fix seattle's transportation problem

Joni Earl, CEO of Sound Transit, will be available for a small group discussion (first come first serve) with interested folks on Monday, February 13th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm) at the Elliot Bay Bookstore Café (it’s downstairs). Might be an interesting opportunity to talk about transit in Seattle and the greater region.

If you are interested, sign up here.

I haven’t had a chance to read all this but wanted to flag this series of articles, interviews related to transit in today’s PI.

better yet, offer up more choices than the existing systems we have currently. Mark is dead on in by saying that it takes less time to get from someplace in Seattle to get to another place outside the city by car than by the numerous buses needed to make the same trip. With a system like that, why would someone take a bus (which is essentially the only option)? I also believe it’s silly that it often takes longer to move about in Seattle (by car or bus) than it does to get to the Eastside at certain times. Both of these are unacceptable for the growth and vibrancy of this region in my opinion.

Ultimately, I’m just for mass transit. Any kind that works realistically for the people in the region—who have families, jobs, places to be… you know, lives. It needs to be relevant within the scope of our lives.

recapping a few thoughts i’ve seen…

well, one topic that seemed to be a flash point was the 18th amendment to the state constitution that prevents gas tax money from being spent on projects outside roads. don’t like it? maybe some folks will start pushing for a change?

another topic was that whole I-912 bit. regardless of viewpoint, seems like a great goal on which to organize.

i also saw a thread that mentioned something about tax codes, incentives and the like…perhaps that has some legs?

there are countless others, and forgive me if i missed some. there have been a flury of comments and posts afterall. we could go back and forth arguing one stat or another…fact of the matter is, we’re all here in this online and offline space. what are we all going to do about it so our grandkids don’t have the same discussion?

oh, and there’s nothing wrong with learning, listening and all for those who want to do that. indeed, i’d like to act with information and all…this is much more a cyclical thing than anything else. learn some, do some, learn some more, do some more…

The Puget Sound Regional Council is holding a public comment period on a few different transit projects here through October.

Loosely related, the site also references I-912 which would gut funding for already approved transit projects in the region. Unformtunately in light of the monorail financing plan, there are those who would seem to link the dire financial situation of the monorail as another example of poor fiscal management, adding fuel to the fire of those who would prefer to destroy vital infrastructure for the region. Hopefully people understand that we cannot stop the necessary improvements to our region and they will vote down I-912 this fall.

Mayor Nickels has tried to present himself as a guy who can make the tough decisions. Well, in pulling support of the monorail, and then calling for an advisory ballot initiative he is passing the buck - big time. If he really did not support it, there would be no need to call for an advisory vote. You can’t really build it if there are no right aways, afterall. By calling for the voters to decide, the Mayor seems to be hiding from responsibility - that he doesn’t want to be seen as the guy who killed the monorail.

Alternatively, if you really did support it, I saw a lot of creative solutions mentioned such as replacing the viaduct with a monorail, doing an east west, circular sort of thing, or diverting money from the S. Lake Union street cars, etc…Did any of these come to the table?

C’mon Mr. Mayor, where are these so-called tough decisions?

oh, don’t forget to vote in today’s primary :-)

Catching up with a co-worker about weekend exploits, we got on the topic of the willingness to be social and the role transportation. She mentioned that the lack of transit options, or prevalence of problematic options serve as a barrier to getting together with folks. Could these two be related to Our Social Dis-ease?

to what extent are we the sandwich shop worrying about what the other sandwich shops are doing, when we should really worry about what the other pizza or noodle places are doing? maybe to fix the transit issues in the region, we fix the other challenges here such as 1) housing 2) education 3) jobs/economy, to name a few? transit is such an important factor in this region. it would seem to make sense to address it from a broad base

thanks for the comments and article. i completely agree, but what are we going to do about it? playing armchair quarterback is easy, but us as people with lives, jobs, and other priorities, what is our role in all of this? how can we help fix the transportation problem? how can we be SMART about this particular goal? (and by SMART i mean Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible rather than the snarky definitions of smart)