Five reasons to vote "no" on Kitsap passenger-ferry plan

In 2003, Kitsap Transit asked voters for approval of a measure similar to Tuesday's Proposition No. 1 to expand passenger-only ferry service between Kitsap County and Seattle. More than 61 percent of Kitsap voters said "no" then.

We are advocating a "no" vote again on Feb. 6 for five reasons, and our opposition goes beyond Kitsap Transit's ill-advised effort to remove 22 percent of the voting public from the "service district" so that they could not vote on this issue. That was not a helpful way to begin a discussion about any proposal — let alone one that will raise sales tax (by the equivalent of 3 cents on a $10 purchase) for everybody in Kitsap County.

Our five reasons for a "no" vote are:

No ridership: In the past, people have not ridden the passenger-only ferries — not when Washington State Ferries ran them and not when the private boat companies ran them. The fares are too expensive.

The Kitsap Transit Plan 2006 refers to resolving this dilemma by advocating a "business class" fare — with privileged boarding. Fully private boats can do as they wish with their business plans. Services subsidized by taxpayers, however, must serve all of us equally.

Public agencies wishing to institute a sales tax that impacts the lowest-income families among us have no business funding luxury boats. The passenger-only ferries will be funded by everybody but serve only 2 percent of the population.

Creating sprawl in rural Kitsap: Naturally, we all want a solid economy and we all want to be able to afford to live in our homes as we age.

The advocates of the plan hope for a "Bellevue effect" that will encourage faster housing growth and may result in higher property taxes in Kitsap County.

Many of us moved to Kitsap County to enjoy a quieter life. We understand that growth is part of the future. But this plan will deliver riders to parts of Kitsap County that are outside of existing urban growth areas and will encourage growth and sprawl in the rural areas of Kitsap where we have thousands of nonconforming lots. We encourage businesses to locate in Kitsap and urge our cities to put out the welcome mat.

Environmental fiasco: In 2005, the NOAA Fisheries Service listed our orca population — the southern residents — as endangered. NOAA listed some of the possible causes of decline as "reduced quantity and quality of prey; persistent pollutants that could cause immune or reproductive system dysfunction; oil spills; and noise and disturbance from vessels."

The Kitsap Transit plan at full build-out anticipates 96 daily trips. Those boats will burn 1.5 million gallons of diesel yearly and spew 33 million pounds of CO2 into our air yearly. That, in addition to new docks and the resulting degradation of our near-shore environment, puts salmon and orcas at additional risk.

We can develop environmentally sound plans for transit, but this is not that plan.

Sales tax is a regressive financing device: Sales tax is the most regressive tax created. If approved, everything we pay for — automobiles, houses, school construction, libraries — will cost more. Kitsap County residents will pay close to 9 cents of every dollar for sales tax.

Also, this tax is forever. If the plan is not implemented, Kitsap Transit continues to collect the tax in perpetuity. And the plan as presented has a "wish list" of the other major funding needed for success — none of it secured. This sales tax is barely a down payment.

All transit is not equal: There is an interesting groupthink idea in political conversations these days, to wit: Transit is good, cars are evil.

Transit plans, like all other public-policy discussions, need dissection to see whether they provide any value. An expensive plan such as passenger-only ferries that has few riders and serves less than 2 percent of the population will not get people out of their cars or reduce traffic on any highway. And why should Kitsap alone shoulder the burden for the entire Olympic Peninsula?

Our future must include transit options. It may well be that new technology, clean energy and tiny boats are part of the Olympic Peninsula's solution to transit challenges. We advocate working with our neighboring Olympic Peninsula counties to create a future plan.

Proposition 1 is not future-focused and we urge a "no" vote.

Sharon Gilpin is a 15-year Bainbridge Island resident and independent political consultant. She created the nation's first curbside recycling program in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1978. Beth Wilson is a 20-year resident of South Kitsap County, where she has been an environmental leader for 16 years. Both are members of the No on Kitsap Transit Proposition No. 1 committee.