Posts — Page 241

This was sent to me this morning from a friend who does facebook. I don't have the author of this - if anyone knows who penned this then let us know so we can properly attribute and thank them for this excellent note on WSF history w/ regards to current situation. Wow. Everyone complaining about WSF: You really need to learn some Washington history before lecturing people about Washington State Ferries. And honestly, you must be new around here, because anyone who has actually lived around Puget Sound knows that ferry labor disputes, contract negotiations, strikes, and service disruptions are nothing new. But let’s talk about something that seems to be getting completely lost in this conversation: THE WORKERS. These aren’t people who decided to inconvenience you because they felt like it. These are highly trained maritime workers operating and maintaining enormous vessels in some of the busiest and most challenging waterways in the country. They work long shifts, deal with weather, mechanical problems, demanding passengers, and safety responsibilities that most people complaining about them will never have to think about. They deserve good wages. They deserve safe working conditions. They deserve reasonable schedules and time with their families. And they deserve the right to collectively bargain for those things. If that occasionally means a labor dispute affects ferry service, that’s not some shocking failure of civilization. That’s what happens when workers exercise their right to negotiate. And before somebody starts screaming about how much ferry workers are paid, remember something: if you want experienced people operating vessels carrying hundreds of passengers, you generally want to retain experienced people. You don’t get highly trained, qualified maritime professionals by constantly pushing wages and working conditions downward and then wondering why you can’t keep people. And this isn’t new. We’ve been through ferry labor disputes before, including major disruptions in the early 1980s. Anyone who’s actually familiar with Puget Sound history knows this isn’t some unprecedented event. Now let’s talk about the privatization argument. Washington State Ferries began operating on June 1, 1951, after the state purchased the assets and operations of the privately owned Puget Sound Navigation Company, better known as the Black Ball Line. Why? Because private ferry service had developed serious problems, including monopoly concerns, labor disputes, fare disputes, and threats of service interruptions. The state didn’t create a public ferry system because government officials were looking for something else to run. They stepped in because dependable ferry transportation was an essential public necessity. British Columbia followed a similar path. BC Ferries began government-operated service in 1960, after decades of private ferry operations and growing recognition that dependable coastal transportation was too important to leave entirely to private operators. The province purchased Black Ball’s remaining British Columbia operations in 1961. And yes, British Columbia changed the corporate structure again in 2003, creating the privately operated BC Ferries model that exists today under government regulation and contracts. And if you think privatization means cheaper ferry fares, perhaps you should actually look at what happened in British Columbia. In 2003, when the new private BC Ferries structure was created, a standard vehicle-and-driver fare on the major Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route was $44.75. By 2025, the standard fare was $75 for the vehicle plus $20 for the driver—a total of $95 one way. That’s an increase of more than 112% since privatization. Yes, BC Ferries now offers discounted advance-purchase and “Saver” fares on some sailings, but those are limited promotional fares—not evidence that the standard cost of the system somehow became cheaper after privatization. The current advertised Saver fares can start at $49 for a car and driver, while the standard terminal fare is substantially higher. So if your answer to every ferry problem is simply “privatize it,” you really need to explain why you think putting a profit motive into an essential transportation system will somehow eliminate the exact problems that exist today. Because British Columbia already tried your argument. And the result wasn’t some magical world where ferry service became cheap and labor disputes disappeared. Private companies still need workers. Private companies still have labor negotiations. Private companies still have unions. Private companies still have maintenance bills. Private companies still have mechanical failures. Private companies still have weather disruptions. And unlike a public agency, a private company also has an obligation to its financial interests. In fact, BC Ferries is still heavily regulated. Its 60-year contract with the provincial government specifies minimum service levels, while the independent BC Ferries Commissioner regulates average fare increases through a price-cap system. So you’re not even getting government out of the equation. You’re taking an essential public transportation system, putting it into a private corporate structure, and then having government continue to regulate it, contract with it, and support the system while passengers still have to pay the fares. That is not some magical escape from government. So when someone says, “Why should I have to pay so much or put up with disruptions because ferry workers want better wages?” My response is: Because the people operating and maintaining the transportation system you depend on are human beings, not an inconvenience-management service. They have families. They have mortgages. They have bills. They have the right to expect their employer to negotiate fairly with them. And they have the right to say no when they believe the wages, staffing levels, schedules, or working conditions aren’t acceptable. You don’t get to demand that somebody else’s family absorb the cost of keeping your commute cheap and convenient. That’s not how this works. And if you don’t like the reality that living in Puget Sound means occasionally dealing with labor negotiations, weather, mechanical problems, or other disruptions to a ferry system, then maybe Puget Sound isn’t the place for you. That’s not being cruel. That’s geography. We live surrounded by water. Ferries are essential infrastructure. And the people who make that infrastructure function deserve to be treated as essential workers. So before you start demanding privatization because you’re angry about a disruption, maybe take five minutes to learn the history of the system you’re talking about. And maybe, just maybe, show a little respect for the people who actually keep the boats running. The ferry workers aren’t the problem because they expect to be paid fairly. They’re the people doing the work that allows the rest of us to cross the water in the first place. Learn the history. Respect the workers. Then maybe you’ll stop sounding like an ignorant fool.

