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Richard Davidson

Where have all the good people gone?

We live on an island and depend on a twenty-seven year old ferry that is outdated by the number of inhabitants that live on the same island as you do. This ferry operates approximately 120 hours per week, 365 days a year, rain or shine and operates even on Christmas day without a break.

Just think about this! While you are enjoying a pleasant holiday dinner with you family, some ferry worker is performing their job. When this ferry was first acquired, it was known at the time that the new ferry would be needed to be replaced by the year 2000. Needless to say, there comes a time when the ferry breaks down and some people are inconvenienced. Remember, we live on an island and must expect problems when your only mode of water transportation is required to work so much. Ninety-five percent of the island inhabitants are the best people to live with. It is the five percent that are causing the problems. If you are in the ninety-five percentile, congratulations and thank you for being there. However, if you are in the five percentile, thank you for making my day. There are half of the five percent demands that the ferry wait for them when they arrive late. The other half would like the ferry to leave early because they are already on board. How can we please everyone?

Too many cooks

So what are the problems with the ferry system that we have? Too many cooks! These people are better known as the complainers and they all have the answers for everything. A complainer expects to ride the ferry for free and arrive yesterday and be first on and first off. Plus they believe that they can operate the ferry system better than anyone else, despite having no experience in the daily operation of a ferry. One day a complainer will contact the ferry manager or even the commissioners with a complaint. In turn a new policy will be put into effect, satisfying the complainer. Later on another complainer will question the stupid decision that is now in effect. That complainer then uses the very same method of getting his or her way as the other complainer. Guess what? Another policy change once again. The first complainer will take it out on the ferry crew, because the crew is failing to perform their job according to their opinion or last complaint. Not counting the times the complainers have tried to get ferry personnel fired because they do not like a particular crew member.

Ferry out of service

The ferry manager tries to keep the system from failing. Making decisions is very difficult and the last thing anyone wants to see is the ferry out of commission. Many times these decisions are based upon facts and sometimes opinion. If any decision works out for the good, everyone is happy. If a decision is not so good; well that is another problem the complainer can take care of. Every two years for the past 60 years the ferry is scheduled to be hauled out and rebuilt as per Coast Guard rules. This enables the ferry to continue its relentless continued operation during the next two years. These back set drivers and armchair quarterbacks think they can solve any problem. How come we never see these complainers bringing forth their suggestion before the committee first? If I could make the right decisions every time I would be considered a god. How many of people have made the right decision every time?

What do we do?

Once the ferry is removed from service, we all go through ferry withdrawals. Being an islander myself, my wife, son and daughter must endure the hardship of doing without our four cars crossing multiple times during the day. Then the county takes the ferry out of service and could care less about the island inhabitants. Sure the county supplies a van and driver on the Guemes side and picks up and delivers islanders and complainers alike from door to ferry dock. Since the ferry is out of service the county decides to work on the docks at the same time. Again this is work is not needed.

After all these docks do not get the workout like the ferry does. Lumber trucks, moving trucks, concrete trucks, along with garbage trucks cross the loading ramps without incident everyday the ferry is operating. After all it is made of steel and concrete that sits ocean of saltwater. What could go wrong with the ramps? If the ferry does break down, just call in another service to have you vehicle removed from the island. Do not worry about the amount it cost. Just stop payment the next day and you then can sleep better at night. I understand that some boat owners will only come to Guemes it you have cash in hand. We have become famous throughout the state for being complainers. Thank the 5% for this attitude.

Complainers to the rescue

Then the county hires the Straight Arrow vessel to cross the Guemes Channel. The Straight Arrow seats (49) total passengers, according to the U S Coast Guard. What could happen if the captain took fifty people and had an accident. Would we care if he or she lost their license over that issue? On this boat there are twenty-three people that can be seated in a warm comfortable cabin, while the rest must stand on the open deck in the weather. On a recent trip from Guemes to the Anacortes marina, three of our most prominent complainers voiced their disproval of how the operation was being handled. After the boat docked at the marina, all three complainers rushed to the two waiting vans the county had supplied to take them to their vehicles. These people climbed in with their large dogs and there was no room for four women in their late seventies and eighties.

