1. 

   Captain Dave
   

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   I would like to see what people in Ballard think of a new concept for a public boat landing at the old historic Washington Street Landing along the Pioneer Square waterfront. The concept suggests recycling two sections of the old 520 floating bridge to make an expansive floating promenade and breakwater for a Mediterranean style small boat harbor.

   You can see the concept sketches here at: http://www.RecycleTheBridge.com

   This is a grass roots project that attempts to help re-connect people with the Puget Sound by providing public access to maritime activities. I am involved with FarmBoat.org--an organization that plans to connect farms and consumers around Puget Sound via water. We hope to eventually have a floating farmers market near Pioneer Square with fresh farm goods coming in from across the sound. Our floating market program is part of a bigger vision to create an alternative food distribution network for the Puget Sound region in the event of earthquakes or other disasters. Most of the old municipal docks around Puget Sound are long gone. We hope to inspire a resurgence of this vital public resource.

   (If you know anyone who might like to get involved, please let them know about us. )

   What does this have to do with Ballard? Well, FarmBoat is in the process of restoring the one of the oldest surviving fishing boats from Ballard that was built at the foot of 28th st. around 1911. This vessel will be used next year for our floating market operation and hopefully will inspire interest in Ballard's maritime past.

   Posted 5 months ago #
2. 

   Corvus
   

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   ..."hopefully will inspire interest in Ballard's maritime past." Well you did get the tense correct. Perhaps we could have a tour through Ballard which would be like the tour through underground Seattle except the tour could visit the carcasses of Ballard's maritime businesses which have now become restaurants and bars and the whole thing could be done on bikes!

   OK.. All snark aside, I think the floating dock is a great idea. I rather like the Ferris Wheel. We will never enjoy the climate of San Diego but that doesn't mean we can't have a thriving waterfront.

   I have to warn you though, it is doubtful that I would ever venture to Pioneer square to visit a farmers market but perhaps there are enough downtown residents who would.

   Posted 5 months ago #
3. 

   bambooboy
   

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   I would, but it would be on my bike...."I have to warn you though, it is doubtful that I would ever venture to Pioneer square to visit a farmers market but perhaps there are enough downtown residents who would."

   Posted 5 months ago #
4. 

   just_another_norwegian
   

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   Sure, why not - it's in prefect sync with the city's efforts to hand over the waterfront to tourists off the cruise ships. Fred and Martha from Cleveland can come and see what Seattle used to be: a city with a real waterfront that its citizens used. Now, it's just a petting zoo for the tourists - one of the city leaders' top constituencies (along with the bums). Those who actually live here and used to make their livings here can go to hell - it's all about showing the pod people a good time.

   Posted 5 months ago #
5. 

   bambooboy
   

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   Just.... - I really don't understand your criticism. Alaskan Way is a tourism hotspot. I don't understand you saying "handing over to tourists"????. You can go down there any time you want. You want to get rid of Pike Place Market too? You want to live in a cave? What do you want to see down there? No tourists, if no one is throwing money around down there it would be piers for vessels and commercial and nothing else. I think you are being short sighted or just plain naive with your comments

   Posted 5 months ago #
6. 

   Ernie
   

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   j_a_n, we still have a "real waterfront", just head a little farther south, look for the big cranes and shipping containers.

   Posted 5 months ago #
7. 

   boatgeek
   

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   @Corvus, Ballard does still have a lot of commercial maritime businesses. Starting from just past Fred Meyer, and coming northwest, you have Marine Fluid Systems, Icicle Seafoods, Kvichak Marine, Trident Seafoods, Western Towboat, Seattle Maritime Academy (99%+ job placement by the way), Covich-Williams, Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, Ballard Oil, Gardner Boat Shop, and Stabbert Yacht and Ship (largely a commercial shipyard). That's just the waterfront. If you go a couple of blocks back, you have a lot more businesses. Yes, some has been lost, but there is still a large community.

   Recycling a piece of a bridge to be a dock has a history in Seattle. Northlake Shipyard has a piece of the old I-90 bridge as a dock.

   Posted 5 months ago #
8. 

   Captain Dave
   

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   just_another_norwegian: It is more than about entertaining tourists. Currently there are virtually no municipal docks on the Seattle waterfront that can accommodate small vessels. We hope to establish a regular small vessel freight route between Seattle and other ports on Puget Sound (http://www.farmboat.org). My grandparents met each other near washington street landing back when my grandfather would bring his fishing boat to Seattle to sell fish directly to the public at the dock.

   I agree with you that the Seattle Waterfront has been mostly developed to cater to out-of-towners who board large cruise ships and high-capacity tour boats. What we would like to see is a salt-water version of what the Center for Wooden Boats has done at South Lake Union. A place that is attractive, useful and inspiring to local people.

   San Francisco was successful at maintaining a mix of tourism and local flavor by keeping docks available to independent fisherman. This sort of scenario fits the historic Pioneer Square district rather well since it would match the local human-scale elements of the old architecture.

   Posted 5 months ago #
9. 

   Catherine
   

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   There used to be a dock down there - not that long ago really - and it was overrun with addicts of all types. Pretty sketchy place to leave your boat.

   The location is a lousy place for any dock - UNLESS you breakwater it very well (floating or not). Because of the ferry terminal the wake comes from some odd angles, not just the expected shipping channel direction. The wake action alone down there regularly beat boats up and broke mooring lines. The tide action was interesting too. Med-tie, so few boaters here know what that is, let alone have actually successfully done it, that some sort of training/monitoring/coaching had probably better be involved. Remember - in the Med - you have to have a skipper's license to pilot any boat, here - all you need is the money to buy/rent a boat as long as it's a private vessel.

   So there are the hurdles - but in general - if you build something big enough - that has perhaps space for pop-up vendors on the breakwater like Victoria's harbor - so that you get lots of foot traffic in there - sounds like an interesting re-use of materials and a nice potential landing for a private foot ferry for all those sports events down there too.

   Posted 5 months ago #
10. 

    Captain Dave
    

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    Catherine: The idea is to use two of the old 520 floating bridge sections--ballasted down to about 4 or 5 feet off the water. The bridge sections are approximately 330' x 60' and weigh hundreds of tons. They should provide ample protection from waves on the bay. With the traffic barriers removed, the bridge deck will provide a large public space that would be ideal for numerous events from weddings to concerts.

    Posted 5 months ago #

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