We gave it our best.
Thank you for all your support.
After 18 months of effort and six months of negotiations, the Maritime Center is withdrawing our proposal for Point Hudson. We still believe strongly in our vision to leverage a public/private partnership for a vibrant, community-driven Point Hudson, but we’ve now waited three months and had no formal response to our proposal. Along with the Port of Port Townsend’s renewed uncertainty as to whether or not to undertake the needed repairs for Point Hudson’s breakwater, we’ve determined this is not the time to forge a collaboration of this magnitude. Thank you for whatever role you played in shaping the vision, getting informed, informing your neighbors, asking hard questions, and getting excited along with us.
Summer of 2018 is going to be our busiest season of our busiest year to date. We need to focus on other, more productive parts of our mission, and without us the Port can carry on without the distraction and complication of working with third parties.
We aren’t turning our backs, just shifting priorities. We remain ‘on watch’ as a vigilant member of our waterfront community, and can now increase our role assisting the protection of the 400+ marine sector jobs that are a cornerstone of Jefferson County’s economic health.
The problems of the Port are complicated, long in the making, and vital for the Port staff and commission to get right and avoid the bankruptcy that is increasingly a part of their public dialogue. We wish them the best of luck in navigating those issues for the good of a thriving waterfront, economy, and community.
