Port Townsend: City Council antes $25,000 toward effort to keep parking free at Fort Worden

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, December 2, 2003

PORT TOWNSEND — Advocates for keeping free parking at Fort Worden State Park were bolstered Monday night by $25,000 from the City Council.

The council voted 5-1 to front the money as part of a $60,000 plan to subsidize the $5 daily parking fee imposed at most state parks across Washington.

The popular Fort Worden State Park and its conference center — including a new $6 million dining hall — are considered by tourism officials as the cornerstone of Jefferson County’s visitor industry.

Councilmen Geoff Masci was the only “no” vote Monday night to a motion to fund the $25,000 out of the city’s contingency fund in the 2004 municipal budget.

Councilman Al Youse was absent for the vote, which was the first reading of the city’s $24.77 million budget for 2004.

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The rest of the story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition.