A desire named streetcar

They've got to be kidding. Is it really true that no one in local government can find a way to build a maintenance barn for the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar? The beloved streetcar may stop running because of it.

This is a case of creative politics gone sour. If the city, working with partners in private business and King County, cannot produce a simple maintenance barn for a streetcar, what can it produce? A $4 billion tunnel?

Last year, then-Port Commissioner Paige Miller offered an idea for a maintenance barn on property north of the old barn, which was vacated to make room for a new sculpture park.

It was the height of election season, and Miller accidentally on purpose forgot to run her idea by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. He was backing her opponent, Casey Corr, in a City Council race.

So the city and King County crafted an alternative plan — a streetcar barn and mixed-used building at the south end of the line. That is a fine idea, too.

Now that plan has been nixed, at least temporarily, by developer Greg Smith, who says the city took too long awarding a height variation for the project. Development costs are rising.

Building a streetcar maintenance barn is not a complicated proposal. It is time to get the egos and conflicting agendas out of the room and get this project back on track.