Guest columnist
Monorail recall: bad public policy

By David M. Guthrie
Special to The Times

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Anti-monorail sentiment is expressed in this window facing the proposed route along California Avenue.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Wake up, Seattle! Coming next month will be another vote concerning monorail. This time, the ramifications of the vote will affect more than your opinion on whether monorail is the right choice. It will affect the very way we make public land-use decisions.

If Seattle wants to recall the monorail, then let's do it the right way, with a real recall initiative.

It is imperative for Seattle voters to understand Initiative 83 for what it is, and isn't.

It is not a vote for or against the monorail, as the recall effort would have you believe; rather, it is a vote on whether to allow the use of city rights of way to construct it.

Nor is it a vote to get rid of the taxes imposed in the last vote, as the recall effort would have you believe; in fact, the taxing authority will continue.

If I-83 passes, and is upheld in the courts, the Seattle Monorail Project will continue, much to the dismay of the voters who cast votes against it. The design, planning and submittal of plans for permitting will be able to continue. The city will be required to review those documents, as is standard practice. The only difference will be that the city will be prevented by law from granting construction permits.

	David M. Guthrie

You can anticipate another initiative for the monorail to be proposed, and sent to the voters.

I-83 will set a precedent of changing public land-use policy through popular vote. Even the Growth Management Act could be jeopardized.

You can most likely look forward to years of new initiatives that try to undermine public-works projects by changing the zoning, land use and other requirements in an attempt to stop them.

Opponents of light rail will take notice, as this tactic could be used to stop Sound Transit. This tactic could also have been used to stop construction of the public library. Do we really want to go down that road?

The monorail-recall effort supports additional light rail, as do I. Proponents tell us that we need one system for our city. That would be nice, but it's not what we have, nor is it realistic.

What is needed is for the citizens of Seattle to realize that fact, embrace the creative problem-solving that is taking place, and realize that the system created will be multi-modal — elevated, street level and underground, and will work together.

Wake up, Seattle. I-83 is not what you think. It's a bad way to set public policy.

David M. Guthrie is a Seattle landscape architect who lives in Ballard. He opposes Initiative 83, the Seattle monorail-recall measure on the Nov. 2 ballot.