- Feds shut down discount intercity bus operators for safety reasons. You knew there was a catch, right?
- Eyman’s supermajority initiative (a.k.a. I-1053) ruled unconstitutional. In case it’s not painfully obvious, STB was against this initiative.
- Who among us does not love a good infographic? Especially one that features mother and child dancing together on a sidewalk? I thought so.
- Some Sumner City Council members want back in on Pierce Transit.
- On a totally unrelated note, 40% of Americans who rely on public transit live in rural areas.
- Highway 522 being widened. Your snowboarding commute to Stevens Pass will be righteously epic by… 2014. Hang tight, bro.
- Capitol Hill Housing presented a report on the “Capitol Hill EcoDistrict.” The full report includes lots of great strategies for transportation sustainability. Strangely, “bolagna factories” are not covered.
- John Feit links the report to TOD opportunities around the new Capitol Hill (Broadway?) Station.
- Speaking of Capitol Hill, a new Brookings report shows how walkable ‘hoods like the Hill have zoomed ahead of suburbs like Redmond in terms of property values.
- New movie about legendary Seattle activist Grant Cogswell shown at SIFF. Here’s file footage of Cogswell presenting the Monorail concept to a skeptical Seattle City Council.
- 6 mobile apps for transit. Criminally, OneBusAway doesn’t make the list. Whatever, Singapore.
- Federal transpo bill still stalled in the House. Also, Eric Cantor is still annoying.
- Seattle Times Ed Board concerned about traffic around new SoDo arena.
- Light rail now seen as an economic boon to the Phoenix-Mesa area. What a difference a few years makes.
This is an open thread.
I hope they do not name the Brooklyn/43rd station “University District Station”.
Seriously. Brooklyn Station is by far the best name floated so far.
ST staff are now recommending “U District Station” to the board. The public-comment survey explains the reasons and is accepting comments till June 8th.
“The proposed “U District Station” name represents the local neighborhood and reduces the use of “university” in multiple station names. We’ve also heard feedback that the existing University Street Station should be renamed to better represent its location. That decision involves King County Metro and we will talk with them about whether there might be a better name for that particular station. While we won’t have an answer to that question for some time, we propose to keep the University of Washington Station name because it makes sense being located on the UW campus.”
Naming criteria:
1. Names must reflect nature of environment: neighborhoods, street names, landmarks, plus geographical locations
2. Names will be brief and easy to read and remember
3. Names must adhere to a 30-character limit to ensure compliance with federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines and requirements
4. Commercial names should be avoided because they may change, prove confusing to the public and changes may prove to be costly
5. Similar names or words used in existing station names should be avoided.
I had supported the name Brooklyn even though it was likely to lose, but “U District” seems like a good compromise. Anyone wondering, “How do I get to the university?” won’t get confused by it, and anyone asking, “Why does Seattle have a neighborhood that’s a letter?” can be told, “It’s short for the university that’s next to the neighborhood.” Likewise, “University of Washington station” tells people how to get to the university, and University Street station could really use a better name like Symphony.
I really don’t like “symphony” just because I don’t think the private organisation that is the symphony should get that sort of free publicity. Imagine if they called it “WAMU” station or something (Russell Investments Station), it’s ridiculous.
Capitol Hill station could be “Dick’s Drive-In” Station because, you know, it’s a cultural icon. Dick’s is easily a much larger part of Seattle’s cultural fabric than the symphony is.
Instead they should just name it after someone awesome from Seattle. Jimi Hendrix station. Bertha Knight Landes (the first woman mayor of an American city) station. I dunno, be creative! Lack of imagination is how we ended up in this position to start with.
It’s not because of the symphony that I support the name. It’s because it’s generally an artistic and stress-relieving name. St Petersburg has stations named after 19th-century poets (Mayakovskaya station), and it gives a similar atmosphere.
We must have poets or authors we can name it after. Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville. We certainly have tons of music-related names that are appropriate. It’s just so lazy that we put a station down, look around for whatever’s closest and name it after that. That’s why the current name is problematic.
Mayakovskaya was early 20th century, btw.
Idiotic. The name should be Brooklyn/NE 45th Station. U District refers to a wide area. Where the el is the station?
Hell, just sell the naming rights for every station like every venue does and you can build a lot more. “Bank of America Station” anyone? “Where do you want to go today Microsoft Station?”
I support “U District / 45th St.” That way, it represents the neighborhood, it represents the location, and it is easy to name a third station something like “U District / Pacific,” or whatever, if we ever get one. IMHO “University of Washington” should be “U District / Husky Stadium” or something like this, too.
Hmmm, why not a combo? “U-District/Brooklyn” gives you the neighborhood ID as well as a street for orientation.
Chicago does this very successfully with “Chinatown-Cermak,” “Sox-35th,” and others. There’s always precise street-grid locations next to the actual station name.
Otherwise I’m with aw. I’d much rather just the two cross-streets than the name of a vast neighborhood with no more specific information.
1) Is the “30-character limit” a direct ADA requirement? Or is it that in order fit ST’s signs and fonts it works out that 30 characters is the limit? If the former, can someone point me to the ADA compliance guidelines that mentions it? I’ve been told that spaces do not count as characters (which is apparently why “University of Washington Station” is okay).
I’d rather see University of Washington Station get named Husky Stadium Station, so that University District Station could be used for the next step.
2) What happened to Matt’s slide post that briefly appeared here yesterday? Did the anti-slide lobbyists have it yanked?
