Samples of Letters We've Sent

Letter to the PI

Published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Saturday, October 5, 2002

To the Editor,

Seattle is rapidly coming to a crossroads with regard to its mass transit future. The choice affects the south end of Seattle most. Monorail technology seems like a good fit for our city, it is less disruptive to neighborhoods, and won't interfere with the bus tunnel downtown. It enjoys popular support, and has a good chance of passage in November. Light-rail, on the other hand, has been scaled back drastically, and even with the cutbacks it will still cost more than was authorized when voters approved it. There's a lawsuit challenging it, and funding to complete the "starter" train-to-nowhere is not guaranteed.

Rather than yield to the mountain of evidence that light rail is a bad solution for Seattle, our leaders continue to pursue Sound Transit's troubled LINK light rail project because, it seems, they have so much political capital invested in making it happen at any cost. They seem more concerned with the political fallout of a failed light rail project than with the damage done to the neighborhoods in its path.

Even if Sound Transit manages to build light rail, if the monorail passes, then once again south end will be short changed. The rest of the city will have a modern efficient transit system, and the south end will be stuck with a train to nowhere. If you live in the south end of Seattle, vote for the monorail, and hope that your representatives come to their senses and stop light rail before its too late.

James Alls
Beacon Hill