Who Owns the Riverfront?
Senator Harry Lane warns that private interests are threatening the public's right to access the Columbia River, urging cities to secure their shorelines for the future.
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Get control of your water fronts. This is the sound advice which Senator Harry Lane of Oregon left with the people of the Snake and Columbia river valleys. Senator Lane called attention to the grave mistake that had been made by Portland and other large cities in permitting private interests to control their water fronts and to levy unjust tolls upon traffic. He urged that second in importance to an open river was a free river, with publicly owned and publicly controlled terminals and wharves. No river town will reap the full benefits from the open river until it takes the steps necessary to provide adequate facilities for handling the river traffic. In this respect, Kennewick is indeed fortunate that by reason of the platting of the shore lands and the creation of the Port of Kennewick, the city is in a position to meet every demand of the river traffic and thwart any effort to shackle the water front.
“No river town will reap the full benefits from the open river until it takes the steps necessary to provide adequate facilities for handling the river traffic.”
The struggle between private land ownership and public access to waterways is a classic Pacific Northwest civic battle. Kennewick's early move to create a Port district reflects a preemptive strategy to ensure public ownership of critical infrastructure, a model that continues to influence regional planning today.
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