Fauntleroy dock project, District 1 Community Network, more for your West Seattle Wednesday

(Tuesday’s sunset, photographed by James Bratsanos)

Notes for the rest of your Wednesday:

SCHOOL BOARD: A budget increase for the West Seattle Elementary addition project is one of the items the Seattle Public Schools Board will consider during its semimonthly meeting, starting at 4:15 pm. The agenda includes viewing information.

FAUNTLEROY TERMINAL REPLACEMENT: The Community Advisory Group for the Fauntleroy ferry dock/terminal replacement project meets tonight for the first time in 3 months, 6 pm online. Our preview has information on how to participate.

DISTRICT 1 COMMUNITY NETWORK: 7 pm online, the community coalition for West Seattle and South Park has its monthly meeting, all welcome. Our calendar listing has information on how to participate.

SKYLARK OPEN MIC: 7:30 pm signups @ West Seattle’s longest-running open mic – no cover to watch. (3803 Delridge Way SW)

Something for our calendar? Email info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Jar Lyons March 7, 2022 (3:22 pm)

Expect to hear more suggestions from WSF next week about how they need to expand the dock, including options to claim either half of Fauntleroy (making it one-way), or paving over Lincoln park as a staging area.What they WON’T tell you is that none of this is necessary.Vashon Island’s dock runs so smoothly that just last year they actually removed one of the 2 staging lanes for eastbound traffic. The boats continue to load quickly and efficiently.What’s the difference ? The cars are allowed to stream right off the highway, onto the dock, and onto the boat without stopping at a troll booth. The only way to get to the island is to pay for a round trip ticket, so the leg leaving the island does not have to stop for payment.The amount of capital that would be required for any of the dock expansion plans suggested so far could pay for a good-to-go electronic billing solution at Fauntleroy 10 times over, maybe more.WSF will tell you that’s not possible, because good-to-go doesn’t collect for passengers. And they’re right. But ….. assuming good-to-go works (which of course we all know it does …), they should simply stop collecting for passengers. Their recent public disclosure numbers indicate they are spending over $1.1 million in added personnel at Fauntleroy compared to Southworth (where passenger fares are not collected). The last time I checked this route collected approximately $2.2 million annually for passengers. So ….. they’re spending over $1.1 million to collect $2.2 million ….. and blocking Fauntleroy unnecessarily in the process: once the 80 cars on the dock load, the cars can’t stream past the booth, and the boat eventually sails less than full, creating an unnecessarily long line for you to deal with in front of the park). It’s quite likely the additional cars that would be streaming onto the boats could more than make up for the $1.1 million net shortfall in passenger sales. The most important part is this: they could give it a trial run without paving over your park. The Fauntleroy neighborhood should stand up to WSF and demand they stop the unnecessarily long lines in front of the park.

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