Copyright The Washington Post Company Jun 26, 2005
Lounging motionless on the beach from sun up to sundown went out with the Bain de Soleil tan. Sure, you can swim -- but how many ocean laps can you really do? And you can read -- ho hum, another bodice is ripped. And sleep. And burn.
But for travelers who get antsy on the sand, there's an alternative: a bike and ferry tour of Long Island's eastern tip and Block Island.
The open-air trip is like a seashore sampler of Connecticut, Long Island and Rhode Island. Aboard any of the five ferries that connect these destinations you can see lighthouses from a captain's perspective and watch ospreys and seagulls soar in mixed company. While cycling between the ferry terminals, you can stop for juicy strawberries from a roadside farm stand, or tour a vineyard, or take a five-minute beach break -- before getting back to the real activity of biking and boating.
Our suggested three-night itinerary starts in New London, Conn., on the hulking Cross Sound ferry, which sails to Orient Point, N.Y. Now the biking begins: 10, 20, 30 miles (or less) a day. The little- trafficked Route 25 of Long Island's North Fork passes farm stands heaped with supersize produce, nubby pastures and pebbly beaches with views of Shelter Island, the first overnight stop. You can spend one evening here, or more. There's no rush to leave -- the ferries run often.
The commuter ferry to Shelter Island leaves from Greenport, an easygoing town with a carousel, a tall ship, a winery and an ocean's worth of seafood restaurants. The ferry to the island's north point takes no more than five minutes, and you'll want to ride it again and again. When you disembark, you'll find an island full of flowers and sailboats and homes you'll envy. The ferry the next day departs from the south end of Shelter Island and lands in North Haven, the jumping-off point for the South Fork portion.
This bike route is busier traffic-wise and has more towns to explore: Sag Harbor (great for whaling history buffs), East Hampton (for Pollock and Polo), Amagansett (for dosas as long as sticks) and finally Montauk -- where you can spend the second night in a classic beach motel or a fancier resort with a spa. The Montauk Point Lighthouse offers views of the last destination, the pork chop- shape Block Island, accessible by ferry from the Montauk Dock.
Before you return to New London, fill your hours on Block Island cycling from lighthouse to lighthouse, or beach to beach, or bar to bar. At the National Hotel's porch, order a frozen mud slide and wait for the ferry to chug into port.
Then watch the ferry leave -- without you. There will be another one tomorrow, and there'll be space for you on it. Summer, though, is less forgiving.
Bellingham tackles change head-on
By
Stuart EskenaziSeattle Times staff reporter
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Carter Cole and his son Davis, 4, enjoy the waterfront Zuanich Point Park, which two years ago was a parking lot and fishermen's gear lockers.
BELLINGHAM — In Whatcom County, 2001 couldn't end soon enough. What else bad could possibly happen to the area's economy?
Georgia-Pacific closed its pulp-and-paper mill. Alcoa Intalco's aluminum plant shifted into idle. Not a single ship was welcomed at the Port of Bellingham's marine terminal. Heightened post-Sept. 11 security drastically shrank the number of U.S.-Canadian border crossings into the county.
In fact, in the past decade, the number of people crossing the border into Whatcom County dropped by roughly half as the Canadian dollar plummeted, pulling local retailers down with it.
Canada's influenceWhatcom County profileChanging view of BellinghamRelated stories
Retailers looking for fresh startsThe economic mood here should be glum. But Whatcom County is showing its resiliency and a fresh attitude. Stained over the years by its affinity for heavy industry, the county is paying more mind to its natural assets. As the community navel-gazes over its future, the economy has diversified under its nose, relying less on manufacturing and more on tourism.
But tourism jobs don't pay nearly as well as heavy-manufacturing jobs, which could make Whatcom County's future more scenic but less prosperous.
Contradictions
The trail of contradictions can be seen along downtown Bellingham's shoreline. In August 2000, before the stumbles of manufacturing and the fears of domestic terrorism, the luxurious Hotel Bellwether boldly rose in an exclusively industrial section of the waterfront. A stone's throw from the hotel is a kitty-litter factory. Across the inlet is a new park that peers across Bellingham Bay at Lummi Island — but also has a clear view of the mothballed mill.
Commercial Street in downtown Bellingham dead-ends at the mill, which is appropriately symbolic. The 150 acres where the defunct mill sits is the proverbial fork in the road for Bellingham and Whatcom County. The fate of the tract will further guide the region.
"The decision on what to do transcends economic development," said Ted Mischaikov, president and chief operating officer of Trillium, which contracted with Georgia-Pacific to redevelop the property. "It will mark how we as a generation saw the future of this community."
'That' smell
Past impressions of Bellingham were shaped by that smell.
That wasn't tuna you smelled while driving Interstate 5 between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. It was the smell of jobs. There were 420 of them lost when Georgia-Pacific pulled the plug on its pulp mill in March 2001, ending eight decades of employing Whatcom County families.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
When Georgia-Pacific shuttered its downtown Bellingham pulp mill and Alcoa Intalco Aluminum in Ferndale went idle, there was less of an economic ripple effect than expected, in spite of the loss of 420 jobs at Georgia Pacific. Today the downtown Bellingham waterfront area is bustling with business.
Even though the plant stopped emitting the stench back in the 1980s, the olfactory lobes of longtime Puget Sounders were forever ingrained.
