Many, many years ago, when I was much, much younger, Bellingham's port commissioners were a powerful act. Little took place in the local business world that escaped these guys. And little business took place that escaped the involvement of these fellows or their friends. The manager, or executive, or whatever they called him, was a nice enough chap, but he had to get permission to go to the bathroom. There was never any doubt who ran things.

Of course the show couldn't go on forever, and spoil sports like Servais eventually prevailed and got openness, transparency and public process for a time. Now that's gone, and all that's left of that earlier era is a park, and some roads, named after guys nobody remembers. There was a time in Bellingham if you said “Tut” nobody thought about Egypt.

Now the commissioners are just a bunch of stooges for a lead who's not too impressive. The whole act is unamusing. The Port of Bellingham is just another bureaucracy controlled by a staff and director concerned with self perpetuation, vacation and retirement. For years the port has largely been a hole in the pant pocket of the body politic. If anything is to come from this ongoing subsidy, few of us would be able to explain what it is.

The situation with the port's commissioners is not much different than the dilemma the county council presents; save the county council-members' hearts may be in a better place. At least they stand up to the executive briefly before caving. You can't say that for the port commissioners. Rehabilitating county government is probably easier done than fixing the mess at the port.

In all candor, there is something very odd about an outfit calling itself the “Port of Bellingham” when it isn't managed or controlled by Bellingham. For the life of me, I don't understand why the entire county is taxed to subsidize this operation. Maybe we need to vote on that again. The port has become some sort of charity that keeps membership up at the country club. If the stuff they invest in was so smart, how come private interests aren't doing it?

For my part, I would be happy to see the port go away and those taxes go into the county budget so some of the projects we must move ahead with could finally be funded. Maybe then we could actually invest in repairing the Lake Whatcom reservoir. Let Bellingham manage the port assets (though Blaine would be the appropriate one to manage that harbor.)

Next, how about letting county residents have first dibs on moorage? Or how about a two tier system? Raise the rates for non-taxpayers until there are empty slips that locals don't take. Now I know that runs counter to the long established culture down on the waterfront. They've always sort of been tyrants masquerading as public servants. So how about they start serving the taxpayers that elect them. They're the port of “Bellingham” in name only. Heck they could be the port of “Seattle” if the name weren't already taken.

But frankly, hasn't the Port outlived its usefulness? Their recent shenanigans, particularly the whole boondoggle surrounding the acquisition and clean up of the GP site, seem to make it obvious they are more an impediment to the re-development of the waterfront than they will ever be part of the solution. And I shudder to think what they'll put us on the hook for next.

I respect those who think we can tinker with it, increase the number of commissioners, get a decent director, etc. and fix the thing. But do we really need it?

The Port commission isn't even good entertainment anymore. Mo, Larry and Curly would be an improvement.