Seattle is hearing a lot about the decision to “do something about” the I-5 bridge crossing the Columbia. The older half was started in 1917, the newer portion in the late 1950s.

Would you vote for just fixing these old spans to last another 50 years? Would you chase after seismic retrofit funds to be diverted for this end?

“Maybe we should just build a new damn bridge,” is what most people would say.

Where is he going with this?

The original part of Ilwaco High school was started a couple years before the old freeway span, around 1915. The second half had its foundation laid only a decade before the “New” school was started in the late 1960s. Let’s consider building a new K-12 facility in the North End with tsunami survivability as a factor in choosing the location. (We have all seen the simulations of “The Big One” sloshing devastation into the Willapa, but maybe the bay side would be safer.)

Close Long Beach School — it is older than the “New” high school anyway. Turn Ocean Park School over to the community. Build a new K-6 at Black Lake and manage the site so as to retain athletic facilities if feasible, but certainly dispose of Hilltop.

BILL O’MEARA

Seattle