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. I dried out fast in the Tri-City sunshine but never expected to stay beyond 1993. Now married and a homeowner, with dreams of raising children here, I have a vested interest in making sure the Tri-Cities doesn't falter. Some possibilities give me great hope, others send a chill down my spine. One of the latter is the way so many people are getting way too excited about the vitrification plant bringing more jobs to the Tri-Cities.