So now what do we do about it?

The Stranger and The Sierra Club promised that if you voted against Roads and Rails / Proposition 1, you would only be voting against expanding roads. They promised that the political class could look beyond the failure of R&R and see that a new coalition existed - a coalition which wanted to see a light rail only solution. They promised that a vote against Prop 1 was only the first step in a great expansion of light rail for the region. They promised the best of both worlds.

So, Proposition 1 / Roads & Rails failed. And then there was silence. The Stranger & The Sierra Club got all the greens, all the transit supporters and all the progressives in the city up in a frenzy, they voted against Prop 1, and then everyone went to sleep, quietly awaiting what the good liberal folks of The Stranger & The Sierra Club promised. Light rail was coming, it was only a matter of time.

Well, what lesson did the political class actually learn? No more light rail.. more buses! That's what...

Crosscut Seattle : Beyond Prop 1: A new consensus is emerging

A group headed by Norm Rice and John Stanton is gathering allies for a more rational and practical approach to the region's transit needs... a new consensus is emerging about a post-Prop 1 agenda.

It centers on moving aside turf-oriented, self-serving agencies such as Sound Transit and transferring power to a more objective, more responsive regional body... It would not stop light rail construction in place, but it would limit construction to a line running from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to either Convention Place, Husky Stadium, or Northgate.

Future funding would be focused more greatly on express bus, bus rapid transit, and normal bus service; dedicated transit lanes; HOV lanes; tolling; and selective repair and expansion of long neglected local roads and lifeline highways. Citywide trolleys definitely would not be part of the scheme.

No roads! No rails! Buses for all!

You can read about whether or not Ted Van Dyk (anti-rail author of the Crosscut article) is tilting the facts in articles at both The Slog and Northwest Progressive as well as arguements that what Stanton & Rice want to do is already blocked by some in the Legislature. But what isn't addressed is the fact that CW is now tilted against light rail, and The Sierra Club and (less importantly) The Stranger don't seem to feel they had anything to do with it.

The block of interest groups which killed 50 miles of light rail promised that they could get it back, and now the elder key-holders of Washington State seem poised to bring you buses instead.

I hate you, Sierra Club & The Stranger.

The fall out from the RTID blow-out is in full force. The biggest issue is that the political class just doesn't know how to read the tea leaves after such an huge "no" response from the public. Goldy summed it up best yesterday saying RTID's defeat provides the pols:

"No inkling as to whether voters said “no” because they don’t like roads, don’t like light rail, didn’t like these particular road projects or the routing for light rail, didn’t like the price tag, didn’t like the regressive tax, or didn’t like the legislature tying the fate of two separate measures together. Or any combination of the above."

You can definitely argue that the combo of roads & transit into one package created this confusion, but into this vacuum steps some dangerous thinking if you're a believer in mass transit. Waking up on the east coast earlier yesterday to read the news, I was greeted rudely by the results (ugh) and a nice column from the Seattle Times Danny Westneat. I blogged about his call yesterday which should scare the living daylights out of all the pro-transit anti-RTID folks as Westneat proclaimed, Clinton style, that the era of big projects is over.

The Times continues its verbal diarrea this morning over the possible answers that RTIDs slaughter provides the pols, including some gems from Eyman.

So, this is where the public can step in and provide some leadership. Now is the time to tell the political class the message they should receive from RTIDs failure - light rail now, no money for expanding roads.

They're soft, they don't know what to think and they need direction. If mass transit supporters don't step up to the plate and tell politicians what to think, the Eyman's of the world will.

Call and Email your State Legislature Representative. Write a letter to the editor. Email Sound Transit. Talk to your friends. Call the Sierra Club and tell them they need to step up to the plate now in the aftermath of urging a no vote on RTID.

The onus is on all of us, but especially those of you that were anti-RTID and pro-Transit. The time is now. We must act! Tell the political class what to think before someone else does. Personal contact, phone calls, and emails make all the difference!

Well, well. It's been a long time, hasn't it? For those of you that don't know (and any of you that are actually reading), I am currently living in New York City as my wife attends graduate school.

There are many benefits to this large metropolis. One being an amazing transit system which was built over 100 years ago. It's the major reason why New York is livable and Los Angeles is a crap-hole. More about Roads & Rails in the next few weeks, but let's just say if we want a livable city, and not another LA, light rail is the answer. But more on that later. And I promise to keep updating this regularly now.

The Seattle Times (you know that wonderful liberal rag which endorsed Bush in 2000, continually calls for the elimination of the estate tax for the benefit of the family which publishes the Times, and generally has an idiotic editorial board stuck in the Seattle of 1981) endorsed a "No" vote of Proposition 1 (AKA Rail & Roads) today.

