The statistics quoted in the recent article about Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston’s Chehalis Basin Board meeting address don’t make sense to me.
If 75% of Centralia households consist of one to two people, yet half the housing is three bedroom or more houses, but these same people’s median household incomes are barely half the statewide median household income, and even lower than Lewis County’s median household income, how are these poverty-stricken people paying for these larger than necessary houses? And why is it a problem if they are?
Also, If only 10% of people who work in Centralia live in Centralia, I disagree that it’s a problem, either. It’s probably because workers who live in surrounding small towns or rural areas commute to work there. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just reality when so much of Lewis County is still outlying, rural areas.
This is not criticism here, just old fashioned critical thinking. Alarming statistics don’t always reveal a scary situation. Thank you.
Cheryl Matthiesen
Chehalis
