Now that there is consensus that the ferry system is costing the state money (I don’t know who missed that point before), it is time to work on a solution.
Private enterprise is out of the question, as it was a private company that gave it to the state 60 years ago because it couldn’t make a profit. If the state ran it like a business and made a profit, there would be initiatives to get the state out of the business like in the last election with liquor.
No, the state will have to come up with an answer to keep it running. It is time for Tim Eyman to quit sniping and taking cheap shots from the sidelines, and participate in determining how that will be done. His city of Mukilteo has a major terminal and his Snohomish County is likely to be in a nine-county regional ferry taxing district. Will residents in the district pay one fare, and non-residents pay another (kind of like the state park system tried 40 years ago until Oregon started charging Washington residents more to camp there), or will district residents just support tourists and other non-residents by themselves?
Mr. Eyman’s Initiative 695 started us down this road, so he should share some of the driving duties, take some responsibility, and not just get to sharp shoot later for personal glory and individual profit.
Bill Severson
Stanwood
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