Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 4, April 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Seattle Sun Letters to the Editor

Keep on shining, Sun

I wanted to take a minute to congratulate you on a fine newspaper. This is the third edition that I have read and I am impressed by the excellent coverage of North Seattle's community news. ... My wife and I moved to Ballard this last October and love the neighborhood. I am glad that I can learn even more about it through your newspaper. And, although I can pick up a copy of the Sun for free from any number of local locations, I plan on subscribing to your paper next week.

Please keep up the good work,

PATRICK KEATING, Ballard

Monorail board fires back

In a recent guest column (published in the March 2004 issue of the Seattle Sun), City Councilmember Richard Conlin questioned the pace of the Seattle Monorail Project's (SMP) efforts to build the proposed 14-mile Green Line.

As members of the Monorail Board who are charged by the voters with making decisions on the project, we're very pleased with the work our staff has done to meet the board's adopted schedule, and to implement the monorail plan that was approved by the voters.

On a project of this magnitude, it will not be possible for everyone to like every recommendation the staff makes or every decision the board makes. But what is possible is to make sure we have an enthusiastic and thorough process of engaging with the community.

That's what we do at the SMP, by weighing all options thoughtfully and making decisions on a schedule that delivers on our commitment to the taxpayers.

Each step along the way, our staff has proposed innovations that improve design and access, while reducing costs and responding to community concerns, whether minimizing the need for any relocations or taking care not to interfere with truck and commute traffic.

Each time we review proposals at a board or committee meeting, we see how these refinements will make an even better monorail line.

Contrary to the assertions made in Conlin's guest column, these innovations have not resulted from schedule and financial pressures, but instead have arisen from the tremendous expertise brought together on the SMP team to look for the best ways to seamlessly weave the monorail into the fabric of our city.

As a result of paying careful attention to thousands and thousands of comment letters, plus input we have received at hundreds of community meetings and briefings, we now have a very strong recommendation for the route and station locations for the Green Line.

We've asked our staff to reach out and listen, address concerns, and move forward with all due care. As board members, we're proud of how hard they've worked and how well they've been listening.

And in March, we'll be ready to vote on the final alignment for the Green Line.

Mr. Conlin is correct that the voter-approved Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) is coming in below the original projections made by the Elevated Transportation Company.

While this adds to the challenge of building this new transit system, the fact that less tax has been collected than was projected has nothing to do with a lack of attention to budget or the fact that we insist that this project keep on schedule.

By cutting internal costs and using innovative contracting, design and financing methods, the SMP is shrinking what could have been a 30 percent decline in revenue to a revenue gap of just 8.5 percent without sacrificing our environmental, aesthetic, social or ridership goals for the monorail.

We continue to work on lowering the costs of financing for the project, in addition to finding innovations that reduce the upfront costs of the monorail.

Transit projects like the monorail can do an enormous amount to increase the livability of Seattle, as they have in other cities. The SMP staff has made the most of the public's hard-earned tax dollars. We have asked for, and received, smart solutions on a daily basis at the Monorail Project.

Doing this transit project right takes openness, creative thinking, and a real willingness to try things that may not be the way they have "always been done." These all have been applied to the Monorail Project this year by our staff and by our community volunteers, and it shows in every facet of the work.

While the board has not made any final decisions, we have reviewed in great detail the recommended Green Line route and station locations with the goal of maximizing the benefits of the monorail while designing the best fit for Seattle as well as individual neighborhoods. ...

The Seattle Monorail Project is committed to giving Seattle a new transit system that provides great access, links with other transportation modes, blends into Seattle neighborhoods as much as possible, promotes community identity, has excellent design, and benefits the environment.

Through hundreds of public meetings, workshops and other events, we have carefully considered and responded to thousands of public comments about the Green Line. With this amount of participation, we have heard voices on the many sides of every single issue. The staff recommendation about the route and stations reflects the best ideas of the thousands of Seattleites who have shared their input with us. The people of Seattle have said "yes" to the monorail three times since 1997. They want it built on time and under budget.

Those voters that's you, us and our neighbors knew what they wanted. Let's respect that, and build the Monorail Green Line without further delay.

( Board member Kristina Hill, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Washington, where she teaches urban design and landscape architecture. She is a former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and acts as a consultant to cities, states and private groups on environmentally friendly urban design. She has served on the board for the Seattle Monorail Project since 1997.

Ex officio Board member Jeanne Kohl Welles, Ph.D., has represented the 36th District as a member of the Washington State Senate since 1994 and previously served in the state House of Representatives. She lives in Queen Anne. )

KRISTINA HILL and

JEANNE KOHL WELLES

Correction

An article in the March 2004 Seattle Sun contained inaccurate information about the history of the former Nellie Goodhue School building at 13720 Roosevelt Way NE. According to North End historian Greg Dziekonski, the building was dedicated in 1947 as the administrative headquarters of the Shoreline School District. After the Haller Lake neighborhood was annexed to Seattle in the 1950s, the building housed the Seattle School District's programs for handicapped children. At that time, the building was renamed for Nellie Goodhue (1870-1957), former administrator of Seattle's special needs student programs. The building was later returned to administrative uses by the Seattle School District and renamed the North End Annex.