"The nicest people in the world live here,"

Mattawa is surrounded by its own hopes and limitations as it sails through hard times

Growing in the eyes of some, slumbering in the eyes of others, the city of Mattawa still occupies an important niche in the Columbia Basin.

Home to events and places that border on the iconic such as the weekend market at Hund Park, the store known as "La Popular," and neighboring some of the finest cherry orchards in the county, Mattawa nonetheless struggles with budget constraints, housing problems and a geographic isolation that make it at best a well-kept secret and at worst an ignored, stagnant dust bowl.

"Sometimes we feel forgotten by Grant County," Mayor Judy Esser said.

The word in the streets of Mattawa is that such is the distance, literal and figurative between the southern area of the county and the rest of it, that the territory from I-90 on south seems to be its own county, Esser said, adding that what is needed to placate the isolation is a comprehensive plan with county guidance and input as well as resident involvement.

Despite its remoteness, to the city authorities, Mattawa has an important role as the center of a conglomerate of small communities such as Beverly, Schawana and Desert Aire. The only post office in the area is in Mattawa, as well as the largest hardware store, grocery store and school, the high school portion of which has become too small for its student body and is being rebuilt.

Some Mattawa residents would like to see the same sort of growth amid its business community. Some others would like to see the population (3,200 people, 2,000 more than that in the summer) grow. The business climate is warming up, as evidenced by the creation of a multicultural chamber of commerce, which is still in the earlier stages.

"We have (much) hope in the multicultural chamber of commerce," Esser said.

Esser hopes the chamber may help end the feeling of isolation that surrounds her city, via attracting other businesses or working with other chambers. Bob Guerrero, one of the leaders of the Greater Othello Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has attended some of the meetings in Mattawa.

Among other benefits a strong chamber can bring the area, Esser mentioned advising local entrepreneurs on topics like insurance.

"The businesses are the nucleus of our community," Esser said. "The bulk of the chamber will be to keep businesses going."

Some business owners, such as Gabriel Mu-oz of the iconic restaurant "La Popular" disagree with Esser's view that more businesses are needed. To Mu-oz, what Mattawa lacks is people, not stores.

"We were the first ones here seven years ago," Mu-oz said. "And there are still too many business for such a small population."

Conversely, Rose Hudson, a business manager of the liquor store and the owner of a coffee shop said that if business keep coming to Mattawa, it must mean there are enough people to support them.

In a perfect world and a perfect Mattawa, all the businesses that Moses Lake has, Mattawa would have, as well. However, this small bi-cultural town tends to see a business open at the same time another one is closing and viceversa, hence delaying the growth of its tax base and demanding that the city seeks other revenue-makers, which is not easy to do when 53 percent of the property in the city is not taxable.

Mattawa makes about $80,000 a year in property taxes. Half of it goes to what Esser calls the town's lifeline: the service provided by Grant County Fire District 8.

"They are great," she said of the all-volunteer corps. "We are 45 to 60 minutes away from everything, how else are you going to get from here to a hospital."

Other agencies perform equally important services, sometimes under dire circumstances.

The Mattawa Police Department used to have four full-time officers. Now, the statewide tough times and the several anti-tax measures have reduced it to two full-timers and a reserve, none of whom speak Spanish fluently. This, in a town whose population is 90 percent Hispanic.

Still, Esser said that crime rates are improving. To Mu-oz, crime is still a problem.

"Crime is very high and there are not enough police," he said, adding that drinking has led to quite a few incidents in recent times.

Ten years after first taking the helm of her city, Esser said that her third term, of which he has two years left, will be her last. The way she sees it, it is time for new blood, giving her, she said with a smile, the opportunity to sit in the audience and complain

Civic involvement in Mattawa has been a problem for years, with the community's interest running hot and cold.

If there is an issue to discuss, such as raising water rates, the people come out in droves to the meetings. Otherwise, if it's just business as usual, the Town Hall chairs remain empty.

"I am used to it," she said. "I wish there was more involvement."

The empty chair-shaped cloud does have a silver lining, though.

Mattawa's town is council is two-fifths Hispanic, a ratio better than most cities in the county. The voter registration ration is higher among Hispanics than it is among whites.

Hudson adamantly believes that Hispanics that come to Mattawa need to learn English.

She further criticized the constant back-and-forth moving of Hispanic children, affecting their education and keeping them from setting roots.

"They stay here for the harvest months and then they go back to Mexico," she said. "The kids miss out on an education."

The ebbs and flows of immigration during certain times of the year has affected the housing market in Mattawa, as well.

Back in the early 1990s, the spectacle of people camping by the river during the harvest months was well documented and was serious enough to merit visits by Gov. Gary Locke. After the creation of the Governor's Project, the Housing Authority of Grant County built housing and the Catholic Diocese built houses, too. Now the problem has reversed.

"We seem to have too much housing," she said.

This is because most of the workers who come to the Mattawa fields are single men. Therefore, they do not qualify for family housing projects, and end up renting out bedrooms. What's worse, the non-profit nature of these housing constructions makes them non-taxable, as well.

A challenge that has not changed with the passage of time is the inadequate state of the Mattawa streets. Annual tries to get grants have not yielded the needed $500,000 to give the town a needed strip of gray that crosses it from Government Way to the school. Very few streets in Mattawa are paved and those that are have old Interstate 90 asphalt on them.

The challenge of resurfacing that old asphalt is nothing compared to the challenge of keeping Mattawa afloat during these trying times. Small budgets, dusty streets and skinny sidewalks notwithstanding, Esser believes in her hometown. And when it comes time to sell the town's assets to the world, not even the most seasoned travel agent can measure up.

"We have the best Mexican restaurant north of the border, we have the amazing Columbia River where you can do whatever you want on it," she said. "We got farming, agriculture, great schools and the nicest people in the world live around here."