Seattle Beach Fight Is Warning to Tri-Cities About Developing River Front

The mayor of Seattle is mulling a pricey purchase, or perhaps an ugly legal battle, to protect the public's access to a beach.

A formerly public beach was ruled private by a court. The city must now buy the beach from owners who don't want to sell, or obtain it through Eminent Domain, which is something the city is willing to do, but really doesn't want to.

Without the beach, residents have no access to the water for miles.

But a public beach will welcome garbage, transients, late-night parties, parking violations, noise disturbances and other unseemly elements adjacent to valuable real estate. Obviously the property owners would fight it.

If the Army Corps of Engineers grants Tri-Cities permission to develop the river fronts we'll have great restaurants, clubs, hotels... and yes, beaches... on the water, but we'll eventually run into the same issues. If people spend big money on a property, they're going to want control over who accesses it.