We applaud the city of Port Townsend for its outreach in the form of their new YouTube channel.

Its first topic is a sore subject, as I’m sure the council and every city staff member is aware: our crumbling city streets.

The production value is stellar. After a minute of “How we got here,” Public Works Director Steve King and Councilmember Aislinn Palmer take turns letting the viewer know that the city hears you and they are working on a long term plan to address problem. 

Palmer is the chair of the City Infrastructure and Development Committee and she doesn’t believe the current budget of $1.2 million will go far enough.

We agree but her recommendation is to boost that budget to $2.7 million will allow the city to, in her words, “claw our way back to a state of good repair over the next 30 years.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median age of this town is currently 60.

Pardon our bluntness but in 30 years half of us will be dead.

This is a problem promulgated by generations of Port Townsend city leaders so maybe we shouldn’t expect a quick solution.

But 30 years? 

According to the city’s video, the problem of our streets can be traced to the beginnings of Port Townsend but a deep cut in our resources came in 2000 when the Washington Supreme Court declared Voter Initiative Measure 695 invalid. That ruling, by the state’s reckoning, has cost us more than $17 billion in funding for road repair.

Port Townsend, like most municipalities, did what they could with what they had and that heralded our current state of disrepair. 

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, “reconstructing roads after they’ve deteriorated can cost more than three times the cost of preventative maintenance … a good rule of thumb is that every mile of road costs at least $1 million to repave.”

By our reckoning, Port Townsend has upwards of 60 miles of intersecting streets — so the $2.7 million per year is probably a realistic figure if we’re willing to wait 30 years for their repair.

Of course the lifespan of the city’s most travelled streets is less than 30 years which is another reason we’re none too enthused with long-term planning that takes so long.

We would also suggest that the city consider allowing special taxing districts where neighborhoods, perhaps as small as one city block, could band together and voluntarily assess themselves for new pavement and sidewalks. 

The cost of such improvements, spread over 10 years, would be affordable in some neighborhoods, especially when shared by a dozen homeowners.

There are other practical solutions too and while the city’s YouTube Channel’s comments are currently turned off, their telephones still work.

One thing is certain, if we want good streets, we’re going to have to pony up.

Lloyd Mullen, publisher