A public meeting was held Thursday night at the Alki Community Center to unveil the new interim Elliott Bay Water Taxi dock at Seacrest Park. County Councilmember Dow Constantine said the current dock is "shot," and needs to be replaced. The new, $2 million, 110-foot floating dock will be anchored slightly closer to the shore from the existing dock, and will lead to a new 75-foot by 15-foot floating dock. Some of the construction will be built off-site to accelerate the transition, the project to be finished by December.

The next step will be to build a new permanent dock, possibly in Jack Block Park at Pier 1 and 2, a plan that has been considered for over a year. The interim dock would remain for recreational use.

Constantine said he hopes the permanent facility would be built in three years but admitted that with this troubled economy, delays may occur. Also the project will involve city, county, state, and federal and tribal agencies, a complex ordeal he said.

"I've been trying to facilitate a permanent high capacity water taxi facility at Pier 1 and 2," said West Seattle architect and community leader, Vlad Oustimovitch. "About a year and a half ago I got the idea that this might be a good idea and organized an ad hoc committee. Seacrest is in middle of a public park and trail system with inherent problems, multiple uses, not enough parking, and ridership will become significant."

Oustimovitch sees ridership increasing as commuter traffic worsens between West Seattle and downtown.

"West Seattle commuters have the handicap of the bottleneck of the West Seattle bridges. It's the only way around, and will get worse with viaduct construction," he said.

"Alternate transportation options are huge here," said Greg Whittaker, who owns Alki Kayak Tours and utilizes Seacrest Park for his boat facility and launch area. "The Water Taxi is a crucial conduit leading directly to downtown and back that brings tourism here for economic benefit. And now it will on a year-round basis.

Added Whittaker, "We need to make a more sustainable Seattle and the new docks will help make that happen."