Town taking on cleanup is right

The town of Coulee Dam is now taking an aggressive stance on the cleanup of a property on Holly Street where the house burned down two years ago.

Such cleanup issues are almost never easy, and the town’s new, aggressive attitude is a welcome example of what might be done in many similar cases across the whole community, not just in Coulee Dam.

Mayor Greg Wilder said that he had contacted the property owner three weeks ago and that the owner agreed to help with the expense of the cleanup not covered by sale of the property. Such a handshake is not the same thing as a valuable deed in hand, but the town’s citizens will be better off for their government’s efforts — and expenses — in the matter.

The economic health of a community is weakened by such blight in a way that doesn’t become apparent immediately, and taking steps to stop it helps everyone.

There was once a time in the town when those words would not have to be spoken; they would have been understood and taken for granted by all. But helping everyone, that is, working for the good of all, is not necessarily in vogue today. Society’s tilt toward valuing individualism versus community is past the halfway mark.

That’s why another old value in the town is also obviously slipping. At one time the need to keep a lawn green was understood by all, even if it was on the town’s mow strip next to the street. Not watering it would lead to brown ugliness and affect the looks of the whole neighborhood. You didn’t want to let down yourself or your neighbors, unthinkable.

With that in mind, an upcoming meeting on how to change the water rates could be interesting, with some arguing that the same standards of green perhaps should not be forced on all.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher