Gateway Construction Work — OOPS!

Uh oh. Now what?? Or as the saying goes, déjà vu all over again.

Remains have been found at the Gateway construction site. Construction work is temporarily halted until it’s determined whether the remains are human and, if they’re human, whether they're Native American.

So… Where do we go (or not go) from here? Most people were against the Gateway project from the getgo. (That’s just my personal impression from everybody I've talked to.) But now that downtown Port Angeles is already in the throes of construction work — now what?? Are we just gonna be paralyzed in this position? Will downtown Port Angeles start looking like a still life with bulldozers and torn-up sidewalks?

Where do you see this going?

Gateway Groundbreaking Ceremony

The Gateway groundbreaking ceremony was right on schedule this morning at 9 a.m. About fifty people attended. Speeches were given by Mayor Karen Rogers, City Manager Mark Madsen and Kevin Thompson, President of the Downtown Association, among others. The event was also attended by:

Members of Clallam Transit, Primo Construction, several former Port Angeles mayors, members of the City Council, Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Association; and representatives from the offices of Norm Dicks and Patty Murray.

According to the City of Port Angeles website, the construction chaos won't start getting worse until around mid-August. Their website will continue to provide updated information on Gateway. This site also has photos of the groundbreaking ceremony.

Wednesday DOWNTOWN Farmers' Market Starts TODAY

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market will be in downtown Port Angeles every Wednesday throughout the summer, starting today. Their hours will be from 3 to 6:30 p.m. They'll be in the parking lot at First Street and North Laurel, next to The Toggery.

Today there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. to celebrate the opening of the summer Farmers' Market.

UPDATE:

The Wednesday night Concerts on the Pier will be starting next Wednesday, June 20th, presumably at 6 p.m. (that's the time they started last summer and the summer before).

Let's all get out there and support the downtown Farmers' Market and the Concerts on the Pier. Port Angeles rocks!

Back From Canada

Just got back from a 17-day trip across the U.S. and Canada; hence the lack of any new posts. Incredible scenery in nine states and five provinces. This journey inspired a few friendly criticisms of Port Angeles in particular and American border cities in general.

Everyone is worried that the new passport regulations will ruin the economies of border areas by jeopardizing tourism. Whether or not this is a valid fear, there are things we can do.

Canadian money: Too many Port Angeles merchants don’t accept it. We’re clamoring for more tourists, and we have tourists streaming in from British Columbia and we don’t accept their currency. What's wrong with this picture? Everywhere we went in Canada, people accepted American currency; it didn’t matter if we were in the tiniest hick town hundreds of miles from the border. Maybe we could make Canadian tourists more welcome by accepting their currency. Guilty merchants — you know who you are. Let’s try to be part of the solution.

Customs agents and people skills: hopefully that phrase isn't an oxymoron. I have no way of knowing whether American customs agents go out of their way to keep Canadian tourists out of the country, since they can't very well keep Americans from returning home (can they?). But when we crossed (finally!) the border from Michigan into Ontario, the Canadian customs agents were the rudest collection of arrogant SOBs I’ve ever seen. This doesn’t seem to me like the best way to attract foreign tourists, but what do I know?

I've personally never had a problem crossing into Victoria, but I've heard unpleasant encounters described by other people. Obviously both countries need to keep terrorists and smugglers out, but this can be done without treating every tourist like a suspect. Remember, we want to ATTRACT tourists, not keep them away.