Samples of Letters We've Sent

Letter to King County Council

June 9, 2002

TO: Cynthia Sullivan, Larry Phillips, Larry Gossett and Dow Constantine
CC: Carolyn Edmonds, Kathy Lambert, Dwight Pelz, Rob McKenna, Pete von Reichbauer, Kent Pullen, Jane Hague, David Irons, Julia Patterson

Dear Seattle King County Councilmembers:

After reading your op-ed piece in the Seattle Times on June 5, 2002, I was amazed that you would have the gall to equate criticism of light rail with criticism of all mass transit.

To answer your question, NO, Seattle support of suburban highways should NOT compel ANYONE to embrace an ineffective, overpriced surface trolley line that's perhaps the worst example of mass transit ever imagined. Sneaking more money for Sound Transit's unpopular light rail project into the regional package will jeopardize its passage and delay progress on projects that are far more vital to Seattle - namely replacing the viaduct and the 520 bridge. We will take care of our mass transit needs far better by approving the Seattle monorail plan in November and finishing the regional HOV system that carries the vast majority of public transportation trips via buses, carpools and vanpools.

I do agree with you that "our transportation strategies should focus on investing in workable solutions that will free our entire region from the drag of gridlock." Link light rail does not meet that test. Monorail, bus rapid transit, carpools, vanpools and congestion pricing do.

As a Seattle citizen and a voter in Councilmember Sullivan's district, I urge you to keep light rail out of the regional package, keep the downtown bus tunnel for express bus use only, and -- above all -- stop overselling the dubious benefits of light rail vs. more cost-effective solutions.

- Bob Gale, Seattle