'Git er done' ? What's that?

If the Great Recession has taught us anything it is that economic diversification continues to be the best way for any region to survive. Which is why when I was campaigning in 2009 many of you would have heard me talking about a Clean Tech Campus on the old GP mill site.

I want our waterfront, urban land reused for triple-bottom line, sustainable, local jobs that may have international implications but even I am stymied at my own efforts. After a year or so of doing my part to help move the waterfront process forward, I have decided new tactics should be employed.

My problems with these constant delays stems from a bit of cultural baggage. I grew up in Lewis County, we moved quite a bit so, although I lived all over the county, I finished high school in Centralia. I spent 8 years working on a farm and just about everyone I knew, including my family, worked in the woods or some primary industry.

The cultural baggage I carry is one of getting things done. We all like to laugh at the 'git er done' attitude made popular by Larry the Cable Guy, but inside that little joke is some real truth about what makes humans so powerful - we get things done. That's both good and bad, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that we do get things done but we now have so many layers of process it takes too much precious time, energy and resources. These things aren't free.

Let me describe for you what I mean about process. For decades local folks, notably George Dyson, have been working to have a hand-launch boat put-in/take-out along the Whatcom Waterway. The public has owned nearly every property adjoining the Waterway for many years and with GP gone and little traffic in the waterway today, what would seem to be the biggest obstacles have gone. So I thought, "Hey, let's get some small-boat access." It's cheap and easy and won't get in the way, right? Well, no - because of process it is neither cheap nor easy.

What I've proposed is to open the gate behind the granary, move a few existing ecology blocks, add 100 feet of chain link fence, remove 60 feet of chain link fence and drag a float over to tie up at the wooden bulkhead below Central St. The street is still there, the parking lots are still there, the float is free and we could do this for probably less than $10k for fence repairs and a gangway, certainly not a small amount but not a deal breaker either.

So what's the hold up? We would need a permit and so many permissions it's a challenge just to figure out who to call first. Now help me out here. The float is already floating in the waterway, just on the wrong side. The streets are already built. The bulkhead is already built. It is legal to tie up a boat or barge of any size just 30 feet from the proposed location. And, yet, we can't cut a hole in a fence so folks can touch the water downtown? Really?

I understand resource and environmental protection. I've spent the last 18 years of my life immersed in the study and active participation in the 'green movement' so I get it, I really do. What I don't get is how we have allowed ourselves to throw so much process in our own way that we can only get even little things done after years of process. And I'm talking about our cleanups, too, not just a little float on the waterway. Grrrr....

Where I grew up I worked with and heard stories from people who did 'git er done' in the woods every day. We know better now about the down side of crappy road building in our forest lands but, bear with me here, if you needed a road to a stand of trees you had a Cat on the low boy Sunday morning and by Wednesday you had trucks on a landing unloading equipment. I know, I know, this wasn't the best way to do it but my point is that the problem was identified and attacked.

Loggers then, and now, don't sit around mired in process. Many people and organizations "get it" so why don't our governing bodies? Please don't get me wrong, I live by a personal philosophy that I will work to limit my own environmental impact and not harm others so I am not advocating for weaker environmental protections, in fact, I think we can do much better if we really try.

So, why is it that a multi-month process is needed to drag a float across the Whatcom Waterway, secure it to an existing bulkhead and remove a fence so a gangway can be installed? This isn't a rhetorical question, I'm completely and legitimately dumbfounded.

What I AM saying here is that you, dear voter, have no downtown waterfront access in Bellingham because of process. The same process that has thwarted George Dyson's small boat launch on the waterway not only stops that idea in its tracks but also means our waterfront cleanup has faced the same long delays.

Staff at the Port have some ideas on how to speed the waterfront process while keeping all the same protections in place so I'm supporting that effort - remember, the process is slowing the clean up as well as the reuse.

I hope that if I need your help I can also call on all of you to write letters and call people to get off the dime and help us 'git er done." Stay tuned....