HomeMy WebLinkAboutBetsy Warton_
! 2016
Dear Council Members,�i- PORT �� y July 28, 2016
CITY C1,FRK
Today I went down to City Pier with some East Coast friends. Out of habit I aimed our car
into the City Pier lot, but finding it full we headed south and west and found a spot a few
blocks away. From there we walked: past retail shops busy with patrons, cafe's with tables
outside filled with people sipping iced drinks. We stopped to listen to a fiddle player on the
sidewalk and we admired the many sculptures. At the beautiful new West End Park people
were picnicking and relaxing in the grass.
Along the promenade, we bought cold drinks and stopped to gaze at the boats in the
harbor: an oil tanker, a couple of fishing boats and a pair of kayakers. We saw international
travellers dragging suitcases and shopping bags towards the Coho. We enjoyed bird
watching as well: seagulls, pigeons, a great blue heron, scoters, Canada Geese and
cormorants nesting with their young on pilings. We even spotted what I thought was a
Rhino Auklet.
Eventually we made our way to the City Pier where the parking lot was congested with a
line of cars and exhaust making the loop (of course all of those waiting cars just made it
harder for anyone ready to leave to actually vacate their spot.) On the pier, people were
fishing and crabbing. As we peered into the water, we saw thousands of small fish
schooling around the barnacle encrusted pilings. On Hollywood Beach, children were
swimming, and the play structure was full of kids.
We stopped in at the Feiro and learned about the fish we had seen: most likely herring. I
borrowed a Bird ID book and indeed the diving bird we had seen was in fact a Rhino Auklet.
The Feiro was busy ... a dozen or so visitors and a class of kids noisily finishing their day of
Oceanography camp. On our way back to our car, we took a different route, browsed some
shops and stopped for dinner.
I am excited and ready to support the next phase of waterfront development. The
promenade and Westend Park are a great success. As you consider the design for the Pier
upgrades including a better Marine Science facility, I hope you won't allow the design to be
dominated by concerns about parking spaces. The lot that is there right now does not
function well. On busy days it becomes a congested, exhaust filled traffic jam in the middle
of what otherwise could be a beautiful pedestrian and bike friendly waterfront park. I
would encourage you to follow the recommendations of both of the design processes that
have already been done in which parking at the pier is minimized to just enough spaces for
drop-off and disabled users. Otherwise, parked cars have no business taking up space on
the waterfront.
Because we didn't park at the pier, we spent more time and money in town. On our short
walk, we encountered shopping, dining, industry, art, wildlife and science. My friends were
amazed at how lively out town was on a Wednesday afternoon. If we had simply parked in
the City Pier lot, we would have missed out on so much of what makes our downtown so
cool.
Sincerely, 1 Betsy Wharton 3207 S Maple Street Port Angeles