I Did Not Know Seattle Pulled The Plug On Slide The City

Before throwing it away, I once again thumbed through the latest quarterly update from America's Biggest Boondoggle. I wanted to make sure there was no mention made of the Cowtown Wakepark.

You know, the world's premiere urban wakeboard park which J.D. Granger said would give the locals the chance to participate in the fun sport of wakeboarding. Predictably, Cowtown Wakepark is now closed, awaiting "new management". Previously Boondoggle Updates made plenty of mentions about the wonders of the Cowtown Wakepark.

So, whilst thumbing through The Boondoggle's Update I once again saw the pages devoted to last summer's Slide the City event where thousands paid good money to slide a couple thousand feet down Main Street. I opined at the time that this should concern people as being an indicator that there are not enough fun things to do in the Fort Worth zone. Thousands sliding down a waterslide? Thousands inner tubing in a polluted river? It's just pitiful.

When I saw The Boondoggle's photos of the Fort Worth Slide the City event I remembered Seattle was supposed to also have a Slide the City event this past summer. I Googled to quickly learn the Seattle Slide the City event had been cancelled,  with Spokane and the Tri-Cities cancelling as well, all for pretty much the same reason.

Reasons of the sort which don't concern Fort Worth public officials, regarding the quality of water the city encourages its people to play in.

The screen cap above was from something called Geekwire.

A blurb from the Seattle Times article about pulling the plug, titled Huge Water Slide Won't Be Coming To Seattle This Year which explains the reasons for not allowing the City to Slide...

Slide the City, an event agency that rolls out 1,000-foot vinyl water slides in cities across the country, will not be coming to Seattle, Spokane and the Tri-Cities this summer because the company didn’t obtain necessary approval from county and state departments of health.

After reviewing the application, the state health department had questions regarding the water’s level of chlorine and ability to prevent illness, the safety of a portion of the slide that allows multiple people and the company’s plans for treating water before it empties into a Columbia River storm drain.

In a July 9 letter, the department asked for clarification on contamination, water-pressure levels and what hours and day the company hoped to plan the event.

King County health authorities, as well as officials from other jurisdictions, worked with the state department to evaluate the water-slide proposals.

___________________________________________

Those stupid Washington government officials can be such kill joys. Worrying about public safety and water quality, in an area which has no water of the dirty, polluted Trinity River sort.....