Public Service Announcement: Saw Sound Transit parking enforcement going around ticketing people parked illegally in the Lynnwood Transit Center HoV Permit Area. A ton of people driving solo were parking there. It's not worth getting ticketed over. Maybe they'll start towing cars too. There's a paid parking lot across the street that's $3 for the day. Just go park there instead of driving through all 4 floors wasting time finding non-existent parking, or parking illegally in the HoV Permit Area.

Hi, I am in need of a dentist and was hoping to wait until I got regular insurance but I have a toothache now and need to be seen so I have to go somewhere that accepts Medicaid. I wonder if any of these are recommendable or should be avoided? I think I might need a root canal because it’s a tooth with a crown that hasn’t had one. Hudec dental Comfort dental Lakewood dental group In surrounding areas: Dr Z dental Hylan dental Metrohealth on center ridge UH on Clague Or will travel a bit for someone exceptionally good, to North Olmsted, Ridgeville, Avon, Parma … 🙏🏽

I’m new to the area. Will my Subaru be delivered to my address, or do I need to go pick it up from somewhere? Do I get to pick the color, or do you all do that for me?

I want to have a pumpkin carving party for my staff and wanted to know where I could get ~30 pumpkins a little cheaper than the typical stores. Do nurseries generally have them? Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone! My boyfriend and I are looking to move to Renton and would love to hear people’s experiences with apartments in the area. He works in Renton, and we also have a puppy, so a safe area with some good outdoor space for walks is a plus. These are the places we’re currently looking at: - Avaya Trails - Benson Downs - Castle Creek - Windsor - The Preserve at Cedar We also checked out Griffiths at Lake Washington, but didn’t love the layout and having to go through multiple entrances/elevators to get to the apartment. Reviews online are mixed, would love to hear any pros/cons or experiences with these places, and we’re definitely open to other recommendations in the area!

Craving a chicken/lamb platter w/ white sauce (no homo) and hot sauce like you get from halal carts and halal guys in NYC. Are there any in the seattle/tacoma area?

This is my extremely low-stakes Seattle housing complaint. I toured a few newer apartment buildings recently and the amenity lists were ridiculous. Rooftop lounge. Podcast room. Pet spa. Golf simulator. "Co-working library." One had a room whose purpose I still don't entirely understand but it contained a shuffleboard table and fake moss on the wall. Then you come home in November soaked from the knees down and apparently the official plan is: bring all of that directly into your 600-square-foot apartment. Why isn't some version of a mudroom/drying room a normal apartment amenity here? Not even anything fancy. Give me a ventilated room near the entrance with hooks, a bench, a boot tray and maybe a rack where people can leave umbrellas for an hour. Bike rooms already exist in half these buildings, so clearly we've accepted the concept of giving wet objects their own space. My current building has carpet immediately inside the main entrance. Every rainy day it becomes this dark damp strip that everyone tracks farther down the hall. Then each unit has one tiny coat closet, so wet jackets get hung over chairs and umbrellas live open in bathtubs like strange houseplants. I've lived in places with much worse weather where entrances were actually designed around the fact that humans occasionally arrive wet. Seattle seems to acknowledge rain culturally while our apartments remain shocked every time it happens. Am I missing buildings that actually do this? Because I would trade about 80% of the "luxury amenities" I've seen for one aggressively boring room designed to deal with wet shoes.

Since making an entire floor of parking permit only, which sits mostly empty until 10am (which is AFTER peak rush hour), it’s nearly impossible to get a parking spot coming out from north after 7:30am. But thank you Sound Transit for Pinehurst station 🙃 Everett link has been pushed to 2098 and I’m just here to complain.

Hi all. Yesterday I made this map of the gorge. It was fun to make, I hope it's fun to look at too. Unfortunately I can only post this one image of it, but if you want to see closeups and alternative styling, you can check my profile where I posted more images.