Let Sequim be Port Angeles’ Guinea Pig

Or canary in the coal mine; whatever cliché you want to use.

For people who think mindless growth — Big Box stores and one strip mall after another — will be lucrative: just take a look at Sequim. They can be the anti-role model, like a reformed drug addict who travels around the country telling high school students “don’t do what I did. Don’t end up like me.”

If strip malls and franchises enhanced a city’s tax base, Sequim could have streets paved with gold. Some California cities have made this mistake. Take Rohnert Park (please!).

This city of about 40,000 has every Big Box and chain store you’ve ever heard of, and yet their city government keeps running out of money, just like every other city government.

Let’s hope Sequim can change its growth policies before it gets totally ruined. Port Angeles doesn’t have Sequim’s growth pressures yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Hopefully Port Angeles can learn from Sequim what not to do.