Few things irk people more than being ignored by government, and having their properties threatened with eminent domain.

It seems Langley did a little of both this week.

In his report to the planning advisory board on Wednesday, city planning Chief Michael Davolio recommended a funicular and a waterfront walkway as the long-term solutions for improving access to the marina, despite the fact that neither one was ranked the public’s preferred option at April’s charrette. That honor went to electric golf carts, which garnered nearly twice as many first-place votes as a funicular (45-23) and more than three times as many votes as a walkway (45-13), according to Davolio’s count.

Even by the city’s weighted tally (a point system that assigned or took points for first, second and last place preferences) a funicular and walkway ranked third and fourth of seven total options behind golf carts and a trolley.

The latter aren’t off the board, per se, but at present it appears the top choices of Mayor Fred McCarthy and his administration outweigh those of Langley residents, and the city needs to do a better job explaining why that’s the case.

In his written report, Davolio acknowledged golf carts were the clear favorite. They come with some headaches, such as difficulty in finding leasable vehicles and the ongoing finances to operate them, but none are insurmountable and they remain a viable long-term option, he wrote. The city’s proposal, however, is to build a controversial, albeit miniaturized version of a funicular that would link Boy and Dog and Seawall parks, and then establish a waterfront walkway that would snake along Sunrise Lane to the marina. The problem there is property owners aren’t interested in a walkway, and even if they were they claim they can’t give up one inch of land for public use due to deed restrictions. But apparently, if they refuse to sell the city could always consider taking what they need through eminent domain.

So here’s the hurdles summed up: trying to find leasable golf carts and the finances to operate them over the long-term, or constructing what has amounted to an unpopular and divisive funicular on a bluff, and taking private property from people who won’t or can’t sell. Perhaps we’re being overly pessimistic, but we’re scratching our heads over how that makes sense when the problems of the former seem to be far less than those of the latter.

The one great benefit of a walkway is that it would solve the access issue created by a bluff slide on Wharf Street. But, that does nothing to address the riddle of how to help boaters who park uptown get their stuff to the marina or boat launch, one of the cited project priorities. And a funicular at Boy and Dog Park, a long way from the marina, seems almost silly if one of the objectives is to assist the mobility impaired get to the docks — another cited need. Does the price tag merit the goal? We’re not convinced.

This is a complicated project and each solution presents unique problems and varied public support. We recognize that, but the city’s long-term recommendations seem overly difficult and expensive, especially when the public made its preference for a less permanent option electrically clear.