I received the following corespondence from the City of Mukilteo:
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On behalf of Mayor Doran and the City Council, I make the following remarks regrading your recent email.

Since taking over the park in Spring 2003, the City of Mukilteo has substantially increased and improved the maintenance at the park. The ramps are cleaned up to 3 times each week, which is substantially more frequently than under State ownership (when under State ownership, we cleaned the ramps for the State about once per month). Additionally, since coming under Mukilteo ownership, we have increased the number of hours the park is open. We open the park at 4:00AM (versus 6:00AM under State ownership) and close it at 10:00PM (versus dusk under State ownership). This was done specifically to benefit fishers. Next boating season, we intend to have the launch ramp cleaned daily.

As for the $10 launch fee, there are a number of area launches that are as much or more. For example, our survey showed that a single launch at Edmonds is $27. We offer annual permits for $60 for non-residents and $35 for Mukilteo residents, in our opinion, making Mukilteo one of the best boat launch values in the area. Between October 1 and May 14, the launch fee drops to $5.00.

As you can imagine, every odd-number year when the "humpies" run, the demand for our launch far exceeds its capacity. Meanwhile, there are others who have as much right and desire to use the park as boaters/fishers and it is very difficult for us to balance these needs. Despite this, under Mukilteo ownership, we actually reserved parking spaces for boaters (which was not the case before) and we provided more spaces for boat trailers than before.

As for fishing off the docks, I'm not aware of any law that prohibits this practice. We do have a park rule that prohibits this practice and have been trying to enforce it.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions and will keep them in mind as we try to improve our service at the facility.

Richard A. Leahy, City Administrator
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I responded with request for plans for the area and got this:
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Our objective is to relocate the boat launch to the north, where the currents and winds are more favorable for launching.

It is part of the entire redevelopment of our eastern waterfront (an abandoned USAF Fuel Depot) that is located about ½ to 3/4 mile from the existing launch. It is part of a larger project to relocate the Washington State Ferries to the east. Projected time line for completion of the entire project is 2009-2011.


Richard A. Leahy
City Administrator
425-355-4141, extension 236
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So there you have it. I can hardly wait for 2009 to roll around.
I would dispute his comment about it being one of the best boat launch values in the area...

Mike

I didn't let the "value" comment go by without responding back to Mr. Leahy. That's the same govermental mentality that thinks the Toy Train is a good value.