracks and fix the bumps in the eastbound exit would be a great help. How about finding out if a business would be interested in using the old park and ride? That would create more money to the city and would draw people to Montesano to shop? Better than a couple toilets.
One comment the writer had that was proven truthful was to get involved. We urge you to do just that. If you want Montesano to be the westbound pit stop of Grays Harbor County come to the council meeting May 9 and say so. If you just love roundabouts and think there is enough space to have one at the exit of the freeway, come say so. But if you want to say you don’t want one or the other, please come and say so. Either way it is a decision of our town but so far that decision is at the pleasure of seven people. Come to the council meeting, be polite and suggest the council hold a public meeting or put it to an advisory vote. It is our town and our money. Suppositions and name calling in letters to the editor will get us nowhere.
http://committeeforcommonsense.org/
Further information can be obtained from Doug Iverson or Ken Estes.
