Here’s the money line from today’s endorsement from the  Seattle Auto blog.

Nobody loves a 500 hp Viper that can tear across 520 in under 20 seconds as much as we do, but we also love the environment and our city even more. That’s why we’re supporting Prop 1.

Definitely read the entire endorsement. The two self-described “car fanatics” get it exactly right.

The light rail plan is about giving commuters the option to get off the freeway. Hilariously, at the recent debate between Mayor Greg Nickels and Freeman at the Evans School, Freeman put his foot in his mouth by acknowledging that light rail provides a solution for rush hour commuters. He tried to dig himself out by arguing that rush hour isn’t the problem.

Here’s the video.

Westlake and Mercer Banner

West Seattle Banner

My dog Stella is a fan too!

A similar pattern emerges when you look at the anti–Proposition 1 campaign’s donor base. Of the $152,000 raised by NotoProp1 .org, the vast majority came from people and groups known for giving to Republican causes: Kemper Freeman, the Bellevue land magnate ($100,000); Fremont landowner Suzie Burke ($1,000); Belltown zillionaire Mark Baerwaldt ($18,000); cell-phone magnate Bruce McCaw ($10,000); and Rossi supporters H. Chaffey Investments and Oak Harbor Freight Lines ($500 and $5,000, respectively).

Those six “nonpartisan” donors are joined by longtime anti–light rail zealots John Niles and Donald Padelford, developer Matt Griffin, and the Washington Asphalt Pavement Association—bringing the total number of donors to the anti–light rail crusade to 10. So not only is Sound Transit’s opposition hardly “nonpartisan”—it isn’t “grassroots,” either. In contrast, the Mass Transit Now campaign has more than 200 donors.

Prop. 1 wins major Bellevue endorsement:

Support grows among Eastside business, civic, and community leaders

Seattle—The Bellevue Downtown Association endorsed Proposition 1, becoming the latest in a long line of Eastside civic, political and community groups that support the mass transit expansion plan.

Later today, Mayor Greg Nickels, chair of Sound Transit, will debate transit-opponent Kemper Freeman, a Bellevue developer who has put $100,000 of his own money into the No On Prop 1 campaign.  The support of Proposition 1 on the Eastside highlights the growing gap between Freeman and the business leaders, neighbors and representatives who recognize the immediate need for transit solutions.

The BDA said Proposition 1 was a necessary step in providing near and long-term transit solutions for the fast-growing number of downtown Bellevue workers, residents, and visitors.

“Our ability to grow and thrive as an urban center is linked to accessibility,” said BDA Board Chair Jill Ostrem. “We approached this decision asking, ‘What’s best for Downtown Bellevue?’  Connecting downtown with the region through safe and reliable mass transit is essential to our community’s future success.”

The measure will expand regional express bus service on I-405 next year and deliver light rail transit to Downtown Bellevue and Overlake Transit Center.

Ostrem said: “With this endorsement, the BDA pledges to work with Sound Transit, the City of Bellevue and the downtown community to ensure effective and efficient implementation of these investments.  In addition, we will continue to engage at the local and regional level on high priority congestion relief projects and transit solutions.”   

Other Eastside leaders who have publicly supported Proposition 1 include: Bellevue Mayor Grant Degginger, former Bellevue Mayor Connie Marshall, Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger, Issaquah Councilmember Fred Butler, Kirkland Councilmember Mary Alyce Burleigh, Redmond Mayor John Marchione, Redmond Councilmember Nancy McCormick, Mercer Island Councilmember Mike Grady, Mercer Island Mayor Jim Pearman, State Rep. Fred Jarrett, Aubrey Davis and Jim Ellis.

The Seattle Times and The Stranger both report. 

And both articles focus on the weird moment in the debate when Kemper Freeman  points out that our mass transit solution only really addresses rush hour. Freeman sees this as a problem for some reason.  

We see it as the best thing about our plan. 

