the official blog of the evergreen freedom foundation

Getting tired of hearing about Washington State Ferry foolishness? 

 

Well, I'm getting tired of hearing foolishness from the Washington State Ferry System, so I thought I'd cruise the Net for some relief only to find a nasty nugget from the San Francisco Chronicle Web site about, of all things, the Washington State Ferry System.

 

Gum on the bottom of my shoe...

 

So, this article brags from the Castro District all the way to San Jose about how the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District bought at a bargain-basement price and will rehab WSF's two passenger-only ferries, the Chinook and the Snohomish.

 

What makes the story ironic, is that Golden Gate brags all the way to the bank about how it's buying two perfectly good boats from out of state for well under what it would have cost to build one in state.

 

But up here in Washington, we do pretty near the polar opposite.  By insisting that we buy only boats built within the state, we'll end up paying, if not double, then anywhere from 20 percent to one-third more than necessary. 

 

See tomorrow's Everett Herald for an EFF Op-Ed on this subject that takes Senate Transportation Committee Chair, Mary Margaret Haugen, to task for her continued insistence on spending more than necessary rather than getting a good deal for taxpayers.

 

Never thought I would live to see the day when I would say it's time to follow a lead from San Francisco...Something about some place freezing over?

 

What they've done down there is focus on what ferries are supposed to do and how that job can get done efficiently, effectively, and as inexpensively as possible.  In other words, they haven't gotten bogged down in political correctness, union-contract-driven costly work rules, and pandering to special interests (again, the unions) by using their albeit modest ferry system as a jobs program for Bay Area slackers.

 

Hmmm...this gives me an idea:  If state law can require WSF to buy only from in-state boat builders, how about a state law that requires WSF to sell surplus boats only to in-state customers?  Good for the goose, good for the gander???

 

Think...the old Steel Electrics would then still be with us (literally they still are, but they're being prepped to be towed to Mexico and converted into...whatever it is old ferries are converted in to) to be used as floating B&Bs, roller rinks, parking garages or whatever.

 

Both sides of that equation make about the same amount of sense, which is zero.

 

As an aside, which compounds the continued pain from WSF and that gaggle in the Washington Legislature, the sale of the two POF boats comes at a time when WSF needs them. 

 

Everytime you pick up the newspaper, there's a story about WSF leasing POF vessels to cover an emergency run or, as will be the case after the first of the year on the Port Townsend - Keystone run, to cover when the Steilacoom II is drydocked for a Coast Guard-mandated inspection.

 

It's crazy - the left hand pays top dollar to lease what the right hand sells for bottom dollar. 

 

Then again...isn't crazy what most of government is all about?

 

The Piper