11/12/08

Regardless of whom you voted for, and, in spite of the terrible economic news, doesn’t it seem like the election has brought a new spirit to our country, to our region, to our community?  A feeling that all things are possible?

Reading the Puget Sound Partnership’s draft “action agenda” issued last Thursday to restore the health of Puget Sound by 2020, my own spirit flagged a bit when I saw so many places where more process and studies are the “action” recommendations.  And I was shocked to see that one of the few measurable benchmarks is to increase dramatically the amount of impervious surfaces (the roads, highways, parking lots, rooftops and developments that have so totally screwed up our stormwater drainage and water quality) and to decrease the amount tree-covered land around the Sound.  In the name of being realistic, I suppose.  Certainly not in the name of restoring the Sound to health.

It’s just a draft, and these things can be fixed—if the Partnership so chooses.  The more serious challenge ahead is to actually get the right stuff done for the Sound.  To come up with serious money.  To support the local governments, non-profit organizations and others who need to get the job done.  And to stop adding to the Sound’s travails by continuing to allow the pollution and high-impact development that are already too much for the critters to bear.

We teach our kids that they can do anything they set their minds to.  Isn’t that true for us adults too?  “Hope” and “change” are words that need to be applied to Puget Sound. Can we do it? "Yes we can."