PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce is offering $100,000 to jump-start a passenger ferry service to Seattle, while the mayor says that the city could buy its own boat.
Tim Caldwell, general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, and Michelle Sandoval, Port Townsend’s mayor, said they will continue to fight for more ferry service to both the Olympic and Quimper peninsulas, in light of reduced ferry service between Port Townsend and Keystone and state plans to close the Hood Canal Bridge for six weeks in 2009.
“With the ferry and the bridge issues, the plans we are presenting are not just visionary but practical solutions,” Caldwell said.
“They must be implemented immediately.”
Caldwell said the chamber is willing to put up $100,000 for passenger ferry service between Port Townsend and Seattle.
He has presented city officials with a draft operational plan suggesting that such a ferry would be feasible.
