The problems of King County are the problems of all 39 cities in King County.

Examples of that are right here, in the pages of this week’s paper.

As county officials work to find a solution to fund major road repairs or abandon roads, they have engaged a group of citizens, the bridges and roads task force, to consider the problem and recommend solutions (page 1).

As Snoqualmie residents struggled with the problem of getting safely across Snoqualmie Parkway, they engaged the city in a conversation about crosswalk solutions (page 7).

As North Bend staff monitor the city’s aging wastewater treatment plant, they are developing recommendations for short-term and long-term  solutions (page 4).

As the school district juggles curriculum needs, staff contract costs and facilities maintenance expenses, staff members make endless contingency plans to cover the most likely outcomes of the current legislative session and whatever gets resolved on school funding (every page with school news).

None of these issues is exactly comparable with the others, but they are really all about the same thing, solving a problem that everyone has — and will likely have to pay for — but only a few people are engaged in.

I don’t have the solution to any of these problems nor, realistically, do I have a way to get more people working on them. What I do have is wishful thinking. I want someone to invent a window or app or magic wand that shows cause and effect.

It’s actually more impressive than it sounds.

Here’s how it works. I drive to work tomorrow morning and forget to steer around the huge potholes on the highway. I think “when are they going to fix this road?” I pull over and park, then point my tool/phone/wand at the problem and the screen shows me what it will cost and where the money could come from — human services, schools, cops and courts, my own pocket, etc.

Maybe it won’t solve the problem, but it will put things in perspective, and fast.