2008-october-compilation-citizen-comment

Date Subject Citizen/Group Citizen Comments on New Whatcom Waterfront Planning Rec’d – October 2008 10/6/08 Waterfront Lynette Felber, Ph.D Dear Mayor Pike: Connection Plan th,At the City Council meeting on September 29 you asked for community feedback on the new Waterfront Connections Plan. As a Bellingham resident who has followed the evolution of the Waterfront development closely, I’d like to voice support for most aspects of this new plan and urge that some of its strongest aspects be further enhanced. The strongest component of the new plan is its traditional grid. This grid would not only save taxpayers money, but it would also facilitate creation of a historic district within the waterfront. It is important, however, that those buildings not be destroyed before a plan is implemented. An article in the Bellingham Herald (9/29/08) reported on the Port’s plans to destroy three of the Georgia-Pacific buildings because it’s cheaper to do so now. The Port needs to consider not just the cost paid to dismantle the buildings but rather the entire expense (“triple-bottom-line,” if you will). The total cost includes both the financial and the environmental costs of sending all those buildings to the landfill. In addition, we should consider the cost of the “embodied energy” it took to build them when they were constructed in the 1930s and 40s: if we start from scratch, that energy is lost. The Port’s offer to preserve some ...