September 16, 11:26 AM 2
We Need to Give City Voters the Option to Expand Light Rail in Seattle
- McGinn standing outside the Columbia City light rail station. Photo courtesy of
Throughout this campaign, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about what I’m against.
Today is about what I’m for.
I believe the most important thing we can do for our city’s future is expand light rail service to more neighborhoods. If I’m fortunate enough to be elected mayor in November, I commit to the following course of action: Within two years of taking office, I will bring a plan before the voters of Seattle that gives them the choice of expanding light rail service within our city.
McGinn’s Light Rail Plan (.pdf)
Mayor Greg Nickels worked tirelessly to bring light rail to Seattle. While we disagreed on some issues, on light rail we share a common purpose. If elected, I will carry on Mayor Nickels’ determined advocacy of light rail.
Under Mayor Nickels’ leadership, Sound Transit is well on its way towards building a strong regional system. With last year’s passage of ST2, we will see this system grow to serve Northgate and beyond, as well as across the lake to the Eastside.
While Sound Transit serves many Seattle neighborhoods–and will serve more under ST2–neighborhoods like Ballard, Belltown, Fremont, Queen Anne, and West Seattle are simply geographically too far to be served by the Central Link light rail line. Sound Transit has no active plans to bring service to the western half of the city.
Moreover, these neighborhoods and surrounding areas have taken on substantial growth over the last several years and, as a result, are dealing with dramatically increased traffic congestion. We owe it to the residents of these neighborhoods to provide them with real high-capacity transit choices.
Service to many of these neighborhoods has been in Sound Transit’s Long Range Plan going back to 1995. However, with the passage of ST2, Sound Transit has no remaining unused taxing capacity. At best, some of these neighborhoods may begin to be served with the completion of ST3 or ST4. This is dependent on several factors including regional attitudes towards Sound Transit, subarea equity issues, and the willingness of voters across the entire Sound Transit District to support more investment within Seattle city limits.
At current course and speed, we are probably a minimum of 20 to 30 years away from bringing light rail to these Seattle neighborhoods. These neighborhoods simply cannot wait this long to connect to light rail.
The plan presented to voters will be assembled following these principles:
1. Voters Decide. The voters will make the decision. If the city’s voters support the plan, and agree to raise their taxes to fund it, we will get it built as quickly and efficiently as possible.
2. No Wasted Money. We will not put a “Cadillac” plan in front of voters. We need to serve as many neighborhoods as possible as inexpensively as possible. To that end, the light rail expansion will heavily leverage existing city right-of-way to create transit only lanes and corridors.
3. No Delays. If we have the will and work together as a community, we can accomplish light rail expansion more quickly. Last weekend, Portland opened their 5th MAX light rail line. The 8.3 mile line took only 3 years to build and cost $575 million. We can learn from Portland’s success at building light rail.
4. No Agency Duplication. The plan presented to the voters will not create another transportation agency. The City will work with Sound Transit and King County Metro to design, build and operate the light rail expansion.
Seattle’s values on high-capacity transit cannot be clearer. Seattle residents have supported nearly every transit measure presented to them over the last decade. Last year, Seattle voted in favor of ST2 by a margin of 70% to 30%. Seattle citizens are demanding better transportation options. If elected mayor, I will give them that choice.
[...] on the McGinn Proposal by Martin H. Duke To add to what Ben said, let no one say that Mike McGinn isn’t bold. From McGinn’s information [...]
I’ll be sending this to Mallahan as well. I’m tired of the two sides on transportation offering us all or nothing.
Let me label the two sides as the bikers and the SUV’ers to try to establish two extremes. We need a mayor, and the rest of our leaders who are pragmatic about traffic in and around Seattle. We don’t need anyone who only champions one side or the other.
Bicycles, busses, light rail, and even streetcars have their place in a comprehensive transportation plan, and so do automobiles.
I’m tired of our city leaners (no, that’s not a typo) vilifying the automobile. The fact is that cars are not only not going away, they are going to increase in number with the population growth. The other issue to recognize is that the technology for cars is toward cleaner, and even pollution-free electric vehicles, so the pollution debate is becoming irrelevant. Add to that, GPS and computerized vehicles, and the use of this technology can be used to control the flow of traffic is just around the corner; why are we working with the auto makers on developing that system?
One final point on cars; when people are willing to spend $30,000 to $60,000 on a car, they are not going to park that darling and take a bus in most cases. If the city policy is to punish people in cars, what they will accomplish is to push people away from Seattle, and with them goes the tax base a vibrant city needs.
Okay, so we need a transportation solution that builds a partnership between all the various forms of transportation. It’s a shame the monorail plan got so honked up over financing because that would have been a great facet of a modern rapid transit system, but that’s another issue.
New York, by far the most successful city for mass commuters, is estimated by Forbes to move about 1/3 of their commuters every day. That’s an impressive number compared to Los Angeles where the number is around 6% (still above the national average of 5%). Let’s assume that Seattle can beat the national average, but will probably fall well short of New York’s 33% - let’s optimistically say we’ll hit 10%. That means that 90% of the cars on the road today, will be there tomorrow after we’ve spent billions on tunnels, light rail, and whatever else we can dream up.
My point is that we have to stop talking about a “single” solution to our congestion and embrace ideas that are inclusive for all our residents, not just those on bicycles or those in their Hummers. That’s the kind of leadership I’m looking for.