PORT TOWNSEND — Live from the Lawrence Street fire station’s radio tower, heeeere’s Port Townsend!
Along with the launch last Friday of the city’s new Web page at www.cityofpt.us comes a live-feed Web cam that puts the Internet surfer on the breaking wave of information technology.
It allows the Web user at home to pan, with the click of a mouse, the video cam atop the city’s 80-foot emergency operations and JeffCom communications tower.
The camera is roughly 200 feet above sea level, city officials figure, and it literally looks over uptown rooftops to grand views beyond.
The user should have a broadband connection for best cam performance.
The link to the tower cam is on the city’s new home page, and can be found on the right side of the home page’s top navigation bar.
Encased in globe
The $500 Panasonic camera encased in a fan-heated white plastic globe to prevent fogging in wet weather, allows sweeping views over rooftops to points, including Mid Channel Point, Port Townsend Bay, the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill and Marrowstone Point.
Also on the clear horizon, Keystone on Whidbey Island, the Point Hudson dock, the Olympic Mountains, Mount Baker and Jefferson County Courthouse can be spied.
“We have so much technology tied up with the city today, we thought it would be good way to give back to the public,” said city Finance Director Michael Legarsky, who along with Information Technology Director Mark Peil and City Manager David Timmons came up with the panning cam and new Web site concepts.
Also involved in providing information, records and advise in setting up the Web site was Pam Kolacy, city clerk.
Timmons, Peil and Legarsky see the Web cam as a public service that will allow the city’s many boaters a way to see live the weather and boating conditions on Port Townsend Bay.