These women had to stand in the cold and no place to sit until the van returned for them. Another complainer was upset because the school children were late for school. From dock to dock, we never heard one child complain that they were going to be late. Another complainer was upset because many of the men on board were late for work. That complainer does not even have a job himself.

More boats are added

There is also another boat the county is using and it is called the Warrior. It too has a total capacity of (49) total passengers set by the U S Coast Guard. Again, who is always first in line to get aboard this boat? You guessed it. The same old complainers as always, sitting inside the temporary tent to keep the passengers dry, while someone that could use the seat is standing outside in the rain and cold. I do see true islanders helping their fellow friends and neighbors down the beach when this boat is used, either by lending a hand or carrying something for their fellow islanders. Then there is the beach problem on the Anacortes side as well. Ever since the wing wall was installed and the adjacent marina, the beach has swallowed up by at least three feet. The loss of a current does not remove the silt as in has in the past and the beach is being getting harder for the Warrior to get access when the tide is out. As the Warrior’s bow touches the beach, the propellers are pushing silt and beach backward causing a man made sand bar behind it. This in turn hinders the Warrior from landing at lower tides, not counting the large boulders located on the very same beach. A true complainer will never understand tides and wind. But wait, since we are so use to driving from door to door, we just do not have the stamina to walk on a boat and a beach. We have become marshmallows with one foot in the grave. Maybe it is time for us to get off our lethargic asses and start walking once in a while. This way when we need to use an alternate ferry we can at least walk 200 feet without help and complaining.

Pick a boat
When this happens, we expect the ferry crew to switch boats without missing any of our precious runs. Two different boats, working out of two locations, free bus service on each side and all for free and we still complain. The ferry crew will assist in anyway possible, one golf cart and three wheel barrels. I just do not see how the ferry crew and county are helping out with the situation. Then the ferry is being kept three weeks longer than originally scheduled. The ferry management should have realized that there were more problems ahead of time. After all, there are people that have x-ray vision that live on the island and could have been hired by the county. Instead of applying their super skills, the complainers would rather complain so no need to call upon them. Never mind the fog, shipping, large amount of boaters and barges in our area that also slow up a run.

Follow directions

Then there are the problems when we have our precious ferry in service. Many of the very same complainers expect to be loaded in the center lane and never want to be put out on the outside of the boat. These same people drive with their cell phones glued to their ears while holding the steering wheel at the bottom or having there two years old trying to park the family four door long bed truck on the open deck. They fail to notice the deck hand motioning were and how to park. These are just deck hands and no nothing of how to park cars! Personally, when these deck hands are allowed to park the cars properly, I am glad to see the last car being loaded. Without this skill, some good person is always left behind watching the ferry cross the channel without them.

Blame the crew

During the winter months, we are faced with many other problems with our ferry. Heaven forbid your automobile gets saltwater spray during a stormy crossing. Just blame the ferry crew, because I am sure they produced the foul weather just for you. When your car gets scratched by passengers squeezing to be first off, blame the crew. When you fail to make the ferry because your fellow islanders are driving large trucks, blame the crew. When the county raises the fares, blame the ferry crew. One day the ferry was waiting for an ambulance to return with one of our own. There were complainers on the ferry that were upset because the ferry crew was waiting for the ambulance to return. GET A LIFE! Blame the crew once again. If the person behind or in front of you fails to set their parking brake, blame the crew. If your car gets hit by a drunk driver while they are parking on the ferry, blame the crew once again. If you are having a bad day, just blame the crew. It must make you feel good, because you continue to act in this manner. We expect our ferry crew to be on call 24 hours a day, just in case we loose power or require the sheriff and or ambulance when we are personally affected by a crisis’s, and we do not want to pay for that service.

