VIDEO: Washington State Ferries’ leader in Fauntleroy to listen

| Fauntleroy | West Seattle news

5:14 PM: Just under way in The Hall at Fauntleroy (west side, not the side closest to the street) – Washington State Ferries officials, including the woman at the top – WSDOT Assistant Secretary Lynne Griffith – are gathered to listen to concerns about the “triangle route,” Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth.

“We are not here with a predetermined solution in mind,” Griffith says – they are hoping to hear ideas for solving some of the route’s problems, including the massive traffic backups that happened multiple times this past summer. After opening remarks (update: low-res video added, above), the staffers are taking up positions around the room so that participants can circulate. You’re welcome to stop in any time before 6:30 pm; The Hall is at 9131 California SW, not far from the Fauntleroy dock. WSF already has had two meetings near the other terminals on the route, so this is the third of three. Whatever they hear at this meeting will be transcribed and published on the WSF website as a first step; then a task force “blend(ed) across the three communities” will be formed as a second step “to work through the problems,” according to Griffith.

5:21 PM: We counted 22 people here for starters; more are trickling in.

34th District State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (photo added above) is also here, as is a representative for 34th District State Sen. Sharon Nelson.

PJK October 28, 2016 (7:27 am)

A later time would have been helpful for me – I don’t arrive home from work until around 6pm so to run right back out after an hour’s commute from the UW is a bit of a stretch! Sorry 5-6:30? Start at 6:30!

Susan October 28, 2016 (1:38 pm)

By the time the Q & A started at 6:00, the Fauntleroy photo (second picture) was plastered with post-it notes. Primary concerns appeared to be noise, parking, cars blocking driveways and traffic lane, and preferential attention to offloading the boats at the expense of local bus and neighborhood traffic.

Ferries envisions expanding the dock because “you can’t get people out of their cars so we’ll get the cars off the street” (something like that). But don’t worry, because there isn’t any money in the budget to do that. BUT we now have been put on notice that the Fauntleroy neighborhood is targeted to accommodate the needs of the ferry riders who speed to clog the bridge and who do nothing to support commerce in West Seattle.

In turn, Ferries was put on notice that when the time comes for a public meeting about dock expansion, there will be standing room only in opposition.

Q October 28, 2016 (5:02 pm)

Ferry commuters and Kitsap residents certainly do support local West Seattle businesses. It also allows hundreds of West Seattle school children to attend Vashon schools, which are ranked near the top in the state. Literally hundreds of West Seattle children are on the 7:05am ferry to Vashon every weekday…walk down there and check it out some day. Also, try hopping the ferry and checking out Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula–I think you’ll enjoy it.

I understand that the ferry is an inconvenience to the people who live right there by the dock, but the ferry system is like a state highway. I’m sure I-5 is an inconvenience to people who live right by it, just as traffic near the Alaska Junction is an inconvenience to people who live near it. But we’re not demolishing the Junction because it causes traffic. And the ferry dock existed long before all the current residents moved there…residents knew they were moving in next to a ferry dock.

While an expanded dock might be a nuisance to people living right there next to it, it will be great for people going to Lincoln Park and people who live further along Fauntleroy because cars will no longer line up along that road. An expanded dock will also be much safer for the hundred of school children who use that ferry daily.

An expanded ferry dock will come, eventually. You can’t fight it any more than you can fight increased population growth.

Sorry, comment time is over.