Oak Harbor has boldly tread where Whidbey Island’s two other towns have feared to go: Burying its ugly downtown power lines, pretty much regardless of the cost.
Work to place the lines underground has been finished for a while but removal of the old power poles and power lines started Monday. When finished, the sky will be clear downtown. Visitors and townsfolk alike can look up and seen nothing but gray skies, and those entering downtown will seat a neat thoroughfare, without the distraction of power lines crisscrossing the old part of town. The last time that happened was before Oak Harbor had electricity.
Overhead power lines are still a distraction in Coupeville and Langley, both much more touristy than Oak Harbor. Talk of burying the lines comes up every few years, but the expense outweighs the desire for clear skies. Oak Harbor, desiring a total downtown makeover, finally got fed up and approved spending up to $2 million to get the job done. The other towns will be envious this summer as Oak Harbor boasts the neatest downtown skies on the island.
The question is, will visitors notice and appreciate something that isn’t there? Towns spend most of their time making sure business signs are neat and tidy and that public artwork is plentiful and attractively spaced. In this case, money was spent to create nothing, which is hard for most people to appreciate. The same is not true of artists and photographers, who will revel in the lack of ugly power lines. Artists sometimes fix the problem by painting townscapes without power lines, but the result lacks authenticity. Photographers go to great lengths to shoot from a perspective that minimizes the obstruction, but can’t entirely miss having the lines run through their photos. Some might erase the lines using Photoshop, but that too is tampering with reality.
Perhaps the appreciation of something that isn’t there is more subtle. Visitors to Oak Harbor will experience a sense of openness and spaciousness that wasn’t there before. They will no longer feel like frightened flies looking up at a spider’s web. Instead, shopping downtown will be a liberating experience, where the sky is literally the limit.
The Oak Harbor City Council took an expensive risk in burying the power lines, but it may ultimately prove to be a wise move. Downtown will be more open, more natural, and will simply be a more relaxing place to spend time and money. People may not know exactly why, but it’s because the ugly web of wires is finally gone.