Goldy at Horsesass.org has an excellent post on this subject today but he also fails to point out perhaps the single largest fallacy in the Times argument:

The Seattle Times: Reject Proposition 1 - Oct 15,2007
Seattle may deny this, but the surest way to reduce congestion on roads is to build more lanes. So says a report issued by State Auditor Brian Sonntag last week, and so says human experience. New roads help.

Good job, hack-editorial board. The problem is, that argument has proven to be false time and time again by agencies more knowledgeable than Brian Sonntag.

In Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream the authors point out a famous UC Berkeley study, covering thirty California counties between 1973 and 1990 and found that, for every 10 percent increase in roadway capacity, traffic increased 9 percent within four years' time. Roads don't solve anything.

But the Times doesn't have to actually read any books on this subject to get a clue on why adding roads doesn't work. A simple Google search and a click on the Traffic Congestion article on Wikipedia will easily give you the best line that even the Times editorial board could understand:

Adding road capacity has been compared to "fighting obesity by letting out your belt"

I guess to the lumbering, stuck-in-the-past Times editorial board, that sounds like a delicious idea.

Once again, it's Happy Hour where you - the loyal readers, bloggers and lurkers pipe up.

Today's topic - increased sales tax, bus transit, Ron Sims and Transit Now

Erza already started the bus discussion last week and Ron Sims brings it to the front page of today's Seattle Times:

King County Executive Ron Sims is proposing a sales-tax increase for the November ballot in hopes of buying so many buses that riders won't even need a schedule.

The plan, nicknamed "Transit Now," promises Metro Transit runs between downtown Seattle and West Seattle, Ballard and Aurora Avenue North every 10 minutes, with equally frequent trips from Bellevue to Redmond and along Pacific Highway South.

Sims' office calls it the largest expansion of service in two decades.

So, what do you think? Should the funding come from a sales tax increase? What about a gas tax increase? Should we spend more money on buses or should we look more to light rail? Should we increase the funding even more than Sims wants?

What do you think? The bar is open.

Every good tried and true Seattle liberal has just the right amount of rage about global warming. It's a nice scab to pick at, a nice soapbox to stand on against Bush Inc. and the conservative movement which is failing America in countless ways.

We're outraged. We're outraged with claims that the jury's still out on global warming while the artic melts before our eyes. We're outraged that NASA's climate researchers have been censored by the Bush administration. And it's that wonderful righteous outrage.

After all, we've got a Democratic Governor and State Legislature. We're the only state with two female Democratic Senators. Old Bagdad Jim has our back and Sir Gregory of Kyoto waves his green flag proudly. Plus, we've got curbside recycling. Take that, Idaho!

Our country might be running Earth into the ground, but at least our state has got its act together, right?

Hopefully, the front page of today's PI will wake some of us up from our righteous rage. Our blue tinted backyard is a toxic stew and everyone is to blame.

Puget Sound is in terrible condition. Gov. Christine Gregoire announced today that she wants to spend $42 million towards clean up and appointed a panel of political, business, and environmental leaders to come up with a plan for full restoration of the Sound by 2020.

The panel includes William Ruckelshaus, former head of the EPA who noted, "It will take a miracle." What a ray of hopeful sunshine!

But, realistically, full clean up will take a miracle (better stop that War on Christmas, people!) if a proposal doesn't include a look at population trends, as the Times indicated in today's article:

Perhaps the biggest challenge to the health of the Sound will be the region's population, which is expected to swell by 1.5 million people by 2020. That could mean more cars leaving toxic chemicals, and more land cleared for homes, which can mean dirtier water flowing to the Sound.

Their ain't no "could mean" about it.... 1.5 million more people means a shit load of new cars on the road. A campaign to save the Sound - to save our regions environmental heritage - must include a campaign to expand our rapid transit systems.

Yet another reason why Western Washington needs to have one transit authority which can create a region wide mass transit plan of attack against all of the problems - environmental, economic and beyond - that our current weak transit infrastructure currently creates.

Sound Transit? Something new? I don't know, but time is running out. I don't want to regale my kids with stories of long extinct Orcas and summers when swimming in the sound was just cold, not poisonous.

With I-912 thankfully buried, Washington can now go on to strengthen our infrastructure and solving some of our terrible traffic problems.

One of the biggest problems the state faces is replacing 'ye ole Viaduct. The Alaskan Way bastard child. That ugly scar across our city landscape. My daily commute with impending doom... that is, if the big one hits between 9-10am or 5-6pm Monday-Friday. (Note to the Big One. I'll be taking next Thursday off).

Mayor Nickels has let everyone know what he favors - building a tunnel. And, to be honest, that sort of long-term 100 year vision for our waterfront and our city is probably the biggest reason I voted for Nickels.

