Die, Monorail, Die

As I wrote the other day, the Kill the Monorail campaign is likely to be getting support from the Sound Transit lobby. There are more signs of this now. The newly revamped Monorail Recall campaign site gives a prominent nod to Sound Transit.

Meanwhile, as both the Seattle Times and P-I report, Monorail Recall officials are playing this to the hilt:

In an interview and on a KUOW radio broadcast yesterday, Killian said that if the initiative succeeds in stopping the monorail, his group will ask the Legislature to refunnel the money into other projects, such as Sound Transit's.

Dumb idea. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

It's one thing to make the point that wasting $1.7 billion on the Monorail will be an obstacle to more effective transportation solutions, and to hint broadly that we'll have an opportunity to focus on better solutions once the Monorail is dead. It's quite a different matter to promise to lobby the legislature to keep the car tax and spend in on something else. Many of the people who support the Monorail Recall were motivated to action by the high cost of the car tax. It's seems like it would only alienate and demobilize many of the anti-Monorail folks if they are led to believe that they'll have to keep paying the tax for other undefined other projects.

As I've written before, the knowledgeable car owners still have the last laugh. Washington state law does not require vehicle registration at any particular address and those who wish to avoid paying these idiotic MVETs may legally avoid doing so, simply by registering outside of the Monorail and Sound Transit areas.

Meanwhile, today's Seattle Times editorial page encourages a NO vote on the Monorail Recall (i.e vote to keep the Moronorail).

Like many in Seattle, this editorial page is discouraged by the changes that have taken place since the public voted for the monorail. The project is collecting roughly one-fourth less revenue than anticipated. The width of columns will be much larger than expected. The trains may run on one track in some places, not what voters originally were told. And there is just one bidder for the project, which does not bode well.

Yet, in the end, the monorail-recall campaign took an insincere route. If this is what voters want, call a recall a recall and follow the rules.

It is easy to say the monorail project is not what we bargained for, but in fairness, neither is the recall attempt. It is a shortcut and the wrong way to express anger at the monorail. Vote no on I-83.

The guiding principle in our democracy is that government may act only with the "consent of the governed". If the governed express, through a fair election, that the Monorail no longer has their consent, shouldn't that be a more important test than adhering to arbitrary process for its own sake?

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 07, 2004 11:24 AM | Email This