Allowing all voices to be heard is good, but it also can lead to gridlock. Patience is needed when gridlock prevails.

Transformational changes to the landscape are difficult to make with already existing ownership and development of land. Just about every powerline, railroad or housing project runs into the cost of land, neighbor opposition and current use conflicts. We have gridlock, when change is needed to address climate change as well as population growth.

By coincidence, after waking up and thinking about these things, I saw news about the Rye Development pumped power storage project in eastern Washington. It has has recently passed a major hurtle in it's approval process.

Before seeing this, I got to thinking (for some reason) about the railroad through Bellingham and the talk about expanding it to double track. That talk was happening a few years ago. There was talk about double tracking for more passenger rail and it's effect on Boulevard Park. Since then, that talk has subsided, but could return. I recently wrote to City Council wondering if possible rail expansion was being taken into account in plans for the new Salish Landing Park which is also along the rail line.

Tight fit. Trains passing Chrysalis Hotel and on through Boulevard Park.

Any attempts to provide a new rail corridor, outside of Bellingham, would likely run into a firestorm of opposition from existing land owners, neighborhood associations and so forth. There is a rail line along Highway 9, but that entire corridor, including Highway 9 itself, faces opposition to expansion as well.

Highway 9 keeps getting busier, but much of it's route is still narrow and winding. I avoid most of it for bicycling.

Cartoon someone drew for a publication in response to an article I wrote about Highway 9.

Gridlock is a problem if we want change, but looking at this another way, maybe we shouldn't always want to rush into change?

If we want to error toward preserving the past, we will need lots more patience. Patience for more traffic, if population keeps growing. Patience for bottlenecks that don't get fixed and patience with the slow political process.

In China, they build rail because they have little tolerance for people who stand in the way. Democracies, tend to be more gridlocked as they give people a chance to speak out and block plans.

Some of what got Trump elected is frustration with gridlock, but getting things done doesn't always bode well. I would more like to see things that help our climate stability get done than Trump's bulldozing agenda.

Still, we either need patience for slow "process," or we need less gridlock. One or the other; something has to give. Yes, Americans are not noted for patience.

That's when, by coincidence, I see that the pumped hydroelectric storage project, near Goldendale, WA. has cleared more hurtles to it's progress. It has been tied up by Native American concern that the site was sacred.

Abandoned refinery seen during one of my bicycle trips in Columbia Gorge, 2005.

I'm glad to see the pumped storage plan go forward. Maybe the god's, at that sacred site, would be glad to see it put to use for the benefit of the people and the environment.