The Times takes a look today at whether the Sodo light rail station will get much use. Quite a few people work at Starbucks’ corporate headquarters, the article notes, but how many of them live near a light rail station? And will downtown workers looking to save a buck park in Sodo and then ride the train in to work (thus eating up the parking for Sodo businesses?The article says, “The industrial district is evolving to add home-improvement stores, eateries and even nightclubs. More retail shops will join the Esquin wine shop near the station, putting more feet (and would-be rail patrons) on the street.”Which of course raises the question–did the city miss out on a big opportunity for the transit-oriented development it covets by cramming through an industrial lands downzone in late 2007? If you’ll recall, after commissioning a study that found that some industrial businesses could be threatened by higher land prices and increased real estate development, the Mayor and City Council decided immediately to reduce how much could be built on all of the city’s industrial land–i.e. 12% of the city. Consider that about 75% of Seattle’s land is zoned for single family homes and no elected representative has the guts to say that that might not be a good idea; this legislation rezoned nearly half of the land available for development–including in neighborhoods like Sodo whose industrial uses include, as the article notes, Starbucks’ corporate headquarters, eateries, and wine shops.