PORT ANGELES — The visiting mayor and city councilors from Victoria seemed to be quite taken with what their neighbors across the Strait of Juan de Fuca had to offer.
“First thing that struck me is what a beautiful opportunity for a weekend getaway,” Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said of Port Angeles and Olympic National Park last week.
“It’s so easy.”
Fortin joined three Victoria councilors for a tour of the city and some of the sights in the park along with Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd, Port Angeles City Council members and city and park staff.
Victoria councilors in attendance were Ben Isitt, Pamela Madoff and Charlayne Thornton-Joe.
The Victoria delegation came over Friday morning on the 8 a.m. MV Coho ferry sailing and first visited the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center by tour bus before leaving for Lake Crescent Lodge.
Visited park, downtown
The tour then took them to downtown Port Angeles, where Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith talked about the city’s wireless Internet Mesh Net system, and Nathan West, the city’s community and economic development director, told the group about the city’s newly opened $3.9 million waterfront esplanade project.
Fortin said he was glad to see the councilors taking notes as Port Angeles council members and staff explained the city’s various ongoing initiatives and projects, such Port Angeles’ near-citywide wireless Internet access through the Mesh Net system.
“All of those are sparking ideas,” Fortin said.
“It’s that exchange of ideas that allows us to gain on both sides.”
Fortin said he and the councilors also were fascinated by the Elwha River dam-removal and restoration project and the partnerships that have developed between the city, state government, National Park Service and North Olympic Peninsula’s Native American tribes.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