3) Unless I missed it, it doesn’t seem that there was any mention here of the Brooklyn 60% meeting after it took place (just the announcement that it was upcoming). I liked the art concepts that were shown and was curious if others here liked them (specifically, the streetscape concept).
Why is KCM involved in naming the University Street Station? I’m completely ignorant to why this would be?
ugh nevermind, I got confused by the stations even. Being part of the DSTT makes sense…
I loved the art concept. It’s a 3-D view of a city block with apartments and shops, like Physical Graffiti but with a Brooklyn NY flair. Some of the windows will have film loops (content TBD), and others will have colored lights, giving it a quasi-realistic look. All this will be on a platform wall where there’s enough space for a 3-D mural.
I’ve already suggested to ST that if they don’t use the Brooklyn name, to put up a historical placard about the original name of the neighborhood. If this mural can keep its Brooklyn NY feel (and not be coerced into a replica of U-district storefronts and U-district like scenes), so much the better.
They’re also hiring a second artist for a separate work. Somebody in the suggested an artist who lives in the U-district, but I don’t know anything about him. I think they’re still taking suggestions for artist names.
University Street Station is one of the more confusing stations.
Equally confusing is the Stadium and Sodo stations. I guess I’ve just been imprinted with Sodo Mojo so when I go to a Mariners game and they say Sodo I tend to want to get off there.
International Station — what, exactly, is internation about it? And again, it’s confusing because you think “International Airport” which is the next stop, SeaTac.
The South LINK 4 — Mt. Baker, Rainer Beach, Columbia City, Othello — those are just a little too high falutin’ for me. And also, I get no sense of where I am when those stations roll by. Maybe it’s a case where street numbers should be used instead (Rainier Avenue and NN Street).
The station on 43rd and Brooklyn can have only one name. University of Washington Station. End of story.
But the east-west streets in the Rainier Valley are named, not numbered. Mt Baker = S McClellan St/S Forest St, Columbia City = S Alaska St/S Edmunds St, Othello = S Myrtle St/S Othello St, Rainier Beach = S Henderson St.
And it’s Tukwila International Boulevard Station, not International Station. It’s named after the street. Naming it Southcenter Blvd (the street it’s actually on) instead would be even more confusing.
As a UW student, naming 43rd & Brooklyn “University of Washington Station” makes no sense. I’d rather have “U District Station” (which I also dislike) than that. How about “UW Tower Station”? Now you know where it is from miles away.
“Tim”
Andrew, you bring up a very valid point.
I’ve always wondered why Sound Transit felt it was necessary to name certain stations the way they did. For example University St Station in downtown Seattle may be confusing to the unfamiliar Seattle riders. Does this street lead to UW? When you disembark the happy train and walk up the stairs, you discover you are in the basement of Benaroya Hall and near the Seattle Art Museum? Rather than give this station a rather ubiquitous name like University Street Station, give it a name such as Benaroya Hall Station. Afterall, there is a Westlake Station.
I don’t like “Benaroya Hall” because it’s free advertising. Why not call it Russell Investments Station? For the same reason we don’t do that, we shouldn’t do name it after Benaroya Hall. We don’t have to name the station after the building directly over it.
“Financial District Station.” Done.
University street station was actually named by Metro, before they merged with King County.
IT was named by Metro, but after they merged with king county.
Presuming that the tunnel opened in 1990 then it would predate the king County merger with metro in 1994. Was there a name change after the merger?
http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/charter/about/history.aspx
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Seattle_Transit_Tunnel
In any case, Sound Transit did not exist when the DSTT stations were named. Benaroya Hall did not exist, and the symphony was somewhere else. The station names have not changed. University Street station has been controversial from the beginning, both because its name can be confused with the university, and because it’s not closer to either the library or Pike Place Market. The UW owns the 4-block area around around 4th & University, and it was the original site of the university until 1895.
Actually, one station has changed names a little bit. The International District was originally called Chinatown, but International District was considered more PC in the late 80s when the name was chosen, so as not to slight the other Asian groups in the neighborhood. But a lot of people still called it Chinatown. Then in the 200s (so I hear) they determined that the other Asian groups did not object to the name Chinatown, so Link calls it “International District/Chinatown station” even though the other signs all say “International District station”.
Surely renaming University Street would cause at least as much trouble as naming another station “University District.”
@CharlotteRoyal,
Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest
Jackson/Jefferson/Columbia/Cherry/Madison/Marion/University/Union/Pike/Pine
Got it?
How about changing the name of University Street? Perhaps Uhlman Street.
While I’m not a fan of Wes Uhlman, several downtown streets are named after former mayors for whom I have no liking.
It would make the Displacement Coalition drop what he is doing and use every ounce of political influence he has to stop the street from being re-named.
Brent, it’s
Jefferson/James/Cherry/Columbia/Marion/Madison/University/Union/Pike/Pine.
It’s hard to remember the order even with the mnemonic.
Jefferson James Cherry Columbia Marion Madison Spring Seneca University Union Pike Pine.
yes … Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest
For new-timers, that JCMSUP mnemonic goes back a long way; it’s how I remembered the street names in junior high. Maybe it deserves its own station name.
I’m really disappointed that it probably won’t be Brooklyn. That’s a much better name for it. The U District is a large neighborhood and that name gives no indication where a station is located. Brooklyn is a historic neighborhood name, and a more specific place. I’m OK with “UW Medical Center” for the stop near Husky Stadium, or even “Montlake,” though that leads to confusion with the neighborhood across the Cut. University Street Station should change too, and Symphony has a nice ring to it.
