Agency dies by "execution"

One day after voters jilted the Seattle Monorail Project, its leaders moved to shut the agency down and sell unused land as quickly as possible.

"Transit's been killed. It's an execution," interim Executive Director John Haley said of Tuesday's vote, in which nearly two of three voters opposed the SMP's attempt to build a reduced, 10-mile line from West Seattle to Interbay. "But I respect the will of the voters, and they were crystal clear they want this project killed."

Haley, who has built or saved transit lines around the country, indicated he's ready to leave town, rather than preside over a real-estate liquidation. But at a somber board meeting Wednesday night — where only four of the eight voting members showed up — he agreed to stay another week.

A staff that numbered 46 in September should be cut to about half a dozen people by the end of this year, he said. They will receive four weeks' severance. Properties once envisioned as stations could be sold by January.

Seven members of the City Council on Wednesday signed a letter urging SMP to preserve the station land for use in some future transit system. But reserving the land appears illegal, monorail officials said. Board members found irony in the council's request that SMP engage in "careful planning with the city," after City Hall yanked monorail permits in September.

At a morning news conference, Chairwoman Kristina Hill blamed elected politicians and the media for the downfall of the monorail, which began as a grass-roots movement and prevailed in four previous campaigns, including a 2002 measure to build a 14-mile line reaching Ballard.

The agency suffered from rising costs and a shortfall in its new car-tab tax.

Haley said he still believes monorail is the best technology to serve the route's narrow, hilly corridors, and its loss will harm the city.

Here are some answers about what happens next and what went wrong:

Q: Will I get a tax refund?

Q: How much money has the Seattle Monorail Project spent? How much money does it owe?

A: The agency has spent about $200 million. This includes a $110 million debt to Bank of America, plus more than $90 million in taxes already collected.

Q: What will happen to the properties SMP bought for the stations?

A: The agency intends to sell or auction 34 parcels for which it paid $62 million. That will reduce debt.

Q: How much longer do I have to pay?

A: SMP Finance Director Jonathan Buchter said Wednesday he'll recommend that drivers be charged the full rate ($140 per $10,000 of vehicle value, for cars at least a year old) through May 2006. Then, vehicles would be taxed at a reduced rate over the next 12 months through May 2007. That way, every vehicle owner winds up making four payments, since the onset of the tax in June 2003.

Buchter said that conceivably, the tax could end in May 2006 if the agency makes enough money on land sales.

The alternative would be to charge the full tax until the debt is erased, and end the tax sooner. State Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said yesterday he leans toward that approach, to reduce the time that Seattle residents stew over paying for a nonexistent project. But people facing summer 2006 renewals would make a fourth payment, while others wouldn't.

Q: Whose fault is it the project collapsed?

A: Murray blames mismanagement. He said SMP's June finance proposal (later abandoned) to collect $11 billion to pay off a $2 billion line was "outrageous," and board members overstated their ability to fund the route. "The problem was, they said they could build that system for the amount of money they said they'd raise," but SMP actually couldn't afford the 14-mile line it designed, with difficult water crossings and a tight fit through Seattle Center, he said.

Dick Falkenbury, the tour driver who launched Seattle's monorail movement, said board members failed to watchdog the bottom line. They left big decisions, he said, to two people, former Executive Director Joel Horn and former Chairman Tom Weeks.

Haley, who has worked in Boston, New York and San Francisco, said politicians and the media focused on minor details instead of the benefit of adding a new transit line. "This project was held up to a different standard than other projects I've been associated with," Haley said.

Q: How did the monorail get its revenue projection wrong?

A: In 2002, the SMP's predecessor, the Elevated Transportation Co., did not independently research the number of taxable cars in Seattle. Two consultants based their estimates on Sound Transit figures that mistakenly included some south-end suburbs, and evasion worsened the problem. The agency came up one-third short on its tax collections.

Q: Does the monorail's demise leave the western side of the city out of luck, as far as getting rapid transit?

A: Maybe. Any other rapid-transit system reaching Ballard and West Seattle, out of other traffic, would seem years away. There is no other money for the corridor, and eventually the Alaskan Way Viaduct would close through either an earthquake or reconstruction — isolating West Seattle.

Sound Transit's available funding is earmarked for a $1.7 billion tunnel serving Westlake Center, Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium.

Q: What's being done about this?

A: As Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council members turned against the monorail this summer, they instructed Seattle Department of Transportation to study other options. Director Grace Crunican said the research would take about a year.

One problem is how to link West Seattle to existing bus lanes or future light-rail tracks in Sodo; Crunican does not want commuters forced to transfer midway to downtown.

Q: Will our monorail taxes be diverted to roads or other projects?

A: The tax currently exists only for a monorail. It would take some act of the Legislature, or voters, to enact a car-tab tax for other things.

Q: Will the vote damage the city?

A: Haley said he thinks international firms will be more reluctant to try complicated projects here, and London-based Infrastructure Journal, an industry publication, blistered Seattle's leadership class. Bidders spent more than $10 million preparing a construction bid here, for naught.

On the other hand, Sound Transit light rail is proceeding, as well as a new Tacoma Narrows Bridge — and citizens preserved other projects by turning down Initiative 912, the gas-tax repeal.

Q: Next time I buy car tabs, will they still display a monorail icon?

A: Yes. The state has already printed them. When the tabs were launched last winter, the agency said they "would be a fun way of celebrating this project and everyone who is contributing to making it a reality."

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