The King County executive, so quick to ask us for tax money for everything from gas to a new elections headquarters (I'd prefer a permanent elections director, thanks), has learned how to work with what he's already got.

In a land swap announced last week, King County is to receive 47 miles of Eastside railroad corridor from the Port of Seattle, in exchange for Boeing Field.

If the deal pans out, the county will get something the Everyman can use for free, and lose an airport used mostly by the region's high-flying high rollers.

The devil may indeed be in the details, though, as more than one person cautioned me. There's the value of Boeing Field ($200 million? $295 million?) versus the value of the railroad corridor. The county needs to be careful not to give too much away.

And there's this: In these early days of governmental wrangling, it looks like the Port of Seattle has the upper hand.

If the county relinquishes control of Boeing Field to the Port, that public agency could go on an extended power trip. The Port will decide when the airport reaches capacity. The Port will decide who might move to Boeing Field, and when.

Let the Port get too high in the region's control tower, and it could mean big trouble for all of us.

The trick will be to remind the Port that it belongs to the people, and that while Executive Director Mic Dinsmore may make more than his colleagues nationwide, the folks at home sign the check.

For now, though, I'll celebrate the fact that something around here is staying green.

The trail would be used for what I hope are generations to come, connecting neighborhoods and offering city folks the kind of refuge we seem to need more all the time. There's a reason that some 750,000 people run, bike or walk along the Burke-Gilman Trail every year.

And Sims has found a way to secure his legacy without leaving our kids with the bill.

The man might have felt like a teenager, always asking for something new.

In recent months, Sims asked for $23 million for an elections center (the County Council rejected it) and helped put on the Nov. 7 ballot a sales-tax increase to expand Metro bus service (though that seems a good idea).

He had green dreams, too, but they were going to cost: Last year, Sims made the case for spending $11.6 million for 700 acres of open space from Seattle to Issaquah and another $8.8 million to extend county trails and connect missing links.

"... Trails are integral to a community's quality of life," Sims said at the time.

I agree, more so now that Sims might have found a way to blaze new trails without burning a hole in taxpayers' pockets.

But if getting those trails beneath us means the quality of the life around us slips, we'll know the true meaning of footing the bill.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She's got another reason to run.

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