Have you voted in ST’s poll yet? You can influence ST’s board and help convince them not to pick the inferior “U District” name: http://survey.soundtransit.org/fs.aspx?surveyid=68b82558cdf4744958089f6772e7958
Thx Kyle! I just voted for Brooklyn Station. So much simpler to say than the awkward “U District Station.” Plus, having UW Station right before U-District station might confuse people since U District encompasses a large swath of area.
“The U District is a large neighborhood and that name gives no indication where a station is located.”
Having lived or frequented the U-district for 32 years, it’s a nice walkable size. The center is obviously at 45th & University Way, and that’s where everyone has long expected a station should be. And that’s where it is, give or take a block. Just like the center of Capitol Hill is Broadway & John, and the center of Beacon Hill is where Beacon Ave crosses 15th, so that’s where those stations are. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way in Rainier Valley, where the neighborhoods are centered on Rainier but the stations are on MLK. Although that may be leading to a new “Othello neighborhood”.
Maybe the Othello Station should be renamed Iago. That way there won’t be any confusion with having two neighborhoods with the same name :=
Where’s the other Othello neighborhood? The neighborhood at Rainier & Othello is Hillman City.
Let’s also rename Roosevelt to Stalin.
</…>
How about “West Campus Station”?
Brent, actually, that’s not awful. Though I like “South Campus” for the Husky Stadium one better.
(Sigh)
I-1053, an initiative that to me shifts more onto user fees, does though allow for a public vote on taxes. With a simple majority. I don’t see what’s wrong with letting the public vote on taxes, it’s what We The People want. I do feel it does allow user fees (e.g. tuition, car tabs, transit fare) to skyrocket however.
Now if only some politicians & lobby groups would show some guts and principles and come to us voters I-1053 would be moot.
Off hot.
You the person may want it (I-1053 didn’t pass by 2/3’s), but I don’t want to spend my time trying to negotiate a state budget, which is what raising money for the state is all about. If you don’t like what your Reps do, work to replace them.
I like my Reps, but they’re in the minority.
Just let us vote on taxes and we’ll do just fine. Voter approval on new taxes should be welcomed by progressives IF they represent the 99%.
I’m a progressive, I’m a 99%er, and I don’t believe in direct democracy.
So you want to uh represent the 99% but not let them vote?
Am I right?
Mass direct democracy sipmly is ineffective in creating effective governance. We vote for people to represent us because those individuals are entrusted by our consent to critically analyse issues and make decisions for the general welfare. We already voted. You just don’t like the outcome.
“Mass direct democracy sipmly is ineffective in creating effective governance.”
So I guess when the people voted to approve Sound Transit measures and a Skagit County gas tax increase for Skagit Transit/SKAT in 2008, that wasn’t “effective governance”?
“We already voted. You just don’t like the outcome.”
We didn’t vote on any tax increase proposals because you Dems won’t come to us 99% with the proposals at the ballot box and make your case for us to deprive ourselves of the liberty of our money to pay for genuine needs. I think somebody else doesn’t like the outcome of MULTIPLE elections demanding voter consent on taxes:
•2010: I-1053 – Required 2/3 vote or voter approval for tax increases (64% yes)
•2007: I-960 – Required 2/3 vote or voter approval for tax increases (51% yes)
•1999: I-695 – Required voter approval of all tax increases (56% yes)
•1998: R-49 – Reaffirmed provisions of 1993 I-601 (57% yes)
•1993: I-601 – Required 2/3 vote for tax increases (51% yes)
Perhaps I’m wrong. Fill me in please.
Correction, the Dems did. I’m not a Democrat. I genuinely don’t think voter-approved initiatives are good. Is it nice that people want to tax themselves specially, sure if that’s what they want. But if they were going to do that, their politicians should have been able to do it without the public and corporations waging massive campaigns just to do it/not do it. It’s is a precarious, unnecessary process. What you have provided only shows exactly why initiatives are wrong. Many of these are dependent upon low voter turnout in the first place, confusion and complexity, misinformation, and hiding minute, but important details. Case in point: every Eyman initiative ever.
Sure Stephen, your position is clear. No direct democracy ever – so no public records act in this state and no limit on taxes.
Sorry, but I like my public records act – installed by initiative – and I like voter consent on taxes. If progressives want to get things done, that’s the way of the future.
I don’t like the idea of a political movement based on the idea voters – you know the 99% – are not up to the job of actually voting and so a chosen few decide whether or not to overtax or underfund. Rather, I believe the voters will educate themselves and make the tough calls. So does Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna who have both promised to only raise taxes with voter consent.
What you’re describing is a terrible waste of resources. We have politicians for the same reason we have surgeons. Sure, everyone can go to med school and learn how to operate on themselves for the next time they need their appendix out. But that would cost everyone a lot of time and money, and there would be a lot more surgical deaths. It’s much more efficient to have a small group of professionals that are experts at any one thing.
And don’t kid yourself. Our laws are immensely complex and inter-related, as is our finance and political systems. Anything you think you know about any inititive you’ve ever voted for is probably at least a little bit wrong, and a lot simplistic. To have a full understanding would take a large amount of time and effort, and then you’d be just one knowledgable vote against millions of soundbite-based votes.
“a chosen few decide whether or not to overtax or underfund” Don’t forget you helped choose these few. Just like you should be careful choosing the right surgeon, make sure you’re careful choosing the right politician.
