“As legislators from the 40th district representing San Juan County, we were deeply dismayed to hear of the damage to the Chelan Ferry which currently serves the interisland route for the San Juans. We are thankful that no one was hurt in the accident, and we are always grateful to the crew and team at Washington State Ferries for their dedication to maintaining safety as the highest priority. Over the weekend we heard about serious disruptions to the County Fair and even about children being stranded late at night. This accident comes at a time when service to the San Juan community has already been inconsistent and unreliable.”
“These disruptions are far beyond inconvenient, and interfere with the ability of our community members to get medical attention, our businesses to get supplies and anticipate customers, and students to get to school and home again. In the short term, we will advocate to get interisland service restored immediately which will likely mean service reduction elsewhere in the WSF system while the Chelan is being repaired. In the longer term, we remain fully committed to steadily rebuilding a reliable ferry service for our community with investments in staffing and new vessels. The stability of our island community is at stake.“
