A historical museum is a fitting centerpiece for the Bay Area's waterfront restoration. Encouraging tourism while celebrating the area's seaport heritage is a perfect symbol of how our area can reshape its future.

In times past, the waterfront of Marshfield and North Bend was a busy nexus of industry. Those days are gone, leaving behind a desert of broken concrete and decayed pilings. The landscape is uninviting to visitors and disheartening to locals.

Officials of the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum want to take the lead in reopening this waterside frontier. They hope the building they've proposed, across 101 from PRO-Build, will be a magnet for community activities and an invitation to additional development.

Skeptics will say tourist-oriented redevelopment can't restore the old-time prosperity of bustling docks. The skeptics are right, but they miss the point. This community must build from where it stands today.

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