The gas tax will fund nearly 2/3rds (or $2 billion dollars) of the cost of building a tunnel. Now, $1 billion dollars isn't easy to come up with. However, if you've been reading the papers or listening to KUOW like I have, you'd probably think all of that money was going to have to be raised by the residents of Seattle.

You can imagine my surprise today when I read this side bar in the Seattle Times:

Yo. The Port of Seattle? Really big deal. $3.5 kajilliabillion* flow in and out of the Port every day. If Seattle is the economic engine of Washington State, the Port is, like, the fuel pump. Or is it the camshaft? Anyway, it's an enormous money machine, AND you get taxed to pay for it. The least we can do is vote on the people who run it.

Port Commission: How BetterDonkey is voting

Position 1: Lawrence Malloy-- Ahoy Malloy! Labor loves him, environmentalists love him, and he wants the Port to be accountable and transparent so that we can all once and for all figure out what the heck they do over there. His opponent tries to fool you into thinking he's "progressive," but he's not.

Position 4: Jack Jolley-- Jack's opponent has been on the Commission for 20 YEARS. Enough already! Jack, on the other hand, is about reform, change, new ways of thinking, and environmental responsibility.

Belly up! Hosted bar-- no holds barred.

*estimate

Mayor Nickels withdraws his support for the monorail

Fifth vote on the monorail will happen this November

The Seattle Times reports:

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels withdrew his support for the financially troubled monorail yesterday, refusing street-use permits and calling for a fifth public vote on the project in November.

The ballot measure would ask voters whether they want to kill plans, three years in the making, for a 14-mile line to connect Ballard, Seattle Center, downtown and West Seattle.

"This is perhaps the most disappointing day for me since I became mayor nearly four years ago," Nickels said at a news conference. "... Put simply, the monorail does not have enough money to pay for the project."

The mayor's turnabout marks the biggest setback yet for a project that began as a grass-roots movement for a functional transit system that rises above traffic. By this summer, though, the public rebelled against a finance plan that would have required at least 50 years of taxes totaling $11.4 billion to pay for a $2.1 billion line.

Is this the end of the monorail? How do you feel about it? Which way will you vote? Why?

This November's off-cycle election is turning out to be the most important election in the last 20 years for residents of Seattle. The monorail and the gas-tax will effect your everyday life much more than George W. Bush ever could.

I've been pretty honest about my slipping support for the Monorail. This once proudly "Let's Monorail"-sticker-displaying supporter has thrown his lot in with the "Yeah, it was nice before I saw what the thing would look like, how much it would cost and how many people will ride it" crowd.

But, all you mono-heads should go over to 2045Seattle.org, a pro-monorail group who state:

2045 Seattle is a group of concerned Seattle residents who have two things in common:

1. We are committed to healthy rapid transit in Seattle by building the Monorail.

2. We are young enough that in 2045 we will bear most of the cost of projects begun today and will have to answer to the next generation of Seattle citizens.

Young people who want to get involved in local politics... it reminds me of something... I can't quite put my fingers on it.

Anyways, I might now be throwing my lot in with the opposition, but anytime younger people want to get involved and take control of local politics, I can get behind that... no matter what the cause.

Once again, it's Happy Hour where you the loyal readers, bloggers and lurkers pipe up. This edition... The Monorail.

In a stunning move today, Mayor Nickels announced a September 15th deadline for the Seattle Monorail Project to make a decision about financing the line- or the city would do it for them.

So, what's your feelings about the SMP now? Take the poll below, then discuss in this thread!

Personally, after learning what the monorail would look like, how much it would cost, and the limited number of people it would get off the road, this former hardcore monorail supporter is now jumping off the line.

I've found a new love in the south end- Sound Transit Light Rail. It's cheaper, it's already being built (and showing progress) and it can be (and will be) elevated for a lot cheaper than the Monorail could ever be built.

Backers of the Statewide Road Safety and Repair Program who fear the idiotic I-912 have the monorail marked with a bulls eye.

Keep the dream alive? Jump ship? What's your call?

It seems the supporters of I-912, the initiative to repeal Washington State's Road Safety and Repair program, have no logical argument to support their side.

Chris Vance, the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party is against it. Even the number three ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, Don Young from Alaska, agrees.

From The Seattle Times: Even more pointed was the statement from transportation chairman Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who told Seattle Times Washington, D.C., reporter Alicia Mundy, "Anyone who thinks of repealing the gas tax is not thinking."

Young said in The Times of July 1: "Your problem won't go away just by wishing it away. It's going (to) cost and you're going to have to pay for it"

I-912 supporters, do you have anyone except for Hate-Speech spewing Right Wing radio on your side?

The Asshat in the gorilla suit? Sorry, Tim Eyman does not count.

