Letter: Regional public facilities district should stay out of way of local proposals

It’s time for the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District (PFD) to get out of the way.

Since the 2013 aquatic center vote, the regional PFD has accomplished exactly … nothing. Instead of showing the leadership to engage the broader community in planning for needed facilities, the regional PFD’s dithering squandered the heightened public interest that follows an election.

Now, we have a typical Tri-Cities conundrum: If the Kennewick PFD gets voter approval for The Link, it will use up a portion of the sales tax money available for regional projects. More likely, talk about what the regional PFD might do will doom any proposal by the “local” PFDs.

I have long supported a regional approach to developing the public facilities necessary for our community to continue to mature and prosper. I’m disappointed that the lack of leadership shown by the regional PFD appears to make that impossible. We can argue about why, but the fact of it is indisputable.

The regional PFD should promptly and clearly state its intention to become inactive for the foreseeable future and stay out of the way so that voters in the Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland PFDs can consider their local proposals free of distraction.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Letter: Regional public facilities district should stay out of way of local proposals."