Maybe best to lead with an explanation- “The sticker price will pretty much double over 30 years at 5%, but the investment also appreciates by about that same amount.”

That’s why people invest in houses- sure, the price doubles because of the interest, but so does the value.

And the investment nature of the investment needs to be front and center at all times.

The people who oppose transit like to do an ‘October Surprise” show where they pretend they were for the project until THEY SUDDENLY REALIZED just how much it would cost. This plays into the American paranoia that ‘Mr. Big’ is going to swindle John Q Public. In South Lake Union, Paul Allen has been designated to be ‘Mr. Big’ and anything that happens there is described in terms of this dynamic, regardless of who actually is involved.

Like a stock prospectus, the statement of out-of-pocket monthly costs must always have a disclaimer- several in fact- “In general terms the monthly cost is around $80, which of course would go up if inflation makes prices rise…

These issues are the pith and core of the whole thing forever, so I would urge Ben to consider revising and contracting his remarks.

If I were doing it I would start by outlining the original post to establish the points to be made, and then re-arranging considerably the order in which the points are made. Then one draft should be devoted simply to wringing the water out. Paragraphs can usually be reduced by half if you think of what is to be said and then make that into an opening sentence, a statement, and a closing sentence.

Well! I guess that’s just about enough out of me!

Plus, the monorail was talking about sharing the West Seattle bridge, and running only a single track. They would not have been able to run service every three minutes with the design they had at the end, and they wouldn’t have been able to modify it later, either.

And if people’d understood this, we’d be riding that monorail today.

The media love big numbers, because it sounds more like news. We need to call them to account every time they do.

I think here, it’s going to be something like 40c/passenger mile for Link versus 80c/pm for bus service.

I do it all the time unfortunately but I’ve been trying to train myself to use the term investment because it gets to your point about the house. People make investments that they will get something out of. They invest in roads so they can drive on them and cars to they can ride in them. Why people always mention light rail is a “cost” is a disconnect that needs to be addressed.

The 405 projects all put together are around $11 billion, and some are unfunded.

As far as “how will this help me?” goes, one can use the Bank Teller analogy: Imagine you’re at the end of a long line at a bank, only one teller is on staff. A second teller arrives. You can either stay in your line and let others choose the alternative or you can choose the alternative yourelf. Either way, you get to where you’re going faster.