BY BOBBY WINSTON
Twenty years ago, and I was looking for something to do between jobs. I thought I’d spend just a few months volunteering as an advocate for more ferry service. God laughs at the plans of man. . .
I fell under the spell of the hard-charging Ron Cowan, colorful Harbor Bay developer and political macher, and his vision for comprehensive regional ferry service. In remarkably short order, deploying close friends like Willie Brown and Don Perata along with indomitable charm, Cowan ginned up regional consensus for his vision. Unlike many other people’s visions, his vision is actually becoming reality in the form of today’s bustling WETA network.
Now it’s worth pausing to appreciate that in the Bay Area there is regional consensus for virtually nothing. And in those days ferries were hardly the “in” thing they are today. Folks weren’t lining up for blocks to board, nor were they fighting over parking spaces. No community was clamoring for new ferry service, as so many do today. Indeed, the fight then was to keep what service there was limping along and to ward off cancelling services.
It seemed quixotic, even foolish, to advocate for more ferries 20 years ago. For veterans of that fight, overwhelming demand for ferries is bewildering. Credit should go where it’s due: Ron Cowan, bigger than life, maddening and wonderful to deal with, is the pater familias of comprehensive regional ferry service. That’s exactly what he called his vision.
He didn’t get his due when he was alive, and that involves a very long story. But that hardly matters now, as exciting changes are afoot at WETA and his grand vision comes into view.
Anyone who cares about ferry service also very much owes a debt of thanks to Jim Wunderman and his idealistic band at the Bay Area Council. Few beyond these hard-working, selfless folks can claim to have been there every step of the very long, hard way.
The Bay Area Council provided the home for the movement, known as the Blue Ribbon Task Force, and leadership for the recent bridge-toll hike Regional Measure 3, which promises to provide funding for a major expansion of ferry service.
Ditto Marina Secchitano and the ferry workers she so stoutly represents. Marina stood with me before dawn on a January morning in drizzling rain handing out the first copies of Bay Crossings. All the maritime unions were there when it mattered most, for the grueling, unglamorous work passing essential funding measures like RM2 and RM3.
Marina also stood next to me again at the California State Capitol—we were the only ferry advocates there—and I watched her singlehandedly pull the law that funded WETA back from the dead with the clock ticking down to midnight. But that’s another story. . .
Bay Crossings started out as an idea and has become something like a movement, with friends and supporters all around the Bay. Places like Richmond, where we fought for more than a decade to debut the fantastically successful new service there. Also established success stories like Alameda, Oakland, and of course the Ferry Building in San Francisco, where we operate ferry ticketing services.
For over a decade this paper has been run by Joel Williams, who as publisher has thrown his heart and soul into the work. God bless him; we all thank him.
The Bay Crossings family is gonna throw itself a party in May on the Ferry Bocce courts in front of the Ferry Building. So much to celebrate and give thanks for. Every ferry rider—and anyone who wants to be one—is welcome to join me then and raise a glass to Ron Cowan!
