The View From Here

When asked whether a gas station in the Highlands was really a good investment in the future of Issaquah, most of the council candidates were wary not to go out on a limb. Some of the candidates said “hang on, a gas station wasn’t in the plan. We need to talk about this.”

Well, it’s already being talked about. The City of Issaquah’s land use committee conditionally approved it a few months back, using the same logic that some of the other candidates seem to favor, which is “sure, there are some issues to think about, but, well, you know, the market demands it.”

I think this is a cop out – it seems like much of the decision making to this point has been guided by a study, conducted by Port Blakely no less, which found that 70 percent of residents wanted it. Now, the folks up at Port Blakely are good people, don’t get me wrong, but they are hardly the people who should be conducting the survey of a proposal that they are backing. Right?

I got a letter a while back from a Highlands resident (hey, in the future dude, if you don’t put your name on it, I can’t print it. Or contact you.) who said that he ‘googled’ gas stations in the area and found 14 within 2.8 miles of his home.

And the claim that the whole point of a station up there is to reduce congestion in downtown Issaquah, is not only flawed logic, but is just the kind of short term thinking that the City of Issaquah should be rising above. I can’t imagine that “our future generations” will be thanking the current council for building a gas station in the Highlands. I can hear them now. “Wow, all that clean air and open space on Front St. Thanks, Exxon.”

Making planning decisions based on what the market wants is a terrible way to do things, particularly when it comes to encouraging green technology that might not be economically efficient now but we know is going to be a necessity of the future. Without some foward thinking people make these calls, because they can see a future that makes more sense, economically, environmentally and culturally, then we are going to be wading around in this rubbish for years to come.

I for one would love to see the City of Issaquah heralded far and wide for having the guts to be firm about their plans for the future, and to really put Issaquah on the map as a place that more than talks about sustainability, but actually walks the walk.