Rising fares

After all, it is the ferry crew why we have to pay so much for our tickets. Yes, I know we had no fare increase for “fifteen years”, but as islanders, we should get free service. How come no one complained when we went so long with cheap fares? The ferry crew has been working without a contract for three years, but we just do not care as long as we get free or very cheep service. Let the people down south pay extra for service during the summer months is what I say. We are the special ones, not them. The county only hires part time help and does not wish to hire full time personnel. This keeps the cost down to the islanders, so we do not complain. Many of us are workers at our own jobs or own businesses. Have we kept the same wages and or provided ours services at the same cost level for fifteen years? Every complainer keeps a list of all of the county officials phone numbers on their rolodex and speed dialer just in case they feel the need to complain. In 40 years I have never complained and I cannot keep quite any longer.

Who wants extended runs?

But wait, what about the extended runs that everyone wants and nobody wants. I understand that one of our ferry committee members is against extended runs. Recently this person used the extended runs one night, along with his wife and son and it was done using three cars on the same run. If you do not want extended runs, do not use it. If it is not used, the ferry management will pull the plug. The committee member showed that if the extended runs are available he and his family would use them. Does anyone see a problem here? When we had a six car ferry we had a few that did not want to have a larger ferry. When we had the nine car ferry, we had some opposed to the current ferry. One new house brings two new cars to our ferry. Half of the people using the school special do not even have children. Since we have all these cars on the island, we will just have the ferry make more trips during the day. We will just create more time during the day to allow for this. We could care less if the crew gets a break during their shift.

Who is responsible?

Many of us are property owners and have sold many building lots to people from off the island. We do not mind taking their money, but do not build a home and bring more traffic to the island. As long as I have my home and cars, it is OK. Has anyone noticed how many concrete trucks come to the island each week? Every two trucks brings one new home and two more cars for the over taxed ferry system. Not counting friends and relatives that will be visiting once the home is completed; plus the traffic during holidays and during the summer months. We blame everyone but ourselves for these problems and we need to start looking in the mirror.

Thank God for the good people

Enough talk about the complainers. The ninety-five percent are also the silent majority. They commute each day without any problems or complaints. When we are one minute late for the ferry, we never blame anyone but ourselves. If the boat is full, we do not dwell on the crew for not loading it properly. If one of the ninety-five presenters is squeezed on, we always thank the crew for a job well done. The silent majority needs to tell the vocal minority to just shut up. Having ferry problems is a way of life when living on Guemes or any other island in this world. Remember, the world does not revolve around us. If you cannot understand this, maybe you need to live some where a bridge can take you home for free, or better yet California.

[10.14.5]

The Rev. Robert H. Anderson

Don Munks, Skagit County Commissioner

Dear Don.

I read the article in the Herald tonight about the importing of garbage to the new proposed transfer station. Over a year ago in a conversation you said to my face, when I said that was a likely outcome, that it would never happen and you would not allow it. Once again you lied to my face,

The article says the new station would compete with the county which you assured me would not happen. And that you are negotiating rates. What you said to me was that any contract would make sure the ongoing debt and costs would all be included. If that is the case, there are no rates to "negotiate". The cost of the debt and the upriver sites would be calculated and a set rate would be given Cimarron and that would be the rate. "Negotiation" means that there is a potential for taxpayers to have to absorb part of the debt while at the same time losing revenue to the "Competition". So on 2 more occasions you have lied to me.

And the fact that Cimarron is owned by an Anacortes Council member and local businessman and mayoral candidate, also stinks to high heaven. Everything suggests there's a skunk in the woodpile somewhere.

Later in the article, a fellow commissioner caught you in another lie concerning the county's role in city curbside recycling in the 90s that lost the county revenue.

Don, I have a good memory for what I am told by elected officials and often write notes after such conversations. Would you like to see my notes from those meetings I had with you to refresh your memory? I think four lies in one media report is perhaps a record, even for Skagit county. How do you expect anyone to ever trust anything you say?

