Longview Tracts gets another look

by Sebastian Moraga<br>Herald Staff Writer
| November 4, 2004 8:00 PM

Troubled neighborhood the focus of summit between residents, authorities

MOSES LAKE — For Marietta Miller, living in Longview Tracts is not all that bad.

It's worse.

"I'm tired of living in filth," she said.

Weeds, junked cars and garbage strewn about seem to be strong arguments for her complaints that the city has placed Longview Tracts, a neighborhood on the east end of town, low on its pole of priorities.

"Healthy Communities is downtown, Vision 2020 is downtown," she said, referring to two of the community-minded groups working to improve the quality of life and the appearance of the city, respectively. ""There is nothing for Longview Tracts."

Throughout the years, Miller has been a loud and sometimes lone voice in representation of her neighborhood. This has led her to openly criticize the way the city authorities deal with the problems affecting it.

"No matter how many times I report something, little or nothing gets done," she said.

Conversely, city authorities refute the perception that Longview Tracts does not matter to them.

"(Longview Tracts) is getting the attention of any other neighborhood," said Gilbert Alvarado, the city's community development director, who added that the case of Longview Tracts is not one of neglect by the city but one of slow city-led improvement after years of neglect by the county.

"You got to think of where we started from," he said. "We did not start with a prime neighborhood that went all to hell. It was a tough neighborhood." Longview Tracts was annexed to the city after years of being incorporated in the county.

Alvarado hinted that proof that Longview Tracts gets the same treatment as other neighborhoods do, is the fact that the same weeds and broken branches can be seen in other neighborhoods.

This difference of opinions between Miller and the city has gone on for years, with Miller insisting the city needs to make good on its word to enforce codes more strictly when it comes to keeping the streets clean and Alvarado insisting that the city is doing its job.

"It's happening," Alvarado said of the code enforcement. "Whether it's happening fast enough, I can't answer to that."

The point of discussion this time around is a grant the city is applying for that might incorporate Longview Tracts to the city sewer lines.

"If we get sewer, we can get streets; and if we can get streets, they can see that our community will look better," Miller said.

A meeting has been called by the city to discuss the ins and outs of this grant for tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Longview Elementary. There, Miller hopes the city leaders will hear the complaints and concerns of neighbors of Longview Tracts, although she acknowledges that in this particular crusade, "it's usually only me."

Alvarado said that there have been times where Miller has called, but it is usually to congratulate the city on an specific issue.

Disparities notwithstanding, the meeting is expected to clarify any questions the neighbors may have about how high of a priority Longview Tracts' sewer system is when it comes to this grant. Even if it is near the top, nobody expects this issue, nor Miller, to be quiet for long.

"We live in a blighted area," she said. "It looks like a dump."