Opinion - Letters to the Editor

POSTED: Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008

Says city is stalling on waterfront project

We have watched the Waterfront Futures Project spend nearly five years developing a vision for a revitalized mixed-use area on the former Georgia-Pacific industrial site. Much of this process has been financed by the Port of Bellingham with taxes paid by all county residents and has incorporated a tremendous amount of public input.

Just when we thought the process was nearing completion and work was to begin, the city of Bellingham began to nit-pick the project. Five years of planning and public input is now being discarded by the city, endangering the funding stream needed to proceed with the cleanup.

Meanwhile, potential investment is delayed and the taxpayers continue to finance the city's interminable stalling.

How ironic that many who cheered when G-P was driven out of town now want to preserve its "historic" industrial buildings in spite of the fact that the experts are in agreement that they are structurally inappropriate for new uses. Let's get to work on our waterfront revitalization!

Jeff McKay

Ferndale