Monorail officials ask for recall initiative to be tossed

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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But they're not taking any chances.

The agency is asking a judge to toss out city Initiative 83, the "Monorail Recall" petition drive launched this month. The initiative seeks to forbid or revoke permits for monorail construction on city streets.

Monorail leaders aren't conceding I-83 would pass. But they acknowledge the initiative's mere existence could hinder progress on the 14-mile route linking downtown to Ballard and West Seattle.

As long as a petition drive or campaign is ongoing, the uncertainty would drive up taxpayers' cost of selling bonds to pay for construction, said Ross Macfarlane, general counsel for the project.

And if the measure is illegal, a judge's decision right now would save anti-monorail groups the time and cost of campaigning, he said.

In court papers filed yesterday, the agency argues the Green Line has been declared "an essential public facility" to solve transportation needs under the state Growth Management Act.

Who backs the monorail agency The people and groups joining in the Seattle Monorail Project's suit against anti-monorail Initiative 83 include: • Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen Co. Nitze-Stagen owns Starbucks Center, an employment hub across the street from the Sodo station site on First Avenue South. • Former Gov. Dan Evans, who endorsed the monorail in 2002. • Seattle Glassblowing Studio & Gallery. The monorail board spared the studio while choosing its Belltown station site on Fifth Avenue, and the studio has hosted pro-monorail parties. • Seattle/King County Building & Construction Trades Council. As many as 2,100 trades workers would build the Green Line, with 600 employed at the peak of the five-year construction period. • Space Needle Corporation. The business supported the "Northwest Route" winding through Seattle Center and believes the line will boost tourism. • Transportation Choices Coalition, one of several environmental groups lauding the project. The trains are electrically powered and bicycles will be allowed onboard. • Tomio Moriguchi, chairman & CEO of Uwajimaya. A monorail station at King Street would be a short walk to the Chinatown International District store.

The agency also argues that whatever administrative land-use permits the City Council grants for the monorail are exempt from initiatives.

Moreover, I-83 circumvents the method that state lawmakers approved in 2002 to repeal the project, Seattle Monorail Project attorneys say.

Monorail Recall is using the Seattle city initiative process — which requires only 17,229 signatures, or one-tenth of those who voted in the last mayoral race — instead of the tougher method in state law.

The state law requires more than 54,000 signatures to reach the ballot, plus a city determination that the Green Line faces "significant financial difficulties." A new car-tab tax for the monorail is collecting a third less money than expected, though the gap could narrow because of new state rules to close loopholes. Costs and design are unknown until after prospective builders submit their construction bids in late summer.

The rigorous recall standards were designed so "it (the monorail) could not be continually tripped up and continually thwarted by anyone who decided they didn't like the color of the beam, or didn't like it going down this or that side of the street," Macfarlane said.

The monorail agency also claims the 10-word ballot title for I-83 is misleading, because voters would have to read further into the ballot summary to learn it would prohibit a new monorail.

Monorail Recall's attorney Glenn Amster hadn't seen the complaint late yesterday but doubted the courts would see the monorail as merely an administrative land-use matter.

Nils Finne, an architect on the Monorail Recall board, said "a few thousand" signatures have been collected. Anti-monorail volunteers, hoisting crimson yard signs, plan to converge on this weekend's Folklife Festival at Seattle Center. If the project is still popular, the agency shouldn't be afraid of another vote, he said.

"You can't help but think of the irony in the monorail authority using taxpayers' money — a monorail authority that claims to be a grass-roots organization serving as representatives of the people — saying, 'Now that you know what it looks like, you don't have a say in whether it happens,' " Amster said.

Some monorail backers have accused the recall group of taking the easy way out because it lacked support to pull off a 54,000-signature effort.

Other supporters say Seattle should stay focused on building more transit.

"The monorail is a farsighted transportation solution for our community," said Cliff Goodman, owner of the Seattle Glassblowing Studio & Gallery in Belltown. "It will benefit the environment, will be great for business and great for the public. We should be doing everything we can to get it done, not trying to kill it or bog it down like so many other projects."

Seattle voters have passed three pro-monorail propositions, but only the 2002 version included a tax, and it won by a mere 877 ballots. The argument over whether the agency has a mandate has not subsided.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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