“Vashon Island has four ferry boats (including Pt. Defiance in Tacoma) that service it, and THOSE islanders complain FAR MORE than ANYONE in the San Juans!” –Anonymous WSF worker
||| BY LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR |||
An anonymous Washington State Ferry worker has reached out to theOrcasonian to, if nothing else, perhaps alert those of us in the San Juan Islands that we are being too nice about our reduced ferry service.
So what does that mean? We are mostly nice, kind folks way up here in the northwest corner of our State (and country if you consider we are DISCONNECTED FROM AMERICA) as long we’re not attacking our fellow Orcasonian readers in the Comments section. And while we have no problem being vociferous on Orcasonian pages, it probably does not come as a surprise that we are not highly read in the Seattle area.
You only need to live here through one summer to accept (or not) the fact that our ferry service is not at our beck and call; trips to ‘America’ are not readily available whenever you get an urge to drive fast on Interstate 5. And, we learn to deal, or we move away. It seems a simple conundrum to resolve. You are almost required to accept the fact that there’s an iffy departure plan by ferry available at a moment’s notice whenever you get a hankering to go to America, or even just to Fidalgo Island.
So, in the interest of bringing this under-the-radar methodology to the forefront, here is the contact info for sending a Letter to the Editor to the Seattle Times: letters@seattletimes.com. Please include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
Copies to theOrcasonian are encouraged. Let’s rile it up to see if this informed information source is correct. Because, what if it works?
You said it, Lin. We need to raise a ruckus. I am just not quite sure why and who we are trying to rouse by writing to the Seattle Times.
Perhaps I neglected to mention that I’ve been told that WSF hates bad publicity more than anything.
Why not raise a ruckus with out State Representatives? They have some leverage in Olympia ir at least they should. San Juan County may not have much clout even with them!
Thank you Lin. I’ve commented several times that, rather than bitching among ourselves in these pages, we need to take direct action by writing to our elected reps (always conveniently listed here). I did that (again) last week and got a personal, and substantive, letter back from Senator Lovelett’s staff. But the real fulcrum is to support them (against the Eastern Washington Repubs., in the state transportation budget process Or maybe somebody can think of a more direct action….
Wow, i did not know that the Eastern state republicans had any power left in the state. Holding the governorship and both houses of the legislature, the democrats are in the driver’s seat!
Let’s try to get something done rather than bash the powerless political party. Enough of that already.
Absolutely right Tom! It’s the old definition of insanity – the people keep electing the same people to the Seattle Council, the State Representatives and the Governor’s office and the same problems get worse and worse and everyone wonders why. It’s the same with our ferry system – it’s the same incompetent people in charge and they make the same mistakes and decisions they’ve done for decades.