While attending the City of SeaTac Open House showcasing plans for downtown development last evening at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, I was impressed with the vision of our City Council and the Planning and Public Works departments.

It was easy to see past the paid minions along the street with picket signs protesting the impending use of "Eminent Domain" and the self-interested representation of those who own the commercial property along International Boulevard.

Where certainly the commercial property owners need to have a voice in the process, the fact that they alone would know what is best for the community of SeaTac is short-sighted and entirely self serving.

If any time and place would be a candidate for eminent domain action, the area proposed for a concerted SeaTac Downtown development plan should be the place and now is the time.

The plans displayed by the existing commercial property owners may have merit if only their individual properties where included in a more expansive plan.

Instead, they looked more like a manipulative means to insist their property is worth much more than the existing "Fair Market Value."

If their individual plans were such a good idea, I ask why they waited until now to propose building them, instead of allowing many of their parcels to look like blight along the "strip" for so many years.

Those properties that have been developed well, often times were not of the property owners doing, as they were more interested in leasing revenue than in having a hand in the development.

There is no plan that will please everyone, but having a vision is better than what the commercial property owners of this relatively small parcel of land have given us to date.

Starting with a parking garage near the SeaTac/Airport Link Light Rail station makes sense and anchors the proposed area development to attract investors for additional expansion phases.

The City of SeaTac proposing a comprehensive city downtown plan shows vision and is exactly why we have elected and hired them to represent us, the citizens that live and work here.

Anything less and we could just be settling for the next strip club or failed fly-by-night venture to come and go, leaving empty car lots, closed restaurant ventures, and the sprawling patchwork of parking lots.

A central Downtown Plan for SeaTac is a smart move forward.

David S. Olson
SeaTac