FOIA is a prescedent set by the federal government. Every state has followed suit. I don’t know what your point is other than the initiative was a redundant effort to an inevitable outcome.
Your presumption that the voters will educate themselves fully on issues is absurd. Even I don’t pretend to understand a whole array of legislative issues (including taxing means and purposes)–even in certain urban planning area, which is my profession. Your position is arrogant, shocking, and silly.
But we’re a democratic Republic and not simply a democracy. That means we vote for the people we pay to represent us and do the hard work.
I’m not saying we need to give them carte blanche but the libertarian notion of starving our government does us no good either.
If we work to limit the role of corporations and corrupting money influences then our representatives have a much better chance of representing the true interests of the people.
The medical analogy doesn’t work. Surgeons spend years in school and then residency before they are board certified as a specialist. Some of our legislators have a good grasp of financing (Ross Hunter for example). But when you’re day job is fireman I’m not convinced they’re an expert on tax code or budgets; unless they get some sort of Wizard of Oz diploma when they’re sworn in. And on the job training doesn’t count for much because all they “learn” is how to spend other peoples money with the goal of being reelected. Sort of like doctors over prescribing drugs because they’re paid by pharmaceutical companies. Rule #3
I think this dialogue is illustrative of the differences between progressives and conservatives. Progressives want an elite few to govern, conservatives want the 99%/We The People to at least make the BIG governing decisions like voting for or against transit taxes, voting on privatizing liquor, voting on the legal definition of marriage, and voting on public records access.
On the latter, many local and some state politicians do not want public meetings & public records laws – and they even send in lobbyists to further erode them. It took the initiative process to get the latter…
I do believe we need experts driving our transit, educating our kids and in our bureaucracy. But I believe “An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” Thomas Jefferson I say let’s go to voters on taxes and brace ourselves… transit has won before at the polls as does education for school levies, why stop now?
“because all they ‘learn’ is how to spend other peoples money with the goal of being reelected” And that, Bernie, is why you and I will never agree. I’ve had too many conversations with sharp, knowledgable politicians to believe that.
As far as privatizing liquor, that’s something that never should have required an initiative. The State could have gotten a much better deal if the legislators had the spine to do away with our prohibition era laws. You only have to look as far as the major donor toward the lawsuit against I-1053, the State Employee’s Union, to understand why they would never have implemented the will of the people.
Oh stop with the notion that you’re out to help liberate the 99%. Either you believe in our representative democracy or you don’t. And if not, then you oppose the most fundamental principle of our constitution, which is fine, your right to do so. But by doing so, it undermines effective governance, which is partially why our system is so screwed up. The only time the public ought to have a direct legislative vote is when we are to vote on a reredenum to constitutional changes.
I won’t dispute that there are many, even a majority of politicians that are sharp and knowledgeable. Heck Rod Blagojevich received his Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University. The root of our disagreement is rule #3. I won’t even blindly trust the sawbones and they’re better educated than most politicians!
Just an FYI, I was responding to AvGJ. What’s rule #3?
Stephen, at least I’m liberating the 99% wallets. That’s why so many vote for limits on taxes. I’d limit user fees too.
Washington State is governed by a representative democracy. The initiative and referendum process are a part of that. It’s part of the checks and balances that include gubernatorial veto and court challenges. If the legislature had been able to control spending during the boom years I don’t think I-1053 would have passed.
If the legislature spent our money poorly why didnt we vote them out? Oh i see, we want the best of both worlds where we receive services that we don’t have to pay for.
Actually, the difference between political “progressives” and political so-called “conservatives” these days is that political “conservatives” are poorly-informed ideologues. A true conservative, one who conserves the best of the past, is not a political “conservative” these days.
I’m a progressive who is a strong *supporter* of direct democracy. And it *does* require a well-educated populace. Which requires getting rid of political “conservatism”, which has the openly admitted goal of keeping the people uninformed.
Anyway, even with a poorly educated populace, most initiatives and referenda are OK; they’re no worse than the results of elected officials elected by the same poorly educated populace.
What is NOT acceptable are these bullshit supermajority rules. Those are anti-democratic. Supermajority requirements should be restricted to constitutional changes (which we want to be hard). There is a reason why rich right-wingers keep trying to pass antidemocratic laws which require supermajorities to raise taxes, as they did in California — it’s because they know that majorities will happily raise taxes on the rich.
As a supporter of direct democracy, “Avgeek Joe”, I’m sure you agree with me that simple majorities should have the right to, for instance, pass confiscatory taxes on the superrich. Which means you do NOT agree with the political so-called “conservatives”, who have gone out of their way to prevent that from happening….
Also, regarding “progressive” — at this point “progressive” seems to mean nothing more than “not a complete head-in-the-sand idiot”. It covers an absurd range of different viewpoints.
Between inflation and our shrinking tax base, Washington State’s revenues are falling (relative to GDP) every year.
Therefore, I-1053 really says that 1/3 of the house can agree to lower taxes.
Why should it be okay for a minority to pass an economic policy that the majority disagrees with?
There is always the option of going to voters to get consent of the true majority… :-).
Sometimes you need to raise taxes just to maintain the current standard of government service. You shouldn’t have to go back to the voters every time sales tax receipts decline dip or road maintainance supplies go up in price.
If you set the budget by popular vote, we’d end up with all the most expensive services and no taxes at all. That is generally what people vote for. For example, look at I-1163, approved by voters, adding an expensive state-run training program for home-care workers, but not including any revenue stream to fund it. On the same ballot, voters rejected almost every proposed tax, for any purpose.
