Spirit high in ’95
In the days of yore, long before pocket supercomputers and social media, we Americans had to rely on the trusted tee-vee to imprint the images of our collective vexation. Reality TV, a sensational concept in 1995, was unscrupulously used by television news networks in their bizarre and surreal coverage of the OJ Simpson trial.
April 19th, 1995, two years to the day, after Federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, Timothy McVeigh marked the anniversary by detonating a massive truck bomb in front of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At the time, the Oklahoma City bombing was the most significant terrorist attack on US soil and a violent crest in the wave of anti-government extremism that continues to ebb and flow through our republic.
Like most years, the national headlines in 1995 focused on celebrity scandals, violence, and absurd pop culture. Still, something decidedly positive occurred in the northernmost populated city of the contiguous United States, Bellingham, Washington.
In the summer of 1995, Bellingham’s 60,000 residents celebrated the opening of what is now known as the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center, culminating nearly 50 years of collective effort to build a community pool. On the dedication placard at the front of the building, you will find the names of city council members, including the building’s namesake, with a record of public service that could quickly fill a lifetime. Also recognized are two former mayors, Tim Douglas and Mark Asmudson, whose combined leadership spanned over two decades. An impressive list of financial donors is displayed in the vestibule, revealing the magnitude of community support summoned for the successful completion of the project. Rotary clubs, trade organizations, local businesses, and hundreds of individuals - including long-time Port Commissioner Peter Zuanich, who reportedly donated the entirety of his years of salary earned on the Port Commission - united to build something special for Bellingham.
We have outgrown our current pool facility, and we need one that is modern, brilliant, and new. The blueprint to get it built it is traditional, solid, and old—following the example provided by our 1995 benefactors with a new generation of dedicated public servants and a revival of public spirit.
In an era where public and political discourse is consumed by crisis management and bitter partisanship, most of the public debate and energy is consumed by the perennial problems of housing affordability, homelessness, and the drug epidemic. An honest assessment of the empirical record shows that government programs are closer to causal than corrective on these issues, and further increases in investment will yield more of the same and suboptimal results.
We need to get back to basics on what makes a community more than a collection of strangers who pay their taxes and hope for the best. We can look for opportunities to support community projects when they make sense. I support building a first-in-class aquatic center in Bellingham that will serve our growing community and provide healthy indoor recreation opportunities for all ages, backgrounds, and income levels.