In a sense, Sound Transit delivered itself bound hand and foot to the Bellevue City Council, when it betrayed its eagerness to stop in downtown Bellevue. In making their desire so manifest, ST opened the door to demagoguing politicians, who could campaign against a downtown location, or demand expensive tunneling, without paying the price of not getting any station at all.
And lo, so it came to pass, that some total nincompoops were elected to the City Council on this platform. Now four of the Bellevue councilmembers, and the mayor, display an incoherence bordering on imbecility- and betraying the sound judgment displayed for years by Bellevue.
For years Bellevue held high-density development in the center, and preserved the Bel-Red Corridor for future development. All seemed to be working together to connect transit, riders, and jobs and commerce, all to the greater glory of Bellevue.
Now, four councilmembers propose to shift the center of the city eastward, in effect, of the freeway. This is not impossible, in fact, it makes a lot of sense- but not from the perspective of landowners in the current core. Why do they put up with it? Is it a careful plan we don’t understand, or a simple smash-and-grab by newly elected demagogues?
In pondering this matter, I remembered that Carey Bozeman was the mayor of Bellevue when sanity emerged and the city of Bellevue began to stand erect, literally rising from the sludge of sprawl it had become. And Carey Bozeman was also the mayor of Bremerton when that city began to turn itself around after hitting rock bottom at the end of the 20th century. Perhaps Mr. Bozeman could shed some light on the thought processes behind what we’re seeing.
Or perhaps, with time and the river flowing, events will sort themselves out before we understand them. But I’m pretty sure it was a mistake for ST to give Bellevue a veto in this situation. It was simply an invitation to a form of abuse that has now occurred.
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