I do not expect you to answer this letter since the courtesy of replying to your constituents is not something anyone under your county management does. It doesn't matter that 24 weeks have passed without an answer to Linetime letters or several legal letters from Friends of Guemes Island have remained unanswered? Have you even read the letters from Islanders on Linetime? Not a flattering one in the lot. In months I have not heard one single good word on Island about your handling of this ferry matter. Your disdain for democracy, communication and example of the worst of "good-old boy" politics, is legendary here. Your arrogance, high-handedness and incompetence are the bedrock of our mounting anger. If I were a public official, I would be out listening and mending fences in a hurry. Even our President, who loves and models your style more than anyone, would have his spinmasters in full attack.

Do you care? I have no reason to believe so since your honeyed assurances in private conversations with me, have been proven a sham and calculated lies. I apply to you my GOP Dad's political test. His first question was always "Does the candidate have integrity?" You have failed my Dad's test.

[10.13.5]

Bob Anderson

Amazingly, Glen Veal read your agenda in Saturday's Herald and noted the discussion planned for extending Ferry hours. Of course it was after hours so no way to determine what it meant until Monday at 9. That's why the phone calls and emails flew fast all weekend and you had a room full of Guemians. How many times, Don, have we discussed improved communications with the Island by the county? 5 or 6 times at least? Yet still bad or nonexistent communications are the norm. It's really not cricket to surprise the Island Ferry Committee - and even the ferry crew, like that. Not when YOU set the "process" that has ferry matters going through the Round Table and the Ferry Committee and on to the county. The "process" you spoke to on Monday bears NO resemblance to the process we all thought you had put in place.

Clearly a group on Island (if figures are accurate, representing at most 20% of Islanders) brought their extended hours proposal to the Ferry Committee and it was tabled. It did not at that time represent the majority of Islanders. Chal Martin's 50-50 comment is disturbing when it was a work session with the implicit assumption that comments from Public Works would be ACCURATE. The surveys by GIPAC showed an 80% number or responses in favor of not changing the character of Guemes. The last 2 elections to the Ferry Committee were with large pluralities in favor of candidates against extended evening hours. Prior GIPOA surveys reflected the same percentages. All this information was available to Public Works, and to you

But because a small group did not get their way with the ferry committee, they chose to go outside the "process" that is in place and appeal to Public Works (and you) directly. Your proper response, honoring YOUR "process" would be to have sent it back to our ferry committee. Instead, you honored the undemocratic way the issue was brought to you, dishonored your own "process" and undermined the ferry committee, and broke faith in an existing "process" in favor or an incoherent new "process". It was an unfair and disappointing spectacle.

If the Skagit County Citizens for Professional Transportation Management were honest, they would have addressed the poor management issues involved in my earlier email about the Parking Lot. Or titled their document "Guemians avoiding democratic processes in Ferry Matters." There are many ways of compromise to address needed midweek evening runs - pay as you go systems for those who feel "cabin fever" on weeknights, occasional runs or a one night of runs for school and shopping and a "night out" (tho there is precious little to do after 6 in Anacortes on a weeknight). We can solve this if those 125 people will be open and discuss this through proper channels in a civil manner.

Those of us who moved here BECAUSE there were no evening runs during the week, preferred the quiet walks with no cars, and the solitude. People who move here with no weeknight runs assume that fact in moving here. There are plenty of places to live with evening access to the big city. Guemes is not that place. Nor does Guemes have a high tolerance for undemocratic and back-door actions and threats of lawsuits, by people who do those things. While a majority of us do want more professional transportation management around the problem of breakdowns and frequent outages and poor communications by the county, a majority find no fault with the number of and restrictions on ferry runs. We CHOSE the existing arrangements.

It is clear from any cursory look at Puget Sound Islands near metropolitan centers, that easy access swiftly prices homes out of reach of middle and low income people. Extended hours will do this to Guemes in short order and those favoring extended hours are truly "voting off the Island" their neighbors of lesser resources. Unless, of course, a County objective is to gentrify Guemes with expensive homes and use Guemes as a "cash cow" to fund the county with vastly increased taxes. To even consider this option BEFORE the sub area plan is agreed to on Guemes, is wrong. Comm, Anderson said the issue should be decided strictly as a transportation issue. He is very WRONG.

