Outlook for the future is smooth sailing

By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

While paying homage to their past, most Shilshole/Sunset Hill residents, marina officials and people who work in the area are focusing on the future. They are confident it will be a good one.

Marina manager Darlene Robertson says the Port of Seattle is committed to meeting the future needs of recreational boaters and says the area will remain a safe place for the public.

"This facility is a destination point for tourists, joggers and bicyclists. There are a lot of people who come down and spend their time walking and watching the sunsets or the sailing races. There's a public fishing and crabbing pier.

"With all that activity, we haven't had major problems with security," says Robertson. And she doesn't expect to.

Sunset Hill Community Club president Kevin Carrabine is equally confident of the future, although he sees the area changing somewhat as the older population gives way to younger newcomers.

"There is definitely a generational transition taking place in the neighborhood. There are a lot more children than there used to be."

The continued changing of the guard won't diminish the community's strong desire to retain its high quality of life, says Carrabine. Newcomers have joined longtime residents in establishing a new park and playground adjoining the Nordic Heritage Museum, as well as other improvements.

"The neighborhood," says Carrabine, "is full of citizen activists."