On a recent Friday morning Joe Ulatoski picked me up at 5:20 a.m. We met his daughter, Kari, to catch the 6:15 ferry to Southworth. I was carrying my trusty folding table, a veteran of many campaigns, a box of 250 buttons and a dozen posters blazing the colorful logo “Ferries Are Marine Highways!”

We were later joined by Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island), Vashon-Maury Island Community Council Vice President Jean Bosch, and Alan Mendel and Greg Beardsley, chair and vice-chair of the Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee. Kari Ulatoski is chair of the community council’s transportation committee, while she and I are also members of the FAC. Joe Ulatoski is well known as the founder of Vashon’s disaster preparedness program.

We were part of a group of about 140 participants in a “Ferry Summit” Dec. 7 in Bremerton. Citizens from ferry-served communities joined a group of public officials and staff from the Department of Transportation and Washington State Ferries to discuss the problems and possible solutions for the troubled ferry system.

U.S Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Bremerton) addressed the crowd. He said the state must come up with a more credible and stable way of funding ferries rather than an ad-hoc basis every two years.

Relying on further fare increases is out. They have already shot up by 80 percent in recent years, and enough is enough.

Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island), chair of the House Transportation Committee, bluntly said there is no transportation budget surplus. Transportation revenue from the new nickel gas tax has been committed to other projects, a situation Rep. Clibborn says is not politically feasible to change. However, Rep. Sherry Appleton of Bainbridge, a member of the committee, said the Legislature should make the tough decisions to shift some funds to help finance ferries, which are by law part of the state highway system. The Legislature has shirked its responsibility and treats ferries like a stepchild of the transportation system.

Community participants, including those from Vashon, emphasized the need for leadership from the governor and Legislature, rather than passing the buck to the state Transportation Commission or hiring more consultants to undertake expensive studies. Mike Anderson, the ferry system’s outgoing director, discussed the problem of running an agency with “too many bosses.” The Department of Transportation — with the governor’s approval — will soon name a new ferry system director. Until a few years ago, the WSF chief was named by the independent Transportation Commission. Many feel the Transportation Commission should be removed from ferry system management altogether, including its current authority over fare-setting policy.

Members of a relatively new grass-roots organization calling itself the Ferry Community Partnership had to struggle to get admission to the conference. Invitations had been limited to members of WSF’s ferry advisory committees and community “leaders” designated by the summit organizers, most of whom were from the Kitsap Coordinating Council. I was invited as a member of the Vashon ferry advisory committee, but several of my fellow activists from other communities were initially excluded. After much pressure was applied, two leaders of the Ferry Community Partnership, Forest Shomer of Port Townsend and Debbi Lester of Bainbridge, were admitted. This is particularly ironic since it was members of the partnership that first promoted the idea of holding a ferry summit.

This unfortunately reflects a history of resistance to involving authentic community collaboration. Debbi Lester said after the conference, “We are in this boat together, and together is how we are going to get this boat on the right course again.” She was delighted to see the idea of a ferry community coalition being suggested in various discussion groups. Our theme “Ferries Are Marine Highways” caught hold of the imagination of others.

These are just first steps. Much work will have to be done to keep up the momentum for solutions based on community needs. Paula Hammond, the state’s new secretary of transportation, is making some positive statements in the direction of greater collaboration with communities. The current crisis in the fleet brings home the significance of the ferry system in cross-Sound transportation and the economic impacts on both sides of Puget Sound.

— Marilyn Omey is a member of the Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee.