An Update & Progress Report
It’s been a crazy few days, so we want to give everyone a quick summary of what has happened, where we are and what we do next.
Mr. Haley Recommends We Move Forward
Wednesday evening, the board of the Seattle Monorail Project was presented with a new plan by the project Director John Haley. In short, Mr Haley showed how all 14 miles of the line could be built for about 7 billion dollars over 38 years and that it could possibly be even lower, possibly down to 5.3 billion, with further investigation.
The Mayor Pulls His Support for the Monorail
On Friday, Mayor Nickels dropped a bomb on the project. Despite the fact that John Haley, a gentleman with an incredible amount of transit experience, said that plan was valid and we should proceed, Mayor Nickels said he would not let the project proceed and officially pulled his support from the Seattle Monorail by revoking the Transit Way Agreement. He is demanding that the monorail board place a measure on the ballot. If they do not do so by Wednesday evening, he will have the City Council put an advisory measure on the ballot Thursday for them.
What’s Next?
It’s honestly hard to say. Over the next few days, the Seattle Monorail board will decide what it’s next step will be. We certainly hope the mayor is going to take the time to sit down and work on making sure the next step is the one that builds our monorail.
Our Values Still Hold True
Some of us attended a short notice monorail board meeting on Saturday and expressed our frustration. We made sure to point out certain facts.
- The monorail is the only transit project that is adding capacity to our city.
- The monorail is 1/3 the cost of the current light rail project.
- We apologized to Director John Haley for bringing his incredible experience to this town and to have it wasted in this way.
- We questioned OnTrack, also known as The Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. Who are they working for because they are not working for the people. Who pays their bills? Who do they truly represent?
- No one is talking about what this is really about: cleaner air and water, less children with asthma, less time in traffic and more time in our communities.
- Where was the Mayor? Why wasn’t he at the meeting on Saturday making sure that Seattle will be voting on a monorail that’s worth voting for?
Every day, every button, every person you talk to still counts. Letting your representatives know about your belief in what rapid transit can do for the lives of our citizens still counts. The fact that you’re here, the fact that you can see a progressive future for Seattle, that you are willing to act most certainly counts. We must organize, take action, speak loudly and, ultimately, vote on November 4th with our hearts and minds. Seattle’s future is our own. Let’s make sure it’s a good one.
The Stranger Withdraws It’s Endorsement
Check out The Stranger’s blog coverage of the Mayor’s decision:
Nickels Pulls Plug On Monorail Before Public Gets A Chance to Vote
Not Voting for Nickels
September 19th, 2005 at 8:39 am
I am curious how the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce replied. WHO IS supporting them and footing the bills???? I had no idea they were On Track. I live in Kirkland, just resigned from the Kirkland Transportation Comission and was past chair of Citizens for King County Monorail. Suddenly I have the feeling I was dealing with the wolf in sheeps clothing.
September 19th, 2005 at 9:36 am
My guess is that the websites for both OnTrack and the Kirkland chamber of commerce are probably managed by the same person. Any connection beyond that is pure speculation, but it sure looks suspicious. We didn’t ask the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, but we did contact OnTrack. They have yet to release a statement on the matter.
September 19th, 2005 at 10:23 am
Christian,
I did a little research on the Kirkland Chamber and OnTrack websites using Network Solutions WhoIs search tool. The results are interesting. The Kirkland Chamber site was publicly registered with their domain registar allowing all of their contact information to be viewed by anyone. The OnTrack site, however, was privately registered so the only way to contact the owners of the domain is via the registar. This could just be someone trying to protect their privacy (I register my domains privately), but I have my doubts.
But the most interesting tidbit was that both domains are running on the exact same server (IP 216.168.37.73) in Bothell. I think this confirms that there is at least some administrative connection between the two organizations.
Here are the links to the WhoIs data if you would like to peruse it yourself:
WhoIs Kirkland Chamber
WhoIs OnTrack
Hope this helps.