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Home My WebLink About00276 SESSION OF FEBRIJARY 2. l9fn , , 495 �? 1 y A;Z ITT U' 2ESSIO V i V , a w Subject: The placing of Ston Sinrns y . "< tip' t Due to steady incronse in traffic and traffic accidents on city streets in past years and — �• ' 5•,,F t`i"s°' 'a ' foreseeing a increase in comin; yonrs, request that step singns be erected on all streets on on to the following stracts: Sheridan Ave from :+tnto IkiSluray 113 to khnittila Avo. All of San Juan Avo. All of 19th at. iawAll �iagr All of F St. All of Vinshington St. All of Lawronco St. All of Fir St. Ionroe St from �- Vlntor St. to Roosevelt St. All of Harrison St. All of T♦flor St. All of Hastings Ave. All ��; Uv �'�'��f�4�•H�A- of Discovery Road. All of 49th St. All of Walkor St. All of Cherry St. Jackson St. From Roosevolt to Rood St. All of Roosevelt St. All of Koarnoy St. All of McPherson Ave. All Vlq tier St. Respectively yours, E.L. Phogloy Clhiof 01, Police Port Townsend, Washington Mayor Sullivan rofdnred the request to tho Street Cbm:hittee. From Arthur Garrott, 429 Harrison, Port Townsend, Yin. to -wit: January 22, 1965 Port Townsend City Council Port Towmsond, Vinshington Gentleman: A few i:undrod years, ago when the Dutch came to what is now Now York City, they led the natives to believe their land wasn't worth much. Vlhon they gat ghrough with their salesmanship and their relations woutines, they had all of t.tanhattan Island for 04 worth of beads. ;tow the City of Port Townsend is asked to rive away the use of numerous streets including Polk and Fillmoro Streets from ,later to Front Streets, which in themselves are among the most valuable :;iecos of water front in Jefferson County - for not oven f24 worth of beads. Snonninr Centers Don't Heed Streets It isn't necessary to -ive away Polk and Fillmore Streets or Front Street to have a shopping center. E ch of the three blocks facing hater Street has an area of around 40,000 square fecb, over twice the 15,000 square feet :mentioned as desirable for the large chain store involved. :he three blocks torother without including the streets have an area of around 120,000 squaw feet, or Oita times the 15,000 fact ranuired by the chain store. In the three blocks facing w-ter Street there is room for six 15,000 Squnre feet Super Markets, each with a 33 1/3 reserve of space or 5,000 square foot, for future oxnanszon without iving away the streets. 1 It is said that the streets are necessary to provide customer parking. Cfnon our local bank i built a drive-in branch and needed customer parking, I don't believe it asked the City Count to vacate Adams Strout or a portion of Snshington Street. There can be no objection to the use of Fillmore and rolk Streets for the public to go to and from customer parking; on private pronorty in the new, shopping center. But you don't have to vacate these streets for such use City 3hotki ikot Aid Ono ..Ierchant and Not Others T:,is brin-s up the nuostion of the propriety of the City Council in aiding one merchant's customer narlanr ,without aiding the customer narkirr of other merchants. If the City should vacate Fillmore and Polk Streets to aid the customer narking in the now shopping center, why shouldn't it vacate Taylor and Adams Streets to aid the customer parking requirements of the ".erchants in tint area? .flint will happen to the parking meters? If the City vacates streets to provide free parking for the customers of the new shopping center, why should it renuire arkin•_; :meter contrlbutions from customers of other merchants who nark in front of their sto s? Unused City Streets Are ]lot Useless There are times that many city streets are not in use like some of the extra bedrooms in peoples houses. :.:ost neople would say they want to keep their extra bedrooms, thank you, whether troy are constantly used or not. One of the froodoma of a city is the ability to go any place in towm on the city streets without tPresnassing: on the water front, on Front otr t at exteme low tide, on hills, dales, anyplace there is a city street, without asking anybody. It is the modern co.:nterpart of the common pasture and Cayman woodland in bygone ages, and t Green of Old hie;: England towns. Tk:is right is a precious ho,itn?o and belongs to every citize in Port Townsend and hould be preserved as much as possible against land grabs. I am sure thet the City could sell Chetzemoka Park and Memorial Field but wouldn't. The City Shoots ore eui as valuable for the peoplos freedom of movement throughout the City. t isnt often considered by the Public because of their unobtrusiveness: but City and the City Fire Department and the Electric Company and Gas Company and Telephone Co. all need as many city streets as possible to providec the best and cheapest service to the Public, and a nolicy of giving away the City Streets will sooner or later hamper their efficiency. SiiOP. ING C =: TER3 DONT I:!CR; ASE A. CITYS PAYROLL f Crown Zellerbach or -art Worden, or the Coast Guard or Royal Chef, or the Sash and door Factory wantod a street or two and needed them vacated to produce more goods and thus bring i additional payrolls and bank deposits, and monoy to spend for mechandise, the City would have a sound economic reason to rive all the help it could. But now shopping centers simply transfer the soendinr; of its present ,weekly crop of money from one store building to another without I i- -reasinr- the money crop by one nickel. EXPEIISIVE SL'ePPING CEi;TERS HAVE 'IO BE PAID FOR There are no charitable institutions putting up shopping centers. Their purpose is simply to attract all the business possible from oti:er merchants in order to make moro money. No me ter what the store buildings in a torn cost, V1,000,000 or ,,,2,000,000, or $10,000,000 it is the people themselves who have to pay the u1,000,000 or w2,000,000 or $10,000,000. Every slit of Dan or dozen egr_.s or box of strawberries or box of Vihoaties has to have a penny or nidol or ime tacked on its price to pay the rent to pay off the mortgage and taxes. To say a new shop ing enter will nay the City new taxes is absurd when you consider that the City will lose the to ces it has been receiving from merchants whoso business is bein; lost to the now shopping center. _here is only so :ouch money in town to buy 7roceries and if you houso a grocery store in a new million dollar Peoples Palace Market, :,,on i.ave to take that much more away from the farmer wh raises the food and from the buyer of the good to rive to the owner of the million dollar c onles Palace ::arket. Overbuilding of retail facilities is bound to raise the cost of retail ing. The City Council shouldnt encourage inch overbuilding by giving away atreots. One of Port To•wnsends most illu;tr_ous men of affairs in years cone by, commented on the .