UPDATE: The battle to Save Edmonds Beach continues in a slightly more low key way. While the current mayor said after the council vote to stop authorizing further design funding ($2+ million) of the concrete bridge on the beach (also happens to be a protected marine sanctuary) that they wouldn’t build it, he is also in "lame duck" status with only a few months left in his term. Being in lame duck status means he can only promise so much until a new administration takes over this fall. It’s important that whoever becomes our new mayor and the new team of councilmembers honors our community values by continuing the decision to not build the concrete bridge on the beach/protected marine sanctuary and looks for a better solution that improves safety, saves money, and saves the beach/protected marine sanctuary (the city’s own engineering report studied 10 other options). The council narrowly stopped the design funding, but there is likely to be serious pressure by larger government entities (DOT, WSF) and developer interests to find a way to restart the project on the beach/protected marine sanctuary as a way to eventually load/offload the ferry (adding a 3rd ferry) and do significant development along the waterfront.
Though they will deny it, expect there to be a savvy steady subtle PR campaign of articles and letters to the editor from those interests who want to restart the project on the beach/marine preserve. You are encouraged to make well-reasoned comments on those article comment threads as they are widely read by other stakeholders. Many of them will try to discredit and diminish our collective voices trying to save the beach as well as use subtle tactics such as "loss aversion bias" rationale to try to trigger the community into fearing a loss of taxpayer funding (pretty sure we’ll find a way to get proper funding for the proper solution – remember, they had already raised over $10 million – mostly from WA State – and $10 million would have ALREADY FULLY FUNDED the highest scoring option on the city research which would have solved the safety issue, saved the beach, and improved multi-modal transportation access – fairly certain that environmentalist Governor Jay Inslee would support a solution that saves a state protected marine wildlife sanctuary, solves a safety issue, and saves the beach all while saving $20 million in taxpayer dollars.)
TIME TO CELEBRATE! (4th of July Parade Invite)
The Edmonds 4th of July Parade is coming up and Martha Markin Karl has registered Save The Beach as an official entrant to march in the parade (major thank you to Martha - contact her via Facebook to see how you can help)! This is a great way to celebrate our country and our community together! Everyone who wants to save the beach is invited to join our group in the parade (you don’t have to be from Edmonds). Every age from babies to seniors are welcome (walking, strollers, wagons, wheelchairs, etc.). It’s free and fun! Sign in before 11am at the corner of 7th and Glenn, then find the team in line along the street. Bring your favorite beach item or dress up like a beach/sea animal. It’s registered as a community entry, not a political one, so please refrain from wearing political/candidate t-shirts or hats or carrying political/candidate signs – but certainly feel free to carry signs about saving the beach! People who support Save Edmonds Beach come from across the entire political spectrum and our collective love for the beach unites us – so we want everyone to feel like they belong. Parade starts around 11:30am. Bring sunscreen/hat, water and your joy to celebrate our country and our community together! More details are available on the Event listing on Facebook.
THANK YOU!
In the mist of all of the efforts to rally our community to save the beach, also want to acknowledge our fellow community members, many who spent long volunteer hours dedicated to giving input to the city on solving the waterfront access safety issue. Your devotion to our community is noted and appreciated. Many of us have read through the comments you made during those meetings and can clearly see your efforts were in earnest and we appreciate you for your devotion. Rest assured your efforts were not in vain, in fact, quite the opposite as the information from those meetings and your comments left a virtual bread crumb trail for us to understand and better analyze the situation. What our community needs is more people like you having eyes on plans for our city, giving input, and asking the tough questions. Thank you!
NEWS MEDIA LINKS
In case you missed it, here are some links to news stories about the issue, rally, and vote presented from both sides of the issue.
Local News Articles
My Edmonds News article on vote
TV Reports
King 5 TV report on vote
Several Kiro 7 TV reports throughout the day of the vote
Q13 TV report on vote
Komo TV report in the morning before the vote
Komo TV report on vote
Video of council meeting where vote took place (rally can be heard throughout in the background)
We will continue to update you throughout the summer and if anything significant happens.