EVERETT — It’s old, rusting and stinks like fish. And some Everett officials are unhappy that the vintage ferry Kalakala might soon be parked on the city’s waterfront.
"I would hope it sinks on the way here," City Council President Arlan Hatloe said Tuesday. "It’s been an eyesore while on Lake Union, and I’m afraid that if it gets here, that old rust bucket will be sitting here forever."
The Kalakala has been on Seattle’s Lake Union since 1998, much to the chagrin of the boat’s neighbors. The 1935 art-deco ferry last carried passengers in 1967 and was used for years as a seafood-processing site on a mud flat in Alaska.
Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues said at a news conference in Port Angeles Saturday that he hopes to moor the boat in Everett for three years while it is being restored for use as a floating restaurant and museum, the Associated Press reported.
Some City Council members and union officials said they would welcome the Kalakala here because it could create much-needed jobs.
Weyerhaeuser Co. is in negotiations to sell Rodrigues about five acres of Snohomish River tidelands just west of the Highway 529 bridge, company spokesman Frank Mendizabal said.
Rodrigues did not return repeated telephone calls for comment.
The Tumwater man, who bought the 276-foot-long boat at auction in October for $136,560, hasn’t decided where to dock the boat if and when he finishes restoring it. The Port Angeles-based Kalakala Alliance Foundation is lobbying for the ferry to be permanently moored in the North Olympic Peninsula city, foundation President Cherie Kidd said.
On Sunday, the boat will be towed to Neah Bay on the Makah Indian reservation, where it will stay until July, Makah tribal chairman Ben Johnson said. Rodrigues plans to bring the boat to Everett in August, the Associated Press reported. The renovation could cost up to $15 million. As of December, Rodrigues had raised only $2,200.
Everett city spokeswoman Kate Reardon feared that, with no detailed plan to raise the rest of the money, Rodrigues’ dream of an elegantly restored boat would turn into a nightmare for Everett.
"We do not want Everett to be a storage ground for defunct ships," Reardon said.
Everett Executive Director Lanie McMullin met with Rodrigues last week and bluntly told him the ferry was not welcome here. The Kalakala would set back the city’s waterfront revitalization efforts and hurt the city’s image, McMullin said.
Rodrigues recently approached the Port of Everett about mooring the boat on port property, but port officials said no. They were worried about Rodrigues’ ability to raise money for the restoration — and they fear the decaying boat could sink, port Executive Director John Mohr said.
Peggy Toepel, co-chairwoman of the Everett Shorelines Coalition, worried that potentially toxic material from the boat would end up in the environmentally sensitive wetlands and river, which are fish migration areas.
Not everyone is upset that the Kalakala might move to Everett. City Councilwoman Marian Krell said that if Rodrigues could guarantee funding for restoration, the project would create jobs for local residents.
Councilman Mark Olson agreed.
"This would be a several-million-dollar jolt to the area’s economy," he said. "It’s already an industrial area of the city, and it’s not a forever proposition. And our shipyard workers need the work."
The restoration would likely create 100 to 150 jobs, said Frank Gosser, apprenticeship and training coordinator for Boilermakers Local 104, the union that represents workers at the Everett Shipyard, which repairs boats.
"The Kalakala needs a lot of work," Gosser said. "I’ve been on that boat, and it’s got more holes than Swiss cheese. It’s not a pretty sight."
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
