Urban infill - Private sector vs Government?

The following is from the Seattle Times, August 2012.  If you live in Whatcom County and know that the Port of Bellingham took on a waterfront development project in 2004 then I don't need to add any commentary for you to understand this post.



2001: Vulcan's South Lake Union holdings total 45 acres, and several buildings are under development. Ada Healey hired to oversee real-estate operations.
2003: Vulcan unveils vision for 10 million square feet of new office, lab, residential, hotel and retail projects on its South Lake Union properties.
2004: Vulcan's South Lake Union holdings top 60 acres.
2006: Vulcan has 1.2 million square feet of projects under construction, an additional 3 million in development.


http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2019027831_vulcantimeline31.html

Odd Vote on New Moorage Rates

I sure got some crazy looks and probably a little eye rolling today with my "No" vote on the new moorage rates @ PoB.

The rates were well vetted by the Marina Advisory Board.

Here's what I supported: rate increases to begin paying into a $50 million harbor upgrades.

What I didn't support: rate increases for weblocker pricing on Active Commercial Fishermen (ACF).

I hoped for a robust debate with the commission, which pretty much happened but I had hoped to pull the weblocker question out of the conversation so we could delve into the issues much more deeply.  That was not met with support by either commissioner nor the executive director.

I'm not sure what the rush was to decide.  The budget process hasn't begun and we can more easily add or subtract numbers in the budget creation process than we can change our policies or rates on the weblockers.   In fact, we could spend a couple months evaluating the weblockers and still have several months to work that outcome into next year's budget.

So, the vote goes 2-1.