Wilsonville would rather remain precious than prosperous. In one of the most galling displays of elitist behavior, the Wilsonville city manager has dismissed out of hand the possibility of renowned outfitter, Cabela’s, locating one of its destination stores in its city limits. The store would have employed 300 people. The city mothers think this big box 125,000 square foot store doesn’t comport with the aesthetic sensibilities of Wilsonville; record unemployment rates be damned. A Wilsonville official sniffs,

“We have the most congested portion of Interstate 5 in the region,” Ottenad said. “What we learned with Fry’s (Electronics) is that it’s not appropriate to have people leaving the metro region to do their shopping down south.”

Not, er, “appropriate?” Don’t tell that to the outlet store operators.We understand that these smart growthers would rather take our cars from us, put us on a Friday bike, and keep us captive in their smart growth cities so we can buy local like they do in their beloved, Europe, but sometimes a people like to use a car. Cars equal freedom of movement. And who decides what’s “appropriate” anyway? The people who are smarter than we are. And, of course, we certainly can’t tolerate 300 new, but ““low paying”  jobs:

“We’ve been loath to surrender our traffic capacity at the interchanges for low-paying retail jobs,” Ottenad said.

City Chooses Green Over Jobs

 Let’s take a look at the Clackamas County unemployment rate, shall we? See that chart? See that line going up, up, up? Yeah, that’s the county’s UNemployment rate.
And how about those “low paying” jobs? Let’s check the current rate of Clackamas County pay:

Clackamas County’s average weekly wage was $842.

Nationally, the average weekly wage increased 2.5 percent from 2008 to $942.

  Nothing wrong with trying to improve your city but that begins with employment. You folks on the government dole probably don’t understand that. And you “smart people in government” probably don’t realize what a disincentive our high –and just raised ($8.50)–minimum wage is in the job market. We’re lucky to get these jobs.

The city of Wilsonville wants any new developments within its boundaries to dovetail with its goals and plans.

I know traffic is a huge concern. Why not ask Cabela’s to do what they did in Lacy, Washington? Ask for the store to help with traffic control.