If Port Arthur were drowning, recent promising developments downtown and at Pleasure Island suggest the sudden appearance of lifeboats. Miracle of miracles!

Consider recent developments that point with favor toward our city’s future. For one, Motiva Enterprises has pledged its intentions to purchase two decrepit landmark buildings in the downtown and rehab and restore them as office sites.

That plan promises city success on many levels:

• It revives an historic intersection that includes two substantial landmarks, the 1912 Federal Building and the 1926 Adams Building, both of which evoke proud moments in the city’s history. The former is on the National Register of Historic Places; Motiva may push to put the latter on the National Register, as well.
• It brings to downtown 500 paid Motiva professionals, enough to perhaps spark business interest downtown for restaurants and the presence of financial services, a pharmacy presence and maybe more.
• It encourages the movement of Motiva contractors to the downtown area, so as to be conveniently located near the energy giant. Success may beget success. How ‘bout that?
• It provides an implied imprimatur from a global industry that downtown Port Arthur is OK, a good place to invest.

For Port Arthur, it means a hint of prosperity. It means, if not rebirth, at least revival — a presence of life where there was little.

Follow that with Motiva’s interest — perhaps latent, perhaps more — in the Hotel Sabine, the empty yet hulking 10-story edifice that hovers over downtown on what should be the main business street. Motiva has expressed some interest in buying and restoring that, too, perhaps for temporary lodging for its visitors or other short-term residents.

A recent appearance before the City Council by a proven developer — he’s talking about reopening the golf course and building a hotel — ought to suggest promise, too. Nothing certain, but it’s a starting point.

Yet some appointed and elected leaders look glum. We visited City Hall on the day Motiva’s downtown interest was first revealed — the greatest day of his recent public service — and found one appointed official complaining about what was said about him on Facebook. Motiva’s been challenged on their tax payments, which is a discussion worth having in civil tones. On Pleasure Island, there’s been a public spat over who is in charge of the island’s governance. Tuesday night’s City Council meeting seemed to smack of petty politics.

Much hard work has gone into positioning Port Arthur for potential success, especially downtown. That work has involved both the professional staff and the City Council, to whom some credit is rightly due.

Right now, elected and appointed leaders, with their city poised for success, ought to focus on just that: Eyes on the prize. Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.