here’s what i think

Two weeks ago, five buildings in down- town Waitsburg - along with the White Stal- lion Restaurant, which is not truly downtown, but is still an important busi- ness property - were put on display. In her article on Page 5, Dena Wood describes the Waitsburg Commercial Club's tour of downtown buildings and the excellent response it got.

All of the properties on the tour are for sale or for lease. Joy Smith and the Commercial Club are commended for helping to highlight these properties.

Downtown Waitsburg is vibrant, despite these empty properties. (Let's be positive and think of them as opportuni- ties, not vacancies.)

Downtown Dayton is also vibrant, despite having several of its own "opportunities." That vibrancy is the result of the efforts of a lot of people, not least of which are the past and current members of the Dayton Development Task Force.

The Task Force, as described on Page 6, has begun a pro- gram in which local businesses (or any in Washington) can donate money to downtown projects and get a 75% credit on their B&O taxes the following year. This is an excellent opportunity for local businesses to help the Task Force bring further improvements to downtown.

The businesses in our downtowns are changing as well. In the past year, downtown Dayton has added the Best West- ern Inn and Suites, which is bringing many new visitors to town. Dian Ver Valen writes this week (on Page 6) about another new downtown business: The Inner Groove. Hope- fully you'll soon be reading in The Times about a new busi- ness or two filling some of the businesses that were recently on tour Waitsburg.

When I moved to Dayton in 1996, two of the important businesses on Main Street there were the Homeport Tavern and the Woodshed (a tavern and grill). The Dayton Inn was across the street.

Those establishments may be missed by some, but they've been replaced by (in order) the Weinhard Café, Mace Mead Works, Alexander's Chocolates and Manila Bay Café (among others). These four businesses are all owned and operated by young people (at least younger than me) who came to Dayton after I did and were drawn to our beautiful Downtown. Dayton's downtown will only remain vibrant as long as businesses like these continue to be drawn here.

None of these businesses would likely be here if it weren't for the heroic efforts of people like those in the Task Force all those years ago who raised the money and put in the time to make major improvements, including rebuilding Main Street and adding its beautiful trees.

Downtown Waitsburg has also drawn young business- people, running establishments like the Whoopemup Hol- low Café and jimgermanbar.

We commend the people who love our downtowns and volunteer many hours to help keep them vital and alive.

The opportunities to help our downtown business districts are many. Make a donation to the Task Force in Dayton, through its B&O tax credit program. Or learn more about the commercial building opportunities in downtown Waitsburg.

And, above all, go downtown and spend more time there. Things are changing.