In the Dr. Seuss book “Hunches in Bunches,” a young boy cannot make up his mind. He is pestered by creatures called Hunches. Do you want to go out skating? Fly a kite? Or climb a tree? Do you want to eat a pizza? Take a bath? Or watch TV? The Hunches offer too many choices, and the boy remains frozen.

I read “Hunches in Bunches” to students and parents at Holmes Elementary School on Thursday evening. It was Family Reading Night, capping off a monthlong Washington Reading Corps initiative. Holmes, where more than 90 percent of the students receive free or reduced lunch, is one of my favorite schools. The vibe there is social justice done in a creative way.

I’ve been a big booster for the proposed Kendall Yards project, primarily because of what the upper scale development could do for the children of the West Central neighborhood and the students at Holmes Elementary. The development won’t stretch as far as the school, but it would transform all of West Central.

Higher income families with children who move into Kendall Yards would, I hope, send their kids to Holmes. And perhaps those without children would volunteer at the school.

But the Kendall Yards project, like almost every project that offers Spokane a new way, is getting bogged down in creatures I’ll call Punches, with apologies to Dr. Seuss. The developer wants a tax break. Not fair to all taxpayers. Punch! Who will pay for all that infrastructure? Punch.

I grew up here and remember when Expo ‘74 was being envisioned by the visionaries. The Punches said it would never work. They called it Fiasco ‘74, but they disappeared once the world’s fair changed forever the character of downtown Spokane.

The Punches fought the new Spokane Arena and the Convention Center expansion. You don’t hear much from them anymore, now that the U.S. Figure Skating Championships have come and gone, leaving behind immense civic pride and millions in tourist dollars.

I hate to bring it up, because some people still feel bitter about the civic mess that accompanied the building of River Park Square, and some of the Punches back then had valid points. But I’m not alone in being happy that it’s built now. Young people who move to bigger cities after high school can get snooty about Spokane. They come back for visits and say stuff like, “I see that the men here still wear mullets.”

But since River Park Square, I’ve noticed a change. Returnees ask me: “What happened to downtown? It’s so unSpokane. It’s actually cool.” It is.

Back to West Central. The neighborhood dwells now in transition. I drove through it Friday morning and saw buildings tagged with graffiti and homes with blue tarps for roofs and beater cars parked on lawns. A man rifled through recycling bins and filled his shopping cart with cans and bottles.

But I also saw remodeled historic homes painted the colors of spring, looking as fresh as children dressed up for Easter. I saw buses ease through the West Central streets. In Seattle, neighborhoods close to downtown are thriving because the transit system makes it easy to avoid hellish commutes. The Spokane buses were mostly empty Friday, but they will be ready when the commuters who need them move into Kendall Yards.

In the Dr. Seuss book, one of the Hunches taunts the boy: Your mind is murky-mooshy! Will you make it up? Or won’t you? If you won’t, you are a wonter! Do you understand? Or don’t you? If you don’t, you are a donter. You’re a canter if you can’t.

To those who are working hard to make Kendall Yards happen, I applaud you. But please work a little harder. Get it done. Don’t let the Punches destroy this development. Spokane is better than this. And always has been.