Published September 2005

Koster asks, 'What kind
of a county do we
want to live in?'

Snohomish County Councilman John Koster’s views on Snohomish County issues made good listening at the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce’s morning breakfast gathering at the Tulalip Casino at the end of July, good enough to pass on here to a wider audience.

Touching on economic development and business issues, Koster moved on to the Growth Management Act’s mandated 10-year comprehensive plan update for the county, traffic problems and Paine Field airline service, among a variety of other topics.

“There are challenges before us, but I’m an optimist. I believe we have choices,” he said. “The larger question is what kind of county do we want to be in the future.

“Will we choose to believe that the status quo is the best we can do? Will we believe the illusion that we can continue to be competitive and still survive an oppressive regulatory quagmire? Will we be profitable in spite of our regressive tax structure?

“Finally, will we continue to deceive ourselves by feeling good about the education our kids are NOT receiving?”

We are facing challenges in the county that call for optimism and innovative thinking, he said.

With a comprehensive plan that envisions 930,000 people in Snohomish County by 2025 (compared to 660,000 now), “we will need to make major changes to compete and have the kind of living environment we really want,” he said.

Taking the optimistic view, county government has streamlined the permit process, including online permitting; focused on customer service; planned for economic development with cities, the county Economic Development Council and the private sector, and worked with chambers to identify and remove barriers to economic growth, he told his audience.

“We need to attract more business to Snohomish County, to provide jobs here so that 100,000 cars a day don’t continue to leave our county for jobs in King County.

“Our state ranks number one in new business starts but we’re almost last in supporting and maintaining those businesses. We need to get serious about tax reform, particularly the business and occupation tax. Also, we’re the largest county in the state without a four-year college, which is amazing to me. We need to do something about that,” he said.

On a visit years ago to Ireland, he said, he found an economy that was one of the worst in Europe. Today, he said, it is the second-best economy because “people saw their education system needed to be better, we face the same fundamental thing here.”

A lack of adequate infrastructure is another barrier to economic development, he said, noting that “we quit investing in roads in this state 30 years ago and now we wonder why we have a problem ... we showed our ability to work together with the state, Tulalip tribes and other counties on transportation issues and we rallied support for funding the 172nd Street overpass improvements at Smokey Point ... you have to set goals and plan to accomplish them.”

He then turned to the current debate over bringing airline service to Paine Field, saying the county airport is an asset that offers “tremendous opportunity for economic development, whether or not air service comes in” and acknowledged that “the marketplace will determine whether the airlines want to come there ...

“But if someone told me they wanted to invest (in air service there) my office door would be open ... I would be more than happy to talk to them because we already have thousands of people having to drive to Sea-Tac for plane flights.”

Ending on a positive note, Koster said he believes “we have a great deal to be proud of in Snohomish County and a lot of talent here ... but we can’t keep doing the same old things we have always done,” Koster said.

“We have to know our goals (for our county) and constantly work toward them.”

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