The Trust and Transit campaign to recall the $7 billion Sound Transit link light rail boondoggle has hit the ground running. $60,000 has been raised and paid signature gatherers are already pounding the pavement. So are volunteers, myself included.
I spent several hours in the last few days collecting signatures at Green Lake. Most people who walk the park are there for exercise and couldn't be bothered. But I did get quite a number of signatures from citizens who are upset about the unaccountable Sound Transit pork barrel fiesta. I tested a number of opening lines, the one that worked best was:
Would you like to sign a petition to revote on Sound Transit? It's billions of dollars over budget, years behind schedule, and a lot shorter than what was promised to the voters. We want to use the money for more effective public transportationIncredibly, some people said no to that (do some people actually like expensive mediocrity?) but many were enthusiastic to sign.
One common objection was along the lines: "We need to do something to get people out of their cars and it might not be perfect, but we have to start somewhere". But doing something shouldn't mean doing anything and light rail is one of the worst things we could do (most expensive, fewest benefits). This fascinating document "Great Rail Disasters" [545k PDF] by John O'Toole gives the sorry history of modern urban rail systems in the US -- why they're a nightmare, and why the politicians love them anyway (hint: pork). This refreshing document from the Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives offers transit solutions that are both more effective and more reasonably priced.
Trust and Transit needs 200,000 signatures statewide by June 30 in order for the initiative to appear on the November ballot. Do what you can to help. There's an organizational meeting Tuesday, May 18 at 6pm in Shoreline. Email me here for details.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 17, 2004 06:03 PMThis quote says it all:
"We need to do something to get people out of their cars..."
'Their' cars. Get it? That's the dirty little secret behind liberal support of mass transit. Get OTHER people to stop driving so there's less traffic for ME and MY VOLVO.
Posted by: Matt J Kurlander on May 18, 2004 05:22 AMAren't you people in Seattle the ones who voted to expand the Monorail? Didn't somebody once say the stupidest ideas always win?
Transit works great. The reason it does not work great in the U.S. is because we foster such poor development patterns that we have no choice but to drive. And all those drivers out there hurt transit. It's a never-ending downward spiral.
I for one buck that trend and ride my bicycle whenever and wherever I can, which I know from experience can be done in Seattle. So when I say I want people out of their cars, I am emphasizing cars, not "their."
You are not in traffic, YOU ARE TRAFFIC.
And all too often on city streets, you are in my way. You and your car are cramming the road, stinking up the place, wasting my tax dollars. My bike doesn't cost anything in gas, is easy and free to park, doesn't pollute, and keeps me in shape.
Oh yeah, and DOESN'T CAUSE TRAFFIC!
"we foster such poor development patterns that we have no choice but to drive. And all those drivers out there hurt transit. It's a never-ending downward spiral. I for one buck that trend and ride my bicycle whenever and wherever I can,"
We? The politburo? I didn't elect no politburo. People freely bought homes where they chose to, and until roadbuilding was deliberately choked off by politburo wannabes they used their free choices of routing and scheduling to go when and where they pleased. Road networks are unbeatable for free movement, and provide by far the greatest return on investment BECAUSE OF THE INFINITE NUMBER OF ROUTING AND SCHEDULING CHOICES AVAILABLE TO CITIZENS. And that takes into account the free choice to drive or not to drive during heavy traffic hours. Bazillions of individual hourly routing and scheduling decisions create enormously greater travel efficiency than the most altruistic, all-knowing planning bureaucracy. Particularly a bureaucracy that contorts homebuilding patterns to unfairly load the dice in favor of grossly expensive fixed transit systems.
Bicycles are lovely for limited travel, but they don't nearly confer sainthood on their riders. And doing necessary business at the cleaners and the grocery and the vacuum cleaner repair shop on the way home from work is wishful thinking by a bicyclist. Or will the politburo provide us with servants and donkey carts to do these ordinary domestic chores away from home while we work for a living?
I want my freedom of choice to extend beyond whose gonads I engage with mine. My vote is for the human ingenuity that created the internal combustion engine and the wheel and the paved road, and all the coming improvements of that travel technology.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on May 18, 2004 06:54 PMShark- try going to places like Wal-Mart (unless they've been banned in Seattle!) You will find far more people to put the petition before, but more importantly, these are people who drove to get there, so they will be more inclined to be sympathetic... or at least less anti- than the joggers and tree-huggers in the park.
Thanks for the link to the Pdf file. I have access to the County Commissioners in my area who are seriously considering light rail, or at least some form of regional transportation authority, and they need to be shown the light before it is too late.
Posted by: Mike on May 19, 2004 03:43 AM