Citizens need to work together for prosperity

There are folk in Ritzville who would like to see Ritzville prosper. We need to be clear here, it is not Ritzville that either prospers or declines, but the citizens of Ritzville. Bad social and economic policies have consequences for the individual citizens of this town.

There are also folk in Ritzville who have resisted changes that could have resulted in economic opportunities for those living in this city. These folk have denied their fellow city citizens the opportunity to enjoy a more prosperous living. This opposition to change is a significant obstacle to those seeking prosperity for our citizens.

The city council is unwilling or perhaps simply unable to fulfill basic responsibilities. Further, the policies they follow are largely not conducive to a prosperous community. The city council is also pushing the citizens deeper and deeper into debt. This is not the way to prosper the citizens.

It is not clear whether our hospital can be saved. The campaign for a new hospital building may have been well intentioned but the effect is to reduce the prosperity of the citizenry. The failure to come up with a rational solution to a hospital/clinic for our hospital district is no small matter.

The school board routinely ignores proper maintenance of Ritzville school buildings. As soon as the new Project 56 track and associated sport facilities are paid for we will be asked for big money to make “needed/necessary” repairs to school facilities.

Neglect of these public facilities also has the result of reducing the prosperity of the citizens.

There is also the appearance that some in the city are pushing to make Ritzville a magnet for individuals dependent upon state and federal welfare programs. This too is not a road to prosperity. Others have convinced themselves that making Ritzville a retirement community is a way of saving the small town culture. Entitlement populations do not prosper a community, which has an increasing burden of debt.

Government entities are not the source of economic growth but they can and do impede it. A more prosperous Ritzville will need more citizens free and able to create salable goods and services.

Barry Boyer, Ritzville