Monorail foes boost light rail

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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With four weeks left to campaign, leaders of "Monorail Recall" are positioning the anti-monorail Initiative 83 as a boon for mass transit.

Former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer said yesterday that voters ought to halt the monorail to make available future taxes for Sound Transit's light-rail system. If the monorail tax is rescinded, there would be less taxpayer fatigue, and therefore a better chance to add light rail from Westlake Center to Northgate, he and others argued.

"Let's support mass transit. Let's protect the current taxing capacity to work for a system that will truly work for the region, not one that's for Seattle only," he said at a campaign event in the downtown transit tunnel.

The rival "No Recall, Go Monorail" campaign called yesterday's I-83 statements "a divisive campaign move" that would pit the monorail against other transit.

"I believe people are willing to pay for both rapid-transit systems, both light rail and a monorail system," said Peter Hurley, executive director of the Transportation Choices Coalition. "And I suspect that if Sound Transit comes back with a good proposal to get to Northgate, I think people will support that as well. It is a heck of a lot less expensive than trying to add multiple lanes to I-5 in Seattle."

On Monday, light rail became the lead item on a revamped monorailrecall.com Web site.

"Think we need to start somewhere? We already have! Light rail is coming to Seattle," the headline reads.

Initiative 83 A reminder to voters: A "yes" vote on I-83, the "Monorail Recall" measure, is to block the planned $1.75 billion Green Line monorail through the western half of the city. A "no" vote is to build it.

That message is a departure from the initiative's origins — as a revolt against the monorail's new car-tab tax and perceived blight from concrete tracks.

"It sounds like what they're doing is trying to wrap themselves in a pro-transit message," said Seattle Monorail Project board member Steve Williamson.

One explanation is that professional strategists have taken the reins. There is a new campaign manager, Tim Killian, and the public-affairs firm Gogerty Stark Marriott is participating.

The I-83 brain trust is trying to appeal to swing voters with a positive, pro-transit message. The undecided electorate is 10 to 15 percent, Killian said last week.

The measure would ban city permits for new monorails, including the planned Green Line connecting Ballard, Seattle Center, downtown and West Seattle. Voters narrowly approved the $1.75 billion monorail two years ago.

I-83 contains no clause to shift monorail taxes to light rail, a proposed waterfront Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel, a new Highway 520 floating bridge or express bus lines. That requires a separate voter-approved measure — most likely, as part of a regional highways and transit package.

Asked how she envisions the monorail tax going to Sound Transit, I-83 volunteer co-chairwoman Liv Finne said, "That is beyond our purview. We are here to take the first step in creating a regional transit system. The first step is for everyone to vote [yes] on I-83."

Royer's position is consistent with what he has said in the past. In a 2002 debate, he argued the money would be better spent on a Northgate light-rail line. A year earlier, he chaired a Sound Transit committee that encouraged the agency — which was facing massive cost overruns — to build an initial line, which would boost political support for more. That line from Westlake Center to Tukwila is now under construction.

Even if voters replaced monorail taxes with an identical $1.75 billion for light rail, that would not fully fund a Northgate light-rail line, which would be mostly tunneled.

Sound Transit has released a partial cost estimate of $2.1 billion to $2.35 billion, excluding final design, financing costs, administration and inflation.

Staff reporter Eric Pryne contributed to this report. Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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