Sound Transit ballot decision tomorrow: Constantine says yes

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Tomorrow’s the day the Sound Transit board (members listed here) is expected to vote on whether to put a money measure on the November ballot. You can read about the proposal here; it would raise the local sales tax half a cent on the dollar.. West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine is on the Sound Transit board; he just sent a news release saying he’ll vote to send it to voters – here’s his statement:

â€œI will vote tomorrow to offer residents across the three-county Puget Sound region a Sound Transit expansion package to create new bus service, commuter rail, and light rail. The debate over whether to place a funding proposal on this fallâ€™s ballotâ€”and over what projects will be included in that proposalâ€”has been long and spirited. It has led to a package broadly supported by elected officials from Tacoma to Everett.

â€œArea residents are eager for expanded light rail service. They also understand that light rail is a superior mode of transportation: The trains are powered by electricity. They accommodate many more riders than buses. Light rail also provides the permanence property owners need to move forward with major new housing and business projects near stations.

â€œA 2008 vote has many advantages. The excitement generated by this presidential election will result in a largeâ€”perhaps even recordâ€”turnout. It is good for such an important decision to be made by the maximum number of voters. This larger electorate may also be more supportive of long-term public investments, such as high-capacity transit.

â€œWe have waited 40 years since missing our chances for light rail in our region. Finally, in a few months, the trains will start running. The time is now to build on that momentum. Those who urge delay and endless debate on this plan would condemn this region to vastly higher costs and more years of gridlock. Every day we pay a toll for our failure to build transit and redirect growthâ€”through environmental damage, longer commutes, lost productivity, and less time with our loved ones. This plan is another step toward creating the transportation system our region needs to prosper and preserving the high quality of life we have come to expect.â€

Besides Constantine, there’s one other West Seattleite on the ST board – its chair, Mayor Nickels.

Tyler July 23, 2008 (6:03 pm)

I’m with Dow. Congestion’s only getting worse, and gas prices will only get higher. We need some type of non-petroleum-based transportation system, and light rail seems like the best bet at this point.

I’m aghast at Ron Sims’ call to wait until 2010. Doesn’t he understand how urgent our needs are? More power to Dow, and to Greg, to get this thing on the ballot. I’ll certainly be voting “yes,” and I hope others do, too.

John Niles July 23, 2008 (6:04 pm)

Those King County votes back in 1968 and 1970 were for completely grade-separated heavy rail, like DC Metrorail and San Francisco BART. The answer was “no” both times.

Sound Transit’s Link system under construction in Seattle is light rail, with 18 ungated grade crossings of cross streets in the Rainier Valley and three gated crossings over truck routes in SODO.

There are two sort-of-like grade crossings for buses in the downtown transit tunnel, where the path of buses merges with the path of trains at each end.

Cars getting hit from behind while making left turns across the tracks at an intersection are the biggest worry safety-wise with light rail running in a street median. That’s why left turns in the four-mile MLK Jr. Way corridor — where 272 trains per day will run in the median — are going to be illegal except at signalized street crossings.

There is a map of this corridor showing the various street crossings and additional pedestrian crossings posted here.

The electric power for heavy rail comes from a third rail along side the two rails that the train wheels roll on. So no road vehicles are allowed to cross the tracks. With light rail, the power comes from overhead wires.

Finally, the correct name for the Sounder train to Tacoma and Everett is commuter rail, not heavy rail.

Around this region, these names get all mixed up, even by Sound Transit Board members.

These terms are explained at the web site of the American Public Transportation Association.

Pete July 23, 2008 (9:21 pm)

But once again nothing in the plans for the West Seattle peninsula. No light rail, no trolley cars no monorail…..OH….excuse me….I forgot we are getting those Rapid Ride busses in the junciton.Now what about the rest of West Seattle where 20% of the population of the city lives?

Tyler July 23, 2008 (10:36 pm)

Pete — I think you raise valid points, but I don’t think they negate the importance of ST2.
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Major transit systems like this have to be built in stages. Remember that light rail was limited to Downtown, southeast Seattle and Tukwila with the first vote, with only preliminary planning for other areas. Now Sound Transit wants to expand light rail to those areas, and to conduct preliminary planning in, among other places, West Seattle. Light rail will come to West Seattle one day, but we can’t do everything at once.
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If Sound Transit loses this November, however, the loss of momentum will be such that there will be very few new services for any area for many years. Let’s take this one step at a time.

