After years of being on the road traveling for work, I am finally able to reconnect with the community that I love.
I attended the June 9 Centralia City Council meeting and I was frankly astonished by the treatment that was given to Dennis Rice from Logistics Property Company and the position of the council toward the investment they want to make in our community.
Their condescending tone rooted in their lack of understanding of industrial development was shocking.
One council member even recommended they take their hundreds of millions of dollars to another community and another wanted the speaker, Mr. Rice, to look through a crystal ball and tell her what jobs will come from an unconstructed building.
I do not live in the city limits so I do not have a councilor to represent me, but I am confident the decisions made by the city council will affect my family for years to come. Centralia needs to decide if we want to continue the legacy of poverty and victimhood or embrace new opportunities leading to a prosperous future.
There is a looming budget shortfall for the City of Centralia, and refusing to allow a reputable company to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our community because of a false perception that we have an insurmountable traffic problem is beyond short sighted — it is downright ignorant and suicidal.
I live on River Heights Road and drive past Port of Centralia Park 1 at least three times a day. I cannot recall being held up by truck traffic on my way to the Harrison Avenue interchange ever at any time of the day. Traffic is the worst when the high school and middle schools are getting out. Should we close or relocate them?
The large logistics center moratorium is a legacy decision for the city council. Will they embrace opportunity and prosperity or hold onto the legacy of mediocrity and division that has plagued Centralia for decades?
It is time for the council to show true leadership and unite the missions of the downtown, the port and the NW Sports Hub for a better Centralia.
Deputy Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston invited Mr. Rice to take a ride around Centralia with one of the council members so he could know the heart of Centralia.
What is the heart of Centralia? I’ve lived here for 37 years, and I can tell you what it used to be. But now it is a dilapidated, burned-out building at the entrance of our town at Exit 82 that our city government won’t do anything about while they stand in the way of hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and tax revenue because of a problem that doesn’t really exist.
I am writing this letter because I love my town and I want her to be successful and I am sick of seeing Centralia on the 10 worst cities in Washington list. Aren’t you?
Kirk Parnham
Centralia
