| On Monday, I had my routine coffee over at the Senior Center and got a few questions from Bob Moltke and Dick Lawson, two former mayors for Sumner. Then, on Tuesday, I got to enjoy lunch and a catch-up with John Doan, who had worked in Sumner a number of years before going to Tumwater 13 years ago. He has now retired from city government, so he came to have lunch with those staff who worked with him here, including Mayor Bill Pugh, and a tour of what’s going on. John is the most visionary person I know. He was amazed by all the projects underway and all the improvements coming—from the Heritage Park redesign to the old Red Apple lot across from City Hall finally getting redeveloped. It was good to see his reaction and to be reminded that things that are happening now were put in motion years, sometimes decades, ago. John said something like this: communities develop patterns that last longer than any one person’s career. That’s interesting. In Sumner, those patterns include being able to debate an issue civilly, being active within the community, people like you being highly engaged with the city. (After all, you’re reading this, aren’t you?) These patterns keep Sumner strong as zoning and State laws change over time. I want to thank Bob, Dick, Bill and John as well people like Barbara Skinner, Dave Enslow, Leroy Goff, Bill Heath and countless others. They did a lot of hard work to give us the city we enjoy today. Let’s just hope we don’t screw this up for the next generations. Mayor Kathy Hayden |
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