When the forthcoming new trio of Staten Island Ferryboats was announced about a year ago, they were described as being "Kennedy class," a description whose significance was more symbolic than factual. According to the conceptual drawings, they do indeed bear a passing resemblance to the Kennedy fleet - perhaps as much as the Merrill fleet did before it. But everyone who knows the Staten Island Ferry knows both the Kennedy class and its successor, the Barberi class, too. And when it comes to thinking about the next 35 years of crossings (the typical lifetime of a ferryboat), most regulars would probably prefer every reassurance that the newest boats would be more like the oldest (John F. Kennedy, American Legion, and Gov. Herbert H. Lehman).