“Illahee-to-Bainbridge bridge update: about eight people still seem to think it’s a good idea.We can relay this, having reviewed several accounts of a recent Saturday morning presentation in Poulsbo by the citizen group variously known as West Sound Connections and LINKS. The group was trying to drum up support amongst North Kitsap residents for a new span connecting the peninsula with our own Crystal Springs neighborhood, with construction of a cross-island thoroughfare to a passenger-only ferry terminal at Blakely Harbor.Estimated price tag for the mythical span was put at $370 million. Various physical obstacles – historic homes on the north side of the harbor, luxury homes going in on the south, nice new park in the middle, high-priced attorneys scattered throughout – apparently leave the group undaunted. We were approached about attending the meeting ourselves, but confess to having slept in that day – or perhaps we had to water our flower garden or something equally monumental. A colleague from our North Kitsap office did go, as did a local columnist. To an illusory crowd, backers touted the usual array of bridge perks that we’ve reported in the past – quicker connections for Bremerton and Central Kitsap residents trying to reach Seattle; job development around Kitsap County; a quicker trip to the mall for islanders. Fact is, we saw little point in mentioning that the group is still extant, until talk turned to having a county-wide advisory ballot on the bridge this fall. So we called Seattle businessman and Poulsbo resident Ralls Clotfelter, who serves as the point man for the group. While he confessed that he probably won’t see such a bridge in his lifetime, Clotfelter maintains that the county is losing out on economic growth, and that moreover, it’s absolutely stupid not to have an alternate route off the island. Hence the proposal for an advisory ballot, which would flush out opinions here and around the county.Hm. We found ourselves reminded of the current brouhaha amongst Seattle City Council members, who have been debating whether to keep a citizen initiative to extend the downtown monorail – approved by voters with no funding source – on life support.We can see a similar scenario brewing for the wildly expensive bridge proposal. Backers gather enough signatures to get something on the ballot directing local officials to put the Illahee-to-Bainbridge span in motion. Then they find A) no money, and B) no political will, the idea mires, and backers criticize local officials for ignoring a popular mandate.Or perhaps we’re just being overly suspicious.The only thing we want to know is, who on Bainbridge wants it and who doesn’t, Clotfelter told us this week. If the majority of the people don’t want it, we’ll bow out. Well, hold a ballot if you must. But we don’t see any interest. We don’t see any political will. And we certainly don’t see any money.For an equally practical idea, we might as well direct local officials to build a rocketship to the moon. Just imagine all the free cheese.”