Monorail-recall initiative should appear on ballot, appeals court rules

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The judges did not determine whether the initiative would ultimately be declared legal, but their immediate priority was to preserve the public's opportunity to re-vote the project.

"Following consideration of the briefs and oral argument of the parties, we hold there is insufficient justification to permit this court to interfere with the initiative process in this case," said the order, signed by Judges Kenneth Grosse and Susan Agid. The panel's third member, Ann Schindler, dissented.

The measure, better known as "Monorail Recall," would ban city permits to build the proposed 14-mile, $1.75 billion Green Line through the western half of the city. Today's decision dissolves a King County Superior Court ruling that would have kept the initiative off the ballot.

"We're very, very happy!" said I-83 co-chair Liv Finne, whose group contends the project has changed for the worse since voters narrowly passed it in 2002.

"It is the people's first opportunity to pass judgment on the current monorail plan, and we think the Seattle Monorail Project should stop spending money immediately. They should stop buying properties, they should stop everything they're doing, because their project is coming fast to a halt. Then when we win on Nov. 2, we expect them to do the honorable thing, which is dissolve their agency, since they can not the use of city right-of-way to build their monorail."

The Seattle City Council planned to decide today whether to forward the measure to King County elections officials for placement on the Nov. 2 ballot, and the city was waiting on the court's guidance.

Doing so would cost the city an estimated $890,000 in elections costs. That money would be wasted if later court rulings toss out the initiative, monorail activist Peter Sherwin said.

Today's ruling sets the stage for a fourth monorail showdown in Seattle.

Voters approved the line in 2002 by 877 votes, after they passed planning initiatives in 1997 and 2000 by wider margins.

The SMP's tax income has come in nearly one-third below projections, it chose a controversial path through Seattle Center and its current plans show support columns wider that the slender three-foot columns promoted during the campaign. On the other hand, the agency has kept its promise to require a complete 14-mile corridor from Crown Hill to West Seattle, while seeking to recover its financial losses by closing tax loopholes and using sophisticated financing techniques.
 
The monorail agency challenged I-83 with two lawsuits that argued:

• About 10,000 signatures should be tossed out because they were collected before June 18, when a county judge rewrote the ballot title for more clarity.

• The initiative itself is illegal because it circumvents state land-use laws, as well as a more stringent recall process prescribed in a 2002 state law.

The case is certain to go to the state Supreme Court for a final ruling, the appeals judges predicted in a hearing last week.

But the appeals panel was under pressure to provide some sort of opinion by today, since Thursday is the deadline to forward I-83 to elections officials in time to print voter guides and ballots.

Anne Levinson, the SMP's deputy director, said in a statement the ruling lacks clarity.

"It is not the best public policy to have the public spend time and money on a ballot measure, only to be told later by the Courts that the matter did not have the required number of signatures and was not the kind of subject for which the initiative process is allowed." she said. "It hinders trust and confidence in government and in the courts. On top of that, the public not only pays for the costs of campaigning and the cost of an election, but any additional costs due to project delay while this works its way through the court system. It may serve special interests, but it does nothing to serve those stuck in their cars day after day."

One team of international firms, doing business as the Cascadia Monorail Co., has submitted a proposal to build the line. The SMP says the bid is low enough to be affordable, but details are being kept secret while the team and the agency hold contract negotiations.

Today's ruling could complicate the monorail agency's plans to sell bonds and break ground this fall. The City Council already agreed to allow construction later this year, provided the project passes an upcoming financial review to confirm there is enough money available to build the line.

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