We elect professionals to represent us, hammer out deals, make compromises, and make sure voter approved programs are actually funded and the budget can be balanced. While I’d like to think the American voter is smart enough to figure out how to pay for the services they want, I can’t think of an example in recent US history where direct democracy has helped balance a budget anywhere. They’re great at creating unfunded mandates and knocking down existing funding sources, though.
Lack Thereof;
Great comment. So I have a simple solution to your great issue…
Put “pay go” rules on the initiative process. If a tax cut, then services are cut. If a new service, tax hike.
I think our state’s already done that in response to Eyman’s antics, but I forget the RCW.
Again, great comment :-). The WEA really, truly needs to quit lying about I-728 & I-732 which were surplus-dependent. They have been suspended in the past and finally this year, I-728 was repealed in toto. Pay-go is the only way to go :-).
Joe:
I’m generally a supporter of pay-go rules. However, IANAL but I suspect such a restriction on all initiative action would be just as unconstitutional as I-1053; only an amendment to the state constitution can change the requirements for passing a law. However, there’s nothing stopping initiative writers from sticking pay-go clauses in individual initiatives (i.e. any change in the cost for this program will be immediately paid for by adjusting taxes X Y and Z).
I also worry it would restrict the ability of government to run short-term deficits in poor economic times, when tax receipts always fall, and social services always take on extra loads. This is also my problem with strict balanced-budget amendments. We need a balanced budget in the long view, but in the short term it makes a lot of sense to cycle between deficit and surplus as economic conditions allow.
Lack Thereof;
Sorry for the late reply. Working some strange hours lately…
That said, I can see your point. My idea was pay-go starting with initiatives, then at some point the legislature. My bad for not adding that info.
Finally, Washington State generally governs itself on a balanced budget ideal even though we don’t have to: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008480910_budget08m.html
All the best!
Joe: actually, when voters vote for services and not for taxes to pay for them, they’re making a clear vote:
They’re voting for the government to print money.
Unfortunately, the state government can’t print money. (The federal government can!)
I-1053 could make sense if (and only if) there was an even distribution of tax money across the state. But as it is now, King County and very few others are subsidizing the rest of the state’s counties, whose representatives repeatedly refuse to raise taxes. Those reps don’t want to raise taxes because they are currently getting a very sweet deal sucking at the teat of rural welfare.
Living in one of those few other counties, I feel your pain. I feel we need tax reform and voter approval of all new taxes PLUS caps on user fees.
Voter approval of taxes has always been an option. Sometimes it’s worked – and I’m proud to say I voted FOR the Skagit Transit 2008 funds that are now funding NEW routes!!
This is not a direct democracy…. and should’t be.
NIMBYs try to kill kitten adoption center.
“Snowboarding commute to Stevens Pass will be epic?” …more like a nice quick commute to…well…maybe Monroe?
You do realize that there is a segment missing in the entire SR 522 that is still unfunded though the project has been scoped and discussed for ages. It’s the segment of SR 522 between Paradise Lake Road and the Snohomish River Bridge. Yeah, they are in the process of building a new bridge over the river, but WSDOT is simply relocating a new bottleneck for westbound vehicles. It’s part of the ideology pushed by WSDOT. “Let’s build currently unneeded cheap portions of a corridor project, so we can get the big bucks to fund the location that needs the most help.” It’s the though process used on the I-405 corridor project. People complain about I-405 from Bellevue to Renton. However, Bellevue to Lynnwood will be widened with “Express Toll Lanes.” See their logic? If the project is successful, the thought is that they will try to push for the widening southward. The problem is, with so many communities adjacent to the freeway, I’m sure most of them will protest any type of widening.
The ultimate plan on SR 522 is to build a grade separated interchange at Paradise Lake Road, the last signal on the mainline between I-405 and Monroe.
Even I’d have trouble just making up a statistic like that := In the article the footnote pointing to where this “statistic” comes from is Rural Transportation: Setting the Context. Trouble is it says no such thing. Sheet 8 (pg. no. 7) of this document gives a clever formula for calculation transit dependency from census data.
Zero-Vehicle Households and Transit:
Continuing…
Wait, I thought The Seattle Times LIKED traffic? What was it, something about “WE NEED AS MANY PARKING SPACES AS POSSIBLE” by Lynn Thompson? I give up. I really DON’T understand The Seattle Times’ rationality. However, I for once agree with them on one thing: the new arena would be disaster.
You know, if Amazon went to the city and said “I’m going to build a $500 million development centre, all the public has to do is chip in $200 million”, no one would go for it, they’d think it’s ludicrous.
But somehow “I’m going to build a $500 million structure where millionaires can work a few dozen times a year, all the public has to do is chip in $200 million” is considered a good idea by most people? LA doesn’t have an NFL team, San Francisco doesn’t have a basketball team, and somehow those places are just fine.
+1!!
Warriors reveal plans to move back to San Francisco
It is bizzare that the L.A. metro area doesn’t have an NFL presence and that they’ve lost two teams (Rams and Raiders). But they do have two major leauge football teams, the Galaxy and Chivas USA :=
This is a good analogy for revealing what is actually being asked for. The reason the stadium will be funded is lots of people will enjoy it. (Lots of people won’t enjoy it though too)
Saying San Francisco doesn’t have a basketball team is like saying Seattle wouldn’t have a basketball team if the stadium were built on the Eastside. The Bay Area has a basketball team that, as mentioned, is moving from Oakland to San Francisco, and that has historically been identified at least as much with SF as with Oakland.
