In the photo at right, Mayor Cherie Kidd of Port Angeles meets and greets Mayor Dean Fortin of Victoria at the Black Ball Ferry Line dock in Port Angeles this morning.
Mayor Fortin and eight Victoria City Council members are visiting Port Angeles and vicinity today to sample tourism features, including Hurricane Ridge and the newly refurbished Port Angeles waterfront.
Earlier report:
By Jeremy Schwartz
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — City officials will welcome a special delegation from across the water when they host the mayor and City Council members of Victoria during a daylong tour this Friday.
Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd said she and other council members and staff will host Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and five of Victoria’s eight city councillors after they arrive here via the MV Coho ferry at about 8 a.m.
Kidd said this is the first time in her memory that Port Angeles has hosted those from the city across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in this manner.
“I can’t recall the last time they came over, were hosted and did a sightseeing tour of our area,” Kidd said Tuesday.
The visit is part of an ongoing effort to encourage Victoria’s roughly 400,000 residents to visit their neighbors across the Strait, Kidd said.
“Many would come to Port Angeles if we give them reason to come here,” she said.
Port Angeles council members will not have a quorum at any time during Friday’s tour, Kidd added.
“It’s not an official council meeting,” she said.
The Victoria city councillors planning to attend are Chris Coleman, Lisa Helps, Ben Isitt, Pamela Madoff and Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Kidd said.
Kidd said Friday’s tour will start with a welcoming at the Red Lion Hotel, from which the group will depart by shuttle bus for the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center in Olympic National Park.
There, park staff will host the group and recognize the park’s 75th anniversary year, Kidd said.
The tour then will go to Lake Crescent and the Lake Crescent Lodge before stopping by one of the viewpoints for the former Elwha Dam, Kidd added.
The visitors then will tour Port Angeles’ ongoing esplanade project and learn how the city’s wireless mesh network works from Police Chief Terry Gallagher, Kidd said.
The Victoria delegation will have some free time to explore downtown before catching the 5:20 p.m. Coho ferry sailing Friday.
“I’m looking forward to encouraging them to see what [Port Angeles has] and come back with their families and enjoy it again,” Kidd said.
