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Around The Point

The Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) is looking at shutting down its community van programs, and either selling or giving the vans to the volunteer groups that run the programs in Point Roberts, Lummi Island and Lake Whatcom.

On October 16 at the Gulf Road community center the WTA board of commissioners will hold a public hearing on eliminating the community van program, and instead “either gifting the vans or offering them for a fee to the non-profits that operate them,” said WTA Ride-Share coordinator Kim Cedarstrom.

Instead of paying to operate the community van, Cedarstrom said, WTA proposes increasing the frequency of the every-other-week SafetyNet service to Bellingham – a wheelchair accessible service driven by WTA drivers – to a weekly trip.

The WTA provided the van for the community and provides insurance, maintenance, fuel and training for volunteer drivers. The Blue Heron Express volunteers take reservations, develop a van schedule and drive the van: morning trips to the pool in Tsawwassen, trips to Blaine to pick up kids participating in after-school activities, shopping trips to Bellingham.

When commissioners voted to explore cutting the van program, Cedarstrom said, they were looking at a number of factors. “There’s an issue of standards for ridership and use never having been met,” for Point Roberts, she said. “Point Roberts ridership is not going down, but it’s certainly not increasing. It sort of stagnates.”

The Point Roberts van had the highest per rider operating cost of all the community vans: $10.47 per rider per trip in 2006, which so far in 2007 rose to $13. The next highest operating costs were for the Lummi Island van – $7.69 in 2006, dropping to $5.08 to-date in 2007.

There is also the issue of equity for users of other services who pay a fare to ride the bus. “This is a totally fare-free service, the only fare-free in the WTA,” she said. Fares cover nine percent of WTA revenues, with sales tax the primary source of funding for Whatcom County public transit, according to the WTA website.

Suzanne Crawford, one of the volunteer coordinators for the Blue Heron Express, said the WTA move had caught them off guard. “I didn’t even know the meeting was happening,” she said of the September 20 meeting at which commissioners decided to hold public hearings on eliminating the van program,” she said. “I’m surprised.”
Crawford acknowledged the WTA concerns about costs, but had hoped a solution like a fare card for users of the community van could keep it running. “Parents would definitely fork out a few bucks to have the service,” she said, adding that the seven passenger van, the largest they can operate to transport students without meeting school bus standards, is always full for after-school trips.

Karin Pruessis, a local parent whose child uses the community van, “I do not fully understand how it works and how such a vital service can be eliminated,” she wrote to Cedarstrom. “I know that it is utilized for much more than just the Blaine school pickup. We have no other public transportation in Point Roberts and very few other government services. Are our taxes not paying for the van?”

Cedarstrom said the operating cost for the van was $21,000 annually.
Chamber of commerce president Pam Oakley said the chamber, which currently serves as the umbrella organization for the Blue Heron Express, would not be in a position to fund the van, even if it were given to the community. “We could never afford the operating expenses of the bus,” she said. “We don’t want it and it really isn’t our job. Why is it when something gets cut Point Roberts always seems to make the top of the list?”

The public hearing on the proposal to eliminate the van service is at 6 p.m. October 16 at the Gulf Road community center.
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Jason Howard has pleaded not guilty to felony vehicular assault charges in Whatcom County Superior court and requested a jury trial.
Following an August 31 initial arraignment on the charges at which a tentative trial date was set for November 19, attorney Douglas Hyldahl entered the plea on Howard’s behalf September 20.

Howard, a 27-year-old Point Roberts resident, was arrested on August 23 after the red BMW he was driving struck a pedestrian on Goodman Road in Point Roberts, sending the victim “flying through the air,” and inflicting considerable injury, according to documents filed with the court by the county prosecutor’s office. The trooper who arrested Howard stated he had slurred speech and smelled of intoxicants and a blood draw was performed at the scene. If Howard is found guilty of a class B felony he can spend up to ten years in jail, and pay a fine up to $25,000.

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A tentative date for the county hearing examiner to review a proposal for a cellular telephone tower on land leased from the local parks district has been set.

The hearing examiner’s office confirmed that an application for a conditional use permit for the 150-foot tall tower was received by county planning and development services in May, and a hearing in the county courthouse is currently scheduled for November 13, 2007. A staff recommendation on the project has not yet been submitted to the hearing examiner, and with staffing shortages at the county planning department the hearing date may be delayed, said Carole Magner with the hearing examiner’s office.

Andy King with The Meridian Group, representing the applicant Verizon Wireless, said there is no timeline yet to build the facility if it is approved.