Crying Over Spilled Water

New Moscow-Pullman Daily News editor Doug Bauer has inherited Virginia Henderson's liberal pro-Moscow mantle quite well. Here is an excerpt from his editorial in today's paper:

People who are eligible to vote but don’t cast their ballot shouldn’t complain about the results.

Likewise, Whitman County shouldn’t bemoan the Palouse’s water woes if it doesn’t take an active role in determining the way it’s dispersed.

...

Among the key issues is Boise-based Hawkins Companies’ plan to build a 700,000-square-foot shopping center along the Pullman-Moscow corridor, just inside the Washington border.

That would put the mall much closer to Moscow city limits than Pullman.

Opponents contend the proposed development would create a dangerous environment for Pullman-Moscow Highway motorists, that run-off from the presumably massive parking lot will pollute Paradise Creek, and that it will add stress to the diminishing aquifers.

Political leaders and concerned residents on both sides of the border should look past any water issues pertaining to the proposed development alone. An all-encompassing strategy should be considered, one that could be used to develop a comprehensive plan for years to come.

Here's the problem, Doug. This isn't an election and there won't be a vote. We're not asking for anyone's permission. It's OUR land, right up to where it touches Idaho, and we'll do with it what WE want, not what a bunch of wacko aquifer huggers decide. No one in Whitman County is bemoaning "the Palouse's water woes" anyway. We're bemoaning the loss of our sales tax base.

Water isn't the real issue anyway (outside of Mark Solomon, the Moscow Civic Association, and the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute). The real issue IS the Hawkins Companies development and, more importantly, Moscow maintaining its retail dominance on the Palouse, to the tune of over $150 million a year leaking from Pullman and Whitman County into Moscow every year. Water is just another in along list of excuses to keep Whitman County down.

I don't remember any similar "summit," "all-encompassing strategy," or "comprehensive plan" when all those retail stores were going in on the west side of Moscow over the last decade, right on the border with Whitman County. Why is it so "critical" that there be one now? Because Moscow finally sees a group of Whitman County commissioners determined to make development happen in the corridor.