The Stranger agrees, and highlighted Freeman’s odd line of argument: 

“The trips that we’re particularly concerned about are the trips into and out of our major urban centers, like UW and downtown Bellevue and Northgate,” Nickels said. “This will not eliminate congestion. … What it will do is create the capacity for up to a million people a day to take light rail rather than get on the freeway in their individual automobiles.” Freeman, bizarrely, made the same point in arguingagainst light rail, noting that trips to and from work “are less than one fifth of our trips in this region. Our public leaders have been leading us down a wild goose chase and we can’t do that,” Freeman said.

But that, Nickels noted, was exactly the point: Transit is supposed to serve people at the most congested times. “The problem is that we all try to get to and from work and to and from the university at the same time every day,” Nickels said. “We wouldn’t have to put down another cubic foot of concrete if all those trips were spread out throughout the day and night.”

The Seattle Times was more subtle, but gave the last word to Nickels on Freeman’s “point” :

Only about one-fifth of car trips are by commuters, observed Freeman, the developer of Bellevue Square Mall. So fixed-rail transit serves only a fraction of a fraction of all trips, he said. Therefore, it wouldn’t reduce congestion.

Nickels replied that it’s precisely the rush hour when a rail option would pay off.

“We have plenty of concrete out there for our nonwork trips,” he said. “The problem is we’re all trying to get to work, or to the university, at the same time.”

Take it away HugeAssCity: 

But there’s more to it than energy efficiency: Without an organizing principle, development flails. When there is no reason to develop in one place rather than another, the resultant built environment will likely become one in which there is no reason to be in one place rather than another. In other words, random sprawl, which is not only inefficient, but also lacks the sense of place, focus of social interaction, and source of civic pride that have made great cities livable and memorable for thousands of years.

Created by leesroberts (via The Seattle Transit Blog), the map above shows the Seattle streetcar system in 1933 overlayed on a current map of Seattle’s urban villages. While the match isn’t perfect, most of the transit villages that grew up around the streetcar lines still constitute the core and identity of today’s neighborhoods. The streetcar system helped create a desirable urban form that has benefited the residents of Seattle for nearly a century. And that’s exactly the same long-term benefit we can expect from new light rail in Seattle.

There have been buses running down Rainier Ave. for more than half a century, but development over those years has been unfocused and highly car-dependent. The difference between buses and fixed guideway transit is that a decade from now the oceans of asphalt parking lot surrounding the McClellan light rail station will be gone, replaced by the mixed-use residential buildings and open spaces of a vibrant new urban village. Over in Bellevue we can expect to see a similar transformation in the Bel-Red Corridor if Proposition 1 passes.

Pretty much any time light rail is proposed anywhere in the U.S, people will impugn it by reducing the total investment to a cost per ride that sounds expensive. Left out of their equation, however, are long-term, systemic and transformative effects that are not easily quantified, but are substantial nonetheless. Others deride the “light rail faithful” for supporting a transit system that doesn’t provide the direct benefit of a stop right outside their own front doors. Similarly, what’s missing with this gripe is the insight to grasp that most light rail proponents recognize the big picture benefits, and are willing to be unselfish.

…and a quote from one of our most outspoken supporters, Ben Schiendelman. 

“Starting now will probably mean this is the cheapest time in the near future that we can build,” because of lower land prices and a looser market for labor and contractors, argues Ben Schiendelman, a writer for Seattle Transit Blog.

All things being equal, we’d support the expansion of Sound Transit for many reasons. This metropolitan area is underserved by buses, trains and other alternatives to the car with a single driver. We could make the case on transportation grounds, the environment or even pocketbook issues such as the cost of filling a gas tank.

But all things are not equal. Not now. Those were arguments for ordinary times; we are entering a period of extraordinary economic uncertainty. The first priority in this economy must be the creation of good-paying jobs and voting yes on Proposition 1 will do just that.

“It’s now clear that rescuing the banks is just the beginning: the nonfinancial economy is also in desperate need of help.

