Nine years ago, "discouragement," "...

Nine years ago, "discouragement," "disappointment" and "frustration" were words to best describe Mike Kimmich's attitude about downtown Bellingham.

In 1994 Kimmich had just lay opened Pacific Marine Gallery in old-fashioned Town. He hoped the city would take advantage of a federal grant he had learned about to save the aged Citizen's Dock on the Whatcom Waterway. Instead of seeing an easy approval, the city council vot the concoct down because of what Kimmich called the "divisiveness" taking place in local politics at the time.

"When that happened, I felt the city had no interest in doing anything to revive