Monorail Q&A

Quid Pro Recall

Interesting "Monorail Q&A" [Oct 20]. Here's another one:

Q: For what amount of money can the journalistic integrity of the Seattle Weekly be bought? A: However much the anti-monorail insert cost.

Come on, even if there was no quid pro quo going on, it's really bad form to run an insert ad from a group and then write a long editorial supporting that group's position, which is thinly veiled as a Q&A. That Q&A was as one-sided as a statement from the Bush campaign about Halliburton.

For example, "Q: Would an approved I-83 mean the end of the Seattle Monorail Project? A: No. . . . SMP could continue to exist and collect taxes."

Hello! I-83 would prohibit the monorail from traveling above city streets. SMP would still be alive, but the monorail would be dead as a doornail. The "No" answer is an attempt to mislead by splitting hairs.

Jeremy Dwyer
Seattle

Same Old Mantras

Seattle Weekly keeps chanting the same old mantras about the monorail ["Monorail Q&A," Oct. 20]:

(1) "They could just expand bus service." The bus is slow, and therefore only good for short commutes. (2) "They could just expand light rail." Even if Sound Transit could stay within its budget, the train would stop at lights just like the bus. (3) "The route is questionable." The public hearings provided many chances to question the route. The final plan left some people unhappy. Guess what? So would a new plan. (4) "The columns would be unsightly." Downtown buildings are mostly huge concrete columns; why worry about obstructing them with midsized monorail columns? (5) "The trains would be noisy." I can't even hear the Seattle Center monorail over the noise of cars and buses. (6) "It costs money." So do gridlock, road maintenance, traffic accidents, and smog-related illnesses.

Enough meditating already—start the construction.

Ben Asher
Seattle

She Says Yay!

Rick Anderson's story on the monorail recall initiative was perfect ["Monorail Q&A," Oct. 20]. It was written to perfection in pointing out real concerns without being a naysayer. Well done! Bravo!

Melody Sarkies
Seattle

Light Rail to Ballard

Thank you for Rick Anderson's "Monorail Q&A" [Oct. 20]. Anderson quoted monorail activist Peter Sherwin as saying that Sound Transit has no plans to serve Ballard. Mr. Sherwin is incorrect. Sound Transit's Long-Range Vision includes both a Sounder commuter rail station in Ballard and a light-rail line connecting Ballard to the University District and downtown Seattle, offering the public the vision of a truly integrated transit plan for Seattle.

The Ballard segment was not included for funding in Sound Transit's Phase 1 because the public and the Sound Transit Board determined it was a lower priority than the initial segment from Sea-Tac to the University District and Northgate, due to lower ridership potential and regional significance. However, serving Ballard and other northwest Seattle communities would be a worthy addition to the light-rail "spine," and has long been a part of Sound Transit's vision for the future.

Larry Phillips
King County Council Chair and
Sound Transit Board Member
Seattle

Charter Fools

As a public school teacher, I am appalled that the Weekly would endorse a yes vote on Referendum 55 ["Defend the Homeland!" Oct 20]. Charter schools will undoubtedly take money out of existing public schools. Those who read The New York Times know that in the most extensive study of charter schools nationwide to date, it was found that students in charter schools do as well as or worse than their public school counterparts. How many Seattle Weekly readers know that under Washington's charter school law, teachers would not be allowed to organize in their local union for the first five years of the charter school's existence? Also, the voters of this state have turned down charter schools twice on statewide ballot initiatives, yet the Legislature found the time to pass it into law despite this clear message from the voters. In your endorsement you say, "We think this modest experiment is worth trying in Washington." Do we really want to experiment with our children's futures, especially when the experiment has failed in every other state that has tried it? This is one more attempt by conservative interests to weaken the voice of labor unions and to further weaken the public school system, which currently needs all the help and support it can get.

Dave Amidon
Seattle

Suck IT Up for I-884

I read Seattle Weekly's endorsement to vote against Initiative 884 with interest, but I disagree with your conclusions ["Defend the Homeland!" Oct. 20]. Your paper is obviously correct that sales tax is regressive, but since our state is stubbornly against a state income tax, we are pretty much stuck with a regressive tax structure. Should we then resolve ourselves to a poor education system? Or should we just suck it up and pay the regressive taxes that we, for whatever perverse reason, demand? I'm for doing the latter.

Adam Griffith
Bothell

Laura, Not Sam

The Seattle Weekly endorsement of Sam Reed for secretary of state is much like other Reed endorsements ["Defend the Homeland!" Oct. 20]. Reed is commended for committing to having paper audit trails for electronic voting systems in 2006. None of his endorsements stress that he was forced into that wise decision or that he has permitted the use of electronic systems without a paper trail in two Washington state counties and uncertified software in King County.