PORT TOWNSEND — A possible return of Port Townsend-Seattle foot ferry service has got Lynn Kessler’s attention.
Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval says Kessler, the powerful state House Majority Leader and one of three legislators representing the North Olympic Peninsula, likes the idea of having at least a weekend Port Townsend-Seattle passenger-only run between Port Townsend and Seattle.
“She said she thought it was a good idea,” Sandoval said.
“She had already talked to [Secretary of Transportation Paula] Hammond about it.”
On Jan. 6, Washington State Ferries canceled an almost month-long passenger-only ferry run between Port Townsend and Seattle.
Hammond and ferry officials have said Port Townsend-Seattle service was too expensive to be continued, despite petition drives in Port Townsend asking that it be kept going.
Costing more than $13,700 a day, the service was meant to be a temporary run for holiday travelers after the state abruptly retired its ancient Steel Electric-class ferries, which hauled people and cars between Port Townsend and Keystone and in the San Juan Islands.
Safety inspections found serious hull pitting, and the Steel Electrics were pulled just before Thanksgiving.
Sandoval, David Sullivan, one of the three Jefferson County commissioners, City Manager David Timmons and city Planning Director Rick Sepler met with Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, in Olympia on Friday.
The group was unable to meet with Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, but they dropped off a packet of the City Council’s 2008 ferry goals and strategies at his office.
Kessler, Van De Wege and Hargrove represent Jefferson and Clallam counties in the state Legislature, which began its 60-day session last Monday.
“We were relaying the importance of what we’ve outlined to provide economic security to the town,” said Sandoval.
“They realized that we need the mitigation. I know that we have their attention.”