But Bellingham is so over that. About 39 percent of Whatcom County's 167,000 residents arrived after 1992. And the American Lung Association now ranks Bellingham among 10 metropolitan areas in the country with the least amount of ozone pollution.
Diversified economy
Despite its reputation as an industrial center, service and retail jobs now account for more than half of the work in Whatcom County, said Fred Sexton, president of the Bellingham-Whatcom County Economic Development Council.
"Our economy has diversified, expanded and grown so much during the 1990s that the impact of Georgia-Pacific became less and less," he said.
Whatcom County's leading employer is Western Washington University. The college is known as "the great stabilizer" because it has helped the region withstand economic bumps. But Western, like every other state college, has challenges in avoiding deep budget cuts.
"When we lay off personnel, as the largest employer of the county, it affects everybody," Western President Karen Morse said.
The university employs 1,900 full-time and part-time, nonstudent workers. Student enrollment in fall 2001 was 12,400, compared with 10,000 in fall 1991.
Although the mill closed, Georgia-Pacific still operates its adjacent tissue-manufacturing plant, which employs about 330 people and produces such staples as MD bathroom tissue and Sparkle paper towels.
Intalco, which stalled production at its aluminum plant in June 2001 because of high energy costs, recently returned two-thirds of its plant to full operation.
Most of the 950 workers employed by Intalco at the time continued to work under an agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration, which helped cushion the economic blow. Intalco now employs about 700 workers, as some retired or left the company voluntarily, said Sharon Kanareff, company spokeswoman.
Hopeful sign
The prospect for revival of Bellingham's shipping terminal is not as clear. Snarls of blackberry vines line the edges of the abandoned dock, which is about one-quarter mile from the Georgia-Pacific site. Stevedoring equipment is parked, and warehouses remain empty, as they have been since December 2000.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Service and retail jobs, such as those at the Bellis Fair Mall, now account for more than half of the work in Whatcom County.
Commercial shipping once was the biggest money-maker for the Port of Bellingham, said Mike Dodd, a port employee who used to supervise the marine terminal. But neither Georgia-Pacific nor Intalco, once the main users of the terminal, now ship by sea. Port officials say they are getting feelers this summer from parties interested in using the terminal for cargo shipping or deep-water-vessel home-porting — a hopeful sign.
A conceptual plan for redeveloping the mill site farther down the shoreline includes an array of restaurants, hotels, homes, stores, parks and offices. A final plan could be in place by September of next year. The early vision has a similar slant to an ambitious Port of Bellingham waterfront development that has been the catalyst for the city's shoreline shakeup.
Anchor
Hotel Bellwether is the anchor for the port's Bellwether on the Bay, an upscale peninsula development that includes an Italian cafe, jewelry store, art gallery and Anthony's seafood restaurant. A concert series is taking place this summer at a state-of-the-art amphitheater on Bellwether grounds.
"When this development went in, people in Bellingham were really skeptical," said Carolyn Casey, the port's communications manager. "It's almost like Bellingham grew up. All of a sudden we had things that before we had to go outside of the city to have."
Carol Beecher, general manager of the 68-room hotel, said the hotel thrives during the week by hosting executive-level business retreats. Dinner meetings can convene in the hotel's medieval-style wine cellar. Tourists come on the weekends to enjoy the hotel as a romantic getaway. Some arrive by yacht. Most of the hotel's business comes from the Puget Sound area, Beecher said.
Across the inlet where recreational boats are moored is another pride of the port, which opened last summer. The Squalicum Boathouse is a community center with picture windows stretching from floor to high-beam ceiling. They look out at the waterfront Zuanich Point Park, which two years ago was a parking lot and fishermen's web lockers.
Waterfront views may attract tourists, but the harsh fact is that tourism-related jobs tend to pay poorly. The move away from industry carries a price for Whatcom County, which already has an annual median wage lower than statewide: $26,000 compared with $30,000. The jobs lost at Georgia-Pacific paid an average of about $25 an hour, or $52,000 a year, said Jim Vleming, a state economist who studies Whatcom County employment.
"Once you lose those higher-wage jobs, it's hard getting them back," he said. "Lower-wage jobs are certainly better than no jobs, but it is a setback for the economy of an area when you pile on service-worker jobs."
For Whatcom County, it's a tradeoff. The Bellingham waterfront bears the scars of years of industrial pollution. Plans are under way to dredge sediments from the floor of Whatcom Waterway to remove mercury contamination. On the other hand, whale watching, fine dining and the other arts of a tourist economy are easier on the environment.
"My impression is that Whatcom County was pretty much split on Georgia-Pacific," Vleming said. "Half were upset that it was closing, and the other half was glad to see it go."
Stuart Eskenazi can be reached at 206-464-2293 or
seskenazi@seattletimes.com.
In Added Security Measure, Officers Are Riding the Rails
By SEWELL CHAN
Published: July 8, 2005
The sprawling transportation systems of New York City were put on high alert after the bombings in London yesterday as the Police Department took the extraordinary step of assigning officers to ride every subway train in the city during the commuter rush.
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M.T.A. Slow to Spend Money on Transit Security
By SEWELL CHAN
Published: July 9, 2005
The authority has spent about $30 million of the $600 million it committed to improve the security of the transportation network.
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