Or, "Come On Feel the Noise" (residents of Georgetown, Magnolia, Beacon Hill, West Seattle, Queen Anne, Ballard, Fremont, Tukwila and Skyway)

In mid June, Southwest Airlines announced that it was thinking about leaving Sea Tac Airport and relocating to King County run Boeing Field. The plan included a $130 million dollar renovation of Boeing Field or, as Southwest called is it "a nice big, shiny new expensive gift". Everyone would be a winner.... right? Not quite.

This big shiny gift also included a lot of messy, dirty and complicated strings attached to it.

(Click Read More to continue...)

The Sound Transit board voted 12-1 to drop the First Hill Station from Sound Transit's Light Rail system yesterday. ST board member and City Councilmember Richard McIver was the lone dissenting vote.

"We made a 100-year decision here today," said Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Phillips

Phillips was correct in his assessment, but so was McIver when he stated this 100-year decision was made with only two-days of notice to the general public. So much for public input.

However, the board will not make its final decision until at least December, meaning there's still time to make your voice heard and save the First Hill station.

What can you do now? (It's as simple as sending an email!)

The decision to cut the First Hill station as it was previously planned seems to be final. However, we can support King County Executive Ron Sims and Council Member Richard McIver's proposal that the agency take one more look at whether the First Hill station could be built using different methods or in a different location to reduce risk and cost.

This decision was tabled until the August 11th meeting, so please send an email as soon as possible. I have written an email that you can easily cut, paste and send on!

Click here for the email (or click Read More).

Another way to frame the coming war over I-912

I-912 will make the ballot this fall. For those of you that don't know what this initiative is, it calls for the repeal of the Statewide Road Safety and Repair Program.

You've never heard of the Statewide Road Safety and Repair Program? I bet it's because I'm the first one to ever use that term. But, it's time for those who support a vibrant and safe infrastructure for this state to begin using terms like that. They're blunt, they're to the point and - they're true.

Don't let them tell you any different. We live in an age when the term "tax" is about as desirable as a colonoscopy to 60% of the public. Why bother defending a tax? Why bother explaining complexities like the fact that the gas tax which will fund the Road Safety and Repair Program simply keeps up with inflation? We live in an era where complexity equals tuning out. Cut to the damn chase.

The legislature has enacted a Road Safety and Repair program. A local right-wing talk radio station has used this vital public safety issue as a publicity stunt. Using the public airwaves, they have single handedly promoted their extremist propaganda. Right-wing talk radio would rather have high ratings over the safety of Washington residents. They're still thinking of the Governor's race, while the legislature is thinking of our future. These extremists have decided to knock down public safety, but have given no solutions to the problem.

In fact, the extremists who have attacked the Road Safety and Repair Program are so far out of the main stream, they're at odds with Chris Vance and the Washington State Republican Party.

(click "Read More" to continue)

A First Hand Account of a Seattle Monorail Hearing

ObviousDiversion.com piped in last week with a first hand account of the Monorail Hearing held in Central Seattle on Wednesday, July 6th.

I went to the monorail hearing tonight in central Seattle at the Securities building on 4th Avenue and sat through about three and a half hours of people’s three minutes at a microphone.

When I got there, I pulled out an index card and wrote ‘Pro’, ‘Con’ and ‘Crackpot’ on it with the intention of seeing how many people showed up for each category. I don’t mean that final category to be anything insulting, but never having attended one of these things I just sort of figured some strange people would come out of the woodwork. (If you’ve seen Seattle public access, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.)

Then something amazing happened: about thirty minutes in, I crossed out crackpot and created a ‘can’t tell’ category because, quite simply, I saw no crackpots. I just saw people who needed to talk and argue and figure out what to do next...

Read ObviousDiversion.com's whole account here or view the hearing yourself through this link provided by elevated.org, the Seattle Monorail Project's site.

Susan Paynter put her finger on the reason the thought of this mayor's inevitable re-election has me drinking myself to sleep:

Greg Nickels... is too busy looking expansively up and out to really recognize and encourage grass-roots growth....

Seattle really sparks on those occasions when communities pull together to make things better in small ways.... Ways in which government is too darned clumsy to do more than offer an assist...

The idea has been ignored if not trampled as the current administration keeps its eye on the high-bouncing ball of big deal-making.

Yep. Pretty much. I'm the last person to say no to more transportation choices, more density, more smart growth, more economic strength. But but but!!! Mayor Nickels is doing all of this at the expense of neighborhood autonomy (ignoring major parts of the South Lake Union Neighborhood Plan in favor of Paul Allen's biotech plan), at the expense of culture (stay tuned for some knee-knocking updates on what's going to happen to your favorite music venues if Sir Gregory has his way), at the expense of 'hoods that are vital to the character and strength of the city (checked out Broadway lately?).