Has Leavenworth lost its Mojo?

It has been nearly 60 years since the residents of Leavenworth decided to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and rebuild their dying community. With little government help the townspeople came together to convert their town to a tourist destination utilizing the alpine backdrop. They mortgaged their homes and converted their downtown to a Bavarian Village right in the heart of central Washington.

Today the local economy is strong. In fact, it is the envy of many small towns not just around the state but around the world.

Leavenworth today is struggling with growing pains. Growing pains that were inevitable given the constraints of geography. But the innovative spirit that built the town seems to be waning in the light of challenges from some local residents.

Last Thursday I enjoyed sharing a cup of coffee with a Norwegian farmer. Torstein Lindheim loves Leavenworth and comes every year for a few weeks. He has built a home up on North Road which he rents out when he isn’t here. His permanent home is still in Lindheim Norway where his daughter now runs the family farm.

Torstein came by the Echo office to talk about his idea for a “Flower Tower.”

“Leavenworth has a parking problem,” he said. He went on to point out that It is a problem that will hurt the continued success of the village if it isn’t addressed. Timed parking will only make the problem worse according to Torstein.

 A family comes and plans to spend a couple hours. They wander around downtown then go into a restaurant for a meal and suddenly they have to jump up and go feed the meter or rush through their meal. It’s a scenario that discourages an afternoon of leisurely discovery with the family.

Torstein goes on to point out that there are a couple of things that impress visitors to the village right away. First it’s the clean streets and attractive buildings but the flowers in summer and lights in winter make it magical.

Torstein says the community must put up a parking garage. He has gone so far as to get Rusty Gibbs to create some concept drawings.

“Nobody wants just an ugly old concrete parking garage in the middle of downtown,” says Torstein. He envisions a building that is decorated with flowers in the summer and lights or murals in winter. So Torstein is calling for a “Flower Tower” for parking. A beautifully decorated building that might even include a small picnic area on the roof for visitors to enjoy a sandwich and take in the view.

Torstein is not alone in his concerns about adding parking capacity. Many of the members of the original parking study committee were disappointed that the city refused to consider adding parking capacity as part of the solution.

The city for its part promised to add capacity on the edges by acquiring the DOT lot and working with Link to provide shuttle service from the proposed Safeway park and ride to the west end. The DOT lot is still largely undeveloped.

Torstein argues that both of those solutions are less than optimal because they are not convenient to downtown.

There are other visionaries in town who have plans to add a parking facility. But they have put their plans on hold because they do not want to incur the controversy they expect will come from community members who want to limit growth or even reduce the number of tourists that come to enrich our lives.

The City and Chamber of Commerce are aware of that proposal. The Echo has offered to publish the concept drawings and a description of the plan free of charge. The principles involved do not want to open the floodgates of resistance they feel will most likely be the first response.

The question then remains. What will the future of Leavenworth look like? Mayor Carl Florea is calling for a “Life 2” meeting to address the concerns of where we go from here. Will that meeting focus on addressing our common problems and developing plans for the future vitality of our village or will it focus on ways we can reduce the impacts of tourists and their contribution to our local economic vitality.