Short News Stories No. 3

Advocacy Group Proposes Public Space vs. Viaduct
The battle in Seattle is no longer over whether to remove the Alaskan Way Viaduct that severs downtown from the central waterfront. An earthquake in 2001 settled that. The issue is whether a new tunneled roadway should replace it, as the governor plans at $4.2 billion, or a mix of alternatives including public transit and a surface road. The People's Waterfront Coalition, led by urban planner Cary Moon, wants the change the debate from how to replace the highway with how to make a great waterfront and how can Seattle become less car dependent. The group supports public transit and a surface waterfront street, not highway. Voters in 2007 were against the tunnel option and also opposed a replacement overhead roadway.
Next American City, Issue 22.


We're Fat!
Obesity -- that's clinical talk for big fat butts -- has doubled among adults in the U.S. in the last 20 years, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The annual cost is put at $117 billion (how do people figures these things out?) and fatness may account for as many as 300,000 deaths per year. Exercise is engaged in by only 25 percent of the population. The Trust for Public Land is leading the way in promoting urban parks, its "Parks for People" initiative that pushes for building public spaces where people live. TPL estimates that 33 percent of the public in large cities have no access to a park, playground or public space, along waterfront for instance. Newark, N.J., Baltimore and Los Angeles are among its target cities.
Land & People, Trust for Public Land, Spring 2004.

Old Factory Destroyed
It's a familiar but chilling story -- old factory on the river shuts, jobs lost, owners go bankrupt and the decision is made to tear down and not reuse. The case here is from Augusta, Maine, where the American Tissue mill, built in 1903, was the last operating paper factory until it shut in 2001. Its latest owner is serving time for fraud. And what was once a humming, living thing employing as many as 500 people is now demolished, its brick walls strewn about the site on the Kennebec River. There's now talk of a mixed-use development on the nearly one-mile site.
The New York Times, Aug. 10, 2009

Seattle Conference Supportors

Urban Waterfronts 27
The Waterfront Center wishes to thank the following firms and organizations for their support.

Benefactors
Abel Bainnson Burz, LLP - New York, New York
EDAW/AECOM - San Francisco, California
JJR, LLC - Madison, Wisconsin
J.C. Macelroy - Piscataway, New Jersey
Moffatt & Nichol - Long Beach, California
RRM Design - Sausalito, California
Reid Middleton - Everett, Washington
Sasaki Associates - Watertown, Massachusetts
SF Marina Systems USA - Gloucester, Virginia
Tetratech - Irvine, California
Waterfront Center - Washington, DC

Supportors
AIA/Seattle - Seattle, Washington
J.A. Brennan Associates, LLC - Seattle, Washington
City of Seattle - Seattle, Washington
Bruce Dees & Associates - Tacoma, Washington
EDSA - Fort Lauderdale, Florida
GGLO - Seattle, Washington
Makers - Seattle, Washington
Miller/Hull Partnership - Seattle, Washington
Mithun - Seattle, Washington
Parks and Recreation, City of Seattle - Seattle, Washington
Read Wagoner, LLC - Seattle, Washington
SRG Partnership - Seattle, Washington
Urban Land Institute Seattle - Seattle, Washington
Wallace Roberts & Todd - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Walker Macy - Portland, Oregon

Advertisers
Argosy Cruises - Seattle, Washington
Beyer Blinder Belle - New York, New York
The Forks North Portage Partnership - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Halcrow - New York, New York
Marriott Seattle Waterfront Hotel - Seattle, Washington
Port of Seattle - Seattle, Washington
Seattle Art Museum - Seattle, Washington
Bing Thom Architects, Inc. - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Information about this year's conference in Seattle, Washington can be found on our website: www.waterfrontcenter.org.

Recommended Book

Book on Governor's Island Issued

A lavishly illustrated hardback tracing the rich history of Governor's Island in New York Harbor has just been released by Syracuse University Press. Written by Ann L. Buttenwieser, founding member of the Waterfront Center and board member emeritius, the volume covers a history that dates to the 1700's when it was a British Fort to its more recent uses as a U.S. Army and Coast Guard base and now as an increasingly popular park. Its evolution is treated as a reflection of historic events in New York City and the larger world.

Specfications: 288 pages, 271 color illustrations, bibliography and index, 9 x 11 1/2, $60.00, ISBN 978-0-81560936-0. Web site: www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu. Order by phone 315/443-2597 or 1 800/365-8929.

Award Jury Meets

The Waterfront Center’s awards jury completed its deliberations in Cape May, N.J., on Saturday, July 29, picking 12 projects and plans from 74 entries. The range and caliber of the portfolios entered this year impressed the jury. Also recognized were four citizen volunteer efforts, to receive Clearwater Awards, and two students. The Clearwater Award is named for the citizen’s group working to clean up the Hudson River, spearheaded by Peteq Seeger. The winners will be announced during the Center’s annual conference, to be held in Seattle on October 22 to 24, 2009. The announcement, always a highlight of the annual meeting, is followed by a champagne reception honoring the winners (sponsored this year by EDAW/AECOM) and a gala dinner (optional) to be held at the Seattle Art Museum’s Sculpture Garden Pavilion. Serving on this year’s jury were:
• Mike Burke jury chair, attorney, King Hershey PC and counsel, Port Authority of Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo.
* Fran Hegler, senior director/development manager, EDAW/AECOM, San Francisco, Calif.
• Jeff Shelden, senior coastal engineer, Moffitt and Nichol, Raleigh, N.C.
• Harris Steinberg, executive director, Penn Praxis, the clinical arm of the School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penn.
• Michel Trocme, partner, Urban Strategies Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada.