It’s the start of a new year so, of course, it’s time for my annual poke-fun-at-Oak-Harbor tribute. In the past I have called Island County’s biggest city Burger ’n Friesville (for the obvious reasons) and a place people drive through on their way to someplace else. I have also ridiculed it for not knowing how expensive it would be to build a sewer treatment plant. And at this moment, I can’t resist noting that Oak Harbor has managed to install another car wash, another fast food joint and another drive-through coffee shop on the busiest traffic corner in town, not far from similar businesses nearby.
But I am starting to see some interesting shifts in direction and attitude on a number of fronts. Oak Harbor has a new mayor with a lot of big ideas, and he’s actually out in the community talking things up and having coffee with people. That’s seems quite a change from the days when city council meetings were often quieter than the library on a Sunday afternoon, new ideas were quickly shelved and tax levies for improvements, including schools, often failed at the ballot box.
Here’s one example of the new shift in attitude. The other day the city council “accepted” the infamous “Angel de la Creatividad” sculpture, although the acceptance came three months after the sculpture had already been installed in Flintstone Park. The sculpture by world-renowned artist Sebastian had touched off a gigantic Oak Harbor brouhaha five years ago when it was given to Oak Harbor, free of charge, by a wealthy art lover. All the city had to do was find a place for it and install it.
But the city council just couldn’t decide what to do or where to put it, so of course it took a public survey, only to learn that the vast majority who took the survey hated the sculpture and wanted the town instead to rebuild an old windmill that had been torn down the year before. This provoked an endless hum-a-duh, hum-a-duh until the Angel was installed last fall without a lot of advance notice. And you know what? After all that squabbling, it looks distinctive and should, over time, become the waterfront landmark it was intended to be.
To me, however, the most startling of these “growing up” shifts in attitude has to do with the Oak Harbor Marina. It’s old and decrepit, and it’s in danger of collapsing. The marina gets no tax dollars and depends on those who pay to tie up their boats there. And boat owners have been complaining for years that somebody better do something soon.
The old Oak Harbor attitude would have been “not our problem;” it’s up to the people with boats. If the marina falls into the harbor, maybe the Navy can take it over and do something with it. “Navy to the rescue” is one of Oak Harbor’s oldest go-to habits.
This time, however, the city council and Mayor Ronnie Wright decided to move forward with creating a port district that would take over the marina and fix it up, using a tax levy and other revenue to help pay for it. Port districts are what grown-up cities create to manage their waterfront port areas. They often create substantial economic growth by adding new businesses, restaurants and even hotels near the port areas.
And all those possibilities have surfaced in the conversations now going regarding an Oak Harbor port district. The mayor even suggested that perhaps a promenade might be built from the port area to the Pioneer Way business district, creating a great attraction for tourists.
Meantime, a host of new restaurants have sprung up all over town, from Barrington’s Irish Pub and Kraken’s Cove on Pioneer to a raft of new Asian-influenced places all over the place. This attracts people to town from all over. And if this keeps up, I may have to retract “Burger ’n Friesville.”
So, Oak Harbor, I poke fun but I realize how important you are to life and the economy here on our Rock. I love watching you grow up.
Harry Anderson is a retired journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Times and now lives on Central Whidbey.