The following is written by Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow:

There’s a Chinese proverb that says “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills.”  And then, there are multiple folk songs that remind us the winds of change are always blowing. In other words, change happens.

Through the past few study sessions, the City Council is getting an extensive briefing on the current process to rewrite our Comprehensive Plan and as part of it, our East Sumner Neighborhood Plan.  Through both, our planners are predicting what change will happen in our region in the next 20 years, and what windmills Sumner needs to build (figuratively speaking) to manage that change and maximize its benefits to Sumner.

When I hear about our students participating in things like the recent Benefit Nights, I’m pretty confident that we have a bright, energetic group of future leaders coming, no matter how much changes around us.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s sometimes hard to want to build windmills.  I have days when I’d rather just build the wall because we already have it really good here in Sumner.  I sometimes have to remind myself that we only have it good today because our predecessors built some nice windmills before us.  It’s our turn to not just cherish our past but to also build a future that the next generations will cherish too.