Tacoma Waterfront Association (TWA) aims to be a “chamber of commerce for the waterfront, from Dash Point to Point Defiance,” according to Stan Selden.
The organization was formed three years ago. It recently re-filed paperwork with the state for non-profit status.
It now has an office in Foss Waterway Seaport, the maritime museum and educational center on Thea Foss Waterway.
Selden serves as president of the board of directors. TWA is poised to hire its first executive director.
Selden is retired from his business, Selden’s Home Furnishings. He still serves as chairman. His son runs the business now.
Selden’s involvement in TWA stems from his love of boating. A Tacoma native, he has long enjoyed Tacoma’s waterfront.
Selden feels TWA has the ability to draw together a variety of business people and others with ties to the waterfront. “This is an attempt to get all the parties together,” he said. “The organization is growing in importance.”
Currently the membership cost is $100, which includes voting rights. Selden said the bylaws may be adjusted to have non-voting memberships at a different fee.
TWA has 90 people on its contact list. About 25 people attended its last meeting. “We have an excited bunch of people,” Selden remarked. “We put our arms around anyone who wants to help the waterfront.”
The organization wants to make the waterfront as attractive as possible to draw more tourists to town, perhaps some who would arrive in charter boats.
One ongoing effort is to have murals painted on the NuStar oil tanks on the east side of Thea Foss Waterway.
Seaplanes, such as those operated by Kenmore Air, have no place they can land and pick up passengers in Tacoma. That is something Selden would like to change.
He would like to see large cruise ships someday in Tacoma. In Sitka, Alaska, the ships anchor in the harbor and tourists arrive on land via smaller shuttle boats. “If they can do that in Sitka, why not Tacoma?”
Selden feels Tacoma needs better signs to direct tourists to attractions downtown and along the Waterway. Getting the state Department of Transportation to provide funding for new signs is one of his goals.
The organization is trying to get Trawler Fest to move to Tacoma in 2010. The event began in Poulsbo, then moved to Anacortes.
TWA meets the second Wednesday of the month at 11:30 a.m. at Foss Waterway Seaport. On the agenda for the July 8 meeting is a presentation from a representative of Argosy Cruises about the possibility of the company operating charter cruises out of Tacoma.
