VHS Riptide Online

The Dockton Road Preservation Project is considering six possible solutions and working with an Island Community Advisory Group (CAG) to decide which solution will best suite the community. The first option, titled “No Build,” involves maintaining the roadway and seawall until it is no longer possible to obtain permits or adequate funding. Ultimately, the road would be closed. The second option would replace the road with a restored beach. In addition to removing the road and restoring the beach, the third option entails building a raised boardwalk along the beach. Alternative four would create a multi-use trail, either paved or with a soft surface, open to pedestrians, bicyclists, and equestrians. Alternative five would create a one-way road with an eight-foot wide shoulder for pedestrian use. Finally, alternative six would rebuild the two-way road existing now but, as in option five, would add an eight-foot wide, pedestrian friendly shoulder.
It is important to note that with any of these alternatives, emergency vehicles will always have access to the dock from either Highland Drive or Tramp Harbor Road. However, with the restoration comes the need to weigh many community concerns.
A major concern that accompanies the possibility for any large building project is the environmental safety of the area affected. Because Dockton Road runs along the shoreline of Puget Sound, working on the approximately 4000 feet of roadway could have a tremendous impact on the nearshore habitat and marine life beyond. The location of the road also proves problematic in another sense; it severs the connection between the bluff and the beach. Known as an armored shoreline, this prevents the supply of restorative sediments to the beach. 
Jennifer Wade, Maury Islander and member of CAG, expressed concern about the bluff. “I would like to see a suspended waterway built from Tramp Harbor Road to Portage,” she said. “With the road suspended out over the water, the magnitude of the environmental impact as well as the archaeological impact would be reduced.”
This brings up the necessity of considering the historical impact the project could have. Many archaeological artifacts have been discovered around Portage and along the Tramp Harbor shoreline. Significant construction could disturb those artifacts.
According to the project schedule, it won’t be until early 2011 that a final design is created and a permit is obtained. Construction would then begin in 2013. In the meantime, community outreach and public involvement is crucial in determining which alternative or which combination of alternatives would best support the communities of Vashon and Maury Islands.

Van Holde has been cooking since she was two-years-old, when her mother taught her. Later, when she was seven or eight, she was in an orphanage in Thailand and worked in the kitchen. She said she’s always known that she wanted to cook.
“[Cooking] is my passion; this is what I want to do with my life,” she said.
Van Holde first went to Puget Sound Skills Center for a cooking program last summer to try it out. She said she liked it right away.
“I knew this is where I should be; this is where I want to be,” said Van Holde.
She attends the morning shift, and works one meal course per session that alternates on a regular basis. Currently, she’s on pastry, and recently learned to make a delicious caramel sauce. She said her favorite course to cook is hotline, the main course.
“I’m learning a lot of different kinds of styles right now. My style is Thai food and Indian, but I’m learning how to cook French, Italian; I like to learn different styles of cooking,” said Van Holde.
PSSC offers 19 vocational programs that fall under the categories of Automotive, Health, and Technology. In addition to Van Holde’s Culinary Arts, PSSC also offers Auto Body Technology, Criminal Justice Training, Fashion Design and Marketing, Environmental and Marine Science, and many more. The classes are offered to high school juniors and seniors. Van Holde said the two most popular programs are mechanics, and her own culinary class.
Though she said it can be a hassle to commute into the city every day, it’s definitely worth it for her.
“For me, this starts my career. [At PSSC], they teach you about your passion. From here, I think I’m going to go to South Seattle Community College, then after go to NYC or San Francisco to go to a restaurant and work,” she said.
“I think most students who go here would want to go [to PSSC]; I think it would be really cool if kids [from our school] went [to PSSC]. If you’re interested [in a specific field], I recommend going there; it’s the best thing.”