The Seattle City Council, which is responsible for the final review of the monorail contract, should not be intimidated by the four endorsements from Seattle voters.

Yes, Seattle likes the idea of a monorail. The council's vote is not on the idea of it; it is on this contract, this financing plan and this management. Let us review what the people have and have not said.

In 1997, a measure was brought to the ballot without the support of the political leaders of the region. It was an effort proposed by a taxi driver and led by a grass-roots campaign of city progressives. It proposed two, 20-mile lines, one connecting West Seattle to Lake City and the other Southeast Seattle to Broadview, in a big "X" over the city. Forty miles of monorail were to cost taxpayers little and maybe nothing, because private developers would build it.

Did voters want it? Yes.

In 2000, the organizers of the Elevated Transportation Co. came back with another petition. This one was for $6 million in city money to devise an actual plan. Six million dollars was not much, and the voters again said yes.

In 2002, promoters came back with a plan for a 14-mile system — pretty short, but there were maps of Seattle with 58 miles of monorail inked in. The ballot measure was for a "starter" system.

It was a time of civic enthusiasm. "Monorails are cool," said an op-ed on this page by promoters Tom Weeks and Kristina Hill (now chair and vice-chair of the monorail board). "We can create a monorail design that is not only beautiful but that will come to symbolize Seattle around the world," said former Gov. Dan Evans and Hill.

Ron Sims, who was chairing Sound Transit, groused that it was the "most unusual political environment" over an issue he'd ever seen. "If you ask questions," he said, "it's almost like you are a heretic."

The monorail was to cost Seattle taxpayers $1.75 billion. An independent report said it might be a bit higher, but there was a 90-percent chance it would be no higher than $2.05 billion. Daniel Malarkey, consulting economist (later hired by the monorail project as chief financial officer), said there was a remote chance the car-tab tax could last for 40 years, but said it was more likely the 30-year bonds would be paid off early.

The people said yes — barely. The vote was 94,993 to 94,116.

In 2004 came a recall. It was a slapdash effort denounced by monorail supporters as illegal. Monorail leadership said that if it passed they planned to file a lawsuit to have it overturned. This page declined to endorse it. It failed.

Those were the four votes.

Now, after all four votes, we discover that the one chance in 10 has come to pass, and the monorail is to cost $2.1 billion. Taxpayers are on the hook for 40-year bonds, and not standard ones issued all at once, but creative-accounting ones issued serially, so that this $2.1 billion project will cost us an additional $9 billion in interest. And the car-tab tax is to last for 50 years.

Our state treasurer, Michael Murphy, is raising the alarm and calling for the project to be stopped.

Seattle's monorail can no longer rest on votes of the past or promises made, it must deal with the reality of a stunning debt the city cannot afford.