Pierce County, We Need to Talk
Hey Pierce,
Umm... so, here's the thing. Let me start out by saying I really like you as a friend. Seriously. And it's been great being your neighbor for the last 100 years. I really mean that.
But ever since we got engaged by Sound Move in '95, and married by RTID in '03, well... I've been having second thoughts. It seems like we just don't have a lot of the same interests anymore.
For instance, I want to build light rail to Redmond and Northgate... and even maybe West Seattle, Ballard, and Federal Way. You've got your Tacoma link, sure, but you really don't seem interested in light rail from Tacoma to Sea-Tac.
Oh yeah... Sea-Tac. She'll always be our child, and we've raised her well. But once the Central Link opens in 2009, well... she's going to grow a lot closer to me than she is to you. You can still visit her on the weekends, though.
I guess what I'm saying is that I kinda want to build a lot of trains, and right now, because of Sound Transit funding rules, the more trains I want to build the more you have to build, too. And you just don't seem interested.
So... I think we need to spend some time apart. I'm not saying we can't get back together again, I just think maybe I'm going through a selfish phase right now. I need to focus on me for a while. I hope you understand.
Yours,
King County
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Tacoma was talking about putting together a streetcar network. Why not help them out with that? Seems to me like that would be a great deal. Also, they can start building light rail towards Seattle and at some point they could meet. Perhaps a rapid streetcar with future capacity for light rail like they did downtown.
It's not an either/or. Streetcar expansion is, comparatively, very cheap. Tacoma could do a LID (local improvement district) in the neighborhoods that any expansion would serve.
Frank-
I don't know how often you get down to Pierce County, but light rail is hardly being shunted aside. They want light rail. So does Fife, and Federal Way, and other cities that are trying to transform themselves.
The South subarea even lent King County the money to build 4 miles of light rail so that it would reach the King/Pierce border, where Pierce's subarea equity would build it the rest of the way.
Don't buy into the elitist assholes' arguments that say that Piece County, or Tacoma, don't deserve light rail. The Tacoma Link (their streetcar) has been a big success, and folks down there are hungry for more. Folks in Tacoma want to get to the airport too!
Ok, fair enough, Will. I was just trying to be cute.
Still, how come the light rail from SeaTac to Tacoma has gotten no love? It was the least favorite project in the Sierra Club's exit poll, for one, even among Pierce County voters. 43% cited it as their reason for voting "no."
But you're right, 43% of 55% means only about a quarter of the population is opposed to it.
How did people find out about the Tacoma line? From the Seattle Times, whose banner headline read: "Light rail to Tacoma: Is it worth the money?" If I ran a banner headline that said "Frank Bruno: should we beat him with a shovel?", you'd have at least some people saying, "Fuck yeah, let's beat him with shovels."
Then you've got the Sierra Club (Seattle liberals who couldn't find Fife on a map) talking about how light rail "causes sprawl". Which is, of course, fucking retarded. Throw in Ron Sims who thinks buses are just dandy, and you get the Tacoma line's negatives going up.
And remember, Frank. The people who voted in the election were the most anti-tax voters out there. If the Anti-prop 1 people had anything right, it was that a) ST2 and RTID being joined HURT Sound Transit and b) these big transportation measures should be run in presidential election years.