Last Thursday, I got a wild hair idea that we should meet with the Governor to let her know our preference of building the 144-car vessels (at least one) as soon as possible.
I'd worked the normal channels to arrange an appointment and then asked our legislators to advocate for the meeting as well.
Mid-day Saturday got word from Rep. Rolfes that we had a meeting on Tuesday, April 21, at 1:30. It was requested that we limit the attendee numbers to 4 in addition to myself and that each be from a different ferry community.
My apologies to those that I was not able to ask to attend: Plan C, Ferry Advisory Committees, and Ferry Community Partnership members. Know though that all your prior good work and lobbying efforts got us the appointment! Thank you!
Here are the notes from the meeting:
April 21, 2009 Meeting with Governor Gregoire from 1:40 – 2:10
In attendance: Governor Chris Gregoire, Head of DOT Paula Hammond, Jill Satran, Rep. Christine Rolfes, Rep. Larry Seaquist, John Stokes (Bremerton), Greg Beardsley (Vashon Island), Walt Elliott (Kingston), Debbi Lester (Bainbridge Island) and Howie Rosenfeld (San Juan County).
The Governor said she wanted a 144-car ferry to be built along with a 64, that she understood the need for both vessels, but that nothing will be final until the legislative session is over. She talked about the need for sustainable funding, that the problem was the loss of the MVET in Proposition 695, that nothing has been done since, and that she had hoped the legislature would define that new source of sustainable funding during this legislation session. She then spoke about the fare increase, that she wants 2.5%, but with the legislature still in session it could end up a little higher, possibly 3%. She said this will still be way better than the earlier Transportation Commission proposed 5-6% increase annually for the next five years.
Debbi led off the comments by reviewing the citizen effort that included people (riders, legislators, mayors, WSF personnel, council members, chambers of commerce, and others) from all the ferry served communities, and that over 10,000 have so far signed the Save Our Ferries petition (http://www.ferrywatch.org).
Howie handed off a letter from the San Juan County Council to the Governor that supported the moving up of the construction of the 144-car ferry and spoke to the San Juan County request to continue the Anacortes/Sidney ferry run.
Howie talked about the need for the 144-car ferries for their capacity and flexibility. The 144-car vessel would provide for greater commercial (tall semi trucks) capacity, [more room for walk ons] as well as over double the per vehicle space of the 64-car ferries. The 144-car vessel could be the back-up vessel in an aging fleet. A 144-car vessel would be able to serve the majority of the routes. He also spoke about the 64-car ferries being fine for the short Pt. Townsend route because of multiple sailings, but that on the longer San Juan routes where everyone needs to get to the mainland in the morning and back in the evening, capacity is critical. Others made additional comments about the need and efficiencies of the 144s.
The Governor spoke about why the Sidney run was canceled. The increase in dock fees was unacceptable to WSF. Gregoire tried to work with BC Premier Campbell until he informed her that the dock was privatized and there was nothing he could do. Gregoire said she felt she had no choice but to cancel the run to “get their attention” and willingness to negotiate. She said the current reduction is something WSF can work with but that she still feels it’s too high.
She also told the story of the 4 diesel electrics. How Paula Hammond is an engineer and said during the inspection, let’s not just look at the outside, let’s look at the inside, and ordered a circular hole be cut. This showed deterioration that she felt no choice but to immediately pull them out of service.
Other comments included:
The role of ferries in disaster preparedness: the ferries would be greatly needed should a natural disaster occur and the captain and crew are ready to respond as floating hospitals, etc. [We only need to look at San Francisco and how after its recent earthquake San Francisco ramped up the purchasing of ferries as part of its disaster preparedness plan. Our state should view our ferries in the same light and work towards increasing our fleet and being prepared as best as we possibly can.]
We should contract building ferries at a “fleet rate” instead of the more expensive one-off “yacht rate.” If the vessels are built in sequence, the state would get a better price reduction with each consecutive vessel that is constructed as the shipyard would have tooled up for the production and through the multiple constructions the shipyard would gain efficiencies and cost savings.
Vashon Island and Bremerton community members spoke of the many breakdown of vessels on their routes which caused upwards of 3 hour delays. The point is that the system is now beyond breaking point with nothing but a 34-car vessel as a back-up boat. This is impacting peoples lives, jobs, and businesses.
Even though funding for construction of all 144-car vessels may not be available presently, this group recommended that the state consider purchasing materials now as in this time of an economic downturn, costs of materials (steel, copper, aluminum, etc) have fallen.
What was failed to be brought up at this time, but was sent to the Governor in the briefing for the meeting, was the fact that Congressman Jay Inslee has requested $3 million dollars in federal funding for the purchase of the 144-car ferry propulsion systems. This is another reason to advocate and plan on moving the construction of at least 144-car ferry up immediately.
A core purpose of this meeting was to plant the seeds for the future to encourage WSF, our legislators, and the Governor to use the expertise available in the ferry communities as a source to help with issues of efficiency and economy, and to in the future consider the possibility of a ferry community advisory committee to play a part in fare discussions.
The ferry community members were incredibly impressed with generosity and the serious attention the Governor gave in providing a half an hour of her time in the last week of the legislative session. The Governor not only met with the ferry community members but she also requested that the Head of DOT, Paula Hammond and Jill Satran Transportation Policy Advisor Governor's Executive Policy Office to be on hand to hear what the ferry community members had to say.
The Governor means business and she is one to keep her word.
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