WSB July 23, 2008 (11:23 pm)

Actually, I asked Councilmember Constantine’s staff a followup question this afternoon regarding “nothing in it for West Seattle,” so I’d have the info for tomorrow’s coverage if not sooner. They say that while most of Seattle’s money — Sound Transit has “subarea equity” which they explain means the $ raised in a subarea like a city has to stay there – is going to the Northgate line (where transit ridership has grown dramatically), he insisted on study money for West Seattle in this plan so that we could be poised for a future line after that one.

westwood July 23, 2008 (11:56 pm)

I am not sure what the point of John Niles post is except to try to discredit rail–which he has been doing for decades. John Niles has been a critic of Sound Transit since its inception and is close to Kemper Freeman and the freeway lobby. He simply doesn’t support mass transit that doesn’t result in more asphalt being laid for single occupancy vehicles. Lets look at his arguments:

1) Rail is at-grade. John is being misleading here. The only place rail is at grade is in SODO and the Rainier Valley. The entire ST2 plan is either in a tunnel or elevated. What is his point? To

2) Then Niles claims light rail in the valley is dangerous and will impede left-turns. Horrors! Go down and look at the rail alignment in the valley. Crossings are very clearly marked and signalized to warn about trains. Compared to other at-grade lines around the country, ST has built to a much higher safety standard. There are far more crosswalks and ample turn pockets the length I worked near MLK for a while, and it has always been one of Seattle’s most dangerous streets for pedestrians and for automobile safety. The environment for both cars and peds will be far improved. If accidents occur it will most likely be because drivers willfully disregard traffic signals and warnings. Not like buses ever hit cars, right John?

Niles is being misleading on purpose. He lectures people about using incorrect terms and thoughtfully provides a link to definitions. Yet he trumpets the most misleading term of all–bus rapid transit. Real BRT is in its own right of way, just like rail. That is where you get the rapid part. But when you build dedicated busways you approach the cost of rail, except your labor and fuel costs are much higher and much more volatile–$4.00 diesel anyone?

But when the Niles/Kemper Freeman crowd talks about BRT costs, they paint a picture of BRT-lite operating in traffic lanes. Many of them want to make these HOT lanes so they can pay to drive their Lexus with the buses. They aren’t about transit. They don’t ride transit to live, work, and play. Their mindset is firmly entrenched in what is best for the automobile.

As we face another two million people moving to Puget Sound in the next twenty years we have to decide what is best for the next 100 years, not the last 100. Personal transport by automobile will continue to be a key part of American life for a long time–hopefully far cleaner than today’s. But the costs of committing to an automobile future are immense. To build for a car future we will need massive parking garages, 16-lane freeways, more suburban roads, big box parking lots and more. We can’t sustain or afford such a future.

We must begin to invest in mass transit to provide people with options and we have barely begun. The first ST vote was twelve years ago. Our state government devotes almost no money to transit except in rural counties. The ST2 vote is a chance for this region to commit to a strategy for the next 100 years that balances roads and transit. Buses will always be the workhorse of any system, but rail will serve key corridors helping to create new, compact, walkable neighborhoods that will absorb much of the growth without adding more cars. A single rail line to the UW can carry the same capacity as the virtual armada of buses Metro sends to the U District. And then you can use those bus hours to improve connections between neighborhoods.

Hey John, lets give a real rail system a try. Almost every large metropolitan area in the country (and the world) has rail as part of the transit solution. How could they all be wrong?

Roger July 24, 2008 (12:31 am)

I am with everyone else on this issue. I firmly believe that we need light rail expansion into West Seattle.
I am concerned with all the new developments and the existing numbers (20% of the population, major crossing for Vashon Island and Southworth commuters) how we ended up with ONLY a potential for study for future expansion.
Someone, please explain where in the transit plan West Seattle was shown as being ‘included’. Why are more West Seattlites not upset by this. How do we raise our voices high enough for our leaders to hear us?
If not, what are the possibilities of “re”creating our streetcars in West Seattle (California, 35th, Delridge, Fauntleroy, Alki/Harbor)? Can this be done outside of the Transit Plan? (Perhaps streetcars running north/south to connect with BRT at the Junctions?)
Thanks for the forums and opportunity to pose our questions.

Tyler July 24, 2008 (8:16 am)

Roger brings up a good point: Street cars would be enormously beneficial in the absence of light rail. Since that’s a city project, I wonder what the city elected officials who live in West Seattle (Greg and Tom Rasmussen) have to say about that.

Nevertheless, I think we’ll see light rail to West Seattle in ST3. We just have to get past ST2 first!

John Niles September 10, 2008 (1:16 am)

Up above, Westwood says, “Hey John, lets give a real rail system a try.”

We will give it a try, soon! Light rail from downtown Seattle to the Airport will be starting operation in late 2009 or 2010. This is the “test ride” that was promised a long time ago to happen in 2006, but now coming a few years late. It will be interesting to see how well it serves Seattle.

So what’s the rush of Sound Transit this fall to double its taxes with Prop 1 before the first Seattle light rail is even operating?

The next light rail from downtown Seattle to Husky Stadium is fully funded with the taxes approved in 1996, plus a pending Federal grant of over $800 million. Light rail is coming to Seattle, with or without the passage of Prop 1.

So is improved bus service, which goes to far more places already than light rail ever will, even if Sound Transit taxes were tripled.

And by the way, I don’t own a Lexus or other fancy car, and I ride buses in Seattle all the time. Any implication that I don’t use public transit is false.

Sorry, comment time is over.