That's the basic problem with county planning - considering such issues in isolation from other issues that are connected and which they impact. His opinion is classic "bad planning". Issues intersect and the whole picture must be studied, and connected consequences determined and planned for or mitigated. (He also stated he had spent way too much time on this matter - he could save a lot of that wasted time with good communications with the Island instead of shutting us out of the process.) We are really quite a cooperative people and can save the county lots of money (see my email on the Parking Lot) -IF YOU ASSUME WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY, THAT THOSE WHOSE LIVES ARE IMPACTED SHOULD BE THE FIRST, AND NOT THE LAST TO BE CONSULTED, AND THAT WE ARE VALID PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROCESS. WE HAVE NOT SEEN A LOT OF EVIDENCE THAT YOU BELIEVE THIS.

We came out on Monday assuming there were puzzle pieces missing and with suspicions as to what we were not being told. We left on Monday confused by your violation of your own agreed on "process" and the disrespect you showed our people by even having this item on your agenda. We are willing to work with you to resolve all matters relating to the Ferry. But we do want to feel that you consider our well-being of primary importance, and that when you make agreements with us, that you will follow them, and that you will make every effort to prove your inadequate history of communication.

[5.4.05]

Robert H. Anderson

The recent outage sent my mind spinning in a "what if" direction.

What if we thought about some alternatives to the car mess at the ferry dock, not just for outages but for daily use?

What if we got the school district, SKAT, Ferry Committee, GIPOA, and County folks together and pushed them to 'buy into" an all-purpose van for the Island?

What if we retired the orange school bus as too inconvenient to use except for the agile young and got a van, geared to the largest "run" of the school bus but accessible to as well to all ages?

What if the twice daily school runs were available to anyone going to or from the ferry dock, making the van more efficiently used?

What is we recruited a core of volunteer "jitney" drivers, trained and credentialed them and they were on call for other daily runs as needed or reserved? I assume the present school bus drivers would be the core of this pool of drivers.

What if this system provided either SKAT connections or once daily runs (and return) to stores, doctors offices, hospital and other sites folks needed to get to?

Would we not be able, quite simply, to lessen the impact on the ferry parking area and its side streets in outage times? Would it not be environmentally responsible?

What if we told the turf-warring agencies across the Channel: "This is what we want - make it happen and stop making excuses"?

[4.7.05]

Robert H. Anderson

Dear Don,

I have been trying to meet you on a Friday for a couple weeks but you have been in Olympia. I understand the need to be there often. So I am sending you some concerns by email to "open the door" to a discussion following.

I am very concerned about the County approach to the Guemes parking lot and the changes planned in general:

1. I did a count yesterday and the lot has 65 legally parked cars. We Guemians seem to know how to park efficiently without having an asphalt lot or marked places laid out for us. The county plan for "improvements" has 48 places AFTER extensive and expensive "improvements" without including the newly-acquired lots. Please explain how this "improves" the parking situation? Right now in this "outage" we have a full lot and a crazy quilt of cars everywhere.

2. The Shoreline Management Act, being pursued by our sub-area Planning Group as you know, mandates "public involvement" according to what I read. The Parking Lot is clearly within the 200 foot setback mandated. You may recall the many times I have said to you that Guemians are very reasonable if consulted but formidable enemies if they feel they are being bypassed. There was no adequate "public involvement" prior to the county plans. The plans were not even posted for us to see. I understand it was difficult for the Guemes folks to get copies. The ferry parking lot planning group which convened itself for lack of county invitation, has come up with plans that are far superior to the county plans and have community involvement and ownership. I am quite sure the county does not want to run into solid resistance on the parking lot, but the choice for citizen input is clear on Guemes. It does not appear to be the county's choice. But Island ill will is not something to be desired here, don't you agree?

3. Besides, by ignoring Guemes input, you are going to spend more money. Now unless the County has "money to burn" (which I doubt), sheer economics should dictate some pragmatism on your side of the Channel. We are great volunteers. We help build parking lots (like at the Community Hall), volunteer men and machines, and do a lot of free things for our common areas. I am sure we would help with donations, volunteer help. Why I'd donate my time as landscaper to oversee planting the lot with volunteer plant donations and labor. We probably would have donated materials and labor for a visually more appropriate waiting room instead of the "Cheap plastic Seattle-type bus shelter" you have proposed that will look totally out of place. Unless, of course, you just like to spend county money unnecessairily.

4. When we looked at the plans we noted several errors, chief of which was the absence of the existing ferry ramp. As a landscape designer, if I forgot such an important feature in a formal submitted plan, I would be instantly fired. Your architect should be. It is clear he is too unfamiliar with the site to give credence to anything he proposes. The ramp is our lifeline in emergencies on and off the Island, which the county has recently affirmed in its decision to take responsibility for its maintenance. (Past 2 years negotiations with GIPOA) But the Hearings examiner has said to us that everything was done properly and the design is not to be opened up for further input. The lack of mandated public input in the Shorelines Act and the inaccuracies in and incompleteness of the County Plan alone prove otherwise, as do other aspects of ferry planning too numerous to mention. DON; THE FERRY LOT PLANNING PROCESS NEEDS TO BE OPENED TO GUEMES INPUT which is qualitatively better and corrects the errors of the county process. Only you can butt some county heads together and see that this happens.

5. In addition, there are other elements of the whole ferry planning process that are questionable.

-I understand that the original configuration of the ferry (with cabin westerly) was the original one when the ferry was acquired. I understand it was reversed then to allow prevailing westerly swells to hit the car deck and buffer the eastside cabin. Does the county plan to REVERSE IT TO THE ORIGINAL UNTENABLE CONFIGURATION make sense?

-I have checked ferry communications over this last outage, a good test of what we need. As usual, county-initiated information is sporadic and lacking in frequency and content. Rumors abound. Thank God for the Skagit Herald which had two articles on the outage and ferry repairs that told us more than the county people have ever told us. And Linetime has requested your input without results (In passing, if you folks can't train your people in the simple art of communication, I will be glad to train them FOR FREE - I have done it for years as a pastor.)

I have noted that the sheer size of communications needed in outages or problems, always has exceeded the size of the LARGEST ELECTRONIC READER BOARD IMAGINABLE. Even with one, you will still be posting longer written messages on bulletin boards and at the store - where everyone gets the information anyway. So money spent on such an electronic reader board is an unconscionable wast of county money. (Besides, it will be ugly and not "fit" the Island.)

- County decision to pave the new lot means funneling even more car toxins towards the Sound. A gravel lot that "perks" is still preferable and a less expensive installation, and would likely require a smaller oil separator system, and looks less like the Anacortes Safeway lot. A gravel lot has worked for 50 years with minor occasional grading the only maintenance. People use it more efficiently than the proposed asphalt lot with striping.

6. I could go on, but you get my drift. There is much in the County process so far that is highly questionable and could lead to serious Island resistance. Poor communication, inaccuracy of plans, unworkability of some proposals, failure to include Islanders, possible illegalities (Shoreline Act compliance) are all in need of immediate attention.Feel free to forward this memo to Steve Cox and appropriate County Transportation officials, the architect, the hearings examiner, and any involved in this project, as I do not have their names or emails. I am writing this because I care about Guemes, my adopted retirement home, and care about smooth relations with the county, and fiscal prudence (not spending money where it is not needed). and the pragmatic aspects of the project. I am sure reasonable county people sitting down with concerned Islanders can make the whole transition happen smoothly to everyone's satisfaction, without loss of momentum or obstructionism. I am sure this what we all want. But right now, listening to Island rumblings, it is not going well.

Thanks for listening, Don. Let's talk soon.

(Rev.) Robert H. Anderson

6966 Holiday Blvd. Guemes. 360-293-3770 earthspiritcircle@earthlink.net

[4.7.05]