LA doesn’t have a football team for the moment, but rumor has it that is changing. Not to mention that LA enjoys two regional NHL teams, two NBA teams—one of which is an integral part of the city’s fabric, two regional baseball teams, and two MLS teams.
We can of course debate whether helping finance a stadium is wise choice now or ever, but the comparison isn’t apt. Let me know when people enjoy watching Amazon employees work, when Amazon meetings draw big television ratings, or when bars across the city start hanging neon Amazon signs in their windows.
And let’s not pretend, in the first place, that cities all around the country don’t routinely offer all manner of financial incentives to attract companies. The city/state package that drew just the Boeing headquarters and its 500 or so mostly transplanted job to Chicago topped $60 million—with no plan for any repayment.
LA also has a professional Lacrosse team. Also, They’ve been missing NFL teams for about 10 or more years now despite having multiple stadiums that seat in excess of 100,000 people.
Their NFL problem isn’t about stadiums, as far as I know, although I doubt any of the old behemoths are up to modern standards. It’s about pairing the right seller with the right buyer, since the NFL ain’t expanding any time soon and there isn’t a long list of franchises struggling off the field or cities that won’t fight for their teams. The rumor for the last year or so has been Magic Johnson.
The LA Galaxy draw about as many fans as the Mariners, so listing the MLS teams was no joke.
Bellevue and Seattle are a lot closer than San Francisco and South Oakland but whatever.
You don’t need a basketball stadium to watch basketball on tv. You can do that now, lots of people do. The bar by my house was showing basketball just the other day when I was in there. This stadium deal is not going to result in a net increase in NBA basketball on planet earth.
Yes, Andrew, I’m aware of the relative distances—as well as the fact that BART conveniently drops loads of fans from San Francisco at the entrance to Oracle Arena for every home game their team plays.
Don’t suppose that bar by your house sported the generic NBA Jerry West logo did it? Of course not. The point you’re missing or ignoring is that people—maybe not you, but people—find value in a hometown sports franchise far above and beyond the value of a widget-making company, rendering the analogy you tried to draw fallacious before even getting into the fact that companies like Amazon do indeed routinely receive multimillion dollar incentives to relocate or expand.
By your logic, since Amazon relocating to South Lake Union doesn’t result in a net increase in jobs on planet earth, why should we care if Amazon builds in Seattle or Oklahoma City?
For $100 million dollars they can name it Amazon Arena, sort of has a nice ring to it doesn’t it :=
Well played, Bernie, well played.
Amazon Arena would work better if the Storm played there.
1st: I do like sports, I have season tickets to the sounders, go to M’s games, etc. I just don’t think we have to buy ever possible sport a new stadium ever few years.
2nd: Amazon moved to south lake union precisely because they ran out of space and needed more offices for their larger employment.
So you’re wrong on both counts.
aw: good one.
No, I’m not wrong on either count.
1. The modifier “maybe” is pretty critical to the phrase “maybe not you.” As in, “possibly, but I don’t know.”
2. Why Amazon moved has nothing to do with the point. Amazon is expanding, yes. Duh. Again, moving to South Lake Union as opposed to Oklahoma doesn’t result in a net increase in jobs on planet earth.
I suspect we’re actually much more in agreement than not. I was just pointing out that (1) you can’t pretend comparing the Sonics to a corporation is an apples-to-apples analogy because people value sports for their own sake and (2) even if you could make the apples-to-apples comparison, local and state governments do indeed offer companies like Amazon huge expansion and relocation incentives all the time—usually minus the universal public outcry you predicted.
Your response has not been to agree or disagree with either of those points, but to tell me that Bellevue and Seattle are closer than San Fransisco and Oakland (thanks), that Amazon is expanding (thanks), and that my television receives NBA games even without a local stadium (thanks again!).
I wholeheartedly agree most stadium funding is a dirty racket. This particular proposal just happens to be one of the few that passes the smell test for me, thus far.
Jason, first for amazon. Amazon could not employ the number of people it does in Oklahoma. Try to find some good designers and software architects in Oklahoma city, good luck. They seem to be having trouble here, even, considering the recruiting effort I personally experience. So Amazon being in Seattle is a net increase in people in jobs on planet earth.
Anyway, whatever. As far as extortion goes, it definitely is the best one I’ve ever seen. Still not sure it’s a good deal, especially compared to transit (hey, I started a transit blog, obviously it’s important to me). My point is just that you wouldn’t let any other corporation (yes, sports teams are corporations) get away with that shit.
The think that convinced me that Seattle should not have another pro sports team is this:
http://timandjeni.com/blog/can-seattle-support-six-major-pro-sports-teams/
Amazon and it’s fancy pants programmers beat out less efficient mom & pop companies. Efficiency means less people to do the same work. But then these people make it into the 1% and buy lot’s of “stuff” and hire people to manicure their suburban lawns and service the Beemer so I guess net there are more jobs on planet earth. For sure more jobs in the Puget Sound.
Why the hell would L.A. want a team when it means no games are blacked out, all games are available via cable/satellite package, and there are these things called beaches?
You’re getting caught up in irrelevant details about the Amazon thing, Andrew. I just picked OKC for sheer poetic value. Make the comparison SLU and Silicon Valley, NYC, Chicago, London, or Bangladesh. Anywhere that makes the analogy work for you. The simple point I was making in response to your rather silly statement that “you don’t need a basketball stadium to watch basketball” was that when it comes to things people value—be it sports teams or jobs—*of course* it matters to them whether those things exist locally or just generally in the universe.
