Are America’s small resort towns evidence of a growing sustainability ethic, where, inter alia, autocentric streets are in transition from past to future? Based on selective photography, today’s landscape in Chelan, Washington suggests such a conclusion.

Five days prior to Earth Day, 2010, five indicators emerge, as captioned below:

1. Small town streets, while auto-dominated, interact with a growing pedestrian presence.

2. Businesses are seeking street interaction wherever possible, even while conventional parking schemes remain.

3. The juncture of parks and natural resources enhances town settings.

4. Street and park fairs celebrate Earth Day.

5. Local groups organize around sustainability amid the monikers of conventional infrastructure and transportation.

A review of the Lake Chelan Mirror (April 14 print edition) shows the City Council addressing balanced street uses and potential incentives for sustainability in discussion of the Draft Downtown Master Plan. Simultaneously, the Council is discussing balanced integration of a potential 270 acre mixed use development adjacent to current city limits.