The Times endorses
No on Monorail recall

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

For all the foibles of the Seattle Monorail, it will be tempting to vote yes on Initiative 83, the measure to ban city permits for the monorail. But the correct answer is no. I-83 makes the end justify the means.

Specifically, I-83 would prohibit the City Council from allowing the monorail to be built on public streets, sidewalks and the space above them. By some accounts, I-83 effectively would block the monorail from being built.

But I-83 is not a clean monorail recall as specified by monorail legislation. The 2002 Legislature described a method for dissolving the monorail agency. A real recall would have required roughly 54,000 petition signatures in 90 days along with a finding by the city attorney that the project has significant financial problems.

Citizens promoting this monorail recall took the easy route, a simple citizen initiative that required only 17,229 signatures. This is an attempt to alter public policy with a lower threshold of citizen participation.

Like many in Seattle, this editorial page is discouraged by the changes that have taken place since the public voted for the monorail. The project is collecting roughly one-fourth less revenue than anticipated. The width of columns will be much larger than expected. The trains may run on one track in some places, not what voters originally were told. And there is just one bidder for the project, which does not bode well.

Yet, in the end, the monorail-recall campaign took an insincere route. If this is what voters want, call a recall a recall and follow the rules.

It is easy to say the monorail project is not what we bargained for, but in fairness, neither is the recall attempt. It is a shortcut and the wrong way to express anger at the monorail. Vote no on I-83.