Duwamish River Community Coalition celebrates 25th anniversary by cruising ‘Seattle’s only river’

(WSB photos, taken during DRCC anniversary celebration)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“Water is life. The Duwamish is life!”

So declared Alberto Rodriguez, a former Duwamish River Community Coalition staffer who was among the speakers as the DRCC celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday night.

The party, fittingly, played out on the river whose life – and the lives of the people who rely on it – has been protected and championed by the DRCC over that quarter-century. Supporters and staff gathered aboard Argosy Cruises’ Lady Mary and cruised down the Duwamish and back, before, during, and after a mesmerizing sunset.

There was dinner and dancing, and lots of gratitude. But first, words of welcome from the tribe that shares the river’s name and shore, spoken by Kristina Pearson of the Duwamish Tribe.

As the boat sailed past the river’s industrial shore, it notably passed the site of a recent major victory for the DRCC, declaring victory in its fight to keep Ash Grove Cement from increasing its burn rate of tires.

Speaking at that moment was the first director of DRCC – then the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition – B.J. Cummings. She recalled her first encounter with the river, kayaking in 1994: “I fell so hard.” Even before DRCC came to be, she spent five years patroling for illegal sources of pollution. The river’s listing as a Superfund site in 2001 brought the coalition to life, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing as the cleanups began.

The first one “was a mess,” Cummings recounted. And then there was the tale of T-117, for which the initial plan, she said, “didn’t go far enough” – the community pushed for more, and the port “overturned their own recommendations.”

Now, Cummings noted, the cleanup is “about halfway done” and in some places along the river, “habitat has been restored for salmon and people.”

(2011 WSB photo, B.J. Cummings & James Rasmussen with then-mayor Mike McGinn)

She also expressed pride for those who had followed her in DRCC leadership – particularly past and present executive directors James Rasmussen and Paulina López – for making the river “internationally known.”

She was followed by Rodriguez, an immigrant from Honduras who now works for Seattle Public Utilities in a role that includes a focus on the river, whose “straightening, shortening, deepening came with a cost,” and yet, he continued, it’s “ever flowing, adapting, shaping … never giving up, always giving back.” Like DRCC itself, a “small but mighty organization.”

The organization’s work has set precedents for others to follow. Rodriguez spotlighted some of them – including the first health assessment of a cleanup plan; a first-of-its-kind public hearing in a non-English language. He had words of praise for the DRCC’s acclaimed Duwamish Valley Youth Corps.

(WSB file photo, Duwamish Valley Youth Corps at a volunteer event)

Two young leaders who’d been part of the DWYC, Miriam Roman Olvera and Christopher Castro Leonardo, talked a bit about their experiences.

And as the night arrived, López spoke, marveling, “What a powerful night … We’re celebrating 25 years of community power … people coming together saying, our river matters, our health matters, our community matters, our children matter.”

(2020 WSB photo of Paulina López at People’s Park groundbreaking)

And not just in the context of the environment – she declared firm opposition to “the atrocities happening today” – federal immigration authorities’ violence. She compared the fight to protect “basic human rights” to the fight to save the river: “Back in 2001, they said ‘that’s the way it is’; we said, ‘the community’s speaking, and you need to listen’.”

As the Duwamish River Community Coalition navigates into its second quarter-century, it’s clear that it will be heard. Here are ways to help.

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