•wrong kind of progress at a Chnmber of Commerce lunch. He said the Steel plant at Irondale 7as really a Stool S-,t-Y-A-L plant. I dont think he would call giving, array the streets a Ala iSm�e Washv&i}yoF4 . a gentleman. But I think if he were here today he would ad$ise ver h$ve ppegi th� ese ideas In opposition to avactinf, at Gets to latter form and have given c py o. o no i,eaaer to save ;-our Public nearinirtrme. Sincerely, Arthur Garrott y 1 j 11 L 0 11 u C 0 ®• d6 V v, 7kr141 3.n�cc ]�t� ie phi ? tw r N 499 15INUTES OF T:FE REGULAR SESSION OF FEBRIJARY 2. l9f From Mrs G. T. Chuljian, Port Townsend, :Washington to -writ: The Port Townsend City Council city Hall Port Townsend, Vladmington Gontlemen, Recently a large and choice piece of beach land was removed from the general public for use as such, this is gone forever. Now you propose to give away the last remaining bit of view property in close proximity to down term, and another large piece of beach land which is available for ov:;ryone to enjoy. If this does go through, it seems to me you should at least get a good price for it as some compensation to the tax payors, and not give it array to an outside organization which previously has had no interest in the town. The streets adjoining either side of my property are viorr street, hence I have not felt free to ask to have them vacated. however since the city apparently does not seem to feel any obligations towards its citizenry to retain other of its view streets, I would assume it wil not object to vacating my streets also. The streets I have in mind are darrison and Van Buren streets adjoining my lots on Slashingto. street. I mould like to point out to the council that for the past five years I have kept these streets up for the city at my own expense. This I have done for the benefit of any who might wish to walk to the edge of the bluff -and --enjoy the view. If the city no longer feels It necessary to offer any view to its inhabitants and to visitors, as it would appear by the give array of Polk, Fillmore, and Front streets then I would wish to have these streets for m own use. I might add that I mould prefer that no view streets which can be enjoyed by the entire publ ve vacated. However if the council feels it must vacate the property for a commercial pro ec then it should receive a large enough sum to make up for the loss to the city of a part of i natuarl beauty. Any action less than this ,would be unfair to all the citizens of Port Townse and all who will live here in the future. Sincerely, Mrs G. T. Chuljian From Central Labor Council, Port 'Townsend Vlashingte n - to -wit: 1/20/65 Port Townsend City Council; Dear Sirs; At the last meeting of the East Jefferson County Central Labor Council, discussion was made concerning the vacating of streets in town to permit the building of the sixteen unit apartment building and the proposed shopping center. At its conclusion, a motion visa made seconded and passed that the East Jefferson County Central "abor Council be in favor of vacating streets permitting the construction of the new shopping center and the sixteen unit anartment house, and to notify the City Coucil of our findings. Fraternally and sincerely, Cecil hall Sec. PETITION TO VACATE A PORTION OF FIFTH STR33T IN EISEN33IS" ADDITION TO THE CITY OF PORT TOVw11SE1ID, JEFFERSON COMITY, STATE OF ViASIiINGTON TO: THE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PORT TO17115E11D, 17A3HINGTON The undersigned, owner of all real estate abutting upon that portion of the street hereina. described, does hereby petition the City Council of the City of Port Townsend, State of Washington, to make vacation of and to vacate that portion of ,Fifth Street described as follows, to -wit: That portion of Fifth Street lying between the Westerly lino of Hendricks Street and the Easterly line of Seherman Street in the Eisenbeis' Addition to the City of Port Townsend, Jefferson County, State of Vinshington Petitioner prays that this matter be referred to the proper committee and after the committee has reported that notice of hearing of this Petition be had in the manner and form as prescribed by ordinance and law. Attached to this Petition is a copy of a plat showing the street to be Vacated. DATED this 25th day of January, 1965 Gilbert E. Condon After some discussion it was moved by Councilman Lindsay seconded by Councilman Ruby that a public hearing be held for the above petition on march 16, 1965. motion carried. P3TITI ON CO:LES I1017 H. A. PARKER DEVELOPb�ENT COI:IPAIiY, INC., a Washington Corporation, by and through its President, H.A. PARKER, and hereby petitions the city council of the City of Port Town - .send for a vacation of the streets hereinafter described. Your Petitioner shows the Council that he is the holder of an option to purchase the following described prone:-ty, to -wit: Blocks 1 12 and the Vlestorl 78 foot f lock 1, , y o Block 10, original plot of Port Townsend, together with tidelands fronting and abutting thereon, situated in Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington Your Petitioner shows, as heretofore alleged, that he is the owner of all the property fronting upon the streets petitioned to be vacated herin: that the streets petitioned to be vacated are described as follows: All of that portion of Filmore 3troot and Polk Street