 

And to provide that help, we’re going to have to put some prejudices aside. It’s politically fashionable to rant against government spending and demand fiscal responsibility. But right now, increased government spending is just what the doctor ordered, and concerns about the budget deficit should be put on hold.” 

 

“And this is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastructure spending, which the country badly needs in any case. The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long: by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now, since the chances that this slump will be over anytime soon are virtually nil. So let’s get those projects rolling.”

Here are the details:

What: Expanding Regional Mass Transit, Mayor Nickels v Developer Kemper Freeman

When: Wednesday, October 22nd, 4:30pm to 5:30pm

Where: University of Washington, Parrington Hall, The Evans School Forum Room 309

This is the big one.  All of our efforts over the last few weeks - fliering park and rides, putting up hundreds of signs, dropping literature and canvassing dozens of precincts, handing out literally thousands of stickers and making thousands of calls- has led us to this point.  Our campaign is more organized, our volunteers are more dedicated and much more energetic than the no side and its time to flex our muscles and show them EXACTLY who we are.

We will meet outside Parrington Hall at 4:00pm for rallying, sign waving and energizing the crowds.  Please email Rebecca@masstransitnow.org to RSVP. 

19 Days Until the Election

If not this, then what?
If not now, then when?
If not you, then who?

This speaks to the core of our Mass Transit Now campaign, because this is the RIGHT transit package, the time is NOW, and we need YOUR help!

For the price of one tank of gas, residents of the Puget Sound region can get immediate relief from high gridlock and high gas prices, reduce climate pollution, create tens of thousands of jobs, and overall improve our quality of life!

What: City Club/Seattle Works Proposition 1 Debate

Who: Councilmember Dow Constantine will debate Developer Kemper Freeman

Where: Washington Atheltic Club, 1325 6th Ave, Seattle

When: Thursday, October 16, 11:00am to 12 noon,

Mass Transit Now Team

This package, at $17.9 billion, isn’t cheap. But we’ve got to get our region moving. If you think $69 is a lot to spend on transit in tough economic times, think about what you’ve been paying for gas lately. Prices are going to continue to rise—so the $69 you spend to build light rail today will be the thousands you save by not having to drive tomorrow.

If we build light rail now, you—and commuters all over King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties—will have the choice of hopping on a regional rapid-transit system that gets you where you want to go predictably and reliably, every time. And when you do need to drive, you’ll be able to do it on roads that will be as much as 30 percent less congested—cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly 180,000 tons a year. And you’ll be able to start using the system right away, with increases in express bus service across the board—most of it on the highest-demand and most crowded routes. By 2020, you’ll be able to take light rail from Bellevue to Seattle to Northgate and South Seattle—seven years sooner than in last year’s roads and transit proposal.

Critics have claimed that if all the “true” costs were included, this ballot measure would cost $107 billion. They want you to believe that Sound Transit will continue taxing voters well into the 2050s. It’s a lie: The plan we’re voting on this November explicitly bars Sound Transit from taxing voters indefinitely by requiring a rollback of the taxes once the system is paid for.

Mass transit—specifically, fixed-rail rapid transit, the kind other North American cities have been working on since the last century—creates dense communities, raises (and protects) property values, and makes cities the kind of places people want to live. We’ve tried building our way out of sprawl and gridlock; it hasn’t worked. It’s time to give the alternative a try.

Freeman, the Bellevue developer—apparently unphased by the stock market crash—put in $100,000 over the last week, bringing the opponents war chest up to about $150,000. 

And as the Slog reports, Freeman’s support also, “bring[s] the total number of supporters for the anti-light-rail “campaign” to ten. In contrast, the Mass Transit Now campaign has more than 200 donors… and has raised more than half a million so far…”

The forum will feature regional light rail experts:

• Fred Hansen (General Manager of Portland’s TriMet)
• Clive Rock (former Strategic Director of Vancouver, B.C.’s TransLink)
• Ric Ilgenfritz (Executive Director of Planning and Policy at Sound Tranist)

Mass Transit Now Team