A Common-Sense Case for Public Waterfront Control
A heated civic editorial argues that Kennewick must build a port district to compete with neighboring towns like Pasco for the future of Columbia River commerce.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In last week's issue of the Courier-Reporter there appeared an advertisement entitled 'Stop-Look-Listen,' in which the writer, Mr. R. E. Pratt, called upon the people to use 'a little common sense' in considering the Port District proposition. In so doing, Mr. Pratt was perfectly right. Any proposition, either of public or private nature, that cannot stand the scrutiny of common sense and the test of good business, should fail. The Port District proposition is not a complex, indefinite thing that cannot be fully understood by every property owner. It is simply a means whereby the public may control the water front and direct the improvement of harbor and wharf facilities. Where does common sense direct that this control should be placed? In the hands of the public for the general benefit, or in the hands of individuals for private gain? The government has spent $5,000,000 on the Celilo Canal project, and Kennewick, by its location on the river where the railroads cross, has a chance to share largely in the benefits of this new waterway. If we sit idly by, trade will seek centers where it can find accommodation—it will go across the river to Pasco, or down the river to Attalia or Wallula, towns that are alive to their opportunities. The scarecrow erected in opposition is that Judge Richardson is trying to unload the dock onto the community, but the Judge does not own the dock, nor could the Port District buy it without voter authorization.
“Trade is going to seek those centers where it can find accommodation. It is going across the river to Pasco, or down the river to Attalia or Wallula, or that town which is alive to its opportunities.”
This 1914 debate over the creation of a Port District mirrors modern tensions between civic infrastructure investment and fiscal skepticism. Kennewick’s geographic anxiety regarding its neighbors, specifically the rivalry with Pasco over river access, remains a constant theme in Tri-Cities development politics.
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