By Melissa O'Neil Herald staff writer For almost four years, I've written stories on the positive changes in the Mid-Columbia's economy. And each week I've wondered when the other shoe would drop, when the statistics I collect will turn south. Call me a Pollyanna, but it never happened.
Population is up.
School enrollments are up. Housing starts are up. Taxable retail sales are up. Unemployment is down. I joined the newspaper in August 1991, freshly graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma after growing up in the Portland area.