Wednesday, October 05, 2005

BUILD MY MONORAIL

How many times do I have to vote for the damn monorail?

As many times as it takes.

Look, the light rail that they're building up MLK and under Beacon Hill, that's great. It crosses traffic, so necessiarily it will get into wrecks with people who try to beat the train. Every once in a while, there will be a fatality. And unSound Transit spent a cool billion even before they broke ground.

So get real. That train is never going to continue to Northgate. Light rail as a system, whether elevated, surface, or tunnel is more expensive than monorail. Monorails in Seattle and Japan make money. FIND ONE light rail system that turns a profit.

And no, there's never going to be a subway in Seattle. Too expensive, too seismic.

So if you want grade-separated rapid transit, it's going to have to be monorail. The first step is to build the 10 mile Green Line. Once that is up and running and making money, then we start thinking about crossing the Green Line with other lines. That's how you build a system, children.

Come on. You've been to 5th Avenue. You know that it's a quiet, tranquil, tree-lined street. You've been to Paris, you know that the best part of the M�tro ride is the elevated part. You've been to Chicago, you know that Chicagoans would sooner go without many other things before giving up that loud, ugly, supremely functional elevated system. You've been to Vancouver, you know that the much beloved Skytrain is a rampart compared to our monorail.

Now we have a chance to build the first phase of an elevated train that will be quiet and attractive.

Don't even talk to me about the $11 billion finance plan. The actual cost of the project was less than $2 billion to build all 14 miles. The crazy finance plan was inflated due to screw ups in the SPMA office and the unwillingness of bs politicians to do what it takes to get high rated bonds.

So all you haters who want to fill my comments with your bullshit, save your breath. You will have plenty of space to post your anti-monorail bullshit, but not here. And all you politicians who pretended to support the monorail project when it was popular, but held back your support when it counted, and then wagged your finger when the $11 billion finance plan hit the fan, you start working on your resume, because I am not voting for your bitch ass.

Monorail? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes again. Figure it out.

3 comments:

Delia Christina said...

love it when you get feisty.
'your bitch ass.'

heh.

Micaela said...

word!

Anonymous said...

Looking back, you said it well, bud!

Gawd that stupid finance plan screwed us over... 5 Yes votes and... nothing...

We should have asked billionaires like Paul Allen (aka streetcar/light rail daddy) for even chump change with their wealth...

E: cooldster@hotmail.com