No, I’m not. Listen, Seattle has some comparative advantages over other places. Being a better place for basketball is not one of them, because NBA is pretty much the same everywhere.
Is Captain Obvious part of your title as STB founder, too?
Bavarian Meats in the Pike Place Market does (or did) have their processing plant near the intersection of Western and Eagle (north of Broad) in Belltown. I believe they make/made Bologna there, although they spell it “Bolgna”.
http://bavarianmeats.com/Wholesale/BM_Wholesale.html
Their hot dogs (which are sold at the tax-payer-built baseball stadium, IIRC?) are the best!
OK, totally OT but Golden Steer in Bellevue is great. If the arena deal falls through and, perish the thought, gets built in Bel-Red instead; maybe I can fall back on the consolation that Golden Steer can provide the hot dogs.
OneBusAway missing the transit apps list is not criminal at all – I may love me some OBA, but that doesn’t mean other cities do it better. When OBA can give me my ORCA balance on demand, that’s when I’ll start to be impressed.
Room to grow, OBA! Opportunity!
Any ideas what the OBA developers may be looking to add to functionality in the near future (if any)?
Don’t know. I do keep hearing about possible funding issues now that its being run under the auspices of UW, but I hear equal press about resolution of those funding problems, too.
For now, last I heard they were still working out the bugs in the new GPS tracking feeds, and that untangling them from the old AVLS feeds was a task.
How about the functionality of letting you know when the next bus will arrive and not give people false hope that a bus will arrive at all.
Also – The Stranger (the wonderful Cienna Madrid, in particular) penned an article about the possibly-foreseen Law of Unintended Consequences having to do with shifts in demographics and property values in Rainier Valley thanks to Link: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/railroaded/Content?oid=13742136
Worth a read.
Is it just me, or are some of the people opposing new housing construction the same people complaining about rents going up?
If you make a neighborhood nicer — in *any way* — it becomes more popular, and then supply and demand makes it more expensive to live in.
This is not directly avoidable. The only ways to evade the problem are:
(1) To never make anywhere nicer. This is stupid.
(2) To make EVERYWHERE nicer. This seems like a good idea, but it’s expensive and hard.
(3) To reduce income and wealth inequality, so that nobody gets “priced out” when a neighborhood becomes more expensive to live in. This is the *actual* solution. It is well beyond the remit of a transportation agency and into national economic policy.
Ideas for OBS improvements:
Given the OBS’ capabilities to automatically change destination signs and ORCA reader fare deductions in the route without the driver having to lift a finger, why stop there?:
-Automatic disabling of stop-request bell in DSTT and on 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th Avenues between 6AM and 7PM (NO manual override) (Note: While I do realize the RFA is being phased out, I still think it is pointless to have the bell enabled when the bus stops at EVERY stop regardless of whether people want to deboard or not)
-Automatic shifting into/out of hush mode when entering/exiting DSTT with NO manual override
-Automatic actuation of overhead wire switches (trolleys only) without having to use turn signals
-Automatic activation of “Last Stop/All Deboard” and “Last Free Stop” PSA’s.
Also, idea for an OBS canned PSA:
“This bus is now enetring/leaving the city of Seattle. A two-zone fare will apply if you deboard after this stop.”
Why disable the bell downtown? It only rings once per stop. For routes that are discharge only, there might be one or two stops that could be skipped.
I heard an automated announcement on route 12 yesterday indicating we were exiting the RFA and what the applicable fare would be starting with the next stop. I’d not heard that one before.
It doesn’t say what the fare is only that far is collected.
It’s not automated actually (unless something has changed recently). There are several canned announcements (male voice) programmed into the OBS that the driver can bring up. I’m not sure how many there are,
By automated, I meant it was not a driver announcement. I recollect it was a woman’s voice making the announcement.
And you’ll have bus patrons pull the cord off the bracket when it doesn’t make noise. Some bus riders are terminally clueless. How many times have you seen someone entering a bus going out of town and tap their ORCA card? My guess is lots as if they’ve never used a bus before. How many times have you seen someone pull the cord for a stop when the STOP light is lit on the ceiling?
My guess is those horrible transgressions are committed by infrequent bus riders, like myself. Most people were not born with bus riding knowledge imbedded in their brains.
The bus routes using Third Avenue don’t actually stop at every actual “bus stop”. There are designated stop areas on almost every block, but some (moist?) routes seem to leapfrog and skip every other stop on Third. I think that for infrequent users, disabling the bell downtown would make it look like the bus is actually driving past a lot of valid “next stops”, with nothing the rider can do to about it.
Buses running on 2nd and 4th Ave are also skip-stop.
A couple years ago I was on a bus in the DSTT and thought I didn’t have to ring the bell to get off at Chinatown, so I just walked up toward the front to get off. The driver told me I should ring the bell if I’m getting off, like I was some kind of idiot that had never been on a bus before.
An interesting land use case has been brewing over in Kirkland:
Grant Cogswell. My last sighting? Sidewalk at 5th Avenue Theater, in front of me in a line–either to buy Tom Waits tickets (late 1990s Mule Variations tour) or at the show itself. Good show, by the way. Didn’t he move to Mexico or something?
Was he the namesake for Cogswell’s Cosmic Cogs? I heard on a PBS show not long ago that the Space Needle was the inspiration for the round home of the Jetsons which would rise up and down to keep it above the smog layer. I don’t remember the writers name or exactly what his tie in was to the World’s Fair.
Frome SeattlePD
Semi-Truck/Light Rail Vehicle Collision in South Seattle
Posted by Detective Jeff Kappel
On June 1st at approximately 9:00 a.m. officers responded to a vehicle collision between a semi-truck and a Sound Transit Light Rail Vehicle. Preliminary investigation indicates that a semi-truck hauling a 53-foot box trailer filled with approximately 48,000 pounds of canned soda pop was southbound on MLK Jr Way South approaching South Holly Street. When the driver of the semi-truck realized he was headed in the wrong direction (away from his intended destination) he initiated a left turn from southbound MLK Jr Way South to eastbound South Holly Street. As he did so, the semi-truck driver collided with a southbound-traveling Sound Transit Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) that was approaching the intersection with the right-of-way signal.
The LRV struck the back of the semi’s box trailer causing a back portion of the trailer (including the tandem axles) to separate from the forward part of the trailer. A substantial amount of the trailer’s contents spilled onto the roadway and railroad right-of-way.
No serious injuries were reported as a result of this collision.
Both the semi-truck driver and LRV operator were evaluated for signs of impairment due to alcohol and/or drugs. No impairment was detected.
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Squad officers responded to the scene and inspected the semi-truck and operator records. No equipment or log book violations were noted.
Due to the excessive amount of debris on the railroad right-of-way, northbound and southbound LRV service wasn’t restored until approximately 1:00 p.m. Vehicular traffic on northbound MLK Jr Way South was re-opened at approximately 2:00 p.m. Southbound vehicular traffic was re-opened at approximately 2:30 p.m.
There were no citations issued at the scene, which is standard procedure in serious traffic collisions requiring extensive follow up investigation and collision reconstruction.
Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.
I saw the picture of that on Slog. Mountain Dew everywhere.
This is going to keep happening until we get photo enforcement at these intersections.
Oh, the Dew-manity!
Did you mean to say, this is going to keep happening until Link on MLK is put underground.
Why are there so many really bad semi drivers?
I’ve heard it suggested that it is due to abusive work conditions, where most semi drivers are sleep-deprived and really shouldn’t be on the road.
OneBusAway did not make the cut and it’s no wonder. The app gives more bad information than it does good information. I get more “scheduled” results than I do “arrive” results. Unless the people running the OBA program can put some reliability in the program people won’t use it. Right now it’s broken.
DC’s SmarTrip card price is about to drop to $1.
That will leave ORCA as the only contactless bus smart card in the country requiring a $5 surcharge to obtain it.
The average cost for the other 13 cards will drop to 69 cents. The next-closest expensive card will be $2 (tie by Spokane, San Diego, and Miami).
As is Los Angeles’ TAP card ($1).
Whoa. Mis-read.
The $1 is the new surcharge for paper passes, not SmarTrip.
The WMATA Board hasn’t set a price for the new cheaper line of SmarTrip cards that is coming in the fall. But since the pass-through cost to the manufacturer is lower than the $3.40 they were paying to Cubic, the peak-of-peak surcharge is going away (which eliminates the negative-balance conundrum when using SmarTrip), and the Board had previously attempted to lower the fee to $2.50, expect the fee to drop significantly.
Sorry for the mis-info.
WMATA has good excuses for charging $5. Metro and ST have flimsier reasons — one of which is they need to agree on any lowering of the card fee. So far, neither body has formally undertaken discussion on the matter.
But Metro has done something to help with tunnel flow: The 212, 216, 217, 218, and 256 will all deboard at the forward bays, instead of the rear ones, starting June 9. However, they’ll still board at the rear bays. If this alteration doesn’t improve throughput, I hope Metro will implement more efficiencies before September 29.
But, please, oh please, don’t have people paying cash and change at the farebox in the tunnel during peak. If the ORCA surcharge were to go away, Metro/ST could ban cash payment at front doors in the tunnel immediately.
So I saw an advert on the side of the bus the other day the stated with a minimum purchase the orca fee will be rebated back on the card…if this is true isn’t this a step in the right direction.
Where did you see the ad? Most of the “free” contactless smart cards are actually free with a minimum fare purchase. I don’t think Metro/ST should just give out empty cards. I just don’t want the surcharge creating a disincentive to getting it.
Doug, if that is actually true it would definitely be a huge step in the right direction.
Someday Seattle will be a real city.
Then this will happen on LINK:
Large rat scares A train riders (video)
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/large_rat_scares_train_riders_fQdLTEIFAhteA84Bc5PWZP#ixzz1wgMyldag
Aw. What a cutie. Well, rats have to get around NYC too. I wonder how he or she knew which stop to get off at? ;-)
The Coming World Of Self Driving Cars — Why 2080 May Look A Lot Like 1880
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robenderle/2012/06/01/the-coming-world-of-self-driving-cars-why-2080-may-look-a-lot-like-1880/
Volvo’s self-driven car convoy treks 125 miles across Spanish motorway
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/volvo-self-drive-car-convoy-treks-125-miles-004637032.html
They’ll be banned within 10 years. These futurists really don’t understand human psychology. One crash — banned.
Toronto’s Union Station was flooded on Friday closing down several subway lines.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/01/toronto-union-station-flood-shuts-down-citys-main-transport-hub/
Ah, the Yonge-University-Spadina line station was flooded. Probably the trolley loop too.
That station has rather odd surroundings, and I’m not surprised that it flooded, as water can pour straight off the street into the station, as in many stations in New York. I suppose that the storm sewers may have overfilled.