Association Supports Community Wharf
The Center for Wooden Boats is located at the south end of Lake Union. It is an organization dedicated to preserving and teaching our maritime heritage. It is currently developing a plan to open an outstation on the other end of the lake, near Gasworks Park. Design for the new facility, called the Northlake Community Wharf, is well under way. It features a community center, many of the aspects of a public park, and would serve as an extension of CWB's operations, including boat rentals.
Jake Beattie, a CWB Deputy Director, addressed Floating Homes Association board in July about the planned development. Following his visit, the board wrote this letter of endorsement -
Re: Northlake Community Wharf
To whom it may concern --
We enthusiastically support the "Northlake Community Wharf" project on North Northlake Way, just west of Gasworks.
This is a rare opportunity to add more public access to Lake Union. The waterfront lot is already publicly owned and has been unused for years. The Center for Wooden Boat's planning to revitalize the site is well underway and features their "hands on" approach to maritime heritage at little ongoing public cost. We get a new park, almost for free.
The proposal emphasizes attracting people to the site. Fremont and Wallingford have long needed community centers. This plan promises them a place of their own.
The presence of the CWB also adds a dimension that makes a compelling contrast to the experience available at nearby Gasworks Park. While Gasworks' lawns provide spectacular panoramas of downtown and Lake Union, its design is geared more toward passive viewing with limited access to the beach. The CWB, on the other hand, is in the business of drawing people onto the water. They give sailing lessons. They rent rowboats. They teach boat-building classes. Rather than shooing people away from the shoreline, they create opportunities to use it.
They do have an ulterior motive. Their mission is to teach and preserve our maritime heritage. They encourage the public to get involved because they have decided the best way for people to learn is by doing. But the Center for Wooden Boats is a museum at heart, and this facility will naturally become a focus for knowledge about this particular location and its unique history. This is a chance to capture another bit of our legacy before it slips away.
What's not to like? Free park. Community center. Public access to boats and the water. Mix a little history with a few good things now, and we give an amazing gift to the future.
-- The Floating Homes Association