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Progress
Sunday, March 17, 2002
THE PEOPLE: LORRINE THOMPSON THE OLYMPIAN
YELM -- Tracey Elmore doesn't think Yelm has a downtown, and that's a compliment.
"I lived in Tacoma, so I think of downtown as slums," she said. "This is just in town. We just say we're going 'in town.' "
Elmore is shopping at the new Safeway store on a drizzly winter day, having come in from the Bald Hills area, which she does frequently now.
City officials and business owners might define a downtown in concrete ways
-- in zoning and financial terms. But for residents, shoppers and
other downtown users, the definition can vary widely based on personal
experiences and notions of what "downtown" means.
Ask Rick and Pam Mosey about Yelm's downtown, and they smile at the idea that their home of 22 years has a defined downtown, or that the downtown location has changed with all the new businesses rolling in.
"I don't think Yelm is so big that it can't all be downtown," said Pam, who has lived in town with her husband for more than 20 years.
If anything, the entire main street (Yelm Avenue) is downtown, she said.
"I think the whole complex is it," agrees Rich, who is retired. "It's spreading out a little bit, but it's not that far to go."
What the growth means for the Moseys is staying in town to shop more, enjoying the new stadium cinemas and finding creative ways to avoid the traffic.
"I drive the back roads," Pam said. "We really need a bypass. I feel really sorry for the people who commute."
Nevertheless, the Moseys like the growth.
"Personally, I think Yelm's gone for the better," Rich said. "It's a clean little town. There's more shopping. There used to be nothing."
Pam nods. "Nice little subdivisions with nice houses," she said. "You can't stop growth."
'At the stoplight'
Some Yelm residents have a more defined idea of where downtown is, and where it should be.
"Technically, it's at the stoplight," said lifelong Yelm resident Jeremy Tucker, 18.
Tucker points to the intersection of Yelm Avenue and First Street (also known as state Routes 510 and 507), the site of Yelm's first traffic light many years ago.
"But I consider it down here now. There's more stuff to do here," Tucker said, pointing to the new movie theater and fast food restaurants.
He is standing outside the Burger King restaurant in the growing commercial area south of Yelm's traditional downtown core.
Mark McKown, 19, agrees.
"It's pretty sweet," McKown said of the city's business growth. "There's stuff to do here now."
What?
McKown and Tucker answer in unison: "Go to the movies."
Though he's new to Yelm, Mark Parker also considers the downtown core to be the central intersection.
"To me, it hasn't changed," said Parker, who has lived in Yelm for a year, but has lived in nearby Lacey and DuPont for years before that.
Parker likes the growth, especially the fact that the city has a McDonald's for his son, Max, 5. "It's his favorite restaurant," he said.
Parker has two wishes for the city's downtown and commercial area -- to fix up the old downtown core, which he feels looks a little ragged, and the addition of a good restaurant.
"I love (the growth), as long as it's done right, as far as aesthetics with the city and everything," he said.
Yelm-area resident Maria Heinz is a little more cautious about the growth.
"It makes me glad I live outside town," said Heinz, 35, who moved to Yelm from Cheyenne, Wyo.
Heinz said it's nice to have more shopping choices nearby, because living in a small city, "I had to go outside town to get things done."
However, she worries about what the growth will bring -- wider roads, adult video stores and more.
"You know it's going to happen," she said. It's a topic that comes up with neighbors when growth is discussed, she said.
However, the growth in Yelm was probably unavoidable, Heinz said.
"Look at where we are," she said, of Yelm's central location between Olympia and Fort Lewis, and among several small towns and many county residents.
The growth brings both the good and the bad, she said.
"I think everyone thinks it's OK, as long as we can keep it under control,"
she said.
The Olympian Copyright 2002
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