Let’s say the whole area of Capitol Hill or Alki Beach was told they had to have reservations in order to return to their neighborhood after going on an outing to downtown Seattle. That would not be right. Nobody would accept that burden.

Lopez is my home and has been for 35 years. As a tax-paying resident of this county, I resent being told I must have a reservation to return to my home. It might make sense to ask tourists, visitors and secondary home owners to call in reservations. They often know when their vacation time is, well in advance.

My husband’s and my needs to leave Lopez are not often planned. Occasions arise and we run off. We are not, nor do we care to be, cell phone owners. The reservation system is designed for use by people with cell phones. Sure, you can laugh and call us Luddites, but that is simply a technology we choose to live without.

In his presumably well researched “letter to the editor” (1/20/15), Herb Schiessl, points out that an appalling 200 million-plus dollars will be spent to bring us these unjust and unneeded changes. If this reservation system is here to stay (no matter how ridiculously expensive to implement), there should at least be preferential loading for island residents – not just a few spaces left for the lucky.

Living on an island admittedly comes with the reality of using the Washington State Ferry Service, but just as residents in other communities pay for road and highway maintenance and bridge work and coastline erosion upkeep etc., they may still come and go from their homes without reservations. I do not mind paying whatever fare the ferry system deems necessary (although I can’t imagine what they’ll have to bump ticket prices up to, in order to pay for the $200,000,000 changes!) but I really must get home without calling in first.

Irene Skyriver and Gregg Blomberg

Lopez Island