Letter to the Editor: Port-Owned Properties in Centralia in Poor Repair

As someone who has traveled into Centralia on Mellen Street for many years, I’ve been more and more frustrated by the empty homes and run down buildings that greet both residents and visitors at the one of two entrances of the city from I-5. 

Civic leaders have given hope to improvements, but they always seem to fall through. The derelict King Solomon’s Restaurant has been a disgrace for decades. Another burned out house has been neglected for years as well. At the other end of Mellen where the street angles into Alder is the former Hoerling residence, what used to be a beautiful brick house and landscaped yard and gardens. 

I wondered what had happened to that house because it is now in disrepair, the yard overgrown with knee-high weeds, and graffiti appears on it from time to time. It seems to be abandoned, with no one taking care of it. It’s a shame to see it now compared with how it used to be a well maintained part of the entry to Centralia. 

I finally got around to looking up who now owns it, and was shocked to see that it was sold to the Port of Centralia in 2012. The port is the owner who has let it decay, and has not taken care of it since, even to minimum standards to maintain the quality of life as mentioned in the port’s mission statement. 

It’s just one of the multiple buildings the port owns in that part of Centralia. I assume it’s somewhere in the master plan of the yet to come to fruition, Centralia Station. While the proposals for that project have lingered on for many years, acres and acres in south Centralia have been allowed to deteriorate into what looks like a third world country. From the freeway it’s appalling, with hulks of houses and empty lots. Further, as a government agency, the port pays little or no property taxes on their house on Mellen, or others in that area.

My challenge to the Port of Centralia is to at least take some pride in the appearance of property it owns that are highly visible to the public, and that would include 1012 Mellen. Or, if they can’t be bothered to at least take a small amount of satisfaction in helping to keep Centralia a respectable place to live, maybe they could allow someone else to help. An hour or two with a lawnmower would be a good start. I’d loan mine to any of the port commissioners or the executive director.

Paul Crowner

Centralia