If you’re interested in the Mercer Island Link station layout, be sure to attend Sound Transit’s community workshop on the subject this Tuesday, March 9th, from 5-7:30pm with the presentation starting at 6. It’ll be at the Mercer View Community Center (8236 SE 24th St.)
Learn about the East Link light rail system and view in-progress preliminary engineering drawings
Share your thoughts about the Mercer Island station layout
Tell us more about your community and how East Link can best serve you and Mercer Island.
To beat a dead horse for a moment, Mercer Island residents might let ST know whether or not they want direct Link service to the Downtown Bellevue core, as well as a line that serves the South Bellevue P&R, thus preventing I-90 commuters from having to use the Mercer Island Park & Ride to access Link by car.
If somehow you haven’t heard enough about the Bellevue Link alignment, Transportation Choices is hosting a forum Friday in Bellevue with some knowledgeable and/or influential figures:
Panelists:
Don Billen, East Link Project Manager, Sound Transit
Trinity Parker, Government and Community Relations, Sound Transit
Bernard Van de Kamp, City of Bellevue
Patrick Bannon, Downtown Bellevue Association
WHEN: Friday, March 5, 12 – 1:30 pm WHERE: Bradford Center, 752 108th Avenue NE, Bellevue
Greenbaum Home Furnishings, the site of a proposed B7 Wilburton P&R, would be condemned. Image from Google Streetview.
For those who expected the Bellevue city council to finally come to consensus on a ‘B’ segment decision last night, it didn’t happen. The large expectations were that the council was to pick up on a vote, where it left off last Monday. From internal sources, rumor was that Mayor Davidson was intending to do just that until the word reached his ear about the damage a vote could do to choosing a tunnel for the ‘C’ segment. This was further coupled with a mass of discontent from B3 supporters. Either way, progress was limited yet again in last night’s study session.
A Mercer Slough flyer from years ago. Image from HistoryLink.org.
Remember that tonight is the night to show up in favor of your favorite East Link alignment:
The Bellevue City Council could make a very bad decision Monday night tonight, choosing to change its preferred alignment from the superior B3 alignment to the environmentally-questionable B7 alignment that skips the South Bellevue Park & Ride, instantly losing thousands of daily riders for East Link…
WHAT: Bellevue City Council meeting to discuss the light rail alignment in South Bellevue WHEN: Monday March 1 at 6:00pm. Public comments are taken at the beginning. WHERE: Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE (one block from the Bellevue Transit Center)
A Mercer Slough flyer from years ago. Image from HistoryLink.org.
The Bellevue City Council could make a very bad decision Monday night, choosing to change its preferred alignment from the superior B3 alignment to the environmentally-questionable B7 alignment that skips the South Bellevue Park & Ride, instantly losing thousands of daily riders for East Link.
Transportation Choices Coalition has the details:
The City Council meets on Monday, March 1st to potentially reconsider its decision to serve the South Bellevue Park and Ride with a light rail stop. Last year, the City Council picked an alignment (B3) that would bring a light rail stop to this popular Park and Ride. The city council — with its two newly elected councilmembers — is considering switching its preference to an alignment (B7) that bypasses the South Bellevue Park and Ride, runs along the freeway and would serve the much smaller Wilburton Park and Ride, potentially leaving hundreds of transit riders in the lurch.
Show up on Monday and urge the council to keep light rail service to the South Bellevue Park and Ride.
WHAT: Bellevue City Council meeting to discuss the light rail alignment in South Bellevue WHEN: Monday March 1 at 6:00pm. Public comments are taken at the beginning. WHERE: Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE (one block from the Bellevue Transit Center)
Action on the B segment may be taken as early as 6pm, so please try to be there at or before then. Comments are scheduled for 8pm, but a stronger showing at six will be more influential. The meeting will be in conference room 1E-113, next to the council chamber.
[…] The South Bellevue P&R is a critical transit access point and must be served by East Link, since ST Express route 550 will no longer exist once light rail begins service. However, even the modified B7 has environmental concerns that leaders should consider carefully. We are confident the legal, financial, and environmental obstacles of crossing environmentally-sensitive wetlands will prove that B3S is the more practical and affordable alignment. […]
The final decision on the alignment comes down to the Sound Transit Board. Many on the board have expressed their desire to see regional light rail built in the best way possible; a good route will enhance the chances of future expansions of Link passing the ballot in the future and bringing light rail to communities that boardmembers represent, the thinking goes. Make no doubt: skipping the South Bellevue Park & Ride will hurt East Link deeply. The Sound Transit Board should overrule the Bellevue City Council if the council decides to be unconstructive rather than find an acceptable compromise.
A Mercer Slough flyer from years ago. Image from HistoryLink.org.
by JOAN DEVRAUN
I chose to live in Bellevue because of our beautiful park system. One of the city’s greatest park assets is the Mercer Slough Wetlands; when one experiences it, they understand why it was set aside for preservation. A B7 or B7 modified alignment would build light rail through these precious wetlands, which would be risky and could hurt East Link ridership.
Today’s Bellevue residents more closely resemble San Franciscans than those who resided in Bellevue 25 years ago, but modern practices of good local government lag behind the times. Despite owning a home in Bellevue, working here, and being a resident in every way, I realize that neither I nor the public interest are represented by our City Council. That is due to the conspicuous holes in local ethics laws that some self-interested parties have taken advantage of.
Since Kemper Freeman funded anti-rail candidates for the City Council last November, many misguided ideas have surfaced. One, a B7 modified option, was proposed without any consultation of neighbors in the Mercer Slough and Enatai neighborhoods. An on-going insult is the spurious aspersion often repeated by some council members that the residents along 118th Ave SE simply don’t exist. While our voices aren’t being heard, other neighborhoods are getting the attention of councilmembers.
Why is it that some neighborhoods “more equal” than others? It’s time to shine some light on the misguided private interests that have resulted in anti-transit proposals.
Why is it that one council member whose family owns approximately $50 million in real estate along the B3 alignment—the option he voted against—was not recused from that vote? The laws that exist across the lake in Seattle prevent council members with financial conflicts from participating in a vote. It’s also time strengthen our democracy in Bellevue and develop those same rules. Kevin Wallace and his ilk do not represent Bellevue residents, and their actions since being elected are contrary to the notion good government.
While there were a lot of expectations that the Bellevue City Council was going to make a decision on the B segment last night, it appeared that Robert’s Rules stopped them. For votes amending previous decisions (in this case, B3S), the council needs to put it on the agenda beforehand. If so, a simple majority is sufficient. Since that was not the case, at least five votes had to be in favor of one particularly side. Considering the relatively even split of the council, Mayor Davidson decided not to pursue such a vote. However, there is a possibility a vote could be put on the agenda for next week’s session.
Much of the East Link discussion was regarding C segment’s traffic analysis and environmental impacts of B segment. It appears most of the information was not really new. Of the highlights of the night, Kevin Wallace went off for a few minutes on how noisy the Link trains were along MLK Way and even said that trains were “squealing in and squealing out” of Westlake. Those of us who pass through the station regularly are well aware that no squealing has ever been a problem inside the tunnel.
The “comment” of the night comes from several Surrey Downs residents as I was leaving the meeting. One women said that when comparing the value of their homes to “those apartments” along the B7 route, the apartments are “not worth nearly as much.” The others with her scoffed in agreement. I think we’ve hinted before that this kind of conceited ‘neighborhood vs. neighborhood’ thinking makes us really question the credibility that these residents have in “wanting what’s good for Bellevue.”
[This is a live-blogging post from Bellevue City Hall. Keep refreshing for continued updates.]
5:57pm: I’m at the Bellevue City Council extended study session for tonight’s decision on the B segment of East Link. Thank goodness there’s wi-fi. Turnout is mediocre. So far, I don’t recognize any attendees from our meet-up, but I may be wrong.
5:59pm: Conrad Lee, deputy mayor, opens the executive session.
6:02pm: There’s pending litigation items, so the meeting won’t start for another 30 minutes. Check back soon.
6:05pm: Surrey Downs is, by far, showing the largest contingency. Martin Paquette, an Enatai resident who has spoken out against B7 in the past, has joined me.
6:26pm: I’m now hearing that representatives from Surrey Downs are giving some kind of a presentation on B7. That would explain the extraordinarily disproportionate representation of residents we see.
6:36pm: The Council is still in executive session. Things should be telecast on BTV, so check the link in the post below.
6:41pm: The council is finished with executive session and has entered the conference room. Whether we move to the main council chamber for comments remains to be seen.
Yesterday’s Downtown Bellevue open house for the new C-segment alternatives was rather uneventful, to say the least. As expected, the meeting was very similar to the first downtown open house last November, when public comment was being taken for the original DEIS alternatives. The Surrey Downs East Link Committee was out in full force handing out yellow literature asking for attendees to support B7 and C14E, two alignments we believe are simply the wrong way for East Link to go. As an incentive, they also handed out lollipops along with the flyers. Among the rest of the attendees, I recognized a few folks there as those who attended our meet-up last Thursday.
Katie Kuciemba, community outreach specialist for East Link, informed me that this time around, instead of allowing attendees to draw on the map plots, ST would be taking more general comments in lieu of people lamenting their individual qualms about the alignments. The overall mood of the open house was much tamer in comparison to last November’s, as there seemed to be a more balanced showing of supporters for each alternative. Below are some brief highlights of the evening presentation, much of which is old news:
With ST’s revenue forecast down 20% due to the recession, Don Billen quickly highlighted the appeal in the lowered costs of the downtown segments linked by an alternative B2A/112th Ave NE connector.
The downside to C14E’s restricted walking access was glaring, as Bernard Van de Kamp, Bellevue Regional Projects Manager, highlighted the Hospital Station’s more northernly placement, and its subsequent failure to effectively serve auto-row, an area that has been by marked as an ‘prime’ TOD zone by C14E supporters.
Van de Kamp also referred to the downtown ‘wedding cake’ node in saying that C14E was “not as good as the other alternatives” in serving the central core.
None of the questions explicitly criticized any single alignment, but were mostly logistical and objective queries.
Next Monday evening, the council is scheduled to hear public comments on the downtown segment. We’ll have more as soon as an exact time is scheduled.
