Kingston’s fast ferry pros and cons.

Pros: cost and convenience, bringing in new families, and downtown vitality.

Cons: downtown will change, unproven reliability, and commuters will mostly benefit.

While I love Kingston, downtowns either prosper or decline. In the 1990s, the prospect of a passenger ferry and new residents attracted downtown investment. With the recession, we’re back to empty store fronts and an aging community.

At last month’s Kingston Citizens Advisory Council meeting, a recent resident commented that with all the new tech headquarters, Seattle’s becoming the next San Francisco. Homes on the other side within a one-hour commute cost $700K. With a 30-minute ferry ride, our Village Green, school campuses, and natural environment, North Kitsap is an affordable community that these young professionals can call home. Besides supporting our schools, fire, police, parks, roads, etc., these families will also be supporting the local businesses we need.

For walk-on commuters, a Kingston foot-ferry will be more reliable than the Sounder but less reliable than the Bainbridge ferry. Using a back-up boat in the event of a breakdown should keep the delay to about 10 minutes. For non-commuters, like me, a 30-cent tax on $100 is insignificant compared to the cost of taking a car across, while the current walk-on connections takes me three times as long as a fast ferry would.

The bottom line goes back to being connected to Seattle. In New York and San Francisco, foot ferries have revitalized all the towns they’ve touched, and we need that here.

Walt Elliott

Kingston