El Plaza De Yakima

Besides weed, the Yakima Herald Republic's favorite topic of discussion is the new plaza the city wants to build downtown in the Olive Garden/Capitol Theater/Orion parking lot. Judging by the number of obstacles they seem to be having, along with the large amount of letters to the editor condemning the project, you would think the plaza would be an impossibility. At some point in time, it seems like the plaza has ceased to be a question of "will they" and is now a question of "when will they."

Like most of the idiocy that goes on in this town (the underpasses, the backwards facing and far-too-small Red Robin) I'm not a fan. I'm not sure what exactly the city thinks this plaza will accomplish, but they sure want it bad. I don't see why. There's already a plaza that's been on that lot for 13 years that they plan on relocating to make room for the new one. Where they want to put the old one, I cannot say. There is literally nowhere in town I can think of that has the room for all of the junk "art" from the old plaza. If I were to take a guess, it would be that the city of Crackima is probably going to ruin one of my favorite parks by sticking it there.

If the city takes away that parking lot in favor of a canal and some concrete I'm gonna be pissed. It is already the hardest place to park in the entire town (need I mention that they just built another restaurant that utilizes the lot?). And I, for one, do not want to walk a couple of blocks, potentially in the snow or with my 89-year-old grandmother, just to get to get an overpriced raspberry lemonade. Anyone who thinks that spending at least $14 million on a plaza (you know they're gonna need more money) will be worth it is kidding themselves. A plaza will contribute nothing to this town, and the only people it will attract are druggies looking for a spot to make their deals.

-Matthew