No, Seattle Daily Weekly, this city will not be goaded into a tussle this afternoon. Not on an 80-degree day, not with two hot dogs stands fully up and operational near the PSNS gate, not with the city’s boys in blue busy reminding a pesky business that the sex trade is no longer tolerated on Callow.
There’s more to life, my friends. That and we’ve already scratched that itch a few times this year.
There’s also the fact that whomever of our six candidates emerges from the mayoral scrum this November will have a potential battle already in line: the boardwalk extension to Evergreen-Rotary Park.
Bozeman departs today, with the boardwalk still mapped on the city’s renderings of future Bremerton and some cash for preliminary studies still in our collective wallet. What he leaves without, however, is the Suquamish Tribe’s blessing. Last October Chris Dunagan covered the latest developments, in which a city analysis showed that the boardwalk would allow for a sewer replacement project. Not much traction since, however, leaving something for whoever takes over the corner office.
Our editorial board had hizzoner in Wednesday for a parting shot, and to hear about his plans for the new gig with the Port of Bremerton. So we asked about what’s to become of the boardwalk plan.
Bozeman says it’s a 50/50 shot at this point. He doesn’t see it as a money issue, but a question over what environmental precedent the boardwalk would set for the Tribe. If Bremerton gets its way on this one, what of every other request city to build along Puget Sound shorelines?
He did hint at a feeling this will be a campaign issue. Whether the candidates make it a platform or not, I’m sure it’s a question we’ll raise during election coverage. The boardwalk, after all, is the one public project that hasn’t been done as other revitalization projects wrap up, and it’ll be interesting to see where that ranks on each candidate’s agenda.
What about you? How important is the boardwalk? Are you willing to pay for it? Or do you just more to read more cheap shots across the water?
— David Nelson
I believe the boardwalk as currently mapped out by the city is excessive and is a poor way to deal with the current sewage problem along the narrows. We should be exploring ways to direct sewage away from delicate ecosystems, not ways to drive huge trucks over them.
My suggestion, if you want a boardwalk, have one; a “board” walk. A modest boardwalk like the one around Liberty Bay in Poulsbo would serve the public well. It would filter sunlight, not block it completely, thereby reducing impact to the beach and shallow water habitats. The money that would have gone to a cement highway around the Narrows could be used for a much needed and sane approach to the sewer issue. I would really like Bremerton to get just one sewer thing right in my lifetime. This could be their chance.
This weeks’ beach main failure in Bainbridge Island should wake up the Bremerton Boardwalk’s supporters to the poor idea of installing sewer mains on the waterfront. Sewer mains need to be installed upland where they can be more easily maintained. This is not a tribes vs city issue as Mr Bozeman has repeatedly tried to frame it. When we can afford a reasonable sized boardwalk that does not cause undue damage to beach waters we can build it then. The only reason Mr Bozeman has married it with the needed sewer main is to get ratepayers of our sewer system to fund it.