Photo courtesy of Vlad Oustimovitch, remembering the monorail-that-wasn’t, on the date once touted as a potential opening day.
First, the background for newcomers: The concept of a citywide Seattle Monorail – eventually envisioned as starting with the “Green Line” between West Seattle and Ballard – passed several city votes dating back to 1997 before an uproar over its financing plan led to one last vote that killed it in 2005. The monorail agency already had been set up and was collecting money from car-tab taxes; it had bought property in West Seattle that has since been resold, some of which is just now being developed, such as the parking lot behind Petco that’s becoming Mural, and the ex-Video Vault spot in Morgan Junction that is becoming the new Beveridge Place Pub and a neighboring park. (Other sites, from their original monorailproperty.com pages, included: 35th/Avalon, 35th south of Avalon, the former Herald office further south on 35th.) So on this Opening Day That Wasn’t, you might wonder, what’s next for mass transit in West Seattle, considering that Sound Transit light rail isn’t pointing our way? Some interesting ideas can be read on the Sustainable West Seattle Transportation Action Group blog; regarding more concrete plans, two public meetings are set in West Seattle next month for the “RapidRide” bus plan (both dates are on the WSB Events page).
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