Last week, 4/5 of the King County Council’s suburban caucus proposed balancing Metro’s budget by, among other things, sticking it to Seattle, who they say is sticking it to everyone else. They want the city to pay a lot more than $400,000 for the ride-free zone in Downtown Seattle.Not surprisingly, Seattle met the plan with skepticism. As did Metro, whose chief said he doubted the arrangement cost more than Seattle is paying. Now you can add to that chorus of skeptical voices the Downtown Seattle Association, which fired off a letter to the County Council telling it to think long and hard before cutting the ride-free zone. While the DSA isn’t taking an official position yet, it mentioned the usual arguments in favor of the zone–it speeds up service, and many downtown riders are on pre-paid passes anyway.The DSA’s apparent opposition should come as no surprise, and while the players are different in this case, it’s worth remembering that the DSA are the same folks who got their way on the tunnel. (With help from others, of course.) Perhaps they have some Jedi mind tricks up their sleeves.