PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd returned to her alma mater Thursday to ask for students’ help in saving the Hurricane Ridge winter snow-removal program and for a sesquicentennial time capsule donation to represent the Class of 2012.
But first, it was a homecoming for the third-generation Port Angeles resident, who said she had attended classes in the very Port Angeles High School room where she met with about 20 students.
“I hope you don’t find my initials carved somewhere in here,” Kidd joked with the students.
Locals’ playground
Kidd told the Leadership Class, made up of student government officers, that she graduated in 1964, when Olympic National Park was a locals’ playground, open year-round.
Budget cuts in the 1990s resulted in cutting winter hours from seven days to five, until it was open only on weekends, she said.
For the past two winters, the National Park Service has provided a $250,000 annual grant to fund road-plowing so it can be kept open seven days a week.
The community has provided a match each year of $75,000.
Kidd explained that the funding has to be renewed for the winter of 2012-2013 amid ongoing federal budget cuts.
On March 2, acting ONP Superintendent Todd Suess said visitation numbers had not reached a benchmark set by the park.
It was looking for traffic to reach 45 percent of winter weekend traffic from 2005 to 2009, Suess said then.
Park visitor counts reached 20 percent last year and were “slightly down from that” this year, he said.
The survey period was from Nov. 25 through Feb. 26, and the final numbers will be available after Saturday, when the survey period ends.
Kidd said she and City Manager Kent Myers aren’t giving up.
“I have to go to Washington, D.C., and ask Bruce Sheaffer, comptroller of the National Park Service, for more money,” she said.
No date has been set, but the plan was to go sometime in April.
“I can’t go alone. I need you there, in the form of letters,” Kidd told the students.
“I want to bring an extra carry-on suitcase full of letters.”
Spreading the word
Students volunteered to spread the word and recommended making a video and creating a “Save the Ridge” Facebook group to share photos of Port Angeles teenagers enjoying activities at the Ridge.
Kidd also asked for a donation of a time capsule item to represent the Class of 2012 as a part of the Port Angeles sesquicentennial celebration, as well as an item to represent the rest of the youths of Port Angeles.
The time capsule will be buried this fall, to be opened for the city’s bicentennial celebration in 2062.
“Maybe you can be there when they open it in 50 years,” Kidd said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
