New Year’s resolutions past and present for the Tri-Cities and our leaders | Opinion

A year ago, we suggested New Year’s resolutions that local and state leaders might make. Just as people pledge to exercise more, spend less time scrolling on social media or to finally finish that project around the house, leaders can promise to change and do better.

With the calendar about to flip, it’s time to assess how well some of last year’s suggestions did. We also have a few new ideas for 2025.

Resolutions symbolize more than fleeting aspirations. They represent the belief that we can grow as individuals and as communities. They provide structure for our ambitions and inspire us to do better.

Whatever your resolutions, we wish you success and a happy, prosperous, loving new year.

2024 resolutions

Local elected officials: Resolve to remember that we’re in this together and must work together, not as four cities and surrounding areas in competition.

Success: Localities worked together on economic development, planning for a new emergency services communication system and against state overreach in our community. Keep it up!

Richland School Board members: Resolve to leave behind the acrimony that led to recall elections.

Mixed. The board was less acrimonious, and hot-button social issues were not as prevalent. There were other problems, though, as the board rushed into a bond measure while dealing with a budget crunch and a lack of transparency. The bond failed.

Gov. Jay Inslee: Resolve not to rush blindly into a green energy future.

Failed: When the State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council proposed a compromise on the scope of the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm, Inslee all but vetoed it and demanded maximum windmills no matter the cost to local ecological, cultural and social resources.

State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council: Resolve to listen to locals who know that Horse Heaven Hills ridgeline is a terrible location for a wind farm and can help you find a better one.

Mixed: EFSEC came up with a compromise, but when the governor didn’t like it, the council capitulated.

State lawmakers: Resolve to embrace transparency by abandoning the ridiculous claim of “legislative privilege.”

Failed: Lawmakers cling to secrecy and keep the public in the dark.

Candidates: Resolve to run campaigns focused on issues that matter to voters, not personal attacks and the controversy du jour.

Mixed: In some races, the candidates gave voters a clear choice between differing policy prescriptions for the future. In too many others, they bickered and cast aspersions on each other.

Local tribes and the U.S. Energy and Interior departments: Resolve to find a compromise that will share the majestic local landmark that is Rattlesnake Mountain and honor its cultural importance.

Failed: Access remains mostly closed.

2025 resolutions

Besides renewing all of the failed and mixed results above, we suggest the following resolutions for the new year.

Gov. Bob Ferguson: Resolve to undo your predecessor’s overreach on the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm and return to compromise on the project.

State lawmakers and the Washington State Bar Association: Resolve to end the state’s public defender crisis without bankrupting local judicial budgets.

Local political parties: Resolve to identify and cultivate potential candidates for local office who have the potential to govern successfully not just spout the day’s party line.

Pasco and Franklin County: Resolve to implement a joint strategic and funding plan that will turn the HAPO Center around.

Washington Department of Transportation: Resolve not to paint any bridges around here for a while.

Port of Pasco: Resolve to build more covered walkways between planes and the terminal. Things are going great at the airport by all accounts, so spend a little money protecting travelers from the region’s temperamental weather.

Donors and volunteers: Resolve to support local nonprofits that have a direct impact in the community. There are so many that make a difference, like Friends of Badger Mountain, which is helping maintain and develop a trail system on what has become a jewel of Tri-City recreation.