Towns sometimes seem to grow all on their own, to become their own people, so to speak, practically independent of the people living in them. This is of course only an illusion, but the way time and culture shape a town, especially a small one, says a lot about the culture at large, and about the people who are shaping it, day by day, through thousands and thousands of decisions large and small. Sometimes, though, it is necessary to make a decision on some big changes.
To take just one example, let’s look at Hoquiam, Washington. This town started life as a logging town, making its money from the Northwestern forests surrounding it. Now it maintains that identity in a kind of nostalgic way, through an internationally known event called Loggers’ Playday, annual logging competitions, parades. This has worked well for the town, but now it may be time for a change.
Hoquiam’s Chance for Change
Pay attention to the Hoquiam waterfront. The stretch of river in Hoquiam’s downtown hasn’t been often used since the 1980s. But now that there’s talk of evolution in that space, there’s also the possibility for it to become a shaping constituent of the local culture. Hoquiam’s got to have something beyond just logging and lumber, you know.
The town’s waterfront hasn’t seen much action since its heyday in the 1980s, but now there is development interest, and so the community has to think seriously about what kind of town it may want to become. Development is obviously no guarantee of success, nor will it necessarily turn Hoquiam into a metropolis, but decisions need to be made collectively, because of course growth isn’t free — tax money is the ruche fertilizer for civic growth.
A Question of Size
Another consideration worth a moment is Hoquiam’s relationship to Aberdeen, the larger city to the east. This relationship, like probably all neighboring towns, is one of friendly rivalry. And rivalry often does good things for innovation. Hoquiam is at the mouth of the river, right on Grays Harbor, so it has opportunities no other town in the area does.
But Hoquiam must proceed cautiously. It is interested in preserving its past, as is evident in the 2009 revitalization of its train depot. So it knows how to preserve and honor its past; now it must seriously consider how it wants to carry that history forward, what kind of city it wants to become.
Ascertain additionally about Wade Entezar.
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