The end of a sorry ferry tale

Here is an obituary, written in advance of an almost certain death. Every quote is an actual quote from the living:

The King County foot ferries have died, after a period of prolonged political fantasy.

The $220 million project to revive the old Mosquito Fleet passenger ferries on Lake Washington and Puget Sound was not yet 2 years old.

But the youngster collapsed last week, after some of its closest friends concluded it was eating too much tax money — and sucking up too much oxygen in an election year."I think it dawned on folks that there's no way the foot ferries will ever pencil out as a worthwhile investment," said King County Executive Kurt Triplett, who sent out a "do-not-resuscitate" request for the ferries on Thursday.

In lieu of mourning, family members busied themselves jumping ship. An argument broke out over why the deceased had been born at all.

The foot-ferry project was talked about for decades, but born in earnest on Nov. 13, 2007, when the Metropolitan King County Council passed a property tax to pay for it. Some say the ferries' father, County Councilmember Dow Constantine, log-rolled that vote — that is, threatened to withhold money for flood-control projects if the ferries failed.

"Many of us felt all along that the ferry plan was ridiculous," recalled Kathy Lambert, a County Council member. "But Dow came in and said: 'If you don't vote for the ferries, then you won't get money for flood-control levees.' I didn't want to see people killed out in my district. So I voted for the ferries."

That the ferries were unwanted from birth was disputed by Constantine. He says that other council members lobbied hard for more ferries to serve their districts.

"We had broad support, eight votes out of nine," he said. "We never threatened anyone. You can't come back now and revise history, to say you voted yes, but sorry, all along you had your fingers crossed."

Says the lone council member to vote no two years ago, Reagan Dunn: "It was hardball politics and vote-trading. In a political sense, you gotta hand it to them — it was brilliant. They sailed this incredibly wasteful program right through."

The deceased include five new passenger-only ferry routes that, in fact, would have touched most every council district: from Kirkland and Kenmore to the UW, Shilshole to downtown, Des Moines to downtown and Renton to Leschi.

Still living, but on life support, are two existing foot ferries, serving Vashon Island and West Seattle.

Some say the project was rushed to the hospital in critical condition 10 days ago, after The Seattle Times printed that operating proposed new routes could cost taxpayers as much as $300 per rider.

The end wasn't kind. By Friday, a benevolent word of remembrance could scarcely be found.

"Three hundred bucks is a flight to L.A.," Dunn observed.

Others pinned the death on the economy. With declining revenue it became clear that other things — buses, flood levees, practically anything you can think of — are more important.

Triplett says the foot ferries were the child of a more exuberant time.

"It was the height of the housing bubble," he said. "Now we're getting back to a very sobering reality."

Condolences go out to anyone who thought this was a good idea in the first place. This includes Seattle's Discovery Institute. The "think tank," known for such dubiousness as intelligent design, pushed the Mosquito Fleet revival in op-eds and conferences.

Special sympathy is extended to Constantine and Councilmember Larry Phillips, who were there for the birth and the death and the upbringing in-between — all inconveniently occurring at the same time they want voters to hire them to run the entire county.

The project is survived by taxpayers, who have paid more than $30 million so far.

No memorial service is planned. More recriminations, though, are all but guaranteed.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.