News and Events

Founders' Dreams

According to Seattle MOHAI's Lorraine McConaghy, Henry Yesler hired a guy with a wheelbarrow to dump waste wood from his mill into Elliott Bay for eight hours a day.  This might have been Seattle's first civil engineering project.  Yesler and other Seattle founders dreamed of a smokestack town like the ones they knew back east. The poor fellow with the wheelbarrow was just another sign of their determination to bend the land here to suit their vision.

McConaghy spoke about Yesler's obsession to members and friends of the SMP Citizen's Advisory Committee on their recent floating tour of the city's waterways. Over the course of the day, the tour saw first hand how Seattle ultimately transformed its shorelines and altered the courses of its rivers in pursuit of this dream.

The CAC held its sixth meeting November 18, which had an announced emphasis on public access and views.  In fact, presentations were given on the Shoreline Ecology and on regulation of overwater structures.  

See the Image Gallery

If the Pike Place Market is the soul of Seattle, then maybe Lake Union is the city's heart. 

A gritty, industrial, working lake for most of the last 150 years, Lake Union's recent, fragmented transformation into a place of recreation and leisure makes it a microcosm of Seattle as a whole.   

The Floating Homes Association received this meeting announcement from the recently formed Lake Union Opportunity Alliance neighborhood group. This meeting is of interest to anyone concerned about the impact of density on our neighborhood.  -- Bill

Crucial Meeting Wednesday, November 18

The crucial scoping meeting of the EIS process for the South Lake Union rezone has been scheduled by the city for Wednesday, November 19th, at 5:30PM in the South Lake Union Armory (860 Terry Ave.N).  See event announcement for location details and map.

Near and Far

The sun was shining and ticket sales were flying as the 2008 FHA tour got under way on Sunday September 7th.  The Houseboatique with its colorful array of merchandise was doing a brisk business with booth volunteers modeling FHA aprons decorated with a houseboat motif.  And a special 2008 commemorative Tee shirt was offered for sale.

People came from the floating home communities in Portland and Vancouver, BC and from states as far away as South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and New Mexico in addition to other communities in Washington and Oregon.

The Milfoil Ladies

A formidable group of houseboaters has become a big factor in the debate in Portage Bay over what to do about the invasion of aquatic weeds.  They recently spent the afternoon together on the SMP Citizen's Advsory Committee (CAC) Harbor Tour on September 9th.  Diana Forman filed this report.

Meeting 5

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
6:00-9:00 p.m. with "Meet and Greet" from 5:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Shoreline Modifications

The Seattle Shorelines Master Program Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) met on October 28th with the main topic Shoreline Modifications. There was particular discussion at the meeting regarding the Urban Industrial, Urban Maritime and Urban Harborfront shoreline designations.  Floating Homes were represented by Enviromental Committee Chair and CAC delegate Bob Bowman, with Diana Foreman also attending.

This is pretty late notice for the meeting on the 13th.  It came in the FHA email just now.   But this information is interesting anyway.  And there's a link to subscribe